Third Party Evaluation of JPF Funded Two Projects in Iraq (JPF-IRQ-23-001) At Japan Platform

1. Background:

The JPF is an international humanitarian aid organization which offers the most effective and prompt emergency aid in response to humanitarian needs, focusing on issues of refugees and natural disasters. JPF conducts such aid through a tripartite cooperation system where NGOs, business communities, and the government of Japan work in close cooperation, based on equal partnership, and making the most of the respective sectors’ characteristics and resources.

JPF serves as an intermediary support organization providing various types of assistance to member NGOs in Japan to deliver quick and comprehensive aid on their own. JPF has supported aid activities of 46 member NGOs, each with its own set of diverse strengths. It has delivered humanitarian assistance to 50 nations and regions about 1,800 projects, with a total financial contribution of 72 billion yen. JPF has built a strong reputation based on trust by promoting cooperation among private sectors and NGOs and by accurately reporting all its activities.

Please find attached JPF Information Leaflet as Annex 1. More information on JPF can be found at https://www.japanplatform.org/index.html .

As part of JPF’s mandate, JPF has been carrying on emergency humanitarian assistance because of the conflict that started in March 2015 which has intensified with the external interventions that have added fuel to the fighting between government and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee has declared the Level 3 emergency response, placing this crisis at the severest level of humanitarian crises happening in the world today.

JPF emergency humanitarian assistance program focusing on protection, education, food and NFI distribution, provision of safe water, improvement on malnutrition, and other lifesaving & sustaining actions, along with its member NGOs, intended to meet the most desperate needs among the people in Iraq who have been affected by the conflict.

2. Purpose of the Request for Proposals:

The purpose of this request for proposals (RFP) is to solicit competitive offers for the provision of evaluation services for 2 projects which are funded by JPF and implemented by member NGOs in Iraq.

JPF seeks to contract a Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) entity to accurately capture information, verify activities and analyze data on implemented project activities, and provide recommendations that can be utilized when implementing same or similar projects. In particular, the TPM entity will be an essential quality assurance activity in project locations where JPF has no or limited access to for various reasons. JPF will use the outcome of this evaluation activity to improve the current and future projects. The evaluation reports will be made available to public as a part of JPF’s activity to ensure accountability to the donor and public.

3. Scope of Services:

This RFP encompasses evaluation of 2 projects as part of JPF quality assurance activities. Before commencing with the evaluation activities, the successful bidder (contractor) will work closely with JPF and member NGOs in Tokyo, Japan and their local partner in Iraq. JPF will provide the contractor with relevant documentation, including the approved project proposal documents and other relevant information necessary for conducting the evaluation activities. The evaluation will cover conceptualization, design, implementation, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of results, engaging all project stakeholders and beneficiaries.

The scope of this RFP under JPF Iraq-Syria Humanitarian Crisis Response Plan focuses on the evaluation of 2 projects according to the OECD-DAC criterion and core humanitarian standards. JPF and the contractor will identify the prioritized criterion and standards for this evaluation. The evaluation aims to understand how these projects contribute to immediate relief and long-term development goals.

The Scope of Evaluations includes, but not limited to followings;

1.Conduct the output to review, validating the efficient delivery of intended outputs and ascertaining if and how they led to the intended outcome as per the purpose statement (in line with OECD DAC criteria of efficiency, effectiveness, and coherence).

2.Assess the level of satisfaction of beneficiaries (disaggregated by gender) with the changes brought by the project. Seek feedback from relevant stakeholders on the project interventions (in line with OECD DAC criteria of effectiveness).

3. Assess the contributions of the project to Iraq-Syria Humanitarian Crisis Response Plan Goals (in line with OECD DAC criteria of impact and relevance).

4. Assess the level of participation of, and accountability to the crisis affected people, particularly vulnerable individuals including women, in the project related decision making and assess how effectively the project strengthened the key local actors.

5. Financial efficiency evaluation of these projects

6. Draw lessons learnt from the evaluation for the implementing NGO, JPF and other JPF member agencies active in Iraq.

7. Technical Capacity and Expertise Review

8. Partnership and Management Modality Review

9. Visibility

4. Deliverables:

The contractor will report directly to JPF but will work closely with the member NGOs and project implementing partners. During the course of the field level data collection, the contractor is expected to provide JPF with timely feedback, notably in instances where immediate attention or action is warranted. For all tasks specific tools and templates will be developed and agreed to between JPF and the contractor following signing of the contract. It is expected that the reports provided by the contractor will adhere to the agreed upon templates. For all remaining tasks, general approaches will be developed and agreed to between JPF and the contractor, upon signing of the contract.

Expected activities and deliverables are:

• A pre-inception meeting/call with JPF and review documents from the member NGOs to gather required information for the inception report.
• Draft Inception Report and Tools: the contractor will provide a draft inception report and tools specific to each project, including a detailed work plan and methodology, including approach, guiding questions, interview/survey questions, a proposed list of stakeholders to be interviewed or otherwise involved, proposed schedule of site visits, sample beneficiary and key informant selection strategy, a list of data to be collected and a timeline for the evaluation process.
• Inception Meeting: The inception reports will be finalized after receiving all the final feedback and comments at the inception meeting.
• Finalized Inception Reports and Tools: After the inception meeting, finalized inception reports and tools will be shared.
• Weekly and/or Bi-weekly Reports: the contractor will submit weekly or bi-weekly reports, containing timely, relevant, and verified project-level information to JPF.
• Success Stories: the contractor is expected to gather success stories, at least one per project.
• TPM Project Based Reports: The contractor will submit a TPM report separately for each project. It is expected that the TPM entity will submit a draft report and, after two rounds of feedback, will submit a final report.
• Raw Data and Visuals: the contractor will submit raw data and visuals collected during the contract period.
• Debriefing Workshops: the contractor will conduct debriefing workshop for the respective projects, with the participation of JPF and relevant member NGO representatives at the end of the TPM to further explain findings and make recommendations for current and future projects.

  The contractor will report directly to JPF but will work in close collaboration with the project member NGOs. The contractor is expected to maintain regular communication with JPF and member NGOs during the field- level data collection to ensure that any issues are identified and addressed promptly. The contractor will provide JPF with timely feedback, particularly in cases where immediate attention or action is necessary. The contractor will work closely with project staff and partners to ensure that the evaluation process is conducted in a transparent and collaborative manner. The contractor will also be available to address any questions or concerns from project stakeholders related to the evaluation process.