1. Background
People in Need (PIN) is a Czech non-profit, non-governmental organization that has been implementing relief and development projects in crisis regions around the globe and has been supporting human rights and democracy in countries repressed by totalitarian regimes over its twenty-year history. PIN has been working in Cambodia since 2008 and operates programs in Livelihoods, Climate Change and Disaster Management, and Emergency Response.
About the project:
As part of its emergency response operations, PIN is implementing a project in Phnom Penh to support resilience of vulnerable populations to COVID-19. The project “Integrated Covid-19 response in urban settings” is a 42-month multi-sector project funded by the EU and implemented by PIN, Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), and Urban Poor Women Development (UPWD) as consortium partners.
The project aims to contribute to the integrated COVID-19 response for poor urban settings in Phnom Penh, through strengthening social protection, economic recovery, and COVID-19 resilience of economically disadvantaged urban communities. The project is addressing particular needs of Cambodia related to COVID-19 recovery, prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) and over-indebtedness linked to the economic impacts of COVID-19. Specifically, the action put in place adequate WASH facilities in public places such as markets, which allowed people to follow required hygiene practices while in public. In addition, comprehensive awareness raising campaigns on COVID-19 hygiene practices and protocols were conducted. In order to address over-indebtedness, the project focused on improving financial literacy for different stakeholders, and income generation of small businesses.
With GBV prevention and child protection continuing to be high priorities in poor urban areas, the project focused on providing psycho-social support to survivors of GBV and domestic violence as well as child protection trainings to support vulnerable women and children in Phnom Penh. Finally, the project supported the most vulnerable poor communities in meeting their immediate basic needs by increasing access to social protection schemes, such as ID Poor, and assisting those at risk of losing their home.
The project aims to help more than 20,000 economically disadvantaged people living in urban poor areas of Phnom Penh, 5,000 low-skilled workers, more than 350 women in urban poor communities, and 200 small business owners, in cooperation with local authorities and commune stakeholders. Overall, the project targets 255 urban and peri-urban communities in the 14 districts of Phnom Penh.
Outcome 1. Increased access to WASH facilities, psychosocial support and social protection services, through the following interventions:
– COVID-19 awareness campaign and access to water, complemented by activities educating communities about COVID-19, proper hygiene practices and prevention methods.
– Support access to and improving quality of existing social protection services/programs for vulnerable communities.
– Provide psychosocial support and protection services to women and children at risk of gender-based violence.
Outcome 2. Improving the economic situation and opportunities of low-skilled workers, unemployed individuals in lack of specific competencies, and micro/small businesses affected by COVID-19, through:
– Support economic recovery efforts for low skilled and unemployed workers (e.g., from the informal sector), diversifying their skillsets and preparing them to join/re-join the labour market.
– Support businesses affected by the pandemic through financial literacy training, trainings on rights of loan holders, and business consulting services.
Outcome 2 is to be the main focus of the Assignment.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
- Strengthening advocacy and awareness raising on proper hygiene practices and prevention methods against COVID-19;
- Installation of adequate WASH facilities in selected markets, allowing people to follow required hygiene practices while in public;
- Comprehensive awareness raising campaigns on COVID-19 hygiene practices and protocols;
- Identifying the status of indebtedness in Cambodia and liaise with Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) to ensure transparency and specific attention when engaging vulnerable individuals in the loan taking process;
- Raising awareness of trade union members on financial literacy, rights of loan holders and rights of tenants;
- Strengthening the knowledge of local authorities and relevant stakeholders to properly address challenges in gender-based violence and children protection issues. Psycho-social support is given to survivors of GBV and domestic violence;
- Supporting the most vulnerable communities in meeting their immediate basic needs by increasing access to social protection schemes (e.g., ID Poor);
- Providing vocational (TVET) and soft skills training with job placement support for laid-off workers, low-skilled workers with unstable or uncertain jobs and unemployed individuals;
- Empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs through financial literacy courses, provision of startup funds and tailored consulting services to drive businesses in boosting the local economy.
2. Objective and Scope of the evaluation (Assignment)
The evaluation will assess achievements towards the project objectives and provide information on the impact and sustainability of the project. It will assess the project design and implementation through both desk review and interviews with key stakeholders and people supported by the intervention. Furthermore, it will collate and analyze challenges and best practices, formulate lessons learnt, and propose key recommendations for future programming.
Throughout the evaluation process, the assessor is expected to consider the initial project scope, which was crafted as a response to COVID-19. When assessing aspects such as relevance, efficiency, and other key evaluation criteria, it is crucial for the evaluator to recognize that the project was not intended to undergo adaptations that would significantly deviate from its original objectives. This applies, for instance, to the selection of TVET courses, which was grounded in addressing the adverse effects of COVID-19 (or the post-pandemic scenario) on livelihoods, as well as other components of the project. The evaluator should bear in mind that the implementation of the project was intended to adhere closely to the fundamental scope of being a COVID-19 response.
Specific Objectives:
- Assessment of the project’s performance: To what extent the project achieved its objectives as per the proposal.
- Assessment of the project’s impact on communities: How has the project impacted targeted communities.
- Lessons learned & recommendations: Generating lessons learned and recommendations for future programming based on the project’s implementation and achievements.
Geographical scope: Phnom Penh, Cambodia (including in-person data collection)
Period under review: 3rd December 2020 to the time of evaluation.
Target groups:
- Economically disadvantaged people living in urban areas of Phnom Penh (tenants, blue collar workers)
- Trade union representatives
- Trade union members
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- Women at risk of GBV
- TVET students, TVET center representatives, representatives from the National Employment Agency
3. Key evaluation questions
The key areas that the evaluation is to answer are outlined below. The evaluator is expected to develop methodological approaches and tools that will provide answers to these questions – through semi structured interviews and/or in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and desk research of related secondary data, including project documentation.
Relevance
- Did the project design address the identified problem(s) as a COVID-19 response action? (This question shall focus on the first half of the project.)
- Were the target groups relevant to the project objectives?
- Was the target groups’ quantitative selection appropriate to the project objectives and scope?
- Was the project relevant to the identified needs of the target groups?
- How did the project adapt to address the changing conditions of the identified problems as a COVID-19 recovery and resilience action? How did the project adapt with regards to these target groups, in particular: SMEs, trade union members, and vulnerable communities (ID Poor card holders).
Impact
- To what extent is the intervention contributing to resilience of targeted groups, particularly, trade union members and SMEs?
- What impact did the project have on each target group?
- To what extent did the project contribute to these signs of impact?
Sustainability
- Was the project design and implementation approached through behavior change lenses? A stronger emphasis is to be put on SMEs and trade union members as target groups.
- To what extent is each target group able to maintain the benefits gained through the project for a reasonable period of time after the project is closed? A stronger emphasis is to be put on SMEs, trade union members, trade union representatives, TVET students, and women at risk of GBV as target groups.
- How were capacities strengthened at the individual and organizational level (including contributing factors and constraints)? Especially with all consortium partners and target groups: SMEs, trade union members, trade union representatives.
- To what extent did PIN as a lead implementor contribute to the consortium partners’ capacity building in areas relevant to the project?
- What are the key factors that will require attention in order to improve prospects of sustainability of the project outcomes and the potential for replication of the approach?
- To what extent is the approach to support to SMEs scalable in rural areas of Cambodia?
- To what extent would activities with trade unions be replicable with support of CSOs in Cambodian context? What CSOs?
- How does the possession of job skills gained through the supported TVET courses increase long-term resilience of workers in the COVID-19 labour market and during the recovery phase, in comparison to other workers?
- To what extent are the benefits of Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) likely to be sustained after the completion of the project?
- What are the major factors which influenced sustainability of the FSTP component, both positively and negatively?
- To what extent does the FSTP approach contribute to the ability of people supported by the project to maintain the benefits the project aimed to provide? What other approaches could have been implemented to achieve the same or improved sustainability?
Efficiency
- Are management capacities adequate? Have human and financial resources been allocated strategically to achieve the project objectives?
- Was the project implemented in a cost-effective manner? Could other approaches have been used to achieve the same or better outcomes at lower costs? If yes, what approaches?
- Did PIN and the consortium partners adapt adequately to organizational changes?
- To what extent is the division of roles among the consortium partners, and within PIN internally, efficient? Is there a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities by all parties?
Effectiveness
- What are the unintended effects of the project, both positive and negative?
- To what extent did the project reach the planned results? What was not achieved in full and why?
- What influence have contextual factors (political, social, economic, and other) had on the effectiveness of the project?
- What are the major differences in results across the target groups? Particularly, the extent of the impact, long-term effects, and behavior change.
- To what extent do the outputs contribute to the achievement of the outcomes? And the outcomes to the impact? This question is to reflect results from the endline data collection.
- What were the key approaches and strategies the project used in achieving its outcomes? What worked and what did not and why?
- How effectively were awareness raising and dissemination activities set up to increase the visibility of the project among stakeholders and to reach its target groups? What measures could have been taken to increase the reach of visibility activities among each target group and to enhance the project’s visibility?
- How effective were the project strategies to reach each of its target groups? What are other approaches that could have been implemented to achieve the same or improved results? Emphasis is to be put on target groups: SMEs, vulnerable communities (ID Poor), women at risk of GBV, trade union members, trade union representatives.
- How has the design of the TVET component (type and duration of courses, types of TVET centers) contributed to achieving the project objectives?
- How effectively does the project management monitor recipients of FSTP? What other approaches can be implemented to increase the efficiency of FSTP?
Inclusiveness
- To what extent did the project include projects stakeholders and people supported by the project in project planning and implementation? Have their inputs been incorporated and addressed?
- What mechanisms were put in place by the project team to ensure involvement of key people supported by the project and stakeholders in project implementation and design?
- To what extent did the project address motivation of people supported by the project (in particular, recipients of FSTP) to join the project activities? What other incentive measures could have been put in place to increase retention rates in the project activities?
- Were SMEs assessed and selected in a transparent manner prior to them joining the project activities?
Cross-cutting themes
- To what extent did the project implement gender equity, social inclusion, and human rights principles, and what measures can be recommended if the principles are not adequately and effectively implemented?
- What other approaches can be utilized to efficiently mainstream gender and inclusion of marginalized groups across activities?
Lessons learnt
- Are there any good practices and lessons learned that can be replicated or taken into consideration in future programming by the consortium partners?
Recommendations
- What are the recommendations for future programming?
- What CSOs operating in urban areas of Phnom Penh can be recommended for future programming?
- What are the recommendations for alternative approaches/areas (economic, social, health, environmental) to increase resilience of urban households in Cambodia?
PIN will require specific and data-supported answers to each of the agreed evaluation questions or strong justification for why the data could not be obtained. Justification of data unavailability must be communicated by the evaluator without any delay as soon as it becomes apparent and approved by PIN. Failure to do so can result in decreasing the consultant’s remuneration.
4. Methodology
Desk review
- Baseline survey report
- Handwashing survey (2021 & 2022)
- ITT
- RBF
- Midline survey report
- LMA (2022)
- Documentation from project implementation on activity level
- Other documents upon request (TBC with PIN)
Field Data Collection
Key informant interviews (KII) with project teams, partners, and target groups
Focus Groups Discussions (FGD) with people supported by the project
Surveys
Tools:
Semi-structured interviews and/or in-depth interviews (for KIIs)
FGD Guide
Data Protection
The data collection process is the responsibility of the evaluator; however, PIN will oversee and follow up on the data collection process, and the project partners will help facilitate communication with the project stakeholders and people supported by the project.
When dealing with personal data, PIN follows Guidelines on Processing Personal Data and The Principles of Work with Personal Data (in accordance with the GDPR). PIN’s MEAL team will provide guidance, specifically related to data collected for the purpose of this Evaluation. In line with the guidance, the evaluation team will make clear to all participating stakeholders that they are under no obligation to participate in the evaluation data collection activities. All participants will be assured that there will be no negative consequences if they choose not to participate. The data collection team will inform respondents about acquiring their data for PIN and obtain informed consent from the participants. In case any special category data (e.g. health, ethnicity, religion, etc.) are collected that was not collected by PIN during beneficiary registration and/or no written consent was obtained, the evaluation team shall obtain signed consent. The evaluation team will ensure prior permission is received for taking and use of visual images for specific purposes. The evaluation team will ensure the visual data is protected and used for agreed purposes only. In particular, the Evaluator will employ robust data security measures (related to storing and sharing datasets containing personal information) to further ensure participants’ confidentiality and anonymity.
5. Specific Tasks
- Desk review of project documents
- Development of methodology to be used for the Assignment, including an assessment matrix with key evaluation questions for the different target groups along with relevant data collection tools
- Data collection, including interviews with project staff, partners, and other relevant stakeholders
- Data analysis and presentation of preliminary findings
- Draft Report, including presentation of main findings
- Preparation of final evaluation report (maximum of 25 pages excluding annexes and executive summary) and an evaluation brief.
All other details (including expected deliverables, evaluation criteria, etc.) and documents can be found on the following link: Consultancy for Final Evaluation of the Project Integrated Covid-19 response in urban settings
How to apply
Please see the full version of ToR and other annexes here: Consultancy for Final Evaluation of the Project Integrated Covid-19 response in urban settings
Interested applicants should send their Tender offers via email in pdf format to PIN at the following address: procurement.cambodia@peopleinneed.net or by sealed envelope at No. 33 (4th floor), Street 71, S/k Tonle Bassac, Khan Chamkar Morn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Deadline for submission of application: 22ndFebruary 2024 at 5:00 p.m (GMT+7).
- CV(s) demonstrating previous experience in evaluation (references related to evaluations/monitoring/data collection and analysis are welcome)
- Technical proposal including:
- Proposed approach and methodology
- Indicative evaluation workplan and schedule
- Budget with daily consultancy rates (if needed), accommodation costs if applicable, translation, transcription, and other related costs, including taxes.
- Financial proposal including:
- At least 1 and maximum 2 examples of relevant previous work (evaluation reports related to similar projects)
- 2 verifiable references
- Signed/stamped ToR
- Signed Sworn Eligibility Statement