BACKGROUND
1. Context
Twelve years since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, communities, both within and outside the country, continue to bear the brunt of the crisis. Hostilities have claimed thousands of lives, leaving more than, as of February 2023, 15.3 million of people in need of humanitarian assistance, and forcing millions to flee their homes.While livelihoods continue to be severely disrupted as a result of the conflict, human capital has also been impacted, with increased injuries, disabilities, displacements and a significant brain drain. This directly affects vulnerable communities’ access to essential services, including health. This is compounded by the fact that training opportunities for service providers are scarce, creating pressing needs in terms of skills development.
While providing emergency humanitarian relief during protracted crisis remains necessary to alleviate suffering, more sustainable approaches are also required to improve vulnerable populations’ livelihoods, but also to enhance and sustain their access to more resilient essential services.
2. Project profile
Project title
- Syria area based integrated recovery phase 3 (SABIR III)
Donors
- French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (French MoEFA)
Project budget
- 2,000,000 Euros
Project duration
- Start date:
01/02/2022
- End date:
31/01/2023
Financially supported by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Expertise France launched the third phase of the Syria Area-Based Integrated Recovery (SABIR) project in order to respond to the protracted crisis in NES following the same integrated area-based approach, targeting a cluster of communities in specific geographic areas in the south of Al-Hassakeh and Raqqah governorates, and taking into account the links and exchanges between sectors, local regions and stakeholders to maximize impact.
The SABIR III project was built on lessons learned from the previous project phases, maintaining and expanding good practices, especially the successful area-based and holistic approach to respond to the inter-related and multi-sectoral needs as a mean for stabilization, while adopting a more active community engagement and localized approach through forming community-based committees who would represent the targeted communities and their interests. Particular attention is devoted to mitigating climate change, strengthening food security, and water scarcity in the NES.
Project Objectives:
More resilient local communities pave the way towards greater stabilization in the North East of Syria
Overall Objective:
Living conditions and human security of people affected by the crisis in the northeast of Syria are improved through an integrated area-based approach focusing on access to basic services, livelihoods, and local actors empowerment.
SABIR project’s overall intended impact is to contribute to addressing the post-crisis recovery challenges to pave the path towards sustainable development. The specific objective of SABIR III is to build more resilient local communities towards greater stabilization in the northeast of Syria.
SABIR III focus areas:
1) Access to basic services is enhanced through the rehabilitation of public infrastructure
2) local communities have improved access to inclusive and sustainable livelihoods opportunities
3) local partners and the newly formed CBCs have strengthened knowledge and capacity to implement and coordinate project activities.
The main activities of the project that will be supported within the first and second focus areas:
A. Rehabilitation of public infrastructure:
Activities that could improve access to essential services such as: (i) water supply for domestic and irrigation purposes complemented by climate smart techniques; (ii) electricity infrastructures:
- Rehabilitation of water stations.
- Rehabilitation of irrigation networks and canals.
- Rehabilitation of small groundwater wells/equipping wells with solar energy systems.
- Rehabilitation of electricity networks/installation of new lines and transformers.
Expected Results[1]:
- Rehabilitation of 15 electric transformers and 3 water stations.
- 8 wells drilled and supplied with necessary equipment for agriculture cooperatives.
B. Livelihoods and Economic Recovery: Activities that could improve access to livelihoods and income generation for local households, including sustainable agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods through input materials, climate-smart techniques, extension, and training to create an enabling environment for efficiency and sustainability of interventions:
- Provision of agricultural inputs.
- Supporting the agriculture of fodder crops for piloting to cope with the water scarcity and climate change.
- Training for farmers on innovative agriculture techniques.
- Supporting environmental principles; household composting, organic farming, intercropping, crop rotation, etc.
- Provision of vaccines, veterinary care and training to livestock farmers.
- Provision of technical and vocational training/apprenticeship to increase the employability of local youth.
- Provision of small grants (in-kind) to expand startups.
Expected Results:
- 850 farmers benefited from improved access to irrigation.
- 450 farmers received agriculture inputs.
- 80 farmers supported to use climate smart techniques in their farming.
- 200 Female beneficiaries involved in income generating activities.
C. Strengthening local capacity:
- Establishing Community Based Committees (CBCs) through SABIR III to build stronger links with local communities where the activities are being implemented. These CBCs would ensure good coordination, outreach and communications with communities, conflict resolution during all project cycle from beneficiary selection to hand over of the implemented activity.
- Provide training to CBCs on coordination mechanisms, community dialogue, conflict management and resolution, and accountability.
- Conduct organizational capacity assessment for the nine implementing partners contracted under SABIR III to develop a tailored capacity building strategy and plan to be implemented.
- Provide Capacity building activities and support to CSO partners to enhance their capacity at the organizational level as well as improving their technical knowledge on climate change, food security, and modern agriculture.
Expected Results:
- 60 individuals of local partners staff trained and increased their technical knowledge on food security, climate change and agriculture.
- 4 policies and procedures are developed for the local partners.
III.DESCRIPTION OF THE FINAL EVALUATION
a. Rationale
The SABIR Project was designed and implemented to support stabilization efforts in northeast Syria that aimed to improve people’s standard of living through better access to essential services. It is important to determine the degree to whether the project’s accomplishments were successful in contributing significantly to the stabilization in NES. Thus, it is emphasized to assess the potential changes brought by the project and identify early signs of impact in the targeted locations. The conclusion and set of recommendations will help EF and SABIR project stakeholders in future program designs toward maximizing impact.
Type of evaluation
Final Evaluation
Coverage
All components of SABIR III project:-
- Rehabilitation of public infrastructure
- Food Security and Livelihood
- Strengthening local capacity of 9 implementing partners and 2 community-based committees
Geographic scope
- Project targeted locations in Raqqa (Mansurah) and Al Hasakeh (Shaddadi) governorates
Period to be evaluated
01/02/2023 to 31/01/2023
b. Objectives of the evaluation:
The main objective of this consultancy is to provide a third-party evaluation of the performance of the SABIR III project, with a focus on measuring Impact and outcome indicators, achievement against target, and the reasons that hindered or facilitated achieving desired results. In addition, the evaluation intends to delve into various project components to further understand the quality of implementation and the added value of the project in the NES region.
Evaluation questions: The assignment is expected to provide clear and evidenced answers (disaggregated by age and gender whenever possible) to the following evaluation questions [2];
- Did the project achieve its specific objective and was implemented in an efficient manner?
- How the rehabilitation of public infrastructure improved access to water and electricity in the targeted communities?
- To which extent SABIR project local partners enhanced their organizational and technical capacities as a result of capacity building activities?
- Did targeted beneficiaries increase their income as a result of livelihood and economic opportunity activities?
- Was the SABIR project able to improve living conditions of both targeted communities and did this support stabilization of the targeted area?
- Was the project implementation coherent with other stabilization efforts in NES?
- Did the project achieve EF commitments on gender equality and inclusion?
- Was the project still relevant and coherent in the socio-economical context and environment in NES?
DAC Criteria
The SABIR project will be assessed using the six DAC evaluation criteria: Relevance, Effectiveness, Coherence, Efficiency, Impact, and Sustainability to which is added the criteria on Gender. However, the evaluation approach should be followed with an adaptive mechanism between the criteria, considering the nature of the project activities and project scope.
Methodology:
The evaluation should pursue mixed-method data collection and analysis. A household survey is required in the targeted locations to assess the outcome/impact indicators. It helps to identify the status before and after the project implementation. Furthermore, the evaluation is required to conduct Key Informant Interviews with key stakeholders and Focus Groups Discussions with final beneficiaries of the project. Moreover, the evaluator is responsible for carrying out a physical[3] lessons learned workshop for the project partners. The workshop findings should be triangulated with other primary data and to be incorporated in the evaluation report.
The evaluation process will be carried out in three phases:
1. Inception phase
Main activities to be conducted by the evaluators during the Inception phase:
• Initial review of background documents, including but not limited to:
→ Project proposal (DOA, risk matrix and budget)
→ Contractual and Operational Theory of Change and Logical Framework
→ Partner financial and narrative reports
→ Indicators Performance Tracking Table (IPTT)
→ Monitoring reports.
→ Interim-(donor) report.
→ Internal documents such as presentation, minutes of meetings, etc.
- Remote or face-to-face kick-off session; if face-to-face, the session will be held at EF Erbil office, between the EF team and the evaluators.
- Finalization of the Evaluation Questions, based on the desk review and discussion with EF team.
- Finalization of the lesson learned workshop agenda, its location and all preparation as necessary.
- Finalization of the evaluation methodology, including the definition of Judgement criteria and indicators per Evaluation Question, the selection of data collection tools and sources. The methodology should be gender sensitive, contemplate the use of sex- and age-disaggregated data and assess if and how project components have contributed to progress on gender equality.
- Detailed workplan including specific activities throughout the evaluation process.
- Identification of the expected risks and limitations of the methodology, and of the envisaged mitigation measures.
- Preparation of the Inception Report; its content is described in the chapter related to deliverables.
- Revision and finalization of the inception report (if relevant) following receipt of comments.
2. Interim phase
Main activities to be conducted by the evaluators during this phase:
- Completion of primary research following the methodology described in the Inception Report.
- Completion of data collection, including FGDs and KIIs to support the analysis of secondary data.
- Completion of in-depth analysis of relevant documents and other secondary sources, to be done systematically and reflecting the methodology as described in the Inception Report.
- Field visits to certain locations and perform data collection through observation and/or checklist, in particular to infrastructure projects.
- Selected interviews to support the analysis of secondary data, as relevant.
- Conducting lessons learned workshop as per the agenda finalized in the inception phase.
- Completion of data analysis and drafting final evaluation report.
3. Dissemination phase
Main activity to be conducted by the evaluators during synthesis phase:
- Presentation of key result findings, lessons learnt and recommendations to a group of invitees from various stakeholders; including but not limited to the project donors, EF team (HQ and field team) and the local partner.
c. Initial timeline for the main activities and meetings
The synoptic table below presents an overview of the outputs to be produced by the team, the key meetings with the EF team as described previously, as well as their timing.
[1] Expected results are not final achievements, it will be updated as per the actual figures
[2]These are indicative and broad questions. More sub-questions could be formulated during the inception phase to ensure comprehensive analysis.
[3] Either in Raqqah or Al Hasakeh – To be confirmed in the inception phase.
How to apply
Applications should include:
1) Technical proposal/offer
2) Planning schedule
3) Detailed Financial proposition
4) A sample of previous works
5) Names/references of past clients
The application should be submitted in English before 20 October 2023 to erbil.office@expertisefrance.fr with clear indication of the SABIR III Final Evaluation in the email subject.
Evaluation of Applications: The selection process is based on the evaluation of technical proposals (80%) and considering financial proposal (20%),
For further details regarding the application process, kindly refer to the following link, which contains the complete application documents: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BX2roRFLKsdDtjWgCPHFtvia7YliIucp?usp=sharing