.png)
No. CON/022/2015
Assessment of Restocking Programmes in the Face of Frequent Droughts and Recurrent Shocks
Background
Save the Children has been operating in Ethiopia since 1973. Save the Children mission is to fight for children’s rights and deliver immediate and lasting improvement to their lives worldwide. Currently Save the Children has both relief and development programs, with a wide range of programming encompassing thematic areas of Resilience and Livelihoods, Health and HIV/AIDS, Education, Child Rights and Governance. Save the Children has a wider presence and coverage in the country operating in almost all the regions in the country.
Save the Children has been operating in pastoral areas of Ethiopia. Pastoralism is a livelihood system in which the largest proportion of household total income is obtained from mobile livestock raising on extensive communal rangelands. Whether the uncertainties are natural or man-made, the primary goal of the majority of pastoralists is to secure a minimum number of animals (the viable or maximum possible herd) capable of recovery and reconstitution following normal, medium or severe droughts and other crisis. However, the pastoral systems in the past several decades have become extremely vulnerable to recurrent livelihood shocks and negative trends that have caused a substantial and long-lasting decline in the welfare of the pastoral sector. The sustainability of the pastoral mode of production has been significantly undermined by exposure to the exogenous pressure of natural and man-made shocks, especially recurrent droughts, violent conflicts, natural resource degradation. One result of this trend is the prevailing customary institutional inadequacy to cushion those who could slide into a state of persistent failure to improve their livelihoods. When recurrent widespread livelihood crisis are common due to repeated shocks and endemic stresses, the customary welfare and social insurance schemes gradually fail to serve the purpose for which they were originally established. This effect implies the existence of a poverty trap[1] from which it is impossible for the poor to escape by their own means.
The Restocking Programmes
Save the Children has been implementing several donor funded restocking programmes in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas. Save the Children define restocking as an approach which aims at helping individual pastoral households or communities to build up lost herds and flocks in a sustainable manner. Animals are distributed as a form of immediate disaster relief, as part of rehabilitation process, or a longer-term development effort.
The restocking programmes initiated in most projects after various types of disaster, such as drought, flood or conflict aiming at rebuilding the productive livestock holding for households that have lost most of their animals as a result of an emergency, and have no means of their own to recover. The programmes often come in a variety of shapes and sizes; many are relatively small component of integrated projects. But there are also large scale projects; for example, in 2003 Save the Children responded to the crisis of IDPs by proposing a one year restocking project to reintegrate the most vulnerable.
Despite implementing livestock restocking programmes, limited socio-economic impact assessment and documentation had been conducted about these livestock restocking projects. In most case, no critical independent assessments have been recorded as to the economic benefits and the sustainability of the approaches used, and the implications on household’s capital accumulation or poverty alleviation in the face of frequent droughts and recurrent shocks. The contribution of the livestock restocking programmes to sustainability of the households’ livelihoods remained unclear. Despite the popularity of restocking interventions with pastoralists, the feasibility of the program in the face of frequent droughts and recurrent shocks is not clear. Recurrent shocks have a natural tendency to severely limit the system’s asset accumulation potential and forcing the pastoralists into permanent destitution. The case for supporting restocking when droughts and shocks are recurrent and large numbers of pastoralists have become destitute may raises several arguments.
Objective of the Assignment
In view of the above background information, Save the Children would like to commission a consultant to assess. The main focus will be to ascertain how well the projects achieved the intended objectives of the restocking in terms of quantity, quality, timeliness/seasonality and sustainability livelihoods. In particular the consultant will assess and determine/establish:
1. Implementation approach and process
The appropriateness of targeting methods used by the projectsThe role of the community in identifying the target beneficiariesWhether the roles of customary institution been taken advantage of to ensure better performance?Whether restocking done on time, in expected quantity and quality, and through participatory processes;Adequacy of monitoring and technical support given to the beneficiaries by all stakeholders;Key determinant of the success and efficiency of the restocking programme.
2. Responsiveness of restocked animals to bring changes in the lives of the beneficiary households (disaggregated by gender and age)
Critically review the restocked herd/flock dynamics, balance in terms of TLU per household and attributions to household capital accumulation or asset recovery and building;Contribution of restocked animals to household food and income, and child nutrition,Level of dependence of targeted beneficiaries families on food and income from restocked herd/flock sources;The extent to which the restocked animals impacted on the target households in bringing back to pastoral livelihood;Any unanticipated change in the lives of the beneficiary groups, both positive and negative;Factors affecting the restocking programme at household, community and individual levels;Determine the feasibility of the program in the face of frequent droughts and recurrent shocks.
3. Good practices and lesson learnt
Recommendation
Based on # 1, 2 and 3 aboveDetermine Critical Assets Threshold (CAT) that households should possess to be targeted for restocking program in order to recover from frequent droughts and recurrent shocks, accumulates assets, and escape vulnerability and poverty;Establish appropriate restocking technical packages in the face of frequent droughts and recurrent shocks as a post-drought recovery strategy;
Methodology
The study will be conducted in three regions namely: Afar, Somali and Oromia Regions. The selection of woredas will be on the basis of areas that had been restocked by Save the Children projects.
To sufficiently address the key objectives stated above, the consultant should adopt mixed methods combining both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The qualitative approach will use participatory methods including focus group discussions and key informants’ interviews. The main issues to be assessed in focus group discussion will be the approach and modality of implementation, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities created and challenges/threats of the restocking programmes. The attributions of the programmes contributing to the food security, livelihoods, and future aspirations of the beneficiaries will also be discussed. The issues discussed with key informants and restocked households will include what they understand by livestock restocking, restocked herd/flock dynamics, balance in terms of TLU per household and attributions to household capital accumulation or asset recovery and building; contribution of restocked animals to household food and income, and child nutrition; level of dependence of targeted beneficiaries families on food and income from restocked herd/flock sources, the extent to which the restocked animals impacted on the target households in bringing back to pastoral livelihood; link between restocking and poverty alleviation, importance of livestock to households, and factors affecting the restocking programmes at household, community and individual levels will be investigated.
Questionnaires will be prepared and directly administered to selected restocked heads of households or their representatives. The sample size will be determined by using the probability sampling methods calculated at 95% level of confidence. The beneficiaries will be selected randomly.
Scope of work
The overall focus should be on experiences made and lessons learnt with regard to restocking livestock as a post-drought recovery strategy in the face of frequent droughts and recurrent shocks. The findings of this study will improve future programming and implementation of restocking intervention. The consultant is expected to propose his/her methodology for the assessment, which should include but not limited to:
Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis Secondary data review and analysis, this will include program documents (proposal, results framework, work plan, budget, progress reports and success stories; surveys, evaluation reports and research articles whenever available.)Focus group discussionsKey informant interviews, including Save the Children staffHousehold survey and interviews with beneficiaries Field observations of restocked herds/flocks Meetings and discussions with representatives from respective local leaders, customary institution, women and youth, beneficiary children, other NGOs working in the area, additional stakeholders as necessary.
The consultant should analyse the experiences from within Ethiopia and elsewhere in East Africa but above all understand the context of pastoralists, particularly concerning the target regions.
Deliverables
The consultants should deliver the following outputs and services:
Inception report: The consultant will prepare and submit an inception report describing detailed methodology, assessment timeline and work plan agreed with Save the Children team. The Inception Report should include:
– Overview of restocking programmes
– Expectations of the assessment
– Team Composition and Roles and Responsibilities
– Assessment Methodology
– Information Collection, Analysis and Reporting
– Work Scheduling
Detailed methodology of assessment – including tools to be used, sampling methods and sample size, location selection etc.Description of the sequence of phases related to the proposed assessment approach.Information sources for primary data collection.Finalized assessment techniques, tools/instruments to be used for data collection.Different types of data analysis to be carried out.Draft reports, outlining methodology of the assessment, data analysis and findings. A draft report will be submitted to Save the Children and a preliminary briefing about the initial findings will be held in Addis Ababa.PowerPoint presentations of key findings of the assessmentFinal assessment report, one original signed/certified hard copy and electronic copy saved on a CD outlining the analysis of assessment findings, identify and document best practices and lessons learned and restocking technical packages that might improve design and implementation of similar future projects. In particular, the consultant should describe the main lessons that emerged in terms of sustainable livelihoods. The consultant should come up with clear recommendations regarding specific actions and technical packages that might be taken to improve the design and implementation of similar future projects. The final assessment report must be submitted in the format attached to this term of reference as annex.
Proposed Timeframe
The duration of the whole consultancy work including report preparation is estimated to be 45 person-days of which at least 50% of the time will be spent in field. This will be subject to further discussion based on the plan to be submitted by the consultant and the travel arrangements. With regard to the starting date, Save the Children aims the consultancy services to take place starting from September 2015.
[1] The poverty trap refers to the situation where individuals, communities, regions or economies are caught in extreme poverty and unable to get out of this condition
The consultant should have a thorough undertaking of sustainable livelihood framework with regards to development. In particular the following skills:
A post graduate degree (MSc, MA or Ph.D.) in Agriculture, Economics, Food security and or Livelihood, Rural Development/Community development, Social Sciences, or other related field and relevant experienceAdvanced and demonstrated data collection and analysis skills both in qualitative and quantitative data.Experience with relevant program implementation in pastoral and agro-pastoral contextMinimum of five years of prior experience performing similar intervention and assessment in pastoral and agro-pastoral contextA high level of understanding and analysis of pastoral and agro-pastoral food security and livelihoods, DRR and resilience Excellent participatory planning/facilitation skills and experience in using participatory methodologies;Excellent written and verbal English language skills for the development of reports, tables, and presentations. Demonstrated ability to describe results of analysis to a wide variety of stakeholdersEvidence of relevant previous experience and/or names and contact details of references with good knowledge of your previous work, i.e., three professional references with the telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of contactsSample report of similar assessment conducted and contact names of organization submitted to.Ability and willingness to travel to the field
Personal attributes & skills (highly desirable)
Applicant must be post graduate degree and a team of multi-disciplinary individuals, including Economics, Food security and Livelihood, DRR/CCA and ResilienceSpecific training and/or experiences in pastoral livestock systemsExperiences with implementing pastoralist development programs in complex emergencies in various geographic regions, preferably from several perspectives (UN, NGO, and donor)Experienced in carrying out relevant consultancies for international NGO, major donor or UNExcellent analytical skills Excellent English communication skills both oral and writtenAble to work under pressure, meet deadlines and prioritise workloadsLocal language abilities among the team is mustFlexibility, patience and ability to work with a translatorExperience of travelling and working in remote locations with limited basic facilitiesAbility to ensure independence as well as integration of each component of the assessment
The proposal should clearly be marked “Consultancy Proposal of Save the Children Restocking Programmes Assessment” along with the name of the consultant and can be submitted at Save the Children Ethiopia Country Office in Addis Ababa, situated around Bisrate Gabriel Church, Dire Complex Building on or Before September 30, 2015 at 4:30 PM.
Only proposals from individuals will be accepted. Proposal from firms will not be accepted.
No comments:
Post a Comment