Terms of Reference (TOR)
For
Undertaking Final project review and Value for Money (VFM) Assessment
For
Public Health Emergency Preparedness Project in Gambella- Ethiopia
1. Background
Christian Aid, in conjunction with Amref Health Africa, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the National Meteorological agency (NMA), have been implementing START Network Disaster Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) project entitled “Preparedness and Early Response to Public Health Emergencies” in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. The DEPP programme works to develop effective humanitarian response where it is needed most and one of the largest investments of its kind funded by UK Aid and managed collaboratively by the CDAC and Start Networks, leveraging the expertise of more than 50-member organisations.
In Ethiopia, the DEPP PHEP project was led by Christian Aid and has been implemented in six woredas of the Gambella region. These include; Akobo, Abobo, Itang, Lare, Jikawo and Wanthoa. The project commenced in July 2015, and will close in March 2018. The project was designed to end in June 2017 however as cost Extension was awarded by DEPP the project is due to end in March 2018. Total project budget is £ 548,693.
The main purpose of this project is to establish an effective and timely health information generating and sharing mechanism that would help to detect and respond to health emergencies. The project has the overall goal of reducing morbidity and mortality caused by health emergencies. The specific objective of the project is to put in place a functional and resilient health information system that has capacity to anticipate and respond to public health emergencies'. The intermediate outcomes of the project are: increased number and proportion of health facilities that can cope with health emergencies, increased health staff capacity to health emergencies; and functional health information systems, preparedness plans and coordination mechanisms before, during and after emergencies.
In line with the above, it is proposed to conduct final project review and VFM analysis to justify whether the project has ensured value for money (VfM) in consistent with the broader DFID framework of Value for Money (VfM), as well, to make analysis to confirm what investments had brought about optimum (maximum) results in terms of addressing the “4E” s pertaining to economy efficiency, effectiveness and equity. Hence this analysis is expected to make recommendations about the quality and standards of work undertaken and results achieved whilst providing opportunity for sharing the learning and good practices to other DEPP programmes across the globe.
Against this background, Christian Aid (CA) has decided to commission a short-term consultancy for conducting a final project review with a considerable focus on the VfM assessment of the project.
2. Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this consultancy assignment is to conduct a top line review of the PHEP project, assessing its achievements against the set outputs and outcomes, as well as assessing the VfM of the intervention against the four ‘E’s. This will involve conducting a social return on investment analysis to consider the social and economic value created for participating partners and communities against the level of invested resources.
This assessment will serve as a measure of accountability to internal and external stakeholders, and facilitate organisational learning on value for money achieved by Christian Aid initiatives. To serve the learning agenda of this assignment, we expect that as well as assessing, through quantitative and qualitative methods, the VfM of the project, we would expect a case story of how the project has ensured value for money per the four ‘E’s, as well as a set of recommendations about how the four ‘E’s could have been better ensured.
3. Tasks of the assignment
To undertake this final review and VFM analysis of the intervention, the evaluator/s will answer the following questions on the report.
3.1 Value for Money (VfM) assessment questions
· Do you think the project offered good value for money? Why? What were the main drivers for this finding? What are the top 3 key things that you would do differently to improve VFM?
· What were the main challenges that prevented the project from offering VFM?
· Did you change activities of ways of doing things which improved results and reduced costs?
· Was the project economical? What evidence is there to suggest that it was delivered at competitive costs? Do you have any quantitative or qualitative data to support this?
· What would you have done differently in terms of being more economical? How would you devise the budget differently to be more appropriate to needs?
· Was the project run efficiently at speed and on budget? And with good collaboration?
· What could have been done differently for the programme to operate more efficiently?
· Did the project operate in a flexible manner with management, finance and M&E working together?
· Did the project design and areas of focus match identified needs?
· Is there any quantitative evidence suggesting that the programme performed cost effectively? (For example, case study or return on investment findings, evaluation findings linked to costs, or cost effectiveness indicators such as cost per outcome).
· Was the project or programme innovative? Has it contributed to elements of transformational change?[1]
· Were the project’s planned outcomes sustainable? If so how? Could the sustainability have been improved? Was a sustainability component included in the project design?
· Does the project target a variety of different groups? Is there evidence to show that the cost implications of targeting different groups has been considered?
The idea of the case studies is to identify elements of the project to VFM demonstration. Examples could be:
• Adaptive changes in activity design and improvements in VFM over time
• Comparing VfM between different activities
• Showing the absolute value of preparedness work
The themes of the case studies may fit into the following broad-brush categories:
· The impact of the project on preparedness (reduced response times, better resilience)
· The outcomes caused by collaboration activities (cost savings, better programming etc.)
· Contributions to Grand Bargain commitments and the like
Note: Focus on different separate examples of significant change, rather than writing a case study of the whole project. i.e. on the effectiveness of a specific activity of the project. Comparing it against the cost of not doing that activity.
3.2 Project outcome assessment questions
· To what extent has the project delivered across the project outputs and outcomes?
· To what extent can the project demonstrate that the intervention has delivered added benefit and value to communities and partners and others if applicable?
· To what extent and in what ways have the benefits of the project become embedded?
ü What contribution has the programme made in strengthening national and regional preparedness systems?
ü In what ways has the project influenced institutional and policy environments?
· To what extent has this project brought collaboration among the key players in public health emergency preparedness.
· To what extent and in what ways has the project led to improved knowledge and understanding of best practices relating to disaster and emergency preparedness and response and disease surveillance reporting system?
· To what extent was the project/program's theory that capacity development is more effective when undertaken as a multi-agency collaborative approach proven? What has or has not worked in capacity development?
4. Approach
The consultant upon completing the assessment will provide CA with the followings
· Inception report on his/her assignment
· Case studies, photos, statistical data and video, as may be feasible
· First draft report with initial findings and recommendations
· Comprehensive report with key findings and recommendations
· Make presentation and facilitate final project review and VfM validation workshop
Contents of the report: maximum 25 Pages without annexes
· Executive summary
· An overview of project design
· Methodology used; research design, tools used and data gathered and tabulated.
· Key findings
5. Timeline – Critical Dates
It is proposed that the consultancy shall be conducted and completed over a period of 30 days as outlined below:
Output | Timeline |
Deadline for inviting consultants and their submission of expression of interest | December 25, 2017 |
Desk Review | 3days |
Inception report based on review of documents | 2 days |
Actual Field work | January 22 - 28, 2018 |
Report writing and Presentation of draft findings | January 29- 2nd of February, 2018 |
Presenting of final report and facilitation of the workshop | 1 day |
Final report submitted | Friday 9th March 2018 |
6. Management arrangements
The Christian Aid, Country Manager and Programme Manager will manage the overall process. For the VfM component of the project, the consultant will liaise significantly with the Christian Aid Ethiopia Finance Manager and PFD Programme officer as deemed necessary. They will remain responsible for ensuring that the consultant is fully inducted, understands the deliverables, and that the consultant receives support in arranging meetings and interviews with the agreed stakeholders to gather necessary information.
CA will reserve the right to preserve the data and every report produced regarding the project and the consultant will be responsible to ensure that these are all provided to Christian Aid at the conclusion of the contract.
The consultant’s travel arrangements will be facilitated by Christian Aid. Security briefings will be provided by a member of the Ethiopia programme team, before travel to duty destination or other areas related to this assignment.
[1] Transformational change can be defined as “change which catalyses further changes, enabling either a shift from one state to another.” So, impacts accrue beyond direct beneficiaries of the actual project.
Profile of Consultant (s)The consultant’s profile should include:
· Considerable experience in international development in areas of health or humanitarian programming desirable.
· Ability to analyse large amounts of information and undertake critical and relevant written analysis;
· Be available to deliver the work within the deadline.
· Excellent report writing skills (in English);
· Demonstrated experience in VfM analysis and reporting;
· High attention to detail and concern for quality outcomes;
· Experience with return on investment analysis and case study development.
Qualification:
· MSC /MA in Economics or related social science with proven expertise in Value for Money analysis pertaining project performance return on investment
Desirables:
· Experience in reporting on DFID funded projects
· Understanding of the DFID approaches to VFM (4 E’s)
· Knowledge of the project area settings.