Call for National Tender for Endline Evaluation Consultancy (RFP-2023-003) at Nuru Nigeria

Background

Nuru Nigeria is a local Nigerian NGO with affiliates in the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Our mission is to build resilience corridors of strong, locally owned farmer cooperatives driving profitable livelihoods in vulnerable communities of the Northeast. Nuru Nigeria prioritizes the smallholder farmers it serves and works to cultivate lasting meaningful choices through community-led, community-driven and community-sustained livelihood projects across the agriculture value chain.

Objectives

The main objective of this evaluation is to assess the project goals and expected results as defined in the project document. This evaluation will provide

Information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons into management decision-making, more specifically to:

• Evaluate the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of the project and support with evidence the extent to which the project met its objectives.
• Document lessons learned—both successes and shortcomings of the project in pursuing its intended objectives to generalize the best practice and strategic recommendations for future projects.

Scope of work

The evaluation will be conducted across 9 communities of 5 Wards in Gombi, Hong, and Michika LGAs of Adamawa State. The consultant will adopt both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect and analyze data collected from the beneficiaries in these communities.

S/N	LGA	Ward	Community
1	Gombi	Guyaku	Guyaku 1
			Guyaku 2
			Tella Bala
2	Hong	Thilbang	Pella
		Bangshika	Bangshika
			Gashaka
			Kala’a
		Daksiri	Dakza
3	Michika	Tsukumu/Tilijo	Delchim

 

Deliverables/Expected output

5.1. Draft Final Evaluation Report: The consultant will deliver a preliminary report for revision and comments by the NN M&E and Management Team. This report should include the main draft results and findings of the evaluation, lessons learned, and recommendations, including its sustainability, and potential improvements in project management and coordination of similar USAID projects;

5.2. Final Report: The consultant will submit the final evaluation report, which should include the revised version of the preliminary version after making sure all the comments, observations, and recommendations from the NN M&E Team and the Management Team have been included. The final report must outline the evaluation methodology, findings, lessons learned, and recommendations. The report shall incorporate specific simple and achievable recommendations, including the most appropriate strategies that can be undertaken and/or incorporated by NN and partners to attempt to address the issues identified. The final report should address the issues and questions raised in this RFP and correspond to the evaluation objectives set out above. A final report in both hard and electronic copies shall be made available to NN after the evaluation period.

Criteria to ensure the quality of the evaluation report

• The evaluation report should represent a thoughtful, well-researched, and well-organized effort to objectively evaluate what worked in the project, what did not and why.
• The evaluation report shall address all questions included in the scope of work.
• The evaluation report should include the scope of work as an annex. All modifications to the scope of work, whether in technical requirements, evaluation questions, evaluation team composition, methodology or timeline need to be agreed upon in writing.
• Evaluation methodology shall be explained in detail and all tools used in conducting the evaluation, such as participants’ selection strategy, interview guides, checklists, code, and memos, will be included in an Annex in the final report.
• Evaluation findings will assess outcomes and impact on men, women and youth.
• Limitations to the evaluation shall be disclosed in the report, with particular attention to the limitations associated with the evaluation methodology (selection bias, recall bias, unobservable differences between comparator groups, etc.).
• Evaluation findings should be presented as analyzed facts, evidence and data and not based on anecdotes, hearsay or the compilation of people’s opinions. Findings should be specific, concise and supported by strong quantitative or qualitative evidence.
• Sources of information need to be properly identified and listed in an annex.
• Recommendations need to be supported by a specific set of findings.
• Recommendations should be action-oriented, practical, and specific, with defined responsibility for the action.
• The report shall be written in English and professionally edited.
• The consultant should deliver all documents related to the evaluation in their original version, two hard copies and an electronic copy in English.

OPENING, EVALUATION OF TENDERS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

The opening and examination of tenders is for the purpose of checking whether the tenders are complete and whether the tenders are generally in order.

Tender Process;

The following processes will be applied to this Tender:

• Tender Period
• Tender Closing
• Tender Opening
• Administrative Evaluation
• Technical Evaluation
• Financial Evaluation
• Contract Award       
• Notification of Contract Award

The subsequent evaluation of the tenders shall be carried out in Yola by an Evaluation Committee made up of representatives of Nuru Nigeria.
Tenders will be evaluated on the criteria listed below:

Evaluator Qualifications and Application Procedures

Required qualifications of consultant(s):

• Individuals, teams, firms, or research institutions are eligible to apply
• Demonstrated experience in final performance evaluation similar to this assignment.
• Fluent in English, Hausa or Higgi: the winning firm/individual will be able to have one team member communicate fluently in any two languages in written and verbal communications
• Experience with assessments of gender-integrated agriculture programming, with a preference for familiarity with programming that includes individual farmers, farming households, and farmers’ cooperatives
• Independence from any organizations that have been involved in designing, executing or advising any aspect of the intervention that is the subject of the evaluation
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively for day-to-day logistical and contractual arrangements, engaging participatory analysis, and clearly sharing evaluation findings and recommendations
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with rural families, some of whom are functionally illiterate
• Proven background in evaluation of activities/projects, with a preference for previous ex-post evaluation experience
• Proven expertise with quantitative and qualitative methods
• Experience successfully using participatory approaches, particularly to effectively engage women and other marginalized individuals
• The selected consultant(s) will need to understand the security risk posed, and participate in a security briefing
• The selected consultant(s) will need to sign a waiver accepting the risk before traveling.
• Preference will be given to applicants who have experience with designing evaluation studies of USAID Feed the Future funded activities/projects.

Applications should include:

1. Cover page (1 page) noting:

1. Full legal name, the jurisdiction of incorporation and address of the company (if applicable; if not, similar information about the Team Leader).
2. Contact name, email address, and telephone number to facilitate communication between NN and the submitting organization.

2. Proposed evaluation design/technical proposal, including;

1. Summary of relevant experience.
2. Description of qualifications and experience of team members, including their roles on this evaluation. Include as attachments the team members’ resumes or CVs, signed to indicate commitment and availability for the proposed period.
3. General evaluation approach/methodology including timeline and deliverables (adjusted from the illustrative timeline as needed).

3. Cost proposal, including;

1. The daily rate of the evaluation team members and the anticipated level of effort (number of days) for each member.
2. Costs associated with fieldwork, exclusive of international travel and visa fees (if applicable); in-country travel; in-country hotel which will be reimbursed or paid directly by NN.
3. Costs should be detailed in Nigerian Naira, with applicable tax clearly identified.

4. List of 2 references who can attest to the applicant’s experience and expertise as it relates to this project and this RFP.

Criteria For Selection

The evaluation of technical proposals will be based on the requirements set out in this solicitation. The following maximum points will be assigned to the proposal for evaluation purposes:

• Qualifications and experience
• Relevance of proposed methodology
• Appropriateness of proposed timeline