Job Opportunities at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

We are currently seeking proposals from qualified and reputable firms of Chartered Accountants to provide audit services to the Nigeria Country Program (CP). The proposed engagement is expected to cover three (3) years starting October 2014 and ending September 2017.

Objectives and Scope of the Audit
The objectives of the audit are to:

• Perform audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) as issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and in line with the duties imposed upon them by the Profession and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2004.
• Express an independent professional opinion as to whether the financial statements in all material respects present a true and fair view of the CP’S state of affair, with cognizance of International Financial Reporting Standards and other relevant regulations in Nigeria.
• Give comments and observations on the accounting records, systems, and controls that were examined during the audit.
• Identify specific deficiencies and areas of weakness in systems, controls and make recommendations for their improvement;
• Report on any lack of compliance with donor agreement; and
• Communicate matters that may have a significant impact on the operations of the organization consistent with the CP’s risk matrix.
• Responsibility for preparation of Financial Statements
• The responsibility for the preparation of the annual financial statements lies with the Board of Trustees and management of CRS.
• The Management is responsible for the implementation of accounting, administrative and financial policies and procedures documented in the CRS’ manuals.

Eligibility Criteria
Interested firms must meet the following criteria:

• Evidence of valid practicing License issued by the relevant professional body.
• Evidence of Firm’s registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
• The Firm’s profile, including professional qualifications of the key staff, experience with respect to similar successful previous engagements.
• Evidence of financial capability (Bank reference);
• Audited accounts of the Firm for the last three years, i.e., 2014, 2015 and 2016.
• Evidence of valid tax clearance certificates for the last three years, i.e., 2015, 2016 and 2017.
• Demonstrable experience in the audit of an international non-governmental organization (INGO)
• Evidence of the firm’s staff stability history. In other words, key staff who have stayed with the firm for at least 3 years

Proposal Content
Details and general background of the firm including a brief assessment of what our needs are and how your firm proposes to meet those needs.
Details of your firm's experience in the audit of INGOs.
Details of the staff who would be assigned to the audit, including the partner, manager and any other key staff including years of experience especially in INGO audit.
Details of your approach to auditing the CP Including an outline of the audit plan defining the timeline of the varying facets of the audit engagement.
Details of your proposed fee for the annual audit and the basis of any additional charges. This should contain information about the hourly rates of all staff involved, anticipated time input of different staff, position of staff and the total number of days/weeks which will be allocated to the audit;
Experience of Technical Resources (CV of the assigned team leader and team members)
Details of how your firm can add value to the CP in terms of other advice that could be made available; and/or training, support on relevant issues such as Risk, Governance and statutory compliance. Proposal submission Interested firms must submit their proposal to tenders.ngr@crs.org or directly to the CP’s head office at Plot 512, Ahmadu Bello Way, Behind NAF Conference Centre and Suites, Kado District, Abuja, Nigeria not later than one (1) week after the date of this publication.
Submissions must carry the job title and application code ‘AS210218’ as the subject of email or hardcopy submissions E.g Proposal to Provide Annual Audit Services for CRS AS210218. Deadline for submission is March 6, 2018.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their offers are received in accordance with the instructions stated herein. CRS cannot guarantee that late offers will be considered.

go to method of application »

Background
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Nigeria is leading an exciting and innovative project designed to develop sustainable approaches to lift some of the most vulnerable households in Nigeria out of poverty. This USAID-supported project called Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project is implemented by a consortium of non-governmental organizations. The project is based in rural communities in Northern Nigeria of Sokoto and Kebbi states and the Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory and has expanded to Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa States in FY17. The project consortium works closely with multiple stakeholders within government at state and local levels, and amongst private sector. The project partners with eight local civil society organizations and incorporates a focus on local capacity building for sustained service delivery in project locations.

In the NW and FCT, the project engages communities in agricultural-led growth interventions, using a multi-sectoral approach to help 42,000 very poor households grow their agriculture production, incomes and improve nutrition. The project seeks to improve agricultural practices with a focus on post-harvest storage for nutrient rich crops already being produced, and promotes a market-oriented approach to diversification of production through ensuring that all agricultural activities are adapted to specific agro-ecological and cultural contexts. The project also assists vulnerable families through income diversification and provision of participatory comprehensive nutrition activities at the community level. To help vulnerable families move along the Pathway to Prosperity, the project utilizes cash transfers to help meet nutritional needs, recover assets and overcome barriers to income-generating activities. To support sustainability, the project strengthens the institutional capacity of government systems to implement poverty reduction programs and reinforce accountability between the government and citizens. Therefore, in the NW and FCT, the project has four key results areas of increased agricultural production and productivity, increased income, improved nutrition status and stronger social safety net for households. The project adopts a cohort approach to household interventions. The project randomized the households benefiting in the project into three classes: A, B, and C. Although the intervention with each class
overlapped with another, the intervention began with Class A, then Class B and later Class C. At this stage in the project, the interventions are targeting Class C.

CRS Nigeria requires the services of a qualified consultant to evaluate and implement a process for graduating benefiting Class C households in the project and provide answer by research to key learning agenda question. The aim of the learning agenda is to investigate the different aspects of the project interventions and their corresponding effects. The graduation activity will apply a quantitative approach with focus on Class C households with a total sample of 6,000 households from the total of 19,135 households from Class C in NW while the learning agenda shall combine both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The graduation and learning agenda tools will be administered to project households located in communities in the following locations:
1. FCT: Bwari Area Council
2. Sokoto: Dange Shuni, Rabbah, Kebbe and Tangaza LGAs
3. Kebbi: Birnin Kebbi and Danko Wasagu LGAs

Objective of the Consultancy
The overall objective of this consultancy is to design and administer the graduation tools to project households to evaluate their readiness for graduation; rank households based on performance on the project indicators, determine the appropriate project services necessary for household still receiving interventions to be eligible for graduation and seek solution to a key learning agenda question.

More specifically, the learning agenda will investigate the different aspects of the project interventions and their corresponding effects.
Learning Agenda Question: What will be the relative contribution of Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) and nutrition–sensitive interventions on child nutrition in selected communities of the Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project?
The question specifically aims at exploring the extent to which SILC activities and consequential economic strengthening can contribute to improving child nutrition and wellbeing at the household level. This is important because nutrition-sensitive activities like SILC have been identified to play a vital role towards improving nutritional status (Lancet Series 2013).

The study will use three intervention arms which are; SILC-only interventions; nutrition-only interventions and integrated SILC plus nutrition intervention. The aim is to prove a synergistic relationship between nutrition counseling and education and SILC as compared to the interventions delivered alone.

For the purpose of answering the learning agenda question, the study area will include non-intervention communities.
Main Tasks
1) Finalize tools and develop protocol for graduation

• Review relevant literature and materials developed and used in the project.
• Review and finalize the criteria for graduation developed by CRS
• Review the tools for graduation using these criteria
• Present the tools to CRS project management team.
• Finalize preliminary protocol and tools after receiving feedback.

2) Administer the graduation tools

• Orient and train the teams to collect data.
• Initiate and supervise the data collection.
• Analyze data and share the initial findings with CRS project team.

3) Conduct and implement the Learning Agenda

• Orient and train the Qualitative teams to collect data.
• Develop guides for Learning Agenda qualitative and quantitative? data collection
• Test and modify learning tools.
• Initiate and supervise the data collection.
• Analyze data and share the initial findings with CRS project team.

4) Report writing and data dissemination

• Write-up data findings and initial draft reports of both studies.
• Share findings with CRS project team.
• Final report.

This must at a minimum contain:

• Title page
• Table of contents
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Objectives of the graduation process
• Methodology (how the graduation was conducted)
• Summary of Findings
• Project implications/Lessons learned
• Limitations
• Conclusion and recommendations for the project
• Annexes

5) Develop a database of beneficiaries from the graduation study

• General HH information of beneficiaries
• HH Wealth ranking
• Graduation ranking (status)
• Livelihood activities
• Current intervention accessed by every member of the HH
• Main Deliverables
• Detailed workplan after engagement and debriefing
• Detailed guides for qualitative study
• Revised HH graduation data collection tool
• Graduation Ranking protocol
• Report of activity after field data collection
• Detailed database of beneficiaries showing the graduation ranking by state, by class
• Detailed database of beneficiaries showing interventions received by HHs by state, by class
• Draft report of HH graduation study for review and comments
• Draft report of Learning Agenda study
• Final report of both studies

Requirements
To be determined responsive, an offer must meet the below requirements:

General Requirements

• Applications will be accepted from individual consultants or organizations with experience in household surveys, monitoring and evaluation of agriculture and livelihoods programs. The consultants should possess the following combination of skills and expertise:
• Post graduate degree in agriculture, agricultural economics, social science, development studies, etc., and with formal research skills.
• At least 5 years of advanced experience in conducting surveys and evaluations of complex program design with a clear understanding of various social research methodologies.
• Demonstrated research and analytical report writing skills with sound experience in measuring agriculture production, income generation and nutrition and hygiene indicators.
• Experience in multi-sector and multi-partnership approach to poverty reduction and livelihoods programming.
• Ability to clean, analyze and synthesize data using survey data management packages such as CSPro and Excel as well as SPSS, R, STATA, SAS, and Epi-Info or other appropriate software to analyze and report large datasets.
• Good eye for detail, adherence to logic, and capacity for inductive reasoning
• Strong presentation, facilitating, communication and team working skills.
• Strong computer skills and knowledge of ICT4D.
• Demonstrated familiarity with and experience in NW Nigeria.
• Ability to strictly adhere to ethical standards of research and CRS’ protection policy.

Required Documents
1. Cover Letter (1page maximum), which shall include the following information at minimum:
Name of the consulting company, organization, or individual (s)
Physical Address
Telephone Number
E-mail Address

Relevant experience
Technical Proposal: Applicant must develop a technical proposal that includes 1). a detailed methodology for implementation, 2). data management procedure, 3). proposed timeline and 4). CVs of proposed personnel. Page limit for the technical proposal is 7 pages’ total, not including CVs. Applicants should use reasonable font sizes and margins for the technical proposal, and limit use of non-essential graphics and tables.
Cost Proposals Financial Proposal (maximum one-page): breakdown of cost estimates for services rendered. This should include: daily consultancy fees, accommodation, travel and other logistics. Note that, CRS will pay directly for enumerators, and printing of any materials to be used.
Please note that payments will be made in local currency.

Deliverables and Timeline
The survey is expected to take place within a period of not more than 38 days, commencing
April 1st to May 17st, 2018.
Deliverable
Description of Deliverable
Timeframe

Number of days
(1). Inception phase report which must include final research instrument and research methodology.
Inception phase (including review of research instruments and finalisation of methodology)
1st – 4th April 2018
4 days
(2). Final training manual, field activity report including sampling frame.
Primary research - Field work, including pilot and Training
5th-22nd April 2018
18 days
(3). Data list and preliminary results
Data entry, Cleaning and analysis
23rd – 30th April 2018
8 days
(4). Household Study first draft Report.
Development of Draft Report for review by CRS
2nd - 6th May 2018
5 days
(5). Household Study second draft report
Presentation of draft report
12th – 13th May 2018
2 days
(6). Household Study Final Report
Final report (preparation and submission)
17th May 2018
1 days
Total days
38 days
Offer Submission
Interested applicants must submit the proposal electronically compatible with MS Word, MS Excel, readable format, or Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format in a Microsoft XP environment; using the job title and application code ‘CP270218’ as the subject of their email E.g Proposal to Conduct Household Graduation Survey in FCT, Sokoto and Kebbi States CP270218.
Proposals shall be submitted by email only to tenders.ngr@crs.org. The deadline for receiving proposals is Tuesday February 27, 2018.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their offers are received in accordance with the instructions stated herein. CRS cannot guarantee that late offers will be considered.

go to method of application »

Context:
CRS has a long and rich history of collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). Since 2003, CRS has been awarded over $290 million in Global Fund resources to implement programs in 27 countries. In Nigeria, CRS is a Sub-Recipient (SR) on the Global Fund HIV and has been a Co-Principal Recipient (PR) for the Global Fund Malaria grant since January 2017. As a Co-PR, CRS partnered with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2017 long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in 6 states. CRS also supervised and monitored an SR, and supported a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.

For the 2018-2020 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS will remain a Co-PR with NMEP, strengthening the synergy and collaboration with NMEP to improve efficiency and impact. CRS will work closely with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2018-2019 long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in 7 states (CRS will implement directly in 2 states and provide ICT4D support for SFH to implement in 5 states). In addition to SFH, CRS will also oversee 2 other SRs (Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium), in providing support to the 13 states supported by the Global Fund, for a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.

Job Summary:
The GF Malaria Program Manager (PM) will support the Senior Program Manager (SPM) to provide oversight to the sub-Recipients on the GF-Malaria grant in achieving donor targets for the Global Fund malaria case management and program management components, in accordance with the Detailed Implementation Plan (work plans) and approved budget, paying attention to deadlines and CRS/donor guidelines

S/he will support the Senior Program Manager to monitor SR training and provide technical support to SR staff, and liaise with stakeholders in Federal and State Ministries of Health to ensure adherence to national strategies and guidelines for malaria prevention, testing and treatment.

Specific Job Responsibilities:
1. Program Management

• Provide oversight to the 2 service delivery SRs (Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium); and support the team in providing oversight to the ACSM SR (Society for Family Health).
• Provide support to the SRs in managing the GF Malaria project at different levels (national, state and LGA).
• Provide support in ensuring that SR program activities are implemented according to the approved work plan and budget, paying attention to agreed deadlines.
• Participate in monitoring and supervision of program activities implemented by the SRs, ensuring that activity reports are developed and feedback provided to SRs
• Support in tracking the implementation of SR program activities and tracking budget expenditure
• Provide support to the SPM in ensuring that SR reports are of good quality and submitted on time, with strict adherence to the PR-SR Agreement, CRS policies and GF policies and guidelines.
• Participate in program-wide quarterly programme and operational review meetings with the SRs and follow up with appropriate actions and feedback
• Participate in PR-SR meetings to review grant achievements, analyze reports and SR performance ratings; and provide strategies for improving grant performance
• Participate in quarterly grant review meetings with the Global Fund Country Team and partners, for improving grant efficiency and effectiveness
• Provide support to the SPM in identifying pertinent operational research questions which can be answered within the program, design appropriate studies, implement them, analyze data and document the findings
• Participate in Programme Management Sub-committee meetings with NMEP and partners
• Participate in Case Management Sub-committee meetings with NMEP and partners
• Participate in other Malaria Technical Working group meetings

2. Budget Management

• Support and participate in activities to ensure appropriate budget planning and financial reporting by SRs, including budget management, forecasting and analysis of burn rates
• Support and participate in reviewing actual financial performance against the budget for the various SR budgets, and explain variances on a regular basis
• Support and participate in activities to ensure sub-recipients remain in compliance with CRS and Global Fund donor rules and regulations for management of resources
• Participate actively in the monthly CRS Budget Comparison Report (BCR)/budget review meetings

3. Partnership Management

• Support the SPM as the Case Management contact/support for CRS sub-recipients, including sharing new information and ensuring healthy relationships are maintained between the sub-recipients and the state governments
• Represent CRS at relevant technical meetings with other malaria partners as delegated by the SPM, DCoP or CoP
• Carry out any other duties assigned by the supervisor

4. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

• With oversight from the SPM, collaborate and support the MEAL team to track progress towards relevant performance indicators, analyzing reasons for shortfalls and adapting program strategies as needed
• Provide support in the design and implementation of feedback and response channels to enhance accountability of malaria program services when needed
• In collaboration with program and SRs staff, provide support and technical assistance to partners and other collaborating agencies to ensure that lessons learned and best practices for malaria programming are documented and disseminated
• Facilitate learning exchanges among SRs and between SRs and government ministries on malaria program management and support quality improvement initiatives

5. Management and Administration

• Support elaboration of Program Update/Disbursement Requests (PU/DR) in collaboration with other program staff
• Review SRs program reports and provide feedback on implementation progress and performance, identifying solutions to address challenges and weaknesses
• Ensure implementation of activities in compliance with all CRS and Global Fund administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as applicable donor regulations

Key Working Relationships:
Internal: Global Fund Malaria Program Team, Deputy Country Representative, Country Representative, Head of Operations, Finance, Procurement and Administration Staff, Regional and Senior Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Directors for PQ and MQ
External: Global Fund’s Fund Portfolio Manager and Nigeria Country Team, SRs, State Ministries of Health (SMOH), National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) within the Federal Ministry of Health (MoH), Technical and Financial Partners, partner health facilities, Local Fund Agent (LFA)

Physical Requirements/Environment: Ability to travel frequently to the project sites in all the states of the assigned zone.

Agency Wide Competences (For all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Serves with integrity
• Models stewardship
• Cultivates constructive relationships
• Promotes learning

Qualifications:

• M.D/MBBS required with significant field experience in clinical and/or community-based malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment OR post graduate degree in health management or public health.
• At least 6 years of post NYSC relevant experience in public health with a strong preference for candidates with at least 4 years’ experience in malaria programming. Some health-related community development experience is required.
• Experience managing development sector programs is required.
• Experience in malaria programming at the field level and providing technical assistance to partner organizations; knowledge and experience of programmatic and technical service delivery challenges highly desired.
• Ability to work both in a team and independently and ability to transfer knowledge through formal and informal training.
• Experience with, and a demonstrated commitment to, community-based approach to development.
• Experience with GF donor funding requirement is a plus.
• Ability to interface with multiple stakeholders, representatives, and partners in a professional manner on an ongoing basis.
• Excellent analytical and information seeking skills, good decision-making skills.
• Experience with participatory planning and evaluation methods preferred.
• Strong inter-personal and public relations skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly and at short notices.
• Excellent English language oral and written communication skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook.

Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
Nigeria Program

How to Apply:
Interested candidates should download the application form using this link https://goo.gl/tCN6aY and send with a detailed 3-page resume in a single file word document to ng.recruitment_health@crs.org. The position title must be expressly stated as the subject of the email quoting reference number PM270218. E.g Program Manager Global Fund Malaria PM270218.
Completed applications should reach us before COB, Tuesday February 27, 2018. Only applicants who send in the required format will be considered and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

go to method of application »

Terms of Reference
Final Evaluation of Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sokoto, Kebbi, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
This Terms of Reference (TOR) provides the description and work to be done to conduct a final evaluation of the Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project. The work required by this TOR includes the design of the final evaluation and implementation. This TOR has the following sections: background; justification, scope; objective; evaluation questions; learning agenda questions; methodology; deliverables; qualifications; roles and responsibility; management arrangement; timeline; payment schedule; and submission guidelines.

Project Background
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of these partner organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in which CRS operates. CRS has worked in Nigeria for more than 25 years. Through local partners, CRS has implemented programs in almost all the states in Nigeria, demonstrating the agency’s extensive grassroots network and significant capacity to reach the rural poor. Focusing on agriculture, emergency response and recovery, and health, CRS is helping to strengthen health care systems, Catholic Church partners, other community-based organizations, and government institutions. CRS’s current projects are improving the lives of more than 1.4 million Nigerians.

CRS Nigeria is leading an exciting and innovative project designed to develop sustainable approaches to lift some of the most vulnerable households in Nigeria out of poverty. The project known as Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project is funded by USAID for a period of five years (from July 2013 to July 2018) for Northern Nigeria states of Sokoto and Kebbi and the Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory. The project is implemented by a consortium of non-governmental organizations, led by CRS Nigeria. The project is based in rural communities and targets 42,000 vulnerable households. The project consortium works closely with multiple stakeholders within government at state and local levels, and amongst private sector. The project also works with local civil society organizations and incorporates a focus on local capacity building for sustained service delivery in project locations. In 2017 the project was extended to the Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe to reach 10,000 vulnerable households.

CRS’ Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project engages communities in agricultural-led growth interventions, using a multi-sector approach to help the very poor households grow their agriculture production, incomes and improve nutrition. The project aims to improve agricultural practices, promoting post-harvest storage for nutrient rich crops already being produced, and market-oriented approach to diversification of production, ensuring all agricultural activities are adapted to specific agro-ecological and cultural context. The project also assists vulnerable families with income diversification and provision of participatory comprehensive nutrition activities at the community level. To help vulnerable families move along the Pathway to Prosperity, the project utilizes cash transfers to help meet nutritional needs, recover assets and overcome barriers to income-generating activities. For sustainability, the project strengthens the institutional capacity of government systems for implementing poverty reduction programs and reinforce accountability between government and the citizens. The project adopts a cohort approach to household interventions. The project has randomized the households benefiting in the project into three classes: A, B, and C. Although the intervention with each class overlapped with other classes, the project began with Class A, then Class B and later Class C. The project has been working with the whole 10,000 households in North East without disaggregating them into Classes. The North-East intervention is centered on improving agricultural practices with a focus on post-harvest storage for nutrient rich crops already being produced, and promotes a market-oriented approach to diversification of production through ensuring that all agricultural activities are adapted to specific agro-ecological and cultural contexts; as well as SILC (savings and loans) intervention.
Goal: The goal of the project is, “households in targeted states have reduced poverty”. At this goal level are five key impact related indicators on income, prevalence and depth of poverty, prevalence of stunting children and households’ dietary diversity. These goals are being achieved based on the collective outcomes and outputs of the project activities across four sectoral results areas of agriculture, growth in income, nutrition and social safety net and governance.

Intermediate Results (IR)

• IR1: Households have increased agriculture production and productivity
• This result focuses on increasing the yields of focus commodities of farming households, by adopting improved agriculture practices and diversification of agricultural production.
• 1.1 Households adopt improved agriculture practices
• Local value chain assessed
• Sustainable producer groups established and strengthened.
• Increased knowledge of production practices
• Increased access to extension services
• Increased access to production enhancing inputs
• Increased access to financial services
• Increased access to improved post- harvest and storage techniques
• 1.2 Households have diversified agricultural production
• Increased production (and processing, as appropriate) of dual purpose crops
• Increased production of small ruminants
• IR 2: Households have increased income
• This result focuses on income growth through increase in revenue sources, value of sales, off-farm sales and women taking advantage of market opportunities as well as access to appropriate financial services.
• 2.1 Households have increased revenue sources
• HHs acquire the skills to identify enterprise opportunities
• HHs acquire the skills needed to pursue economic opportunities
• HHs have access to mentors
• 2.2 Households have accessed appropriate financial services
• Vulnerable HHs have increased their savings
• Individuals (particularly women and youth) have increased their financial literacy skills
• MFBs develop products adapted to the needs of women and youth
• MFBs extend their rural outreach through mobile technology
• Individuals have access to financing options
• IR3: Households have improved their nutrition status
• This result focuses on improving diet and breastfeeding for children, women dietary diversity, safe water and hygiene practices in the households.
• 3.1 All household members have adequate nutritious diets
• HHs have increased knowledge of nutrition and hygiene
• Vulnerable HHs have increased production of nutrient-rich foods
• 3.2 Households have adopted improved hygiene behavior
• HHs have increased knowledge of nutrition and hygiene
• HHs have increased access to improved sanitation
• HHs have increased access to safe drinking water
• IR4: Households have stronger social safety net
• This result focuses on strengthening the capacities of government institutions and community/village level systems and structures for poverty reduction at the local level and social assistance to extremely vulnerable households.
• 4.1 Extremely vulnerable households have accessed poverty reduction services
• Constituents, CSOs and government agree on CCT parameters
• 4.2 LGA/AC have increased poverty reduction program implementation capacity
• LGAs have strengthened operational and management structures
• LGAs have local economic development plans

Justification of the final evaluation
This final evaluation is to be carried out as one of the evaluation procedures in the project activity monitoring and evaluation plan for assessing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the project outcomes as well as the strategies employed by the project for poverty reduction. As the project implementation has been completed, it is usual to carry out a detailed review to assess the project goal, determine the efficiency of the program operations in carrying out the agreed activities, assess the relevance of the project design considering implementation and changes in the operational areas and aspirations of the households targeted, and effectiveness of the sustainability measures put in place by the project and to answer some learning agenda questions. Generally, the evaluation study intends to measure programme performance against pre-agreed indicators. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the project to see if it has achieved the set goal.

Scope of the Evaluation

• This final evaluation will cover all interventions of the project by the intermediate results areas and cross-cutting, including project management, resource management, monitoring and evaluation, learning agenda questions, partnership and stakeholders’ commitments.
• Field Final Evaluation survey will be conducted in
• Bwari Area Council in the FCT,
• Tangaza, Dange Shuni, Kebbe, Rabah LGAs in Sokoto State
• Birnin Kebbi, Dango Wasagu LGAs in Kebbi State
• Gombi and Hong LGAs in Adamawa State
• Jere, Kaga, Biu and Hawul in Borno State
• Bursari and Jakusko LGAs in Yobe State

Objective of the Evaluation
The overall objectives of the evaluation is to evaluate the activities implemented for the Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project and its partners towards achieving the expected outcomes and to make recommendations on further replication of the project. The recommendations will suggest if deemed necessary – re-orientations and changes in the project design, scope and implementation approach and provide recommendations on management and methodologies to improve performance and delivery of similar or future projects. The evaluation will focus on assessing cost effectiveness of the project, and on the review of structures, processes and systems established during the implementation period.
In addition, the outcome of the evaluation will contribute to the learning documentation of the project. In achieving this, the evaluation will answer key learning agenda questions.

More specifically, the evaluation will:

• Assess the relevance of the Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods project in terms of the priorities, objectives, implementation plan and beneficiaries’ needs as defined by the project (usefulness, alignment)
• Assess the results and progress of the project in terms of effectiveness (achieved outcomes versus planned outcomes) and the efficiency of implementation (output achieved against inputs and budgets used) and
• Assess the feasibility and sustainability in terms of design, scope, implementation, partnerships, management and steering of the project.
• Identify evidence of programming strengths, weaknesses, emerging opportunities and lessons learned
• Identify and Assess the project management and coordination processes and the effects on implementation of the project
• Assess the project critical assumptions and triangulate on its effect on the implementation of the project.

Key Evaluation Questions
Impact:
To what extent have results contributed to a reduction in poverty of the rural and vulnerable households?
5
What is the value of the project in relation to the needs of the rural and vulnerable households, reduction of poverty, increase in agricultural production and productivity, increase in income, improvement in nutrition status and stronger social safety net of rural and vulnerable households?
Relevance:
What is the relevance of the project in relation to the pathway to prosperity model, as well as the caseworker model, women empowerment, youth and adolescents and strengthening local systems?
What does current experience suggest about the appropriateness of the current strategy of the project? Does the strategy successfully address the key issues affecting the rural and vulnerable households that have participated in the project?
Efficiency:
Do the project use resources in the most economical manner to achieve expected results? Are any other economical alternatives feasible?

Effectiveness:
Does the project achieve satisfactory results in relation to stated objectives and expected results of reduced poverty with increased agricultural production and productivity, increased income, improved nutrition status and stronger social safety net of households?
What are the results of the project interventions – intended and unintended, positive and negative – including social, economic, and environmental effects on the rural and vulnerable households?
What proportion of the targeted population has been reached overall? Did the project reach the identified categories of vulnerable households to the same extent that it intended?
What key barriers have hindered reaching all the targeted households?

Sustainability:
Is the project intervention and its impact on households likely to continue when USAID assistance is withdrawn?
Will the project strategy be more widely replicated or adapted? Is it likely to be scaled-up?

Key Learning Agenda Questions
1. Does diversified agricultural production improve nutritional status of vulnerable households?
This question seeks to understand the improvements in the nutritional status of vulnerable households once agricultural production has been diversified. This will not only look at the impact of different crops, especially nutrient rich foods, for direct consumption but also generation of income needed to procure the amount and variety of food families needed.
The study was initially intended to be done be done as part of data collection and analysis by the Project M&E team but has now been incorporated into the final evaluation study. The baseline study and annual monitoring surveys will provide additional information to support the study process.
2. What are the contributing factors and barriers to increased local government investment in poverty reduction programs and services?
This study will be compiled based on project outcomes related to local government assessments, organizational capacity improvements, development and implementation of local economic development plans and some addition focus group surveys at community, local government and state levels.

Key Gender Evaluation Questions
To what extent has women’s engagement in market opportunities influenced their control over resources at the household level?
To what extent did women’s involvement in SILC influence their decision-making power over the use of income in the HH?
To what extent did women’s participation in project activities improve their participation and leadership in community activities?
In what ways did men’s participation in male social forums influence the relations in the HH?

Evaluation Methodology

• The evaluation will adopt a mixed method approach. This will include:
• Literature review of various project documents and progress reports at CRS and partner’s offices. The project documents to be reviewed will include project description, work plan, partner coordination meeting reports, baseline report, impact evaluation baseline, annual survey reports, Households Graduation Studies and progress reports to donors.
• Review of materials produced by the project - including caseworker model, household planning diary, education strategy, M&E plan, manuals, communication strategy, accountability strategy, etc.
• Focus group and key informant interviews and discussions with organizations supported by the project, groups and individuals who have benefited directly and indirectly from the project as well as CRS staff and the consortium partners.
• Direct observation by visiting supported groups in the communities.
• Beneficiary survey to measure the project outcomes, using the annual survey design.
• Annual Key Performance Indicators to be measured and disaggregated by state and region
• Yield per unit of land
• Number of members in producer groups that have increased their production of focus commodities
• Number of farmers who have applied new technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance
• Number of hectares under improvement technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance
• Average number of different crops produced by participating households
• Average number of revenue sources per household
• Percentage of total income generated from off-farm activities.
• Percent of women who engage in market opportunities.
• Household Dietary Diversity Score
• Women's dietary diversity: Mean number of food groups consumed by women of reproductive age
• Prevalence of children 6-23 months receiving a minimum acceptable diet
• Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of children under six months of age
• Percentage of households storing treated water in safe storage containers
• Percent of respondents who know at least 3 out of 5 critical hand washing moments
• Value of household’s sales.

Other indicators are:
Number of farmers using PICS bags, Anthropometric status of under-five children, Demographic and socio-economic household profile indicators, Household vulnerability indicators, Conditional cash transfer indicators and Home gardens
The evaluation will cover the entire range of partners within each result area of the project.
Sampling will be applied in selection of sites to be visited for meetings and beneficiaries.

Main Deliverables

• Develop review protocol
• Review relevant literature and materials developed and used in the project.
• Develop and share the preliminary protocol and tools with CRS project team.
• Dialogue with CRS project management team.
• Finalize preliminary protocol and tools after having feedback.
• Conduct and implement the Final Evaluation
• Orient and train the evaluation teams to collect data.
• Test and modify evaluation tools before starting the evaluation.
• Initiate and supervise the data collection.
• Data cleaning and processing
• Analyze data and share the initial findings with CRS MEAL team.
• Produce 3-5 publication draft write-up journals/papers on some of the results/outcomes of the evaluation study. Consultant will be recognized as co-author for the papers.
• Report writing and data dissemination
• Write-up data findings and initial draft report.
• Develop recommendations for project implementation and operations
• Share findings with CRS project team.
• Final report.

This must at a minimum contain:

• Title page
• Table of contents
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Objectives of the final evaluation
• Methodology – process how the evaluation was conducted
• Evaluation findings and analysis
• Lessons learned
• Conclusion and recommendations for the project
• Annexes

Required Qualifications

• Proposals will be accepted from consultants/firms with verified previous experience in conducting evaluation of projects in the field of agriculture and livelihoods including nutrition in rural areas. The consultants should possess the following combination of skills and expertise:
• Post graduate degree in agriculture, agricultural economics, social science, development studies, etc., and with formal research skills.
• At least 5 years of advanced experience in conducting evaluations of complex program design with a clear understanding of various social research methodologies.
• Demonstrated research and analytical report writing skills with a sound experience in participatory review and evaluation methodologies
• Experience in multi-sector and multi partnership approach to poverty reduction and livelihoods programming.
• Multiple experience in interventions programs in agriculture production, income generation, nutrition, social safety net and governance with poor households and local institutions.
• Ability to conduct interview and discussions in English and local language desirable.
• Ability to analyze and synthesize data from different sources relating to the scope of the evaluation.
• Ability to clean, analyze and synthesize data using survey data management packages such as CSPro and Excel as well as SPSS, R, STATA, SAS, and Epi-Info or other appropriate software to analyze and report large datasets.
• Good eye for detail, adherence to logic, and capacity for inductive reasoning
• Strong presentation, facilitating, communication and team working skills.
• Strong computer skills and knowledge of ICT4D.
• Good interpersonal skills, including the ability to conduct discussions with a diversity of people ranging from senior management to project participants.
• Willingness and ability to travel to the different project's sites in the country.

Roles and Responsibilities
Project Team
The project team will be responsible for providing the existing documents related to the project and logistics support to the consultant during the final evaluation field data collection and presentation to CRS.

Evaluation Consultant
The role of the evaluation consultant is to work closely with the project management team to develop the evaluation design and implementation – outlining the methodology, key evaluation questions, identify appropriate evaluation tools, develop the data collection instruments, carry out data collection, data analysis and writing the evaluation report. The consultant will present evaluation plan and findings to the project team. The consultant should use the key principles of gender analysis and participatory approaches when working with communities and project partners. S/he also should adhere to USAID evaluation principles and standards for conducting project evaluation.

Supervision
The MEAL team will be involved in all the phases of the final evaluation survey and will take supervisory role in ensuring quality and data integrity. Specifically, the team will be responsible for the recruiting of the survey team for data collection and other supervisory responsibilities.

Payment Schedule
Payment will be made to the consultant on submission of the final evaluation report. The consultant is expected to make a formal presentation of the report to the project team.

Proposal Submission Guidelines

• Cover letter (maximum one page)
• Technical Proposal (maximum seven pages, to be elaborated into a work plan in the inception phase):
• Relevant experience of the consultants/consultancy firm
• Understanding of the assignment/objectives of the evaluation
• Proposal for the methodology, including sampling and approaches to be used
• Proposed timeline for completing the evaluation
• A plan for analysis and sense making of the data
• A proposed outline of the report
• Team composition and roles, including profiles/resumes of the personnel to be involved in the assignment (in annex)
• Financial Proposal (maximum one-page): breakdown of cost estimates for services rendered. This should include: daily consultancy fees, accommodation, travel and other logistics. Note that, CRS will pay directly for enumerators, and printing of any materials to be used.
• Signed statement of independence from CRS Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project.
• Sample copies of three previous related work completed.

Deliverables and Timeline
The survey is expected to take place within a period of not more than 53 days, commencing
April 9th to May 31st, 2018.
Deliverable
Description of Deliverable
Timeframe
Number of days
(1). Inception phase report which must include final research instrument and research methodology.
Inception phase (including review of research instruments and finalisation of methodology)
1st – 6th April 2018
6 days
(2). Final training manual, field activity report including sampling frame.
Primary research - Field work, including pilot and Training
7th-26th April 2018
20 days
(3). Data list and preliminary results
Data entry, Cleaning and analysis
27th April-May 11th 2018
10 days
(4). Final Evaluation Survey first draft Report.
Development of Draft Report for review by CRS
12th - 19th May 2018
8 days
(5). Final Evaluation Survey second draft report
Presentation of draft report
25th-28th May 2018
4 days
10
(6). Final Evaluation Survey Final Report
Final report (preparation and submission)
30th -31st May 2018
2 days
Total days
50 days

Offer Submission
Interested applicants must submit the proposal electronically compatible with MS Word, MS Excel, readable format, or Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format in a Microsoft XP environment; using the job title and ‘application code FE270218’ as the subject of their email E.g Final Evaluation of FTF Project in FCT, Sokoto, Kebbi, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States FE270218.
Proposals shall be submitted by email only to tenders.ngr@crs.org. The deadline for receiving proposals is Tuesday February 27, 2018.