ILRI CONSULTANCY in Ethiopia 105 views

The Position: The International Potato Center – Ethiopia (CIP) seeks to engage a suitably qualified Consultant.

General: CIP is a non-profit international agricultural research-for-development organization with a focus on potato, sweetpotato and Andean roots and tubers. Its vision is: Roots and tubers improving the lives of the poor. CIP is dedicated to achieving food security, improved well-being, and gender equity for poor people in root and tuber farming and food systems of the developing world. CIP works with partners to contribute high quality science, technology, and capacity strengthening for sustainable science-based solutions. CIP is headquartered in Lima, Peru, with staff and activities in over 30 locations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. CIP is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by the 15 research centers that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations.

The International Potato Center (CIP) in collaboration with partners have been implementing the project “Global Programme Food and Nutrition Security, Enhanced Resilience, Tigray, Ethiopia” with funding from GIZ. The 22 months project started in March 15 2019 and was scheduled to end in January 2021. A pilot project ‘‘Scaling out Sweetpotato-led Interventions to Improve Food and Nutrition Security in Tigray Region of Ethiopia’’ was implemented in three food-insecure woredas with funding GIZ. Results from this pilot project were very encouraging and the Tigray Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development (BoARD) has officially requested GIZ and the International Potato Center (CIP) to scale up this proven successful food-based intervention within and in new woredas in order to reach more children and mothers affected by VAD. The project implemented in five food-insecure woredas of the Tigray region (i.e., Kolla Tembien, Laelay-Adiabo, GantaAfeshum, Seharti-Samre, and Adwa). The project aims to contribute to improved nutrition and food security in vulnerable households with young children (under two) and women of reproductive age in the target woredas in Tigray region. To achieve this goal, the project has three main objectives: (1) expand smallholder production of nutritious OFSP varieties, (2) create increased demand for Orange Flashed Sweetpotato (OFSp) as part of a more nutritious diet in diversified value chains, and (3) create/develop increased institutional and policy support to nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

Job Purpose:

The purpose of the participatory process review (formative qualitative evaluation) is to contribute to the overall impact evaluation by informing mid-term understanding of how well the program is performing, what kinds of changes are occurring that can be attributed to the GIZ funded CIP’s NSA project, whether any programmatic changes need to be made, and (if so) what those changes should be.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

The consultant will be expected to carry out the following tasks:

1. Determine the changes in OFSP area under production, yields, and vine multiplication among participating households.
2. Determine changes in institutional and policy support for nutrition-focused agriculture.
   1. 1. To what extent did the project contribute to better coordination of efforts among stakeholders in agriculture and health sectors in nutrition?
      2. How did the project contribute to strengthening the capacity of partners (NGOs, government, local institutions including DAs and HEW) for promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture?
      3. To what extent did the project contribute to increased interest among stakeholders for nutrition-sensitive agriculture, specifically in OFSp-focused projects?
      4. To what extent did the project contribute to mainstreaming/integration of OFSp in government food security, nutrition, and extension programs and in target schools in the five?
      5. did the project put in place mechanisms/strategies to ensure sustainability?
3. Evaluate how well the program was implemented.

1. Study whether the project reached the intended beneficiaries
2. Determine what beneficiaries receive (both intended/unintended benefits)
3. Determine which program activities were of use and value to the beneficiaries
4. Understand beneficiaries’ perceptions of how well the project/program worked/is working

The findings of the evaluation will be used in three ways.

• First, they will inform the management of current activities and program improvements.
• Second, they will support the design (or re-design) of future CIP -GIZ interventions that use an integrated approach in order to maximize their potential to achieve nutritional and health impacts at a larger scale.
• Third, results will be described and shared with others in order to contribute to the growing body of knowledge and practice around Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture programs.

Methodology and approach:

The evaluation method would be qualitative methods (formative a participatory process review) with project staff, government counterparts, health and agriculture extension workers, and community members to document the challenges, successes, and lessons learned thus far.

• The qualitative impact evaluation should flow a theory of change framework to show how program activities should contribute to improved food security and health outcomes

• Information should be collected by conducting key informant interviews, focus group discussions and collecting case studies from project direct beneficiaries.

• Desk Review: Project proposal, project technical report, training materials and other relevant materials
• In addition to the methodologies specified above, the consultant must also propose other suitable methodologies to answer the specified evaluation questions and measure the indicators specified in the indicator table below:

Project output

Indicators

Expanded smallholder production of nutritious sweetpotato varieties

• Number of pre-basic seed produced by public research institutes per year
• Number of quality vines distributed per season
• Number of households receiving quality vines supported by project and linked activities per season
• Number of households cultivating OFSP
• Number of farmers (% women) engaged in OFSP vine multiplication
• Production levels of OFSP per season
• Knowledge on OFSP agronomy

Create increased demand for OFSP as part of more nutritious diets in diversified value chains

• % of households with knowledge on OFSP vitamin A benefits and other sources of vitamin A; knowledge on nutrition in general
• Knowledge on OFSP nutrition, general nutrition in target schools in selected schools
• Frequency of consumption of OFSP and other vitamin A rich foods by women, children under 2
• Evidence of integration of OFSP in local recipes
• Number of households cultivating kitchen gardens that integrate OFSP and other nutritious crops

• Number of farmers linked to OFSP nearby Urban markets
• Household income from OFSP, and vine sales

Create/develop increased institutional and policy support for nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA).

• Evidence of collaboration between BoH and BoA staff in nutrition-sensitive interventions at the kebele
• Number of additional projects promoting OFSP
• Integration of OFSP in agriculture and health extension

Expected Timeframe

The evaluation will be conducted in 52 days out of which 15 days will be spent on fieldwork.

Minimum Requirements:

Education:

• PhD degree in plant or crop science. Preferably have experience project qualitative impact assessment studies.

Skills:

• • Speak fluent English and Tigrigna language

Experience:

• • Demonstrable skills in qualitative methodologies and analyses is critical.
  • Experience in technical report writing in English is essential.

Expected outputs/ deliverables

• Inception report
• Draft Evaluation Report
• PowerPoint presentation to GIZ and CIP team for further comments and inputs to be incorporated in the final report
• Comprehensive final evaluation report (at least 30 pages) documenting findings from the field data analysis and incorporating feedback on the PowerPoint presentation

Duty Station: Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia

Terms of appointment: This is a Consultancy position, appointment is for 52 days out of which 15 days will be spent on fieldwork.

Applications:

Applicants should submit their cover letter, curriculum vitae including the following:

• Detailed curriculum vitae of all members of the consulting team for this assignment, including applicants email address and cell phone numbers;
• Technical proposal detailing how the consultant would address the evaluation questions, including proposals of appropriate methodologies (maximum 2 pages);
• Names and addresses (including cell phone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to be included in the curriculum vitae;
• One page evaluation consultancy history detailing three of the most recent relevant evaluation assignments carried out. This should include the objective of the assignment, organization for which assignment was conducted, date/duration of assignment, and contact details of the supervisor/the person the assignment was reported to;
• Proposed estimated budget for the assignment

The position and reference number: REF: C/22/20 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter. All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ on or before 10 October 2020.

To find more about CIP, visit our Website at http://www.cip.cgiar.org