DEVELOPMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF MULTI-ANNUAL STRATEGIC PLAN (2016-2020) IN SOLIDARIDAD EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA Consultancy

1. Introduction

Solidaridad Network is an international solution-oriented civil society organization working through eight regional expertise centres to transform markets to make them more sustainable and inclusive. Our eight regional expertise centres include Asia, Eastern and Central Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Southern Africa, South America, West Africa and our global Secretariat in the Netherlands. Solidaridad Network works across 13 commodities to achieve its sustainability goals.

Solidaridad East & Central Africa, one of the regional centres, is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with country offices and programmes in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. We bring together supply chain players and engage them with innovative solutions to improve production, ensuring the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximizes the benefit for all. We support these supply chain players in commodities namely; Coffee, Tea, Leather, Gold, Fruits & Vegetables, Cotton & Textiles.

2. Context and Structure of MASP II

Solidaridad Network is coming to the end of its Multi-Annual Strategic Plan from 2016 to 2020 (MASP II). In an ambitious theory of change the MASP II defined four result areas which focused on contributing to impact on the objective of sustainable and inclusive sector development and the creation of sustainable landscapes.

2.1 Result Areas

The four result areas are: i) good practices; ii) robust infrastructures; iii) landscape innovation; and iv) enabling policy environment. These result areas are linked to sectoral programmes in 13 commodities. The commodities are from the agricultural sectors, mining, including gold and industrial minerals, and the textile industry. These areas are intertwined and depicted by the diagram below (sourced from MASP II).

2.2 Innovation Themes

Over the MASP II period we have integrated 5 innovation themes (Gender, Digital solutions, Impact investments, climate and landscape innovation). Each of our projects integrates these innovation areas which contribute various services as summarized in the table;

Innovation

services

1

Gender

-Develop best practices for economic independence, full participation in society, equal access to education and free choice of profession for women working in agriculture and mining

-Generate gender sensitive programming and impact measurement

2

Digital solutions

-Knowledge sharing

-Easily accessible and tailored recommendations

-Extensive analyses for decision making

3

Impact investment

-Linking investors to programmes,

-Development of business cases and investable proposals.

4

Climate

-Development of appropriate greenhouse gas calculations for producers and producer groups

-Integration of climate performance indicators in farmer self assessment tools

5

Landscapes

-Convening processes which enable different stakeholders to contribute

-Bridging the polarization between the green agenda and the agricultural agenda

-Generation of good practices for good governance

-Development of marketing concepts for sustainable ‘origin‘ labelling

3. Purpose and Objective

The purpose of this study is to measure through an independent evaluation the impact that can be attributed to achievements of MASP II in East and Central Africa and funding received from the Dutch Ministry and other development partners in the East and Central Africa region.

The overall objective is to review and assess the implementation and immediate impact of the MASP II in East and Central Africa.

4. Approach:

More than 15 projects spread in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda contributed to the results areas in MASP II and a mix of innovation themes were deployed along the implementation period. To make this impact assessment feasible we have grouped related projects into programs namely i) Coffee program ii) Food security program iii) Gold mining program iv) Leather and Textile program. Each of these programs will form a chapter / section of the impact report and the table below simplifies how questions and cases will be allocated.

Program – Coffee (5 projects spread in all the 4 countries), Food Security (6 projects), Gold Mining (4 projects), Leather & Textiles(3 projects)

Result areas – Key questions related to result areas

Innovation themes – Key questions on innovation themes

Beneficiary Testimonies – Farmer case, Firm/SME case, Policy case, Miner case, Company case, Policy, Worker case, Factory case, Policy case case

5. Scope of work and methodology

Solidaridad expects the consultant to perform the following activities:

a) Desk review – The assessment team will examine project documents, project data, studies, mid-term evaluation reports, organisational documents (e.g. strategy documents, internal policies, guides and training documents) and any other relevant documents.

b) Case studies – As per the table above the case studies will depend on the program, the beneficiary (farmer, miner, worker, factory, cooperative and government bodies). The assessment team and Solidaridad will agree on the cases to be prioritized.

c) Field visits – The assessment team will either directly interview beneficiaries or work with selected Solidaridad staff to gather information, survey target population and conduct focus groups discussions.

d) Expert interviews – The assessment team should pay particular attention to the interviewing of stakeholders.

6. Expected deliverables/outputs

The key deliverables are:

No.

Deliverables

1. Brief inception report and detailed work plan for the assignment execution for 1 week after signing the contract
2. A draft report for 30 working days
   1. A detailed final report, including but not limited to: Detailed situational analysis, Clear impacts, List and contact information of stakeholders consulted (if any) for 30 working days

The consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, initiative, communication, accuracy and quality of the document.

7. Duration

This assignment is expected to be carried out for a period not more than 2 months. The final report will be submitted by 30^st June 2021. The design/layout of the final report will be done internally by Solidaridad.

8. Required experience and qualifications

● Must hold a postgraduate degree in, research, knowledge management, project management or any other relevant field

● Must have at least 10 years professional work experience in the areas of research, programme evaluation and/or impact assessments, especially in agriculture.

● Extensive conceptual and methodological skills and experience in applying qualitative and quantitative research evaluation methods.

● Experience in organizational management, structures and systems, operations, capacity development, reporting and monitoring (desired but not essential).

● Excellent communication skills necessary for building rapport with stakeholders, facilitating participation and effective presentation of result to diver audience

● Understanding of East and Central Africa, especially in the agriculture sector.

● Excellent communicative, both spoken and written skills.

● Prior experience in the region is an added advantage.