Purpose
CRS/South Sudan intends to conduct a qualitative participatory assessment of the Jonglei Food Security Program (JFSP), involving beneficiaries, community leaders and relevant stakeholders, and culminating in a reflection for learning event. The purpose of the assessment and reflection event is to (i) document what went on well and what did not and evidence of success, challenges and lessons learned from implementation to date and (ii) identify shortcomings in implementation and shortfalls in meeting needs; and (iii) inform the implementation of current programs as well as the planning and design of future programs.
Background and Context
The JFSP is a three year Title II DFAP which began implementation in 2011 and which CRS implements in partnership with Save the Children International (SCI). Following the crisis which began in December 2013 USAID modified the award to include humanitarian emergency response and recovery. Since February 2014 the JFSP has been providing food and non-food support to communities in Jonglei State as emergency food aid and to support livelihood and asset recovery and disaster risk reduction (DRR). USAID has approved a cost extension to the JFSP to February 2016 and an expansion in program scope to include the new sectors of WASH and nutrition. The program takes a flexible and targeted approach, responding to the specific and varying needs and contexts in the target areas.
The program currently supports beneficiaries across nine counties with a package of interventions including, as appropriate:
- Food Distributions (conditional and unconditional)
- DRR (construction / rehabilitation of dykes, feeder roads, water pans etc)
- NFIs (shelter kits, hygiene kits, kitchen sets),
- WASH
- Supplementary nutritional support to the most vulnerable,
- Livelihoods (including improved agriculture and livestock productivity, savings and lending, distribution of seeds tools and fishing kits).
While adapting and responding to the changed context in Jonglei, JFSP has maintained its focus on strengthening food security. JFSP supports vulnerable households (HHs) to rebound from the crisis, to grow more resilient, and to recover livelihoods destroyed or undermined by the violence and displacement. All interventions employ a ‘do no harm’ approach, with JFSP exploiting opportunities within program activities to support community-led initiatives for relationship rebuilding and post-conflict healing.
Objective and scope of the assessment
This assessment aims to generate information and knowledge about JFSP and its impact on the lives of the target community. The lessons learnt will result in recommendations for CRS and USAID, and learning and advocacy for long term recovery and resilience interventions in conflict situations. Moreover, as CRS/South Sudan is keen to critically examine long-term strategic directions in food security, information generated from this exercise will also serve as an essential input for future planning for South Sudan.
The specific objectives are:
- Identify the areas in which JFSP has been relatively successful at meeting targets or not and assess how the project has been flexible in meeting needs in a changing environment.
- Identify, analyze and document key JFSP successes lessons learned, the challenges faced during implementation and the actions taken to address these challenges.
- Gather input about how JFSP emergency, recovery and resilience activities may have addressed immediate needs and contributed to recovery and long term resilience
- Document evidence on how JFSP facilitated movement of beneficiaries along the CRS Pathway to Prosperity (recover-build-grow) and the USAID resilience strategy (layer, integrate and sequence), and give examples of which resilience building strategies are most appropriate in a dynamic conflict environment.
- Provide a short overview of likely future needs and gaps (emergency, recovery, resilience and development) in Jonglei State.
- Provide a short analysis of how the JFSP consortium arrangement has functioned.
The assessment will cover at least four of the nine JFSP target counties. The selection of the counties depends on the level of the coverage of sectors and physical and security accessibility. The activity will culminate in a two day reflection workshop, with the participation of the key program staff, and government and donor stakeholders to validate and finalize the key learning and recommendations and to add to the information obtained from the assessment. The final product will be a report documenting the findings from the assessment as well as key recommendations from the workshop.
Methodology
The qualitative assessment will involve an analysis of secondary data, focus group discussions (FGDs) with beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, key informant interviews with program staff (POCU and field level) and key informants in the resilience, agriculture, livestock, fishery, agro-enterprise/SILC, WASH and nutrition sectors and key staff at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF) and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoLF). Additionally, JFSP may also document key success stories detailing the impact of different program interventions at different household levels. The program intends to utilize an independent evaluator to minimize bias.
Deliverables
- Assessment report with detail of successes, lessons, challenges and recommendation for the different sectors;
- Presentation of findings with JFSP team from all counties
- Reflection workshop in Juba with presentation and validation of the finding in Juba(USAID);
- Produce short synthesis of the report
- Success stories
Qualifications and experience
- Experience in conducting USAID Tittle II Evaluations is a must;
- Master’s Degree in Social sciences, Development Studies, Agriculture, M&E and/or any relevant qualifications;
- Experience and familiarity with qualitative and desktop research methods
- Good report writing skills in English;
- Experience in working in conflict and post conflict zones;
- Ability to work alone or as a team.
HOW TO APPLY:
- Interested candidates will be expected to provide the following documentation: CV for the Team leader and other team members.
- At least 2 contact details for past Tittle II Evaluations conducted.
After submission of the two items mentioned above a detailed TOR shall be sent to the shortlisted candidates who will be required to submit the following documents:
- Detailed response to TOR, with specific focus addressing the purpose and objectives of the assignment, methodology to be used and key selection criteria
- Initial work plan based on methodology outline.
- an indication of the daily consultancy rate
