Regional Project Southeast Asia: Improve quality of live and strengthening cities ‘resilience through sustainable sanitation
General Info:
Job title: International Specialist / Consultant for evaluation of BMZ financed project
Assignment Title: Mid-term evaluation for the current running project and its implemented activities (Jan. 2023 up to Oct. 2024)
Project title: Improving the Quality of Life and Strengthening the Resilience of Small Towns through Sustaina-ble Sanitation (2023 – 2025)
Client: Bremen Overseas Research and Development As-sociation (Southeast Asia)
Countries: Laos, Cambodia (and remote)
Contact for Queries: Mr. Alejandro Miller (miller@borda.org) & Ms. Maren Krütten (kruetten@borda.org)
Last Date for submission: 10.09.2024
Specifications for the Submission of Offers Application process
Travel costs estimation to be included in the offer, reimbursement will be conducted against invoices. Interested candidates/companies are requested to submit an electronic copy of their technical and financial proposal by 10.09.2024, 11:59 PM with the subject REF: “Evaluation BORDA SEA” to Maren Krütten: kruetten@borda.org.
Applicants must submit:
- Professional profile of the evaluator /company (CVs);
- Methodology that shall be used;
- Draft work plan and suggested timetable;
- Financial offer including budget broken down and individual daily fees; submitted Budget to contain travel costs
We are looking forward to receive your application!
Background / Introduction
BORDA e.V. is an expert organisation dedicated to wastewater treatment, the sustainable protec-tion of natural resources and the strengthening of social structures. BORDA was founded in 1977 by committed citizens of Bremen and is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation.
For more than 45 years, BORDA has been committed to improving the lives of disadvantaged popu-lation groups with the help of various approaches. This is achieved by developing the necessary local structures and supporting local partners in the participatory planning, implementation and opera-tion of appropriate infrastructure systems. This involves the expansion of basic services such as de-centralised sanitation, water and energy supply as well as wastewater and sewage treatment. To achieve this, BORDA works closely with over 100 partners and specific target groups. BORDA’s re-gional offices in Cambodia, India, Jordan, Senegal and Tanzania play an important role in improving living conditions and social structures in these regions.
As the executing organisation for social structure promotion in municipal services of general interest at the German Federal Ministry for Development and Economic Cooperation (BMZ), BORDA focuses on cooperation projects in the water and sanitation sector in about 25 countries in the global South. These projects focus on sustainable, decentralised approaches that improve access to basic ser-vices. With these priorities, BORDA stands for the following mission: “Access to basic sanitation for all!”
BORDA has been active in Southeast Asia since the early 90s – with the aim to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged communities and to keep the environment intact through the expansion of sanitation services in the areas of decentralised sanitation, wastewater, faecal sludge, solid waste management and holistic livable city planning. BORDA Southeast Asia (SEA) has two current country offices in Laos and Cambodia. Collaborating closely with local partners, BORDA SEA has developed customized planning strategies for effective water resource management and resilience against climate-related risks. Moreover, BORDA SEA advocates for innovative approaches, focusing on delivering essential public services, creating inclusive public spaces, and managing natural re-sources sustainably. Other main pillars, to bring about transformative changes, are awareness rais-ing and fostering partnerships with stakeholders at all levels and across different sectors, including local decision-makers, government officials, urban planners, civil society representatives, the pri-vate sector, professional bodies, and academia.
Main Objectives and Outputs
The Project:
BORDA SEA is currently operating a project in Laos and Cambodia under the title “Improving the Quality of Life and Strengthening the Resilience of Small Towns through Sustainable Sanitation”. The project goal is to provide improved water and sanitation services to the disadvantaged population of urban and peri-urban small and medium-sized towns in Cambodia and Laos as part of the formula-tion of localized and context-specific development plans for the sustainable construction and oper-ation of utility services and public service infrastructure. The project is implemented in 6 towns across Laos and Cambodia and funded through BMZ (The German Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development) for the years 2023-2025.
The overall project in SEA potentially consists of a series of funding phases, that have only started in 2023 (with the current phase I). BORDA aims to continue for 2 to 3 consecutive phases (Phase II: 2026-2028; phase III: 2029-2031). The overall goal of the project over the entire period is to contribute to improving the quality of life in small towns and to support in establishing sustainable and climate-resilient sanitation solutions and hence, to help strengthening social structures as well es public service with regards to sanitation infrastructure in Laos and Cambodia.
Project Context and Background
| Project Title | Improving the Quality of Life and Strengthening the Resilience of Small Towns through Sustainable Sanitation (in Laos and Cambodia) |
|---|---|
| Overall Objective | Contribute to the reduction of health and environmental risks associated with inad-equate water, sanitation, and climate change by enabling effective self-governance, efficient water management to make liveable town. |
| Project Objectives | Provide improved water and sanitation services for disadvantaged population in the context of climate resilient, water-wise town, decentralised, and inclusive 6 urban and peri-urban small towns in Cambodia and Laos.
|
| Field of Activity | Basic needs services (water, sewage and waste) |
| Project Duration | 2023-2025 |
| Direct Beneficiaries | Disadvantaged groups in 6 urban areas in Southeast Asia: Disadvantaged groups include, but are not limited to, the most economically vulnerable living in peri-urban and urban areas with inadequate access to municipal services. Municipal stakeholders in the target cities: city councils, technical departments and municipal water and sanitation companies in the six small cities. Staff, elected representatives, individuals, and organisations directly involved in water and sanita-tion services in the partner cities. |
| Countries and Locations | Cambodia:
|
The Evaluation:
The main purpose of this evaluation is to provide an independent assessment of the progress to date, through an analysis of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and orientation to impact and sustainability of the project. The overall objective is to assess the project according to OECD-DAC evaluation criteria.
The specific objectives of the evaluation are the following:
- Assess the implementation of the project to date, identifying factors affecting project implementation (positively and negatively).
- Determine whether the implementation of activities is meeting the expected results and outcomes as per log-frames of each country.
- Identify impact on targeting SDG 6 (11 and 3) in both countries.
- Identify lessons learnt and potential good practices for the key stakeholders in sanitation and wastewater services.
- Verify whether climate resilient and water-wise town visions/high level plans, strategies, and actionable detailed sector plans were developed and accepted by local authorities (through the project).
- Identify whether demonstration projects aligned to water-wise and climate resilient town visions were established and validated by the respective towns.
- Verify whether municipalities were able to improve personnel skills and institutional capacities for a coordinated and sustainable provision of sanitation and waste management services and infrastructure.
- Determine chances of a new water-wise agenda being visible at state and national level at the end of the project.
- Provide recommendations on how to strengthen the outcome and impact of future project activities and thematic sector priorities for future program outlines.
Through on-site surveys, the relevance of activities is to be evaluated and a differentiated picture of the course of the project and the project results should be developed through surveys with direct project partner cities and participants and the analysis of the environment of development sector policies (e.g. international donors).
Scope
The evaluation shall cover the entire implementation period until the time of evaluation (i.e. 1st Jan-uary 2023 till 30th of November 2024) for Cambodia and Laos. The evaluation shall analyze the entire scope of the project and its result framework, which comprises all elements of the intervention logic.
The results of the evaluation are crucial to assess success and provides the project team with an opportunity to critically reflect on project processes, including implementation tools and methods, intervention design, management techniques and communication practices. As such, the consult-ant will apply a participatory approach to ensure that the project team will be closely involved in the entire evaluation so that achievements as well as challenges will be discussed openly and earnestly.
The findings of this evaluation will also assist the BMZ project to steer the project interventions to-wards reaching the expected results and to receive instructive lessons-learned, which will be highly rele-vant for future activities and interventions.
The evaluation team shall seek to assess:
- The approach of the project in terms of implementation arrangements (management structure, operational strategies, monitoring system and procedures).
- Identify any constraints, internal or external to achieving progress.
- Identify challenges and obstacles faced during the implementation of the project.
- Identify the degree of flexibility and adaptability to facilitate rapid responses to changes in circumstances.
The evaluation will integrate gender equality and social inclusion, specifically considering women and children, throughout its deliverables and process. Furthermore, it should pay attention to issues related to poverty reduction and environmental and climate resilience approaches as they are essen-tial goals in the SDGs.
The assignment will evaluate the project along the following four pillars according to currently valid DAC Criteria:
- Relevance of the project – Does the project design and assumption align to national, and German Government (BMZ) development goals? The indicative questions are detailed below:
- Was the project relevant to the objectives of German Government development aid goals, specifically was it aligned with the German Government’s New Urban Agenda?
- To what extent were the activities consistent with respective national and provincial development priorities?
- To what extent did the Project respond to the priorities and needs of the beneficiary countries? How relevant was it to the target groups’ needs and priorities?
- Effectiveness of the project – Was the project successful in achieving its goals and objectives? The indicative questions are detailed below:
- What is the status of achievements against outputs and outcomes as promised according to log frame?
- Did the project achieve the results expected in terms of the planned activities, outcome, and impact?
- What are determining reasons for reaching or not reaching the objectives?
- Assess if any of the planned or implemented activities are not aligned with the approved log-frame of the project.
- To what extent are the outputs consistent with and relevant to the project objective and expected accomplishments?
- Did the project benefit the target group in true spirit of the project design?
- Efficiency of the Project Design – Was the use of resources in achieving project goals judicious and economical in line with BMZ and national guidelines and rules? The indicative questions are as below:
- Did the project achieve its objectives within the anticipated budget and allocation of resources (cost-benefit analysis or cost-impact analysis)?
- Was the process of achieving results efficient? Specifically, did the actual or expected results (outputs and outcomes) justify the costs incurred? Were the resources effectively utilized?
- Were project activities adequately coordinated with other organizations, projects, etc.? What has supported or hampered coordination?
- Did project activities overlap with and/or duplicate other similar interventions (funded nationally and/or by other donors)? Are there more efficient ways and means of delivering more and better results (outputs and outcomes) with the available inputs?
- Sustainability of the project – Assessing the extent to which the benefits of a project, program, or policy are maintained after formal support has ended. Indicative questions are:
- To what extent are the benefits of the project likely to be sustained after the completion of this project?
- What is the likelihood of continuation and sustainability of project outcomes and benefits after completion of the project?
- To what extent and how long are (organizational, personnel, financial, economic, etc.) resources and capacities available to secure (future) impacts?
- To what extent are the objectives of the activity still valid? How can the activity be replicated in other small towns in the region?
- Was the Small-Town Agenda inserted in the national and regional development discourse?
- Others
- To what extent is the project contributing to the achievement of the overall objective? What (positive and negative) changes can be observed?
- To what extent does the project comply with BMZ rules and regulations as stated in the special conditions of the contract?
The applicant shall be responsible for the tasks mentioned above and shall also support BORDA SEA with suggestions and pathways in case of deviation from any of the above.
Design and Approach
The on-site evaluation in SEA consists of several phases:
- Contract and virtual kick-off meeting: to sign the contract and clarify the TOR’s and the as-signment.
- Documentation review: The consultant studies all necessary project documents; proposal, MoVs, quarterly and annual reports, etc.
- Analyze the intervention logic theory.
- Briefing with the respective project teams: An introduction meeting with the project team as well as individual meetings with project management and technical engineers.
- Inception-Phase: An inception report, to be submitted 10 days after the beginning of the evaluation, explaining the methodology, work program and timetable for the evaluation.
- Field visits: Field visits to be conducted to different locations (in the two countries) based on prior workplan to validate key tangible outputs and interventions. The field visits and meet-ings will be used to conduct individual interviews as well as focus group discussions.
- Debriefing/Presentation: Presentation of key findings.
- Submission of the draft Final Report
- After final comments, submission of the Final Report.
- Present the findings and recommendations
Expected Deliverables, payment schedule and workplan
Expected Deliverables
- Inception report (approx. 5-10 pages) containing appropriate methodology to be applied during the evaluation, as well as the work plan to be used during the assignment is drafted, submitted.
- Final draft evaluation report (about 15-20 pages without annexes), including a draft exec-utive summary and the results-assessment form (part of the reporting requirement);
- Power-Point presentation of the findings of the evaluation: Depending upon the complex-ity of the evaluation findings.
All reports need to be written in English. The executive summary should summarize key findings and recommendations (three pages maximum) and needs to be submitted as part of the final draft report in English.
Schedule of Payment
35 days are currently estimated for this assignment. The evaluation is foreseen to start by begin-ning of October 2024 and to be completed by end of November 2024. The submission of the final report until 15th of December 2024.
| Activity | International Expert (days) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Desk Phase – Inception & Preparation phase / Desk Study | 6 | Remote |
Field Visits Phase and data collection including:
| 14 (7 per country office inkl. travel) | Laos Vientiane city (BORDA Office), and Houapanh district (Sam Nuea and Viengxai (only 28 km from one location to the other) Cambodia Phnom Penh (BORDA Office) and Kratie and/or Chbar Mon (tbd) |
| Data Analysis | 5 | Remote |
| Debriefing and completion of final report | 10 | Remote |
| Total Working day (incl. travels) | 35 |
Budget/ Financial Offer
Please provide a financial offer that clearly outlines
- Honorarium gross amount (daily rate)
- Honorarium net amount
- Estimated Budget for travel expenses (including VAT).
Please make sure that VAT (in number and percentage) and travel expenses are clearly marked in your financial proposal.
BORDAs Travel Policy (e.g. daily allowances, accommodation costs, etc.) is based on the Federal Travel Expenses Act (BRKG) and the Foreign Travel Expenses Ordinance (Auslandsreisekostenverordnung).
Roles and Responsibilities
BORDA:
- providing logistical support to coordinate meetings with stakeholders from the sector
- further administrative support will be provided upon demand (hotel bookings etc.)
- persons in charge will be identified and assist the expert throughout the evaluation phase
- preparing and providing all required documents to expert
Consultant/ Expert:
- working jointly with the project teams in the two countries under the supervision of the Regional Director (coordination)
- proposing a schedule for necessary meetings
- organizing flights and visa for the field visits in the two countries
Required skills and competencies:
Required skills and experience:
- At least 8 years overall professional experience and bachelor’s degree in relevant field as in International Development, Development Economics/Planning, Sanitation, Wastewater Management and any other related university degree;
- Experience in working in the international development sector (min. 5 years)
- Experience in working in the water & sanitation sector (min. 5 years)
- Experience with evaluations of sanitation and wastewater management projects
- Excellent communication skills in English written and verbal (German is a plus)
- Evaluation experience in the given project countries would be an asset
Contextual Knowledge- Successful completion of at least 2 mid-term or final evaluations according to OECD/DAC criteria;
- The evaluation experience should be for projects with a minimum project budget of 2 mio. €
- Experience in evaluation projects funded by the Federal German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
- Profound technical expertise in the field of international development projects in general, sanitation and wastewater management
- Extensive expertise, knowledge, and experience in the field of evaluation of development programs;
- Experience of program formulation, monitoring and evaluation and qualitative data collection and analysis;
Evaluation Criteria
| Parameter | Description | Evidence | Weightage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Experience | The applicant should have a minimum verifiable experience of 5 years of working in the water & sanitation sector, working with government agencies as well as profound knowledge (5 years) in Evaluation methodologies | Certificate of Registration / CV/ Experience letters | 20% |
| 2 | Contextual Knowledge | The applicant shall exhibit 2 similar successfully completed evaluations of projects worth a minimum of EUR 2 million. | Work Orders //Project Reports | 50% |
| 3 | Bid Price | Price quoted by the agency / firm / individual; | In Eur | 30% |
Confidentiality and intellectual and other Propriety Rights
All reports, notes, statistics and other documents and data compiled and collected under this Agreement shall be confidential and the property of BORDA.
Applying to this tender does not guarantee that the applicant will be awarded the contract. The selection process involves careful evaluation, and the final decision will be based on various criteria, including qualifications, pricing, and alignment with project requirements. The organization reserves the right not to award the contract to any of the bidders.
We are looking forward to receiving your proposal submissions!