USDA FASTerms of References for Baseline Assessment

Sustainable home-grown school feeding to reduce hunger among school children in Somaliland.

23rd  August 2023

Terms of Reference

Baseline Study for Sustainable Home-Grown School Feeding Project

1. SUMMARY

CARE is one of the main International Non-Governmental Organizations operating in Somalia and Somaliland. It has played a vital role in addressing the considerable humanitarian needs of the region, as well as taking the lead in recovery and development initiatives. CARE is responsible for overseeing a substantial humanitarian portfolio in Somalia, where it has established a commendable reputation as a key partner in addressing the needs of populations impacted by conflict, droughts, famine, and epidemic outbreaks in both Somalia and Somaliland. Since 1997, CARE has consistently carried out education initiatives in Somaliland and Puntland, have recently extended our educational efforts to encompass South Central. CARE works in close collaboration with the relevant governmental bodies in order to strengthen the education sector.  The education interventions implemented encompass both non-formal and primary education. Education interventions undertaken encompass non-formal and primary education and have included school rehabilitation, capacity building of education authority structures, capacity building of Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education, civil society strengthening in education, training of Community Education Committees (CECs), curriculum development, vocational training, and teacher education.

CARE is currently implementing the Home-Grown School Feeding Initiative in Somaliland.  CARE Somalia is seeking a consultant(s) to conduct a baseline assessment to provide a comprehensive understanding of the present conditions in the targeted communities and examine the feasibility of proposed approaches.

1. PROJECT SUMMARY

The Home-grown school feeding (HGSF) program is designed to provide children in schools with safe, diverse and nutritious food, sourced locally from smallholders. The project will be implemented in 25 primary schools in Somaliland's Togdheer, Marodi-jeex and Sanaag regions. 

The project will collaborate with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture to review and implement HGSF guidelines/procedures. Additionally, the project will work with MoE, MoA, and CECs to raise community-level awareness about HGSF. At the school level, the initiative will support the construction of eco-friendly infrastructure related to school feeding, such as handwashing stations and water tanks. Cooks will receive training in cooking techniques, food management, mechanisms for quality control, and food safety. The project will fund the installation of greenhouses to ensure year-round vegetable availability. Teachers will receive training on greenhouse management. The school gardens will be used to teach students about sustainable agriculture and nutrition through hands-on activities. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the initiative will also support routine deworming campaigns that should accompany the school feeding program.

Suppliers and smallholders will receive training on climate-smart agriculture, seasonal crop planning, and food quality. This will contribute to increases in agricultural productivity and access to markets, while also enhancing the capacity of government through the delivery of extension services.  The project will also develop capacities of 18 MOE national and regional level staff on the effective operation of the HGSF concept as well as the Community Education Committees (CECs) on the required quality standards. This will assure the right implementation of HGSF standards in the targeted 25 primary schools.

Project Objectives

The goal of the project is to contribute to reducing the risk of children attending school hungry through vitalizing local climate -smart agricultural production systems and capacitating stakeholders to disseminate a gender sensitive HSGF concept. The project objectives are therefore to.

Outcome 1: Targeted schools are supported by government structures to benefit from HGSF implemented according quality standards.

• Output 1.1: Developed capacities of MoE national and regional level for the effective operation of the HGSF
• Output 1.2: Small-holder farmers and CECs are aware of and trained in the required quality standards of HGSF.

Outcome 2: Primary school children in target primary schools receive more nutritious school meals (dietary diversity) as a result of using locally produced food.

• Output 2.1: 4400 School age children (age: 6-9) receive nutritious meal or snack at school 2332.
• Output 2.2: 25 schools with gender sensitive soft and hard infrastructures for the school feeding project.

Outcome 3: Local CSOs do gender sensitive advocacy for improved application of HGSF.

• Output 3.1: Women-led CSOs actively participate in CECs in advocacy for HGSF and take leadership roles in communities.

Output 3.2: Coordination and information sharing of national and sub-national stakeholder is strengthened to enable effective support and an enabling environment for promotion of HGSF.

• PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE BASELINE STUDY

The main objectives of the baseline study will be to:

• Provide an updated situational analysis before activities begin by validating assumptions made in project design; identifying and maximizing potential strengths and opportunities; and mitigating weaknesses and threats to project implementation;
• Establish benchmarks against which performance and impact of the project will be measured for accountability and learning purposes.
• Provide evidence on which to base key project decisions regarding levels of intervention as appropriate to specific schools and communities; and
• Form the foundation for evaluations to measure progress against performance indicators as defined under the strategic objectives as well as the highest-level result.
• Identify specific barriers social, cultural, and economic for women, youth and people living with disability (PLWD) to participate in program interventions.

1. INDICATORS FOR COLLECTION AND BASELINE EVALUATION QUESTIONS

The consultant(s) will ensure that rigorous practices are used to collect, tabulate, clean and analyze the indicator data.

Institutional Capacities

• Number of MoE Wellbeing Units engaged in support of HGSF from national to regional and district levels.
• Percentage of targeted schools adhering to the implementation standards for HGSF
• # and % of stakeholders (F/M)’s capacity in rolling out HGSF

School Level

• Number of students enrolled in education at Primary level.
• Percentage of primary school children receiving regular school meals

Small Holder Farmers

• Volume and value of sales purchased by schools from smallholder farmers.
• Smallholder farmers (F/M) monthly income
• # and % of women accessing financial support from the project

Traders

• Number of local traders and farmers gaining access to a value chain
• Number of smallholders reached through measures aimed to increase their sustainable agricultural production and/or access to markets.
• Number of small holder farmers whose access to productive assets and inputs for agricultural and/or non-agricultural activities, transport services and communication commodities have been improved.

Household Level

• Dietary diversity score
• % of people with moderate or severe food insecurity, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale 
• # and % of people of all genders that have applied at least 3 practices to protect their livelihoods from negative impacts of climate related shocks and stresses.
• # and % of women who have actively participated in household decision-making in (a) agricultural production (b) use of household income

CSOs

• Relevant and comprehensive evidence is available and explicitly used to inform school meals related multi-sectoral and sector-specific policies and regulatory frameworks.
• Number of schools implementing HGSF concept

The Consultant is expected to assess the technical viability of the evaluation questions and incorporate specific elements in the design and methodology of the baseline study (both the quantitative and qualitative components) to ensure that the study will provide valid and reliable data to respond to the full set of evaluation questions below:

The following primary baseline evaluation questions will be used at the baseline stage:

Coherence

• Is the HGSFP fully aligned and supportive of MOA and MOE national policy and priorities in the areas of food security, health and nutrition, inclusive access to education, strengthening resilience and improving livelihoods?
• Are there any HGSF coordination mechanisms, management and financing arrangements

Design/Relevance 

• How relevant/appropriate is the project concept and design to the local context and the education, health, and nutrition conditions?
• How relevant are the proposed activities in addressing the needs of education, food security and nutrition of primary school children (boys and girls) and their families ?
• Are there unforeseen assumptions and barriers? If so, which adjustments should be made, and to what extent?
• To what extent do the project activities and outputs contribute to intended effects and impact as declared in the Results Framework?
• To what extent did project consider the government’s existing strategic framework in terms of the thematic areas tackled by the project?
• To what extent did the project consider the capacities’ needs, gaps and priorities of the stakeholder to implement HGSF ?

Effectiveness

• What are the major factors that may facilitate or impede the progress of project implementation?

Efficiency  

• How well the HGSF likely to deliver results cost-efficiently and in a timely way?
• How will the HGSF co-ordinate with other similar interventions to encourage synergy and avoid overlaps?
• What are, if any, the main factors to impact the cost-efficiency of the project implementation?

Sustainability  

• How effective are the proposed project activities in ensuring the government’s readiness to manage the schools that will be handed over in year 3 of the project?
• What specific institutional capacity needs should the project address to foster greater host country ownership, engagement, and accountability? At the national level? At the regional level? At district level? At the community level?
• What are the main opportunities for sustainability of the HGSF development strategies?
• Are there specific concerns in relation to the potential sustainability of the HGSF, considering the policy framework and mechanisms in place for its implementation?
• Is there evidence that certain benefits and/or activities are more likely to be sustained than others? If so, why?
• How can the project enhance local ownership of different stakeholders (students, teachers, school staff, communities, relevant ministries at national and subnational levels) and is it likely to continue after the end of external support?
• What roles will different stakeholders play in the sustainability of the HGSF? How can they maintain their commitment/level of engagement beyond the lifetime of the program?
• What, if any, are the identified key barriers at this point to achieving sustainability?

Gender and Power Relationships

• What differential outcomes and impacts (if any), are project activities likely to have on women and girls? Men and boys?
• What is the gender-specific barriers and constraints to education, nutrition, food security and community engagement? To what extent is the project design able to address gender-specific barriers and constraints to education, health, nutrition, food security and community engagement?
• How power relationships at household, school, community and government affect education, health, nutrition, food security and community engagement outcomes?

1. BASELINE STUDY DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The consultant should use mixed methods quasi-experimental design for the study, triangulating information from different sources and methods (e.g. quantitative and qualitative) to enhance the reliability and comprehensiveness of findings. In addition, the baseline will have to use gender sensitive methods, ensuring that women, girls, men and boys from different groups of stakeholders participate, and that their different voices are heard and incorporated into the baseline process.    

• The Quantitative Component:

Survey 1: Primary school children & /HH survey:

This is the largest and most important survey as it concerns the main core beneficiary group around whom the rest of the project intervention was designed. A two-stage stratified sampling will be used with the first stage unit being the target schools and the second stage unit being households (with girls and boys) in each school.

School Sample Size:  At the first stage, a representative sample of schools is selected using the following parameters: confidence interval (Z) 95% and margin of error (e) 10%. Study will be conducted in 20 schools out of the 25 targeted schools. The sample size for the schools is calculated at a 95% confidence interval, using the formula n=N/1+N(e2) where:

n is sample size

N is impact group (or target population)

e is accepted error/level of precision (at 0.1)

The sample will be distributed across the regions using probability proportionate to size method (PPS).

Household Sample size. At the second stage, the sample size is calculated based on the population of girls and boys going in the targeted schools using the parameters Z=95% and e=5%. This amounts to total of 380 students; 19 students per school with 50% being girls, and at least 10 % of students with disabilities if possible (at least two per school). The selection includes at least three students per grade (grade 1 to 8). The students will be interviewed in their home accompanied by their parents or caretakers. The survey will focus on a variety of areas, including demographics, HH composition (including questions about school-aged siblings), HH economic situation, school attendance, school meals received, and diet diversity scores.

Survey 2: Local Traders.

The consultant will interview at least 6 local traders per targeted community. The quantitative survey will record traders’ business general specificity, including annual trading volumes, experience in participating in school feeding program, the volume , market prices and other related information regarding business dealings with the CECs .

Survey 3: Smallholders/farmers

The consultant will sample small holders from the database of farmers compiled by the project. The sample size is calculated based on the population of targeted farmers in the targeted schools using the parameters Z=95% and e=5%. Since the project will be targeting 626 farmers, the sample size will be 244 small holder farmers. The survey will focus on a variety of topics such as the, the type of crops produced, yield, agriculture practices, and market prices.

Survey 4: School staff

The consultant will choose to interview 5 staff from sampled schools. These should include the school directors, 2 teachers per school (one male one female), the cook and the storekeeper. The questions will cover topics, such as the perception of the school feeding programme as well as specific information pertaining to food preparation, cooking facilities and storage. The Table below provides a summary of surveys per respondent.

ToR _ MOFA_Baseline_Assessment

• CONSULTANT QUALIFICATIONS AND TEAM COMPOSITION

The selected firm/consultant(s) shall possess the following qualifications:

1. Demonstrated experience and expertise in designing, organizing, and managing the implementation of the large-scale quantitative surveys.
2. Demonstrated experience and expertise in designing, organizing, and conducting qualitative research, data collection and analysis.
3. Demonstrated experience and expertise in the statistical analysis of complex survey data and in. analysing data from mixed-method studies, specifically studies using quasi-experimental
4. Appropriate country knowledge /experience and ability to interpret findings from a contextual perspective.
5. Expertise in educational programming.
6. Expertise in nutrition security.
7. Expertise in gender integration.
8. Ability to deliver high-quality written
9. 7 years of work experience
10. Excellent analytical and report writing skills.
11. Experience in conducting similar work in the region.
12. Familiarity in working in the Somaliland context.

• BASELINE STUDY MANAGEMENT

The baseline study will be managed by the project’s MEAL Advisor. The external evaluator will be responsible for finalizing the evaluation methodology, including final decisions on sampling and tool design; and interpretation of findings and drawing conclusions. CARE is responsible for arranging vehicle rental and drivers as needed for site visits and field work. CARE is also responsible for providing training venue, internet access, printing, and photocopying. The consultant will be required to bring its own computers and required software.

1. BASELINE SCHEDULE/TIMELINE

The Consultant must submit a timeline of activities as part of its proposal, which should follow the timeline set forth in Section VI of this Scope of Work and in the table below.

The expected timeframe of the baseline assessment is 35 working days. This timeframe will be possible if data collection is conducted simultaneously in all three project areas. CARE Project Manager will collate feedback from stakeholders (CARE Germany, donor and government), and share with the consultant within two weeks of receiving the draft. The final report must be submitted after two weeks of receiving the feedback. The detailed work plan for the baseline assessment study will be finalized by 15th of October 2023.

Candidates interested in the position should send their applications online to  [email protected] to be received no later than 5th September 2023. The application should be titled “  USDA FASTerms of References for Baseline Assessment Sustainable home-grown school feeding to reduce hunger among school children in Somaliland.”

Female candidates/consultants with the required qualification is highly encouraged to apply for the consultancy service.