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Tenders are invited for ToR-Final Performance Evaluation for Emergency Response and Economic Recovery Program for Eastern DRC Closing Date: 5 Feb 2025 Type: Consultancy Themes: Food and Nutrition/Shelter and Non-Food Items/Water Sanitation Hygiene Background General information about Samaritans Purse and the DRC context Samaritans Purse is a non-denominational evangelical Christian organization that provides spiritual and physical relief to people in need around the world. As a trusted Christian organization for over 50 years, Samaritans Purse has helped meet the needs of people affected by war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the goal of sharing Gods love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains the most food-insecure country in the world according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). According to the IPC Global Dashboard, 22,436,761 people in the DRC are in Phase 3 and above of the IPC scale (above the food crisis level). Another 50,950,544 Congolese are in Phase 2, or stressed food insecurity. One of the main reasons for food insecurity in the DRC is violence and displacement, particularly in the eastern provinces of the country. Internally displaced Congolese, host communities and returnees remain vulnerable, as they often flee their home villages with few of their belongings and lose their land, livestock, homes and livelihoods. Full Statement of Work for Evaluation Evaluation Purpose The purpose of the proposed Evaluation is to evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of Samaritans Purses Food Assistance, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Shelter & Settlement (S&S) Non-Food Item (NFI) activities in relation to the goal of reducing NFI vulnerability, improving food consumption, and reducing negative coping mechanisms. The results of this evaluation will be used to learn about the effectiveness of the activities undertaken during the Emergency Response and Economic Recovery for Eastern DRC project in order to improve humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations in future interventions. Background Information Activity Information Activity Name: Emergency Response and Economic Recovery for Eastern DRC Implementer(s): Samaritans Purse Award Number: 720BHA23CA00017 Period of Performance: April 10, 2023 to April 9, 2025 Active Geographic Region: Ituri, Tshopo, Haut-Uélé, and North Kivu Provinces Background Information of Samaritans Purse and DRC Context Samaritans Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. As a trusted Christian organization for more than 50 years, Samaritans Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing Gods love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains the most food insecure country in the world, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).[1] According to the IPC global dashboard, 15,799,000 people in DRC are in Phase 3 and above of the IPC scale (above the level of food crisis). An additional 25,101,000 Congolese are in Phase 2 stressed food insecurity. A primary reason for the food insecurity in DRC is violence and displacement, particularly in the eastern provinces of the country. Internally displaced Congolese, host communities, and returnees remain vulnerable as they often flee their home villages with few of their possessions and loss of their land, livestock, houses, and livelihoods. Description of Activity Samaritans Purse has been implementing an emergency response humanitarian program in eastern DRC with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Food for Peace (FFP) and the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) from 2014 to March 18, 2021, with a coordination office in Bunia. Commencing on April 2, 2021, the Emergency Response and Economic Recovery for Eastern DRC project received funding from BHA. Subsequently, the current iteration of this project, also funded by BHA, was initiated on April 10, 2023. The programs current iteration, which is the focus of this evaluation, began on April 10, 2023, and is anticipated to end on April 9, 2025. This eighth iteration is funded by the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). The programs overall goal is to assist 348,000 displaced people (58,000 households [HHs]), needy host families, and returnees in North Kivu, Ituri, Haut-Uélé and Tshopo Provinces. Theory of Change (ToC): The underlying premise of the programs ToC is that, provided the target populations receive the emergency food, WASH, and S&S NFIs as planned, their Food Consumption Scores (FCSs) will rise, their hygiene will improve, their NFI vulnerability will decrease, and their negative coping mechanisms will decrease. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities will gradually become more socially cohesive as a result of this. On the other hand, benefiting HHs will learn about improved agricultural practices and, in turn, apply significant newly acquired technologies relevant for diversified crop production by giving vulnerable, conflict-affected, and agriculturally dependent HHs the necessary seeds, tools, and agricultural information to support the application of new technologies for efficient crop production. The program also envisions that the money injected through market-based voucher fairs, or unconditional cash transfers (UCTs), will stimulate local economic activities and improve the lives of a great number of people, including non-direct project beneficiaries, if targeted HHs use the money received in their local markets, as local traders also supply necessary food and NFIs. Program Description The program has four crosscutting sub-sectors that help to balance the provision of emergency needs with the contribution of commodity and business facilitation to economic recovery. These sectors include S&S, WASH, Agriculture, and Food Assistance. When targeted HHs are both NFI vulnerable and food insecure, and no other actor is providing food assistance, the program is expected to deliver 58,000 S&S NFI and shelter kits, as well as food and WASH assistance. In circumstances when targeted HHs are food secure or receive food aid from other implementing partners, the kits may be provided as stand-alone support. Depending on market conditions, security, and the presence of a financial service provider (FSP) to deliver cash to beneficiaries, the program expects around 45% of the total S&S NFI and shelter material kits to reach beneficiaries through voucher fairs, 45% of assistance to be delivered through UCTs, and 10% of assistance to be provided through direct distribution. Shelter & Settlements The objective of this sector is to meet emergency needs of 40,000 HHs affected by conflict by facilitating them to access S&S NFIs and shelter items through direct kit distributions, fairs or cash transfer modalities. Through this sector, the program plans to provide a package that includes kitchen items (pots, dishes, and utensils), standard items like soap, clothes and mats, and a shelter materials kit. Three sets of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) are also expected to be provided to each HH in the NFI package as a supplementary delivery alongside the voucher fairs or cash transfers. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene To alleviate the suffering and promote the dignity of conflict-affected people, the program aims to distribute WASH NFI kits alongside S&S NFIs and shelter materials (tarps and ropes). A hygiene kit (soap, menstrual hygiene materials, a plastic bucket, and womens underwear) as well as water storage and transport items are to be included in the WASH NFI kits. Agriculture To strengthen the agriculture-based livelihoods and food security of the disaster-affected population through increased and diversified food production, the program intends to provide agricultural inputs and trainings to at least 8,000 returnees and host community HHs to help them supplement their short-term emergency food production and diet diversification. Specifically, the sector aims to provide vegetable and cereal seeds, farming equipment, and important agricultural knowledge, such as seed use sensitization messages, to ensure that beneficiaries are well prepared to get the most out of the inputs given. This is intended to improve the coping ability and resilience of the most vulnerable HHs in host communities while also allowing them to grow their own food in the short term. Food Assistance In order to provide emergency food assistance to save lives and improve food security for conflict-affected HHs, the program is expected to adopt a Multisectoral approach which will combine food and NFI interventions. Accordingly, the program aims to provide 36 kg of maize flour, 11 kg of ordinary beans, 3 liters of vegetable oil and 0.5 kg of iodized table salt per month for three successive months to each of the 58,000 HHs. The provision of a half-month food ration is accepted by the Food Security Cluster in eastern DRC, where the large majority of IDPs live with host families who serve as a coping mechanism for displacement. It is thus assumed that the IDPs will be able to meet their remaining half-month food ration requirements through income from work performed for the host families and/or through other positive local community coping strategies. Evaluation Type Samaritans Purse will conduct a performance evaluation that will employ a variety of methodologies, including internal baseline and endline assessment dataset comparison, desk-based literature review, focus group discussions (FGDs) with beneficiaries, and interviews with key stakeholders, including ben Tender Link : https://reliefweb.int/job/4124902/tor-final-performance-evaluation-emergency-response-and-economic-recovery-program-eastern-drc
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