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Tenders are invited for External Evaluation of CA Projects Launched as a Response to the Earthquake in TüRkiye and Syria, under the Act Alliance Syria Appeal. Closing Date: 31 Mar 2025 Type: Consultancy Themes: Disaster Management/Health 1. SUMMARY OF TERMS OF REFERENCE Country: Syria Dates: April 2025-July 2025 Type of contract: Overall objective of contract: Lead an external evaluation of the CAID ACT Funded projects launched as a response to the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. The evaluation should be in-person/on-the-ground and community-centred. 2. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE On 6 February 2023, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck southern Türkiye, Türkiyes most powerful earthquake recorded since 1939. The earthquake also heavily impacted north-west Syria, a region where 4.1 million people depend on humanitarian assistance on a daily basis; at this time, Syrian communities were simultaneously hit with an on-going cholera outbreak and harsh winter events including heavy rain and snow. Further earthquake activity in February 2023 added to an existing strained humanitarian infrastructure, with an estimated 60% of the humanitarian population in additional need due to displacement in NWS. In Türkiye, OCHA estimated more than 2 million people displaced, with 1.6 million of these in informal camps (OCHA, 16 Feb 2023). Core needs were identified in both Türkiye and Syria, with improved shelters, water and sanitation services, and basic household items prioritised disruptions to key infrastructure likewise created gaps in safe water provision, education access, livelihoods, and health services particularly in informal settlements. (OCHA, 30 Mar 2023) The ACT Alliance SYR 231 appeal started on January 1st, 2023, and later included revision #1 to add to the response the earthquakes. The updated version of the appeal was launched in March 2023 after integrating elements related to post-earthquake needs assessments. The standing appeal document can be accessed here: https://actalliance.org/appeals-rapid-response-funds/syria-and-turkiye-syria-protracted-crisisdeveloping-the-resilience-of-affected-people-and-emergency-response-for-affected-communities-ofsyria-turkiye-earthquake-syr231-revision-4/ ACT Alliance members were operating to respond to both the earthquake needs in Türkiye and Syria as well as the protracted crises of Syria. The appeal timeline ran from January 1st, 2023, until December 31st, 2024, with a 1-year Appeal extension recently approved up to December 31st, 2025. Christian Aid response: The Christian Aid response under this appeal, and which is to be targeted in this evaluation, is linked primarily to Objective 2 of the ACT Alliance Results Framework, Build on the resilience of the people affected by the conflict by providing livelihood, PSS and restoration support, and specifically under Outcome 2.1 People affected by the conflict receive support and training to find jobs or means of livelihood and Output 2.1.1 Men and women and youth are able to meet their own basic needs through increasing access to employment, vocational training and restoration of sustainable livelihood opportunities. More details on the projects included in this TOR can be found in Annexe 2. Under this TOR, CAID has worked alongside four local partners in the Northwest of Syria to prioritise reaching those who are most marginalised and at risk, with a focus on promoting resilience and sustainable livelihood solutions. Activities include providing livelihood training, mapping market access, small-business grants, and business support to graduates, youth, women and populations in need of support. Other projects under this TOR include school rehabilitation in earthquake-affected areas, sclr programming (Supporting Community-Led Resilience), and short-term MPCA. These are also under Objective 2 of Building Resilience, Outcomes 2.2 (People affected by the conflict given the necessary access to emergency mental health, psychological well-being support and proper education) and 2.5 (People and communities affected by the earthquake in Aleppo and Idleb are engaged and empowered to meet their specific needs through sclr and micro cash grants). 3. OBJECTIVES OF THE CONTRACT The evaluation purpose The purpose of this final evaluation is to assess the overall program performance and delivery of the CAID projects under the SYR231 appeal, against OECD criteria and adherence to the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) throughout the response. The evaluation should have a strong learning objective, reflecting what has worked and what has not worked and identify lessons and ways to enhance the project relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and impact. The evaluation will help CAID and partners improve future programming and identify the impact of the projects, based on lessons learned and best practices generated through the project lifetime. Key objectives of the evaluation are to: 1. Assess the programmes relevance, coherence, effectiveness, impact, efficiency, and sustainability against the OECD evaluation criteria and CHS Commitments that have specific interest for accountability to affected populations. 2. Assess to what extent the expected results, as outlined in the SYR231 appeal results framework AND in the project-specific results frameworks were achieved. 3. Identify lessons learned and best practices for CAID future humanitarian interventions. Indicative key evaluation questions that are expected to be addressed are listed in (annex 1); the consultant is expected to provide a detailed methodology and work plan, at proposal and inception stages. This final evaluation will be focussed on selected projects funded between January 1st 2023 up until April 30th 2025. It will cover CAID managed projects principally funded by the Netherlands funding member to CAID in the appeal, Kirk in Actie (KIA) in addition to CAID projects under the Appeal also funded by donors Act for Peace Australia and Act Church of Sweden (Act CoS). CAIDs contractual dates of eligible spending with KIA SHO funding within the wider appeal timeline covered the period 1 Jan 2023 30 April 2025, the timeline that this proposed evaluation will therefore also focus on, with all KIA SHO funding requiring to be fully spent by 30th April 2025. KIAs funding to CAID totalled over EUR2.8m and required under the contractual clauses a final evaluation to be carried out on at least 60% of expenditure. This proposed 2025 final evaluation will complement 2 other final evaluations of KIA funded projects already carried out within this CA Appeal, in 2023 and 2024 respectively, focussed on school rehabilitation (Phase 1); and MPCA/PSS and Winterisation support respectively; final reports of which will be made available to the selected evaluation team to ensure complementarity, since these already evaluated projects are not included in the scope of this current TOR. Methodology The evaluation will use the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria (Relevance, Appropriateness, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Impact, Sustainability) to establish the overall performance and results of the projects to be evaluated within the scope of this 2025 evaluation. The evaluation should assess how individual CAID partners have implemented activities, as well as their collective results against the relevant results framework objectives. The evaluation must be conducted in a participatory manner and include a mixed methods approach that includes project location visits and targeted group consultation, in coordination with the partners in Syria and Türkiye. The sampling of locations and interviewees shall be determined jointly by the consultant and CAID and partners. Interactions with stakeholders other than CAID partners (including authorities and targeted groups) should remain in the legal and normative framework of the different areas of interventions, especially in relation to use obtention of questionnaires and for site visit approvals. Alternative methodologies should be identified whether it is not possible to safely secure the necessary authorizations. Based on the understanding of this ToR, the evaluation team should prepare an inception report detailing the approach, design, methods and data collection strategies that best suit the program and local conditions. Information should be triangulated and validated. ACT guidelines for evaluations should be used for the design of the evaluation report. 4. TIMEFRAME AND DELIVERABLES The evaluation will take place in between April and July 2025 with access to communities and stakeholders planned accordingly, and especially alongside any endline data collection planned by the implementing partners. Proposed activities include: Launching tender process - 17.03.2025 Contract signed - 14.04.2025 Submission of draft Inception Report - 25.04.2025 Final Inception Report - 06.05.2025 Data collection - May-June 2025 Data analysis and report writing - June 2025 Drafting evaluation report, and initial sharing with CAID and partners via workshop(s) - 04.07.2025 Comments on report - 11.07.2025 Finalization of report - 31.07.2025 All deliverables are expected to be submitted by 31/07/2025, in line with programme timelines. This date cannot be made flexible. Location and travel involved: It is expected that the consultant will manage all travel in and between Syria and Türkiye, and that this cost will be included in the budget. Services the service provider will provide: The consultant is expected to provide the consultancy services for as mentioned in the TOR and submit all the deliverables on time. 5. CONSULTANT PROFILE We value diversity and aspire to reflect this in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or belief. We Tender Link : https://reliefweb.int/job/4139488/external-evaluation-ca-projects-launched-response-earthquake-turkiye-and-syria-under-act-alliance-syria-appeal
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