TOR for Local Consultant: BRACED Baseline
Lead Organisation
Programme
Baseline Timeframe
Evaluation Team
Composition
Christian Aid
BRACED–Building Resilience to Climate Extremes and Disasters (Jan 2015–Dec 2017)
Late April to End of August 2015
1 lead international consultant; 1 local consultant; 2 Christian Aid Programme
Performance Advisors, Burkina Faso BRACED PMU.
1. Background:
Christian Aid is seeking a Local Consultant who will be accompanying a Lead Consultant to manage and deliver
Baseline data collection and Studies for its BRACED programmes in Burkina Faso.
BRACED (Building Resilience to Climate Adaptability and Disasters) is a flagship DfID programme under the
International Climate Fund. With a total budget of £140million distributed over 3 years, BRACED aims to
directly benefit up to 5 million people, especially women and children, in developing countries by helping them
become more resilient to climate extremes and disasters. Furthermore, through improved policies and
institutions at national level and better integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate adaptation and
development programmes, BRACED aims to benefit many millions more.
In 2014, DfID approved two Christian Aid led BRACED proposals, in Ethiopia (£4million, benefiting over 700,000
people in 12 woredas) and in Burkina Faso (£7million to benefit over 1.3 million people in 4 provinces). We
are working in consortia to deliver a complete and integrated approach to building the resilience of
communities vulnerable to climate shocks and stresses. This approach builds on learning which suggests that
at risk communities require access to regular, reliable and user friendly climate information to enable them to
make more informed choices in regards to building resilience. Key elements are:
1) Working with local and UK Meteorological agencies to increase the quality and quantity of reliable, useable
local climate data where it is most needed.
2) Pursuing a high impact communications strategy to ensure that the relevant information reaches the atrisk people who need it.
3) Building the capacity of local partners to support communities to organise and effectively respond to the
information they receive through practical activities tailored to the communities’ expressed needs.
For both DfID and Christian Aid, BRACED is about delivering effective resilience programmes and reducing
vulnerability to climate extremes and disasters. But it is also about learning more about ‘what works’ in terms
of building resilience – and how we can best assess improved resilience that can be attributed to funded
interventions. Our programme therefore emphasises strong, methodical M&E, and Kings College London will
also be leading a research component and supporting learning across the programmes.
A six month programme development phase prior to the application deadline in early 2014 has enabled both
Ethiopia and Burkina Faso consortia to conduct preliminary contextual research and engage with target
communities to feed into relevant programme designs and budgets. During this period, a Monitoring and
Evaluation Framework was developed, which included a methodology for assessing improvements in
resilience in line with Christian Aid’s Resilient Livelihoods Approach. This framework will form the basis for the
BRACED Baseline methodology – but it is also expected that the Baseline process will contribute to the M&E
Framework’s refinement and development.
1
Table 1: Countries and Consortium Members
BRACED
–
Burkina
Faso
Consortium members
Christian Aid (CA): main implementing partner with oversight for the work of the
programme.
Oxfam Intermon (OI): implementation of project activities in the Centre North Region.
Action Contre la Faim (ACF): implementation of project activities in Gnagna Province, East
Region.
Alliance Technique d’Assistance au Développement (ATAD): design and delivery of
strategies and activities to cope with climate shocks.
Office de Développement des Eglises Evangéliques (ODE): technical assistance to
communities and data collection in the field.
Internews Europe: production and dissemination of climate information.
King’s College London: thematic research, production and dissemination of policy briefs
and academic papers.
Met Office (UK): provide weather and climate advice to Burkina Meteo.
Burkina Meteo: local partner for the Met Office, providing weather and climate advice.
Television du Burkina: production of regular weather forecasts for local radio.
2. Purpose:
One study will be developed to establish the baseline situations of Christian Aid led BRACED consortium
programme in Burkina Faso, and to make recommendations for the future delivery and monitoring of the
programme.
3. Objective and Scope of the baseline study:
1. To gather relevant baseline data for key project logframe indicators – including a baseline survey to gauge
beneficiary access to relevant, accurate, usable climate information, and the current resilience status of
beneficiaries (in line with Christian Aid BRACED M&E Plan).
2. To establish the project’s benchmarks for comparing and impact measurement at the end of the project,
which will enable consortium members to measure the results and impact throughout and at the end of
the project.
3. To carry out primary (qualitative and quantitative) and secondary research into the political, social,
economic, climatic/ vulnerability, forecasting and communications environments in the project areas.
4. To recommend options for all consortium partners to inform the project’s successful implementation
5. To advise on the final indicators for the logframe.
6. To recommend options for the finalisation of the BRACED M&E Framework.
4. Budget
The total budget for this assignment is £17500 including all costs except the payment for the Lead Consultant
and expenses related to CA’s staff. Those costs include: local consultant fees, logistic expenses, enumerators
recruitment, training, all payment related to them, etc.
5. Key Considerations:
1) The existing draft BRACED M&E Framework should form the basis of the Baseline Plan.
2) Gender is a vital issue for the development of the BRACED baseline methodology – all data collection
processes should be gender sensitive, and data disaggregated by gender and other relevant groups.
2
3) We will monitor the climate context and the accuracy of forecasting information, to enable us to i)
understand where improvements/ declines in results are due to our projects or changing weather
patterns; and ii) to gauge improvements in the accuracy of forecasting information as a result of capacity
building. The Met services carry out this baseline research, in coordination with the Evaluation Team.
4) We are planning to use the KoBo online provider to administer digital data collection for the survey.
5) The methodology should subscribe to the BOND Principles of Quality Evidence.
6) Data collection will be conducted in line with ethical conduct principles, and HAP standards.
6. Evaluation Stakeholders – Roles and responsibilities
A Baseline Steering Committee has been established to provide quality assurance over the Baseline design,
implementation and report. It is comprised of Programme Management Unit staff (representing Consortium
needs, and programmatic feasibility/ context), CA Advisors (climatic, M&E, resilience, digital data gathering),
Large and Complex Programmes staff, and a Kings College London representative
The core Evaluation Team consists of:



1 Lead Consultant
1 Local Consultant
2 CA Programme Performance Advisors (1 Resilience, 1 Large and Complex Programmes Advisor)
The Lead Consultant will be responsible for: 1) Finalising the baseline methodology, tools and work plan for
Ethiopia and Burkina Faso (in line with the existing M&E Framework); 2) the indicator development process,
survey design and Indicator finalisation/ M&E workshop in one of the two countries, in coordination with the
CA Advisors; 3) defining the roles of the local consultants and managing their work plans and responsibilities;
4) carrying out further field research and interviews in both countries; 5) the delivery of both Baseline studies,
including defining and managing contributions from the Evaluation Team and feedback from wider
stakeholders; 6) leading the final debrief.
The CA Performance Advisors will work closely with the Lead Consultant to: 1) ensure that the baseline design
aligns with CA’s approach to resilience and the BRACED M&E Plan; 2) support the indicator development
process in the second country, following the Lead Consultant’s finalised methodology; 3) manage the M&E
training in both countries. (Their roles will be defined in detail together with the Lead Consultant based on the
finalised methodology, work plan, and local consultant roles).
The mandate of the Local Consultant will closely work with the Lead Consultant and in relationship with the
local Baseline Task force members (PMU, Implementing partners) to : 1) manages the delivery of all
community based field exercises relating to the baseline, including community based indicator development
exercises, the enumerator recruitment, training and baseline survey delivery; 2) refines the proposed sampling
and provides assistance to partners to perform the targeting, 3) leads the synthesis of received BRAPA reports;
4) supports the wider field research and provides contextual information to feed into final baseline report.
A full list of wider stakeholders will be defined upon project start-up.
7. Methodology:
The local consultant will contribute to implement the Baseline proposal that the successful Lead Consultant
will be expected to develop. That proposal should include the following Methods and tools:
3
7.1
Quantitative Data Collection:
A quantitative survey will be designed by the Lead Consultant, together with the Evaluation Team, in line with
the country level programme and consortium plans, the BRACED Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and
Knowledge Manager Guidance. Survey development will include:







7.2
Development of a sampling strategy in line with the existing Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
The strategy should align with our intention to collect panel data (from the same individuals) over the
course of the programmes at key evaluation stages.
Development and delivery of participatory exercises within a sample of target communities to inform
the design of relevant resilience indicators in line with locally planned project activities. Community
feedback will also be used to develop indicator thresholds to understand what change means in terms
of improvement / decline in resilience, in line with our M&E Plan
Development of resilience indicators and thresholds based on community feedback and planned
activities
In-country workshops with Partner M&E staff to validate and finalise the indicators and finalise the
questions for the survey (This workshop will also provide training to partner staff on BRACED M&E)
Finalisation / testing of Survey and input onto digital data technology. We will be using smartphone
technology and the KoBo online digital survey platform.
Enumerator training, survey implementation and data analysis
Data entry, treatment and analysis
Qualitative Data Collection:
Further guidance from the BRACED Knowledge Manager regarding qualitative data collection will be released,
but we expect methods to include:


7.3
A synthesis of BRAPA reports and action plans will be carried out by local consultants to summarise
community perceptions of vulnerabilities, hazards, and capacities – BRAPAs will have been carried out
in most target communities by partners including intensive focus group discussions over 3 days in each
community, and so these reports will provide the primary source of community based qualitative
information for the baseline. Some of the information will be quantifiable (ranking exercises, etc.), and
the report synthesis should provide an overview of this data.
Key Informant Interviews (including the use of an adapted Rolling Profile tool to gauge changing
attitudes of key actors across the course of the programme) – A full list of stakeholders will be
developed by the Baseline Steering Committee.
Contextual Research:
A lot of contextual background was established during the Project Development Phase and so the literature
review will be vital in pulling these elements together. However, further data gathering and interviews will be
required. We are expecting further guidance from the BRACED Knowledge Manager regarding the baseline
and M&E of context for BRACED Implementing Partners, but we expect this to include:

Establishment of the climatic context (led by relevant Met agencies, but also drawing on BRAPA
findings about community perceptions of hazards/ climate shocks and stresses)
4



Establishment of the quality of forecasting (as above) –(Again led by Met agencies, drawing on BRAPA
feedback) - This should be with a view to making recommendations for the implementation of
appropriate monitoring systems through the project, to enable us to 1) assess the accuracy of local
forecasts against actual weather patterns; and 2) compare our monitoring data against weather
patterns in order to establish whether change has been as a result of climate or the programme.
Establishment of the communications context of the project (working with relevant media consortium
partners and stakeholders; also drawing on BRAPA findings about community feedback of how
information is received)
Establishment of the relevant political, legislative, social, economic, private sector and civil society
context drawing on relevant sources of data (project development phase literature, as well as other
sources of official and available information will be outlined in the Baseline Start-up period).
7.4
Literature Review
8. Timeframes and Responsibilities:
Month
April
Week
2
3
Activities
-
4
-
May
1
-
2
-
3
-
-
Responsibilities
7th
Update ToR for local consultant :
April;
ToR review and sampling discussion (Task force members)
7th April
Advertisement : deadline 17th April
Shortlisting the 3-7 top applicants 17th April
Forwarding shortlist to Amy 20th April
Justin
ACF, OI, Marc
Review shortlisted application and interview Amy and
Baseline Steering Committee 22st April
Indicator development exercises to be carried out in a
sample of BRACED communities (Agree format by 28th
April; Field work 29-1 May; Report by 6th May)
Lead Consultant, Steering
Comm.
Local Consultants
(CA to agree method with
Lead Consultant)
Lead Consultant begins literature review, consortium
interviews
Literature Review, interviews continue
Lead Consultant
Justin
Task force members
(Justin, ACF, OI, Marc)
Local Consultants report on indicator development
exercises by 6th May; Begin BRAPA synthesis of submitted
report findings
Indicators and thresholds drafted, based on CA Resilience
Framework, community exercises, BRAPAs and Action
Plans
Local Consultant
Recruit Enumerators/confirm partner staff for upcoming
training/data collection
2 day workshop in-country for lead Consortium M&E staff
to: 1) provide M&E training for the BRACED programme;
2) confirm and validate baseline indicators (18-19 May)
Partners/ Local
Consultants
Led by Lead Consultant/
Advisor
Finalisation of survey based on agreed indicators; Input
onto digital data technology (KoBo) (By beginning week 4)
Led by Lead Consultant /
Advisors (CA IT digital
support)
Led by Lead Consultant /
Advisors
5
4
June
1
July
2
Burkina
Rainy
Season, no
field access
August
3
Burkina
Rainy
Season, no
field access
-
Enumerator training (28-9 May)
Led by Local Consultant
-
Survey implementation begins 1 June
Led by Local Consultant /
partners
-
Wider field work/ interviews -
-
Survey implementation (Complete by 30 June)
Lead Consultant (/
Evaluation Team)
Led by Local Consultant/
partners
-
Wider field work/ interviews -
-
Data cleaning, report writing -
-
First draft of final Baseline Study due 31st July 2015. -
-
6th August – Lead Consultant to present findings to
Baseline Steering Committee and consortium
stakeholders
-
14th August – Deadline for comments on baseline reports
Steering Committee
-
20th August – Deadline for consultants to submit second
draft of baseline reports, incorporating comments
Lead consultant
-
By 26th August – Final Drafts agreed
Lead consultant/ Steering
Committee
-
30th August – Both baseline reports submitted to DfID.
LCP/ PMUs
Lead Consultant (/
Evaluation Team)
Lead Consultant (/
Evaluation Team)
Lead Consultant (/
Evaluation Team)
Lead consultant/ Steering
Comm.
9. Outputs:
Although having a role of assistant to the Lead consultant, the local consultant will be responsible for delivering
the following outputs:
-
Synthesis of BRAPA reports
Enumerators training report
Data collection delivery
Communities based indicators development
Contextual information delivery
10. Proposal Submission Details
This opportunity is for a dedicated and highly motivated development professional with strong commitment
to Christian Aid’s values and beliefs. If you believe you qualify for this post, please submit your application
and CV (including number, date, location, client and type of evaluation/ survey for all prior evaluations
conducted) in French by the 16th April 2015 to JIlboudo@christian-aid.org (Cc to rcardon@christianaid.org).
The applicant is expected to submit their CV together with a combined technical and financial proposal
(maximum 5 pages) outlining:
- Introduction about how his/her skills/ experience fit the role requirements
- Proposed methodology, work plan, timeline and time required for each key element
6
-
Outline of sample design, based on TOR information and M&E Brief
Proposed work plan for Evaluation Team, including roles, responsibilities and time required for each key
element
Detailed budget including estimates for all costs (logistics, days/ daily rate etc.)
At least 2 references and contact details
Local Consultant Person Specification/ Qualifications
1. Minimum Master degree with at least seven (7) years of work experience in the field of Agriculture,
rural development (including climate sensitive) projects management;
2.
3.
4.
5.
Demonstrated experience in delivering participatory exercises with rural beneficiary communities;
Demonstrated experience in data collection (including mobile digital data collection);
Demonstrated experience in training enumerators for data collection ;
Demonstrated experience in successfully managing large scale data collection exercises and similar
field experience;
6. Has have general knowledge of the vulnerability and responses of rural communities to hazards
and risk of disasters in the project area;
7. Professional work experience in the project area (North/Passore, Centre-North/Namantenga and
Sanmatenga and East/Gnagnan regions in Burkina Faso) will be a plus;
8. Fluency in French required, proficient in English is highly desirable and knowledge of local
languages will be a plus;
9. Be immediately available and ability to travel and work in the field.
7