Impact Assessment Consultant EUROPEAN UNION

Impact Assessment ToR For Consultant.

Introduction

GROOTS Kenya with support from the European Union has completed the implementation of a two years project “enhancing access to justice (formal and informal) for grassroots women and their communities towards curbing asset stripping, land and property disinheritance and dispossession” in Nanyuki, Kitui and Mathare.’

The specific objective of this project that commenced in August 2010 was to enhance the capacity of grassroots communities in 3 regions to access formal and informal justice towards preserving , protecting and defending the rights of widow’s, vulnerable children’s and youth’ and the physically challenged to access, own and use land and property through community centered and lead approaches and interventions.

Programme objective

• The overall objective of the project was to contribute to the realization of Millennium Development Goal 1 (Eradicate extreme poverty) and 3 (promote gender equality and empower women)
• Project outcomes
• Increased access to justice for grassroots communities to safeguard & protect against land grabbing/disinheritance.
• Increase capacity of grassroots community in handling land& property violations through WDG's.
• Increased legal awareness of community members, local leaders and provincial administrators on rights and laws protecting widows and orphans
• Increased interaction between national level stakeholders and community WDG towards safeguarding rights of widows & orphans through community centered and led approaches

Project Outputs

The programme has four major outputs:

• Formation of 1 and replication of 2 Community Land and Property Watchdog groups in Nanyuki, Kitui and Mathare informal settlement.(At least three WDGs in each of the region formed)
• Capacity development and legal empowerment of formed watchdogs within the areas targeted
• Participatory governance dialogue with stakeholders towards safeguarding & protecting rights of widows, youth and orphans.
• Legal awareness of community members, local leaders and the provincial administration on land, property and inheritance rights and laws of widows, and vulnerable orphans and youths Increased.

The project was implemented with close coordination with three grassroots women led Community Based Organizations in Kitui, Nanyuki and Mathare namely; Tei Wa Wo, Likii Home based Care Givers and Mathare Mothers Development Center in the three areas respectively.

The purpose of the evaluation is to take stock of the project achievements, review the current legislative, social and economic environment and the interface with land and property inheritance rights of widows and orphans in the three areas and give recommendations on new strategies to enhance and scale up access to informal justice for widows and orphans in Kenya.

The recommendation emerging from this evaluation should inform GROOTS Kenya on the role of women/community led informal justice mechanisms including the watchdog model and how they can be involved in the current devolved government for the land management and administration including stating what role they could play in the new devolved governance.

Purpose of Evaluation

• The main purpose of the evaluation is to provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness, impact, relevance, replicability and sustainability of the past activities of the 2 years project in the three regions (Kitui, Nanyuki and Mathare), so as to facilitate the elaboration of an enhanced women property programme lay-out.
• The consultant should provide GROOTS Kenya with useful information, analysis and recommendations, thereby enabling the organization to effectively continue engaging in access to justice processes.
• The impact assessment will evaluate the success of the project in relation to the overall progress in relation to achievement of programme objectives. In particular:
• Assess the watch dog formation process towards enhancing access to informal justice mechanism, the strategic role of women in the watch dog groups, and their partnership with the provincial administration and other stakeholders.
• As well as the capacity development and legal empowerment of formed watchdogs within the areas targeted
• Assess the influence of the project on governance issues surrounding women inheritance rights, institutional transformation at the community levels, grassroots women participation on decision making towards safeguarding & protecting rights of widows, youth and orphans.
• Assessment on the levels of legal awareness of community members, local leaders and the provincial administration on land, property and inheritance rights and laws of widows, and vulnerable orphans and youths.

Scope of work and methods

The assignment should evaluate the entire work done with the assistance of this grant given to GROOTS Kenya in the period August 2010 and September 2012.

The main perspective of the impact assessment is to provide an end-term review of the informal justice mechanisms strategy in enhancing access to justice to women and orphans particularly land, and property inheritance rights

The methodology will include:

Desk review-as general background, the consultant should study relevant material in regarding to project. These may include, the project proposal, work plans Log frame, correspondences, agreements and reports
Field visits to various field sites to Kitui, Nanyuki and Mathare where GROOTS Kenya has implemented the projects.

This will include physical visit to the beneficiaries’ homes/ farm to assess the impact of the project.
In depth studies through interviews and focus group discussions during field visits to Kitui, Nanyuki and Mathare areas where the project was implemented.

These visits should include interviews with target group’s including watchdog group members, women and orphans beneficiaries, the provincial administrators, community opinion leaders and heads of other government institutions relevant to this work.
Gathering information from other relevant stakeholders

The evaluation should try to answer the following questions

• Relevance – Was the project well-conceived given the situation? Is it still relevant to the original problem it was intended to address? To what extent is it contributing to the strategic direction of GROOTS Kenya women leadership and governance strategy and access and control of property and inheritance rights for women and orphans in Kenya? Is it relevant to the current reform process in the spirit of the current constitution dispensation in Kenya?
• Efficiency - Was the project delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner? Have resources been used cost effectively? Do the results -- quantity and quality – justify the resources expended?
• Effectiveness – To what extents were planned results achieved. What are the reasons learnt? What supports and barriers have affected achievement?
• Impact - To what extent has the project contributed to longer-term outcomes and goals of GROOTS Kenya? Are there unanticipated positive or negative consequences from the project? Why did they arise?
• Sustainability – Is there an enabling environment that supports ongoing positive impacts especially on governance and accountability on widows and orphan’s access to justice at the grassroots level? Can the outcomes be sustained beyond the life of the project? Will impacts continue to be realized?
• External Utility/Replicability - To what extent are the strategies employed in this project replicable in pursuit for governance and accountability of widows and orphans access to justice in related to property and inheritance rights? Might its approaches, methods, and/or content have potential value in another situation or programme both in the three regions and other parts of the country?

Timeframe and budget considerations

• The whole impact Assessment will take 10 days starting in Mid- September.
• This time frame includes data collection, report writing and feedback to the community.
• The consultant/s will work closely with the Program Officer, Finance and Human Resource Manager and the National Coordinator in GROOTS Kenya during the evaluation.
• All details regarding time frame, field visits and approval of the report will be reached upon close coordination with the above team

The Consultant

• The consultant/s appointed will have a solid mix of skills, training, attributes and experience including relevant advanced University education.
• A minimum of 5 years hands on experience in carrying out a range of M & E activities in development work including end of project/program term evaluations.
• Excellent analytical and communications (oral and written) is essential.

Application

Application including consultant profiles, testimonials, and a motivational cover letter.
A technical & financial proposal

Three references to accompany your application

Not later than Thursday, 13th September 2012.

Send the application to

The National Coordinator
GROOTS Kenya
PO Box 10320-GPO
Nairobi, Kenya
grootsk@grootskenya.org/ admin@grootskenya.org