Terms of Reference (TOR) Consultancy for Independent Third Party Monitoring of “Breaking barriers and increasing access” – Inclusive support for basic food security needs and child protection for drought and conflict affected families and children in Baidoa, Somalia

Terms of Reference (TOR) 

 Background

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been working world over making a difference in children’s lives in more than 120 countries. Save the Children (SC) has been operational in Somaliland/Somalia since 1951, implementing programs across the following sectors: WASH, Food Security and Livelihoods, Health, Nutrition, Education, and Child Protection/Child Rights Governance. Save the Children has 6 field offices with experienced national and international staff across the southern states of Somalia to facilitate project management, implementation, and monitoring of activities. The field offices Beletweyne, Adaado, Abudwaq, Dhobley, Baidoa, Kismayo, and Mogadishu in South Central Somalia.

Save the Children International (SCI) under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland funded project supports most vulnerable families in 8 drought and conflict affected internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps and host communities in Baidoa, Somalia by addressing their urgent needs to prevent further food insecurity, malnutrition, poor health, gender-based violence (GBV). Most vulnerable households with a focus on households with persons with disabilities will be identified. SC works with Abilis Foundation (a Finnish organization for persons with disabilities) and Alla-Magan Relief and Rehabilitation organization (a Baidoa based Organization for Persons with Disabilities), to build capacity of committees to select beneficiaries based on vulnerability criteria, including disability. A mobile cash transfer (CT) of USD 50/month is provided for 1,400 households for 8 months, broken into 2 batches. Given the disability-focused selection criteria, the project carries out full community-based targeting prior to cash transfers, and conducts re-verification only, prior to subsequent cash transfers. Cash transfers are linked to awareness raising on child feeding, children’s appropriate care practices and prevention and response to violence and abuse of girls and boys. CP activities include prevention and response to violence against boys and girls and prevention of children from recruitment into armed groups or armed forces. The projects integrates food security and livelihoods (FSL) and CP activities and the integration is further emphasized by providing case management support to households receiving cash transfers identified through joint beneficiary targeting model. Project implements cash plus activities for households receiving cash transfers focusing on nutrition sensitization, following SC’s resourcing families for better nutrition common approach, accompanied with more structured support to caregivers to parent without violence. Caregivers, community groups, community leaders and service providers are trained to prevent and respond to CP issues. Project reaches directly 10,894 and indirectly 14,400 beneficiaries. Total funding is EUR 2,000,000 with a project duration of 18 months, implemented from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021.

2. Overall project objective:

Drought and conflict affected children and their families, including children and people with disabilities, are protected and their wellbeing and resilience is enhanced through appropriate cash transfer, child protection and capacity strengthening interventions.

The project has three results:

• Result 1: Income protection during lean seasons for improved access to nutrition for children and their families, incl. children and adults with disabilities, through provision of monthly unconditional cash transfers
• Result 2: Girls and boys incl. children with disabilities are protected from violence through prevention and response actions incl. age appropriate and culturally relevant information
• Result 3: Civil society actors have improved knowledge, capacities and tools to carry out inclusive programming promoting the rights of persons and children with disabilities

The project logical framework includes all objective and result level indicators. The third party monitoring will collect data only for indicators mentioned under the Scope of Work.

Target Location

To improve the accountability of the project, a third party monitor will be contracted to monitor the project progress and also to verify whether the project implementation is in line with SCI accountability strategy.

3. Consultancy Objectives

To complete independent monitoring of Save the Children’s “Breaking barriers and increasing access” – Inclusive support for basic food security needs and child protection for drought and conflict affected families and children project in Baidoa in order to enhance programme quality and accountability.

4. Scope of work

The third party monitoring will collect data for the following indicators:

In addition, the third-party monitoring will specifically provide feedback on the following areas of implementation:

1. Beneficiary selection:

• Hold interviews with beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries and other stakeholders to document the beneficiary selection process, specifically community participation, including both women and men, marginalized groups and persons and children with disabilities (women, men, girls, boys) disaggregating data by sex and by persons/children with disabilities in the selection and verification of beneficiaries.

• Document the process of selecting beneficiaries and committees and the role of the committee members (disaggregating data by sex and by persons with disabilities) and SCI staff in the selection and verification of project beneficiaries.
• Assess the appropriateness of the targeting criteria, the extent to which it was followed and overall fairness of the process.
• Identify if there were any shortcomings in the process, e.g. payment or diversion of assistance. Diversion of cash through voluntary or involuntary taxation or forced contribution should be properly scrutinised and reported.
• Determine how the targeted communities, i.e. boys, girls, women, men, marginalized groups, persons with disabilities and children with disabilities, have benefited from the unconditional cash transfers and child protection interventions in their respective communities (focus on beneficiary selection and if it has been inclusive and transparent).
• Determine how collaboration between the FSL and CP teams has been implemented in selection of beneficiaries (e.g. has there been any referrals to CP case management support).

1. Mobile cash transfer system:

• Determine how targeted project beneficiaries have benefited from the mobile cash transfer system in which they’ve received their unconditional cash transfer.
• Gather general feedback from project beneficiaries between the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile cash transfer delivery system.
• Document the beneficiaries’ satisfaction on the quality of the mobile handsets provided.

1. Information sharing:

• Assess the extent in which the beneficiaries, including girls and boys, women, men, persons with disabilities, children with disabilities and other marginalized groups, are informed and aware of key project information, such as project objectives, activities, timelines, entitlement, number of cash payments, expected results and targeted beneficiaries and criteria for selecting beneficiaries.
• Establish whether beneficiaries, including girls and boys and persons and children with disabilities, have been informed and are aware about opportunities/activities in which they can participate.
• Establish whether there is information that beneficiaries, including girls and boys and persons and children with disabilities, would like to receive about the project and its implementation but which has not been shared.

1. Complaint and response mechanisms:

• Establish beneficiaries’, including girls and boys and persons and children with disabilities, awareness of mechanisms through which they can give feedback or make complaints to SCI (how to complain or raise concerns about activities, what they can complain about, who they can complain to, how and where they can complain, and issues of confidentiality).
• Assess the acceptance and level of confidence that beneficiaries have in the existing SCI complaints response mechanisms.
• Generate ideas for improving the existing complaint handling mechanism.
• Access how SCI has succeeded in responding to the feedback and complaints received. 

1. Participation:

• Generate information about how beneficiaries, including girls and boys and persons and children with disabilities, would like to / are participating in the project implementation.
• Collect feedback on how parents / caregivers have been selected to be part of the positive parenting group sessions and children group sessions in the Parenting without Violence programme, i.e. if the selection was inclusive and transparent.

1. Project results in regard to integration:

• Identify and document evidence of project integration between the cash programming and child protection.
• Provide information if there is any indication that the project’s results will be reached in the end of the project and recommend any actions to ensure that all results will be achieved. Most of the indicator data is collected only at baseline and endline. The analysis of this specific question should look at implementation of activities.

5. Deliverables:

The following outputs are expected from the consultant:

• An inception report, which will include detailed methodology (including sampling method and size), proposed detailed action plan with timeline and data collection tools. All surveys need to include the Short Set of Washington Group Questions on Disability.[1] Inception report has to be approved by SCI before field data collection can start.
• Girls and boys need to be consulted by using child friendly and gender sensitive methodologies; special attention needs to be put in ensuring that women and girls and people and children with disabilities will be able to participate. Everybody’s participation has to be voluntary, meaningful, safe and inclusive.
• The field monitoring reports of no more than 15 pages summarizing findings of the field monitoring and recommendations.
• A set of pictures with GPS coordinates taken during the monitoring exercise shall be appended separately. Pictures must show supported facilities, beneficiaries receiving services, SCI branding and all other information that depicts the quality of services being offered. SC’s guidelines in regard to consent need to be strictly followed.
• Two to three case studies that demonstrate change in the lives of children. SC’s guidelines on case studies need to be followed. Case studies should include beneficiaries who have benefitted both from cash support and child protection interventions. At least one case study should include as a beneficiary a child with a disability.
• All presented data and findings need to be gender disaggregated and also age and disability disaggregated when possible.

6. Management and logistics

• The consultant will be supervised by the Area MEAL Manager with support of the head of MEAL.
• The consultant will be responsible for organizing logistical issues with limited facilitation from SCI and as per the consultancy agreement. 

7. Duration of Assignment

This assignment will take 15 working days in Baidoa inclusive of travels.

8. Profile Required

1. Experience in food security and livelihoods and social protection programming, especially cash transfer programmes in humanitarian contexts, and child protection in emergencies. Experience and knowledge in mainstreaming gender equality. Experience in Somalia context is desirable. Experience in working with persons and/or children with disabilities is an added value.
2. Prior experience in conducting assessments/evaluations in cash-based programming and child protection. Experience and knowledge in using participatory and child-friendly methodologies. Solid analytical, result based planning, report writing, communication and diplomacy skills with ability to correlate different data sets to actionable conclusions.
3. English language skills (report should be written in English). Ability to make clear presentations and ability to use different tools with both technical and non-technical audience and girls and boys.
4. Consultancy team need to be gender balanced to ensure that women and girls will be free to participate in data collection.

9. Application Process

The consultant is expected to submit the following documents which will form part of the pre-selection recruitment process:

1. Cover letter and CVs of all consultants who will be part of the consultancy team.
2. Technical proposal, outlining the methodologies to be used and Budget Summary.
3. Proven samples of previous similar work with INGOs and UN agencies, preferably in Baidoa, please attach signed scanned contracts
4. References – At least two credible and traceable referees.

Applicants are requested to share complete set of required documents with the email; CSS.LOGISTICS@savethechildren.org with the subject line of the email, Third Party Monitoring of “Breaking barriers and increasing access” – Inclusive support for basic food security needs and child protection for drought and conflict affected families and children in Baidoa, Somalia