Iraq: Consultant mid-term evaluation Migrant Entrepreneurship Programme SPARK

Introduction

SPARK has drawn-up this Terms of Reference for a short-term consultancy to undertake a mid-term (process) evaluation of their MFS II Programme funded by the MFA of the Netherlands. This evaluation concerns the first two years of the programme (2014-2015), the activities of project partners, and the results at the level of outputs and outcomes which need to be evaluated to ensure that overall programme objectives will be attained by the end of the programme, end of 2016.

1. Purpose and context

The 3-year program on “Circular Migration and Brain Gain: Supporting migrant entrepreneurs” has started in 2014 and is implemented in Afghanistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Ghana, Morocco, Somalia and Surinam. The program purpose is “promoting circular migration/brain drain so that migrants who live in the Netherlands increasingly contribute to developing their countries of origin”. The aim is to contribute toward stimulating economic development by providing opportunities to Diaspora to start a business in their country of origin. It relates to Spark’s mission by supporting migrant entrepreneurs to contribute to economic development in their country of origin and creating jobs.

RESULT 1. The capacity and services of partner Business Service Organizations (BSOs), Financial Institutions (FIs) and government in target countries, as well as Dutch partner migrant organizations are strengthened and improved.

Activities: identifying suitable partners, identify and develop their capabilities in order to provide business support and promote entrepreneurship in the target countries of the programme. Capacity building activities are aimed at sustainable impact within the respective organizations and government departments.

RESULT 2. Supporting migrant entrepreneurs to start enterprises in the countries of origin to increase economic development and creating jobs.

Activities: promotion within Diaspora communities is carried out; identify and select promising entrepreneurs; support package of training & coaching in NL, and local support to conduct market research and help with registration. The entrepreneurs with the best prospects are helped with acquiring finance through a loan guarantee fund.

RESULT 3. To support existing migrant SMEs in The Netherlands to start a branch or sister facility or form a joint venture in their country of origin.

Promising Diaspora-run SMEs are selected and supported in establishing sister facilities or joint ventures in their countries of origin through coaching in The Netherlands and market research assistance in the countries of origin. The entrepreneurs with the best prospects are helped with acquiring finance through a loan guarantee fund.

2. Evaluation objectives

As the programme is well underway, it is important to take stock of accomplishments to date and identify shortcomings for which recommendations for improvement can be made. Although programme implementation is being monitored closely through half year internal progress reports, a more comprehensive and objective evaluation by an external consultant at mid-term is deemed necessary to validate results reported, and to formulate recommendations on programme activities for the remainder of the programme period.

Thus, the objectives of the evaluation are the following:

· Assess the extent to which the programme has been attaining its outputs and outcomes as identified in the Programme Proposal and Monitoring Protocol, and thus is on track towards achieving its overall objectives.

· Review relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the overall programme interventions;

· Identify gaps/weaknesses in the current programme design, delivery mechanisms and interventions, and provide recommendations as to their improvement for the remainder of the programme period to strengthen the quality and sustainability of the programme deliverables;

· Identify lessons learnt from the ongoing interventions of the programme;

· the changes that have already been implemented by SPARK as compared to the original project proposal in the course of the project period will also be subject to the evaluation

· Identify any unintended or unforeseen effects of the programme to date.

· highlight issues and challenges affecting effective and efficient implementation of outputs and their contribution to project outcomes

· Assess the likelihood of continuation and sustainability of programme outputs and outcomes after completion of the programme in 2015.

3. Key-focus areas

Next to the above stated objectives the following area’s will receive particular attention in the evaluation.

Business support of entrepreneurs and SME’s (objective 2)

• Assess the quality of the business services offered by SPARK and its implementing partners under objective 2 and 3.

• Re: training /coaching trajectory:

o How to improve SPARK’s business support to ensure successful start-up of the entrepreneur?

o How to improve increased success with SME’s (e.g. increase added value of SPARK for SME’s)

o How to increase the efficiency of the business support trajectory

o Assess preliminary indications of the degree to which the project training and coaching trajectory are likely to be sustainable beyond the project’s lifetime, and provide recommendations for strengthening sustainability.

• Recommendations on putting the Loan Guarantee Fund to effective use in the final year of the programme.

Country specific strategies

• Learned lessons and recommendations sought on the strategy on Afghanistan, Kurdistan and (to lesser extent) Somalia, because of their fragile security situation.

• Learned lessons and recommendations enhanced the role of country offices in Kurdistan and Somalia to contribute to the projects outputs and outcomes

• Methodology for evaluation approach

The evaluator(s) should coordinate closely with the MEP Programme Management, SPARK Country representatives, as well as project implementation and cooperation partners.

A combination of desk research, interviews, consultation meetings in The Netherlands. Field work is to be carried out in two of the 6 MEP countries, the country office in Erbil, Kurdistan, and Hargeisa, Somalia.

The MTR will start with a meeting at Main office in Amsterdam and conclude with a debriefing meeting with SPARK Amsterdam management and directors and other project partners.

The evaluator(s) should follow the DAC Guidelines as contained in DAC Guidelines and Reference Series: Quality Standards for Development Evaluation. The evaluation report should follow the template attached as Annex 1 to this Terms of Reference.

5. Time line and schedule

The evaluation will be conducted within a 2 month timeframe. The assignment will start in January 2016. The duration of the assignment is approx.25 working days, including writing of the final report. The final report must be submitted latest by March 15, 2016.

The Mission will complete and submit a draft final report in both hard and soft copy at the end of the mission. The Mission Leader will finalize the report in the light of comments/suggestions of stakeholders. The key outputs of the MTR are:

Deliverables

1. Inception Report: methodology, work plan, review of project documents and drafting data collection tools, in accordance with SPARK HQ.

2. Conduct field assessments, interviews and collect relevant project information and data. Short presentation of findings at SPARK HQ.

3. First draft of review report. Presentation of findings and recommendations to SPARK, partners and/or other key stakeholders for verification.

4. Final report, including all annexes (see below)

6. Evaluation team

The consultant(s) will have an experience in programmes operating in fragile states; experienced in evaluating programmes on entrepreneurship, or related topics (i.e. BDS, incubator programmes)

Qualification of the International Consultant/Team Leader (1):

· Higher education (a degree) in social sciences, economics, or development studies;

· Minimum 7-10 years of extensive professional experience in conducting evaluations;

· Knowledge and experience with working on / evaluating programmes focusing on BDS (Business Development Serbvices, SME development, migrant entrepreneurship is viewed an asset

· Strong working knowledge of the small enterprise development field and the NGO and donor sectors;

· Extensive knowledge of result-based management evaluation, OECD/DAC and /or UN-system evaluation standards, as well as participatory monitoring and evaluation methodologies and approaches;

· Experience in applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating results chains;

· Good professional knowledge of the programme countries, especially a strong political understanding of working in fragile states;

· Demonstrated and strong analytical, communication and report writing skills;

· Capacity to work with the target group representatives;

· Fluency in written and spoken English.

Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV(s)/ Company Capacity Statement, with a covering letter explicitly referring to previous similar experiences, as well as a first evaluation plan and preliminary budget, to t.willems@spark-online.org and vacancy@spark-online.org by 27 december, 2015, 18.00 (Amsterdam time).

Also include:

• Work plan indicating dates and number of days for each task
• Professional fee (in Euro’s – either lump sum or daily rate)
• Availability (date)

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

For additional questions on the assignment please contact t.willems@spark-online.org