End of Project Evaluation Revitalising Communities through Conservation Agriculture (ReCCA) Project I

Terms of Reference for End of Project Evaluation Revitalising Communities through Conservation Agriculture (ReCCA) Project I. CONTEXT Liberian communities have been devastated by protracted civil conflict. Reconstruction is beginning in earnest, but the road ahead is long as the nation confronts deep poverty, poor infrastructure, weak institutions, lack of trained personnel and low-level capacity, and social fragmentation. Rural livelihoods continue to be threatened by low and declining agricultural productivity and underdeveloped agricultural markets. Currently, more than 80% of rural households are considered moderately or highly vulnerable to food insecurity.

Bong County is situated in the heart of Liberia’s agricultural belt, which covers the central, northern and north-western counties of Nimba, Lofa, Grand Basa, and River Cess. The county produces most of Liberia’s upland and lowland rice. Bong County has significant agricultural potential due to abundant forest reserves and adequate sunshine and rainfall. Rainfall is about 1,700 to 2,080 mm annually, 80%-95% of which is concentrated in the heavy rainy season between June and October. This period of heavy rain corresponds to the main rice growing season; often, farmers are more concerned about the leaching of soils from heavy rains than they are about moisture retention.

1.1 Project Background. With funding from the Howard G Buffett foundation, CARE Liberia is implementing the Revitalizing Agriculture through Conservation Agriculture (RECCA) Project in Bong County. The project is being implemented in four districts in Bong County to strengthen communities’ livelihoods through the introduction of new agricultural techniques and support structures to make farming more viable and profitable, while protecting Liberia’s ecosystem. The intervention include innovative methods to more fully engage women and youth, and thus support Liberia’s comprehensive efforts to address land tenure, particularly for small-scale rural farmers.

Liberia’s unique ecology and political context present a tremendous opportunity for learning, particularly in the context of a tropical environment with heavy rains and significant lowland cropping. The project’s methods and impacts will be carefully documented for scale-up within Liberia and to contribute to the broader learning emerging from conservation agriculture programs throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

1.2 Project goal and objectives. The goal of the ReCCA project is to revitalize agriculture; improve food security and income in an environmentally sustainable way for 4,000 directly benefiting farming households in four districts of Bong County, Liberia. 1.3 The specific objectives of the project are:
1. To improve crop yields and soil fertility through smallholder adoption of conservation agriculture techniques; 2. To reduce crop and post-harvest losses through improved drying and storage facilities, and processing; 3. To strengthen capacities and collaboration among stakeholders to expand conservation agriculture in Bong County; 4. To create awareness about conservation agriculture at the national and regional level; and 5. To ensure that marginalized groups (including women, youth, immigrants, and returned refugees/combatants) also benefit from CA by receiving specific support, including informal, longer-term land use rights.

II. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE EVALUATION 2.1 The objective of the end of project evaluation is to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of progress made based on the logical framework.
The evaluation will take into consideration the project’s progress to date and look at sustainability issues. The evaluation should therefore: • Assess CARE’s overall approach to conservation agriculture in terms of level of effort on each component and their potential contributions towards the goal. • Review the appropriateness of the project implementation strategies project design and methodologies used and their relevance to the practical needs of the impact group. • Identify major challenges constraining the adoption and up-scaling of CA and the opportunities to address these. • Assess the effectiveness of the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach as implemented to result in understanding and adoption of CA by farmers.
• Assess the added value, if any, of linking CA work with VS&L efforts. • Assess the current partnerships and collaborative efforts to enhance project impacts at community level at scale. • Review the effectiveness of the coordination mechanisms and networks established by the ReCCA project to inform government policy and strengthen collaboration at district, county and national levels on CA agendas. • Review the success of the ReCCA project to scale up CA via linkages to CARE Liberia projects/programs and other civil society interventions. • Assess the potential for sustainability of CA efforts based on current strategies promoting community ownership, stakeholders involvement and advocacy efforts at the districts, county and MoA levels.

III. METHODOLOGY The consultant will have to do the following:
3.1 Review of project documentation. Review of the ReCCA project proposal, progress reports (annual and semi annual reports), M&E plan, and any other relevant materials. 3.2 Half day orientation by CARE Liberia to the Review Team to present project progress, issues, proposed future directions and agree on review deliverables, processes, and final document format/content. 3.3 Field visits and interviews: (i) Field visits to all the four districts to carry out group discussions and on-field visits with farmers local partner (Project New Outlook) and other local stakeholders (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Internal Affairs); and (ii) interviews with CARE Liberia staff. 3.4 Key preliminary findings consolidated, prioritized and presented to the CARE Liberia team for discussion.

IV. OUTPUTS AND SCHEDULE 4.1 The outputs of the consultancy should include: a. Presenting a draft work plan and methodology to CARE Liberia before start of the work. The plan should include tools to be used, persons to be interviewed. b. Conducting the evaluation as per agreed upon processes and tools. c. Conducting a debriefing session with Senior CARE Liberia staff on their preliminary findings. d. A draft report to CARE Liberia for comments
e. A final copy of the Evaluation report. The end of project evaluation exercise is expected to commence on January 16, 2012. V. TERMS OF THE CONSULTANCY 5.1 The review team will work closely with CARE Liberia’s ReCCA Project Team and will have the Program Manager as primary contact within CARE Liberia. 5.2 Qualifications and experience. The consultant(s) must have demonstrated knowledge and several years of experience in evaluating development projects, preferably those related to Conservation Agriculture. In-depth knowledge of agriculture and, preferably, a good understanding of Liberia. The consultant/team must be fluent in English.

How to apply:

Interested consultants/teams should present a proposal to CARE Liberia briefly outlining (i) a methodology for conducting the work under this consultancy (max 2 pages); (ii) a proposed work plan (max 1 page); (iii) names and CVs of the individual consultants to be assigned to the job; (iv) an itemized budget and indication of the total cost of the proposed work plan.

Proposals should be sent to: Att: Mariama Koon CARE Liberia Near Old Road Junction, Tubman Boulevard, Congo town, Monrovia, Liberia Tel: +231 886517591. Email: mariama.koon@co.care.org For technical questions contact: Henry Khonyongwa, henry.khonyongwa@co.care.org