Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) ERF2 Evaluation

A. Introduction

In 2011, Afghanistan has experienced a long drought which affected not only the agriculture and livelihood activities of the rural communities but also the access to safe drinking water. The issue of the access to safe drinking water has profound effect on the sanitation and hygiene practices of the drought-affected communities.

Some of the highly affected communities are in the district of Aybak in Samangan province because of its natural set up. The aquifer or water table is around 400 meters below the ground which makes any hand pump drilling activities too difficult. The remaining option for most of the drought-affected villages was to use the water from the polluted canals, creeks, drainage and the river.

Because of the situation, many people suffered especially the vulnerable groups such as children, women, and people living with disabilities, elderly and the sick. There were reports on the rising cases of diarrheal diseases directly associated with drinking contaminated water.

As a result of the needs assessment conducted by Afghanaid, a project was initiated to respond to the needs of the affected population specifically on water, sanitation and hygiene. Funded through the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) under the Emergency Response Fund (ERF), the project was implemented by Afghanaid from January - July 2011.

The activities on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion have covered 13 villages with an estimated population of 3866 families. The major deliverables included: building 6 water reservoirs with filtering and sedimentation capacity constructed in 6 villages; Distribution of Bio-sand Filters (BSFs) reaching to 2800 households in 13 villages; 48 demo public latrines for 1800 families and hygiene education of 9570 individuals with distribution of hygiene kits to 3366 families.

B. The Organization C.
Afghanaid is an international NGO (www.afghanaid.org.uk), registered in the UK, specializing in Afghanistan since 1981. Afghanaid has been assisting and facilitating people-driven processes of recovery and development to address rights, entitlements and needs of Afghans in some of the most remote areas of the country for nearly three decades. Afghanaid’s Board of Trustees is based in the UK, together with its registered office. The Head Office is located in Kabul. Afghanaid works in four provinces, namely Badakhshan (north-eastern region), Samangan (northern region), Ghor (western region) and Nuristan (eastern region). 18 district offices and 4 provincial offices serve these provinces, which are well resourced with experienced and skilled Afghan women and men staff, with management support and technical guidance provided by a roving team of senior national and international managers based in Kabul. Afghanaid has over 400 staff members, 97% of them are Afghans.

Afghanaid is mandated to facilitate and support Afghan women, men and children in their fight against poverty, inequality and vulnerability through a range of interventions, most supporting grass-roots and local level capacity development, facilitating local development processes, and institution building. Evidence of change from Afghanaid’s programme work leverages its national level advocacy and policy influencing work, which is embedded in its grassroots work. The evidence of the impact of Afghanaid’s work has earned it recognition, respect and identity with stakeholders within and outside the country. Afghanaid’s sectoral work includes Food Security; Agriculture and Livelihoods; Economic Development (Rural Savings & Financing, Market Access and Rural Enterprise); Community Physical Infrastructure; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion; Social Sector Development (Local Governance, Community Development, Education) and Humanitarian Response. All sectoral work is supported by cross cutting themes of gender equality and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Afghanaid is a rights-based learning organization that works with both right bearers and duty holders through grassroots programming and advocacy and policy initiatives at the micro, meso and macro levels. The biggest asset of Afghanaid is its national staff and it is committed to developing its national staff capacity in the state of the art skills and competencies in community-driven poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response and advocacy.

D. Objectives of the Evaluation

The evaluation activities are generally aimed to identify the key changes on the water, sanitation and hygiene situation and practices of the beneficiaries targeted for the WASH project in Aybak, Samangan. Specifically, it is expected that at the end of the evaluation activities, the following points will be surfaced:

a. Identify the changes based on the indicators mentioned in the project documents (proposal and logical framework); b. Make a comparative analysis between the baseline and endline surveys using the appropriate methodologies exploring to what has changed at the end of the project as compare to the baseline c. In line with the above mentioned two points, the activities will also clearly identify whether or not there are: 1. Reduction of diarrheal diseases and risk and vulnerability related to waterborne diseases due to access to safe water; 2. Increased utilization of latrines; and 3. Improved hygiene practices (with specific examples) that reduce the vulnerabilities of the beneficiaries. d. Development of case study on the Effectiveness of the Bio-sand Filters in Reducing Diarrheal Diseases.

E. Methodology of the Evaluation

The methodology to be used must ensure the active participation of the beneficiaries and the intended respondents for men, women and children when necessary to best solicit the ideas and opinions of the beneficiaries. The method must respect gender, cultural diversity, individual and collective opinions. Whatever the methodology used, it must also ensure that rights, safety and security of the respondents and beneficiaries are not neglected. The Consultant is required to develop the evaluation methodology and provide an appropriate representative sampling in consultation with Afghanaid M&E and programme staff.

F. Target Activities and Timeframe The evaluation process is expected to culminate within 15 working days but the actual engagement with the Afghanaid is 7 days (Activities No. 1-6) and the rest of the days will be spent by the consultant for data processing and report development.

No. Activity Additional Details Duration (day) 1 Orientation, briefing and review of the related documents Contract signing, clarification of the TOR and the responsibilities 2 2 Development of Instruments, Methodology and Agreement of the Evaluation Process Take into account the project documents and the activities/indicators set in the LFA with direct collaboration with the programme technical staff and the M&E team. 3 Finalization of the instruments, process and schedules The technical staff and the M&E person will review with the consultant the documents and agree on the schedule and the process. 4 Travel to the field, Field orientation, teaming and tasking Orientation of the field staff involved delineating roles and responsibilities, process and schedule of activities. Reproduction of the instruments/tools. 1 5 Actual conduct of the evaluation activities Administration of the instruments, conduct of the field activities, etc. 4 6 Travel back to Kabul Meeting with the Afghanaid point persons at the head office. 1 7 Data processing Encoding and interpretation 3 8 Report making and submission of the draft reports The management/technical staff and the M&E team will review the output 3 9 Integration of the comments and finalization and submission of the reports of the reports Abdullah and Najeebullah will review the final documents with the consultant 1

G. Competencies Required for the Consultant

Essential:  Previous experiences on project evaluation specifically with non-government organizations and with WASH projects.  Experiences and ability to develop evaluation tools/instruments  Excellent command of the English language  Excellent technical writing skills  Knowledge and skills on research and statistics  Proven analytical skills  Effective time management skill  Can work effectively and independently with minimal supervision  Desirable human relation skills  Willingness to travel to remote communities  Living and working in modest and basic environment

H. Reporting Line

The Consultant will directly report to Mr. Abdullah Ampilan, PHP Specialist and Mr. Najeebullah Namiq, Programme Developing and Reporting Officer.

How to apply:

I.Submission of the Expression of Interest Please send a CV detailing your experiences and a cover letter with the subject “EOI for WASH ERF Project” to: Mujtaba Nooristani, HR Manager at mnooristani@afghanaid.org.uk. The deadline for the submission of EOI is on August 31st, 2012. The result of the selection process for the successful consultant takes place at least 5 days after the deadline for submission.