Evaluator of Oxfam's disaster risk reduction programme in the South Caucasus
This job posting has closed
Background
In May 2010 Oxfam GB and local partner organisations started a participatory multi-hazard disaster risk reduction programme in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, funded for 15 months by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department. The first phase of this programme is due to end in July 2011 and an external evaluation is sought to determine the impact of this programme to date and to make recommendations to inform future programming for the Oxfam team and partners, as well as the donor, ECHO. The evaluation itself will focus on a number of key questions in the following areas: overall impact of the programme, impact on gender equality, sustainability, as well as effectiveness of coordination with government and non-government actors.
What the programme aimed to achieve
The specific objective of this programme is 'Supporting 47 communities to develop their resilience through an institutionalised community based model, promoted within district and national disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategic development in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia', through 3 main results:
- Local communities have established a culture of safety and resilience through raising awareness, knowledge, and skills in DRR initiatives.
- District plans establish coordination mechanisms with communities and strengthen community based disaster risk reduction initiatives.
- Strengthened disaster risk reduction strategies through increased dialogue, coordination, and information exchange between regional, national and local stakeholders.
Questions to be addressed by the evaluation
Overall Impact
- To what extent were the project results and indicators achieved during the project?
- Are the actual project outputs (e.g. the small-scale mitigations, the rescue teams trained, village disaster management committees created, local disaster management plans produced etc.) present within a community at the time of evaluation, and to what extent are they actually utilized (or could be meaningfully utilized) by the project beneficiaries?
- To what extent can the project outputs (e.g. rescue teams, people trained in emergency evacuation etc.) potentially be used in actual emergency situations (e.g. whether a rescue team already "rescued" people, whether it would be physically available during an emergency, whether it could - or had the means to - assemble in time, whether the community was ever evacuated in time during drills and simulation exercises etc)?
Gender
- What impact has the programme had on gender equality and women's realities? (e.g. increased decision making, control over resources/assets, leadership roles within community management structures, fair division of labour etc)
- What steps were undertaken to ensure the active participation of women within the programme and what steps could be taken in the future to improve this practice?
- Did the programme meet specific gender indicators and targets outlined within the project document?
Sustainability of Oxfam and partners' interventions
- To what extent are changes made/achieved likely to be sustained?
- Do communities' (or the final beneficiaries') genuinely have ownership of the project outputs? Will there be motivation to continue and develop the project activities after Oxfam and partners' withdraw?
- How cost-effective was the programme?
Proposed / potential methodology
Documentation review/ existing data to be used in evaluation
- Review of programme proposal documents.
- Baseline/endline- report findings.
- Focus group discussion write up.
- Views from the front line national reports and related case studies collected.
- Best practice write ups for DIPECHO regional learning review write up.
- Overview of programme briefings and overview of programme with programme coordinator briefings with each country team including partners on key progress and challenges: review of data collected (STC, BSEA, Fovgal) including media work, photographs plus overview of mitigation work including process and documentation as outlined in log-frame.
- Field based data collection Interviews with national, and local government (6 interviews).
- Interviews with other actors (Red Cross as DIPECHO partners, ECHO local representative plus one other per country).
- Focus group discussions with beneficiaries (men and women) (in 6 villages- 2 per country). Visit to mitigation projects (in 6 villages).
- Key outputs executive summary and full report in English including key recommendations (max 20 pages plus annexes).
Essential - skills and experience
- Knowledge and proven experience in managing and leading evaluation assignments for a range of major aid agencies or NGOs in particular evaluating complex multi-country or large donor programmes e.g. EC, ECHO.
- Strong data collection, analysis and writing skills.
- Broad knowledge of development issues and national policy and practice in DRR (in particular community based DRR).
- Good understanding of gender equality issues.
- Proven experience of working in DRR and/or humanitarian response programmes.
- Fluency in English.
Desirable - skills and experience
- Experience or knowledge of the South Caucasus.
- Management experience of community based disaster risk reduction programmes.
- Spoken and written Russian.
Essential - competencies
- Ability to work with significant levels of autonomy.
- Proven analytical skills and ability to work with others with a dynamic and proactive attitude.