Evaluation of the “Access to Information and Market” (AIM) project in Thai Nguyen province

Oxfam in Vietnam is seeking a qualified Consultant(s) for the evaluation of the “Access to Information and Market” (AIM) project in Thai Nguyen province. Interested consultants should submit an expression of interest/proposal to Oxfam that should be specified in terms of: • Technical proposal achieving all expected objectives within mentioned timeframe (including proposed methodological approach for the evaluation, methodology, framework, sample size, data collection tools, indicative work plan and responsibilities including field survey and quality control plan, team structure, etc …) (5 pages max). • Financial proposal (budget estimation) that specifies number of working days required and consultancy rate. • Introduction of the Consultants’ profile and related experience, including full CVs of the evaluation team members. • Sample of a final evaluation report for development projects in agriculture or related sector. -------- Terms of reference: Evaluation of the “Access to Information and Market” (AIM) project in Thai Nguyen province

BACKGROUND

Oxfam is a confederation of 20 organizations working together in more than 90 countries. We are part of a global movement for change, empowering people to create a future that is secure, just, and free from poverty. Oxfam in Vietnam is working to seek transformative changes in policies, practices and beliefs in ways that will fundamentally improve the lives of poor and marginalized women and men and ensure that all citizens have the same opportunity to enjoy their rights. Oxfam in Vietnam current country strategy contributes to shaping the debate on extreme inequality in Vietnam and globally, our four-programme includes women rights’, building resilience to disaster, climate risks and emergency response, sustainable food and fair sharing of natural resources, and good governance. Since 2007, Oxfam has been working on promoting sustainable rice production techniques that focused on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) extension in Vietnam. This support is then a part of the Access to Innovation and Market (AIM) project (or FLAIR formerly), which has been implemented in the six northern provinces of Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, Phu Tho and Yen Bai. The goal of the project is to empower small-scale farming men and women to innovate and adapt their agricultural practices, so that they are better able to address the challenges they face and improve their food security and livelihoods. From 2018, AIM project has adjusted and developed new interventions on sustainable rice value chain. The project aims to promote Public Private Partnership in the local rice value chain development, including rice production input i.e. seeds, to benefit smallholder farmers, especially ethnic minorities and women involving in the local rice value chains. This new intervention has started first in Thai Nguyen province where provincial government has strong commitment to promote sustainable rice production, especially high quality local rice value chains. The project has worked mainly in four districts (Phu Binh, Phu Luong, Dinh Hoa and Vo Nhai districts) with the focus on several local rice varieties such as Thau Dau, Nep Vai and Bao Thai. During the period of 2018-2020, Oxfam has partnered with Crop and Plant Protection Sub-department (CPPSD) of Thai Nguyen province to implement AIM project in Thai Nguyen province. The following project objectives and outcomes were set forth in the grant: Project objective: This project aims to develop a successful model on Public Private Parnership (PPP) for local rice value chain development and farmer rice seed production that can be adopted by public and private sectors as a right solution to benefit smallholders, especially ethnic minorities and women farmers involving in the rice value chain. Project outcomes:

Outcome 1: Public and private actors increase investment and support small producers to develop local rice value chain and rice seed production
Outcome 2: Improved farmer capacity on rice seed production to meet demand of community on local rice seeds.
Outcome 3: Small producers are better organised and capable to link up with public and private actors in local rice value chain for increasing their benefits.
Outcome 4: Government (province and district) policies & regulations are favourable to promote sustainable rice value chain development and rice seed production.

In order to draw lessons learnt from this project, Oxfam would like to review the achievement and challenges of the project implementation as well as the project intervention strategy.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

The evaluation focuses on answering the below key questions:

To what extent has the local rice value chain improved in term of input supplies, productivity, market access, value chain support services? and what benefits that the improved value chain brought to the project target beneficiaries- small scale farmers, especially female farmers?
To what extent has sustainable rice production technique (e.g. SRI) been adopted in the province after SRI program phasing out since the last five years? And what are the contributing factors?
What are the lessons learned from project approaches on promoting PPP to improve local rice value chain?

SCOPE OF WORK

The evaluation will mainly conduct in Thai Nguyen province. Works to be carried out by the consultant(s) would include but not limited to the following:

Organize team meeting with Oxfam and partners to form the evaluation, discuss and agree about objective, scope of work, evaluation methodology and work plan.
Review all the relevant documents and reports
Design the data collection tools, questionnaire/question guide based on evaluation questions.
Liaise with Oxfam team and province as appropriate to obtain the information needed in accordance with the preparation of evaluation study.
Conduct the field work at the targeted province, mainly Thai Nguyen province.
Prepare evaluation report and present report to get comments from AIM project stakeholders
Finalize the reports and submit to Oxfam.

OUTPUT & TIMEFRAME

The evaluation will start commencing in the Mid of September and complete by end of November 2020 and the consultant will be required to produce the following outputs:

A consultation workshop with involved partners and stakeholders of the AIM project.
A high standard, professional evaluation report of approximately 25 pages length in Vietnamese and English including data on assessment of project overall impacts and outcomes.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES OF CONSULTANTS

The consultants should have:

Specialized in agriculture, agrobusiness, rural development or related fields.
Knowledge on gender issues, ethnic minorities and rural social issue. Good knowledge and experiences in rice/food crop value chains would be a plus.
Proven experience in M&E work for development projects/NGOs, especially in research with extensive knowledge on participatory M&E methods.
Able to analyze (particularly qualitative analysis of gender/power relations) and synthesize with a strong command of English.
Field surveys, including data collection and analysis.
Documented analytical and reporting skills.
The team leader must have documented leadership and coordination skills and experiences.
Strong skill set in both quantitative and qualitative, participatory methods.
Excellent English and Vietnamese writing skills.

APPLICATION AND SELECTION

Interested consultants should submit an expression of interest/proposal to Oxfam that should be specified in terms of:

Technical proposal achieving all expected objectives within mentioned timeframe (including proposed methodological approach for the evaluation, methodology, framework, sample size, data collection tools, indicative work plan and responsibilities including field survey and quality control plan, team structure, etc …) (5 pages max).
Financial proposal (budget estimation) that specifies number of working days required and consultancy rate.
Introduction of the Consultants’ profile and related experience, including full CVs of the evaluation team members.
Sample of a final evaluation report for development projects in agriculture or related sector.

How to Apply: The Proposal should be submitted in English by email with subject mentioning “AIM Project Evaluation” to HR.Vietnam@oxfam.org. The closing date for application: 14^th September 2020. We regret that only short-listed applicants will be contacted for an interview!