Afghanistan: External Evaluator of a Food Security and Livelihoods Project

Aug 26, 2014 | Solidarites International

SI has been implementing projects in Afghanistan for 32 years. Currently, SI’s intervention takes place in two provinces: Bamyan and Samangan. Saighan and Kahmard Districts are located in the Central Highlands region in Bamyan province. This area is recognized as one of the safest provinces in the country. The situation in these areas can be grasped through two major elements:

The first one is the tremendous strain on populations’ livelihoods (mainly agriculture and livestock) where rural populations’ livelihoods are constantly under threat and they are living in borderline situations. Coping mechanisms are persistently overstretched and populations’ self-resilience is regularly failing.

The second is the erratic and unsustainable exploitation of the natural resource (mainly water and pastureland) linked to the practices’ stagnation or degradation and the significant demographic increase since the fall of the Taliban Regime. This exploitation is also causing an increase of natural disasters’ occurrence and impact (flash floods, landslides, reduced soil productivity...) thus maintaining the populations in a vicious circle of vulnerability.

SI wishes to support these major opportunities and through this, contribute to a much needed livelihoods’ enhancement of the targeted populations. The project implementation started in August 2011 and SI wishes to evaluate the progress and introduce overall improvements to the general frame of the project.

The overall objective of the action is to contribute to secured and enhanced livelihoods while respecting the natural resource base.

OBJECTIVES:

General objective

The objective of the consultant is to evaluate the mid-term achievements of the project in Saighan and Kahmard and produce tangible and realistic improvement recommendations for SI teams (on the field and coordination) in Afghanistan.

Specific objectives:

In order to support Solidarités International for reaching the general 
objective, the consultant will have:

- To evaluate the progress on the activities and the defined indicators in the project’s proposal.
- To evaluate the relevance of current activities.
- To evaluate the project’s team and national coordination working schemes (organisation chart, internal communication, monitoring, external coordination,...).
- To produce a comprehensive set of recommendations designed to improve SI’s future actions in Bamyan in general and the overall future progress of the project’s implementation (both in terms of current implementation and future operational orientations) in particular.

PROFILE:

- Strong experience in Food Security, Rural Development and/or Natural Resources Management Projects
- Significant experience in Project Evaluation and Monitoring. The candidate is expected to provide examples of evaluation completed for similar assignments
- Fluent in English (spoken and good analytical and redaction skills)
- Adaptability to work in remote areas
- Knowledge of the Afghan context will be highly appreciated (especially rural areas such as Central Highlands)
- Knowledge of Dari or Farsi will be appreciated

HOW TO APPLY:

Deadline for application: 31st of August 2014. Please apply online with your Resume and Cover Letter. If your profile is selected, you’ll receive complete Terms of reference for editing formal and complete proposal (including budget, timeframe, and methodology).
If your are interested conducting an other evaluation in the same area 

Please check this vacancy.

Organisation: Solidarites International
Posted on: 13 August 2014
Application deadline: 31 August 2014
Departure date & duration of the mission: September for 3 weeks, depending on the timeframe proposed by the consultant
Location: Saighan and Kahmard

CONTACT: Pauline CARTERY, Recruitment & Follow Up Officer