Independent monitoring of Programme result in South Sudan Juba with travel tot he field

BACKGROUND

Field monitoring is considered to be one of the most important quality assurance measures in a major humanitarian response. Field monitoring triangulates results reported by UNICEF’s implementing partners, giving UNICEF and its partners a reality check of what is happening on the ground in a high risk environment (in terms of allocation, utilization and management of resources). It allows UNICEF and its partners to identify bottlenecks and barriers to achieving desired programme results, i.e, Monitoring Results for Equity Systems (MoRES) in Humanitarian Action. It also provides a unique opportunity to systematically ensure Accountability to the Affected Population (AAP) by collecting feedback from emergency-affected populations. A robust field monitoring system is an effective way of informing all the stakeholders about what is actually happening at the delivery point and what programme adjustments are essential to achieve planned results.

Since December 2013, armed conflict has displaced 1.9 million people in South Sudan, over half of whom are children. 1.43 million people are displaced internally; 483,030 have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Children are among the worst-affected. A malnutrition crisis continues in most parts of the country, especially in conflict-affected states. 1.5 million people are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity, expected to rise to 2.5 million in 2015.

In response to the conflict and the deteriorating situation of children, UNICEF has scaled up its humanitarian interventions throughout 2014 to reach as many affected children as possible. Implementing partnerships have been increased to expand coverage of basic services, including under the joint UNICEF-WFP Nutrition Scale Up Action Plan. Government system and structures for executing programmes has been low at national, state and county levels, and NGOs provide up to 80 per cent of basic services in South Sudan. Many of the NGOs pulled out when the conflict began, although most have since returned to South Sudan and have continued programme implementation in some locations. UNICEF and WFP also developed a rapid response mechanism (RRM) to address gaps in humanitarian needs of affected populations beyond the Protection of Civilian (PoC) and IDP sites where critical needs have not been met.

The implementation capacities and field presence of international and local NGOs partners varies considerably, and many also have weak financial management, monitoring and reporting capacities. This poses risks to programme implementation, and proper utilization of UNICEF’s resources. It is therefore important to enhance programme field monitoring to track and ensure quality of interventions. While field monitoring is a programme function which is the responsibility of all program staff, the sudden onset of conflict, and increased response along with its geographic spread has made it extremely difficult for the programme staff alone to effectively undertake field monitoring of programme implementation. Additionally, some of the locations have been hard to reach in the past months due to security concerns. Also, limited number of staff compared to size, scope and complexity of programme implementation modalities poses serious constraints to field monitoring. We are proposing to conduct one-off third-party monitoring/assessment to enable us independently verify how programme implementation has been undertaken by partners, and the results achieved todate. For this purpose, UNICEF will be hiring a third party (a research/consulting firm) through an institutional contract to undertake these assessments for UNICEF South Sudan.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY

As mentioned above, in 2014, as part of the L3 Corporate Emergency, UNICEF has implemented a major humanitarian programme in South Sudan. The programme is spread broadly across the conflict-affected states and includes service delivery (with a large supply component) including through direct implementation; community mobilization; and some emergency-related capacity development of partners and communities. Additionally, UNICEF continues to provide recovery/systems strengthening in other States not directly affected by the ongoing conflict. The overall objective of third-party assurance activities is to monitor and/or verify that UNICEF-supported activities are being implemented, with quality, by NGO partners; and contributing to the survival, development and protection of South Sudanese children, women and communities. The findings of third party assurance activities are expected to facilitate decision making and improve performance, both on partnership development and management, and the overall direction of the South Sudan Country Programme.

In areas that are accessible by UNICEF staff, third-party assurance activities will serve as an independent source of information. In areas that are not accessible by UNICEF staff, third-party assurance activities will serve to extend the reach of UNICEF’s own human resource capacity.

SCOPE OF WORK

Prior to the start of any third party assurance activities, the contractor will closely engage with UNICEF South Sudan. UNICEF South Sudan will provide the contractor with relevant documentation, including project documents; narrative and financial reports; monitoring reports; partner capacity assessments; and other relevant monitoring or evaluation information. The third party contractor will be expected to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the project documentation prior to undertaking field-level activities.

It should be noted that the procurement of third-party assurance services is not expected to replace the monitoring undertaken by UNICEF’s implementing partners, including Government, nor is it expected to replace UNICEF’s own internal monitoring systems. The third party services are, however, expected to provide an independent perspective (in areas that are accessible to UNICEF), extend the reach of UNICEF human resources (notably by going into areas that are not easily accessible to UNICEF), and expand UNICEF’s understanding of the sociopolitical and risk context, which are beyond the scope of its own staff, who are largely technical staff serving in specific sectoral areas.

KEY LOCATIONS

The team of consultants identified through this institutional contract will be expected to travel to selected intervention areas to undertake field monitoring/assess programme implementation based on UNICEF’s Program Cooperation Agreements (PCAs) and Small-Scale Funding Agreements (SSFAs) with implementing partners. The key locations to be included as part of this contract include the attached list of locations per State in ANNEXE III.

DELIVERABLES/KEY RESULTS EXPECTED

Carry out independent monitoring/assessment of the quality of UNICEF’s humanitarian work, validate the reported progress figures based on review of proof of service delivery, as submitted by UNICEF implementing partners, and assess the satisfaction level/perception of the affected population about UNICEF’s response interventions in the affected states/counties;
Submit comprehensive monitoring/assessment reports comprising but not limited to the following: • Assess whether progress/results reported by the implementing partner (against a set of indicators and/ or criteria) is in fact supported by evidence; • Determine capacity assessment of the partner, based on discussions with the partners, review of key documentation, feedback from beneficiaries, community stakeholders and local authorities; • Documentation and reporting on delivery of UNICEF’s supplies to the Implementing Partner, including transportation and storage capacities, as well as security of UNICEF’s supplies; • Document how supplies have been used for programme delivery, i.e. whether supplies are in fact reaching the beneficiaries and are fit for purpose, to ensure that the programme objectives are accomplished as expected with minimum of losses. Also include any identified gaps observed during the field visits; • Hold discussions with the implementing partner on identifying any specific issues or difficulties with regard to implementation of UNICEF programmes, i.e, Health, Nutrition, WASH, Education and Child Protection; • Information about key emerging issues arising from the field, any social issues affecting children or women in general and any other related issues in the field including trends of diarrhoea, malnutrition and other diseases; • Information about the quality of construction/hard components of some of the projects such as, rehabilitation of school buildings, water supply schemes, latrines etc, based on agreed criteria; • Identification of any specific unmet but critical needs of women and children in the program areas.
In addition to the detailed written report, which is expected two weeks after each field visit, the consultant is also expected to contact the respective field office of UNICEF and the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) section in Juba (on phone and email) about any issues requiring urgent attention, including, gaps in the program activities and perceptions of the beneficiaries and key stakeholders regarding the overall programme, etc.;
Assess institutional, technical and management capacities of prospective/current partners, based on an agreed-upon set of criteria. Conduct case studies to document good practices and success stories of UNICEF’s humanitarian programs in their respective geographical areas.
Sharing of key findings/actions from the ongoing/any completed monitoring exercise/ assessments to UNICEF programme sections through briefly presentations at the end of each month.
Present concluding findings/actions of the consultancy to Country Office.
METHODOLOGY

Review UNICEF related parts of Crisis Response Plan, humanitarian response results frameworks/Humanitarian Performance Monitoring matrices; Annual Workplans, project documents (PCAs and SSFAs) and any other legal agreements/contracts approved by UNICEF for humanitarian response intervention to be familiar with the targets, planned activities, implementation strategies, agreed implementing partners, assigned resources; and geographical areas where they will be conducting field monitoring/assessments;
Inception meeting with UNICEF program staff for orientation on program interventions, objectives, monitoring strategy, activities and work plan of the assignment;
Review and revise (where needed) the existing field monitoring checklists and reporting templates in consultation with UNICEF programme staff in Juba/the respective field offices, and finalize these accordingly;
Visit field, conduct meetings with implementing partners to check the records of progress and identify gaps and any issues/challenges impeding programme implementation;
In the field, hold meetings with various key informants and collect data using the relevant checklists and conduct focus group discussions with the communities in the affected areas to collect further information and qualitative aspects of the programme results and get communities’ feedback on the quality of services provided by the implementing partners
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

During the course of field-level data collection, the contractor is expected to provide UNICEF with timely feedback, notably in instances where immediate attention or action is warranted. Within two weeks of the completion of field-level data collection, the contractor is expected to provide UNICEF with a full report, in English, with the following components: • Explanation of the field-level methodology used • Sources consulted. All reports submitted by the contractor are expected to be sourced, with an assessment of the reliability of the source, and the credibility of the specific content. • Key findings from the field, fully addressing the questions contained in the original information request. • Detailed set of actionable recommendations for UNICEF South Sudan management and the implementing partner, linked to the findings from the field • GPS coordinates and/or geo-tagged photos, as relevant.

For the various tasks, specific reporting templates will be developed and agreed to between UNICEF and the contractor, upon the signing of the contract. In addition to the reports submitted to UNICEF, the contractor may be requested to provide post-assignment briefings to concerned UNICEF staff to further explain findings and make recommendations for consequence management.

EXPECTED PROFILE OF THE CONSULTING ENTITY

The entity contracted to perform the third party services for UNICEF South Sudan is required to demonstrate:

Ability to conduct field visits and collect quantitative and qualitative field data in different areas of South Sudan. Field visits are foreseen to be commissioned in UNICEF-supported counties, including those in Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei. Prioritization will be in locations that are fairly secure to travel, although other locations will be reached as the situation allows.
Existence of well-established networks to facilitate verification activities. The contractor should be able to engage experienced team members from the geographic area(s) where monitoring/verification is to take place. Staff members with knowledge of local culture and languages spoken by the communities will be an asset
Technically and managerially sound composition of staff to perform the third party verification activities.
Capacity to arrange all the logistical arrangements for field staff, training and actual field work
Ability to produce technically sound, well-written reports in English.
Ability to concurrently conduct multiple third-party assignments and/or organizational profiles. The contractor should also demonstrate stand-by capacity if ad hoc visits are required.
Relevant experience of third-party monitoring/assessments, preferably with UN, in similar situations
ESTIMATED OVERALL BUDGET

The consulting entity is expected to provide an estimated budget for the entire assignment. The exact resources/timelines required for specific assurance assignments will be discussed and agreed upon between UNICEF and the successful Contractor. As part of the submission package, however, contractors must provide estimated budgets for proposed personnel composition for completion of each of the tasks, explanation of the roles different personnel will play, and the associated unit costs for personnel (e.g. field enumerator, data analyst, team leader, etc.), along with an indicative range of the time, human and financial resources required to complete the tasks in each proposed location.

TIME-FRAME

The contract is for a period of six months from the date of signing with the successful contractor, anticipated for 1 February 2015. The timelines for specific assignments are to be discussed and agreed upon between UNICEF and the successful contractor.

It should be noted that the contractor is expected to have the ability to concurrently conduct multiple assignments. The contractor should also demonstrate stand-by capacity to enable satisfactory completion of requested fieldwork within requested timeframes.

SUPERVISION

The contractor will be supervised by the Chief, PME of UNICEF.

PAYMENT TERMS

The contractor will be paid according to the following terms: • 20% of contract sum upon submitting of inception report, field monitoring tools and detailed implementation plan • 40% upon submission of Phase 1 field monitoring reports (satisfactory completion of data collection and related deliverables) • 40% upon submission of Phase 2 field monitoring reports (satisfactory completion of data collection and related deliverables)