Consultancy - End of year program assessment - Uganda

Introducción

General information

The FUNDACIÓN AYUDA EN ACCIÓN, hereinafter "the Foundation", is a private organization of a non-profit nature, with its own legal personality, whose assets are destined on a lasting basis to the achievement of purposes of general interest.

The Foundation was constituted by the Association Ayuda en Acción by public deed granted in Madrid on February 11, 1999, and at the time of its incorporation it was registered in the Registry of Foundations of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and classified as a Charitable Foundation by Ministerial Order dated November 22, 1999. It is currently under the Protectorate of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.

The purpose of the Foundation, according to the sixth article of its Statutes, is the following: "The promotion and collaboration in actions of solidarity, development cooperation and social welfare in general and welfare and social services, with special attention to groups and people in situations of vulnerability, social exclusion, poverty and inequality, with special emphasis on children".

Thus, the priority and non-exclusive areas in which the Foundation works are as follows:

• Technical assistance articulated through projects and programs focused on technology transfer and human resources training to promote a positive change in the territorial dynamics of the geographical areas of action. The introduction of knowledge, technologies, and new ways of doing things, of personnel trained in such theories and practices, and the promotion of effective organizations, all in a manner respectful of the local cultural particularity, in the areas of economic, educational, health, infrastructure and with the beneficiary communities.
• Financial assistance to enable the above-mentioned technical assistance.
• Disaster prevention, emergency assistance and reconstruction. These tasks consist of the introduction of practical measures to minimize the effects of possible natural disasters on housing, the use of natural and economic resources, the health and education systems, the infrastructure network, etc. Urgent assistance for the relief of the affected populations and the reconstruction of the affected territories.
• Public education and awareness of the causes and effects of poverty and inequality, as well as the means to reduce them.

The fulfillment of the Foundation's own goals is materialized in the implementation of integral development projects in the most disadvantaged communities and in social welfare projects thanks to the contributions of partners and donors, as well as other public and private donations from individuals and legal entities.

Under a work model based on long-term accompaniment (12-15 years), we participate in the social, economic, and political dynamics of our intervention areas, facilitating the joint construction of solutions to generate well-being and inclusion. Within this framework, the target population and protagonist of our work is children, youth, and women, especially in the most vulnerable contexts, where they are forced to overcome the greatest obstacles and gaps to access their rights in equality and equity.

In order to carry out its activities, the Foundation has delegations in various countries in Latin America and Africa, which do not have their own legal status, specifically in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uganda. Additionally, on November 7, 2014, the Foundation constituted a Civil Association in Mexico called Ayuda en Acción de México A.C. of indefinite duration and domiciled in Mexico City D.F. as a non-profit organization, dedicated to assistance activities for people, sectors and regions of scarce resources, indigenous communities, and vulnerable groups. Additionally, in Spain we have offices in different Autonomous Communities, from where we promote, among others, the social action project implemented in Spain.

It should be noted that the foundational activity is carried out directly and also through collaboration with organizations with their own legal form, with similar purposes both nationally and internationally.

Object of contract

The end of year assessment is forward looking and will capture progress during the year, the lessons learnt and provide information on the nature, extent and where possible, the potential for impact and sustainability of AeA’s interventions under the current strategy. The exercise will assess the approaches and the capacity to achieve the project objectives. It will collate and analyze lessons learnt, challenges faced, and good practices if any, informing reporting and the implementation strategies for 2024. The emphasis on learning lessons speaks to the issue of understanding what has and what has not worked as a guide for future planning. It will assess the performance of the projects against planned results. The evaluation will assess the preliminary indications of potential impact and sustainability of the projects including the contribution to capacity strengthening of private sector actors in relevant areas to enable them fit within an MSD approach. The assessment will further document community feedback on the interventions, including the effectiveness of AeA’s feedback and response mechanisms.

Scope of contract

The exercise will assess the effectiveness of the implementation strategies and the results. This will include the implementation modalities, coordination, partnership arrangements, Private sector capacity strengthening, and likelihood of success of AeA’s programs. It will assess the extent to which the project results have been achieved, partnerships established, capacities built, and cross cutting issues of mainstreaming gender have been addressed. It will also assess whether the project implementation strategy has been optimum and recommend areas for improvement and learning.

Under the component of relevancy, the assessment will establish the extent to which the projects achieved the objectives for 2023 including progress made towards achieving the planned outputs and the likelihood of achieving the project outcomes (including contributing factors and constraints). The assessment will further assess whether the inputs and strategies identified were realistic, appropriate, and adequate to achieve results. This includes whether the project interventions are relevant to the identified needs.

Regarding effectiveness, the exercise will assess the projects’ effectiveness in delivering the desired/planned results, including the extent to which the MSD approach under the PURE project is likely to deliver planned results. The exercise will further assess how effective the projects have been in responding to the needs of the beneficiaries, and what results were achieved including the adjustments are required to make the project more effective.

In line with efficiency, the exercise will assess how the process of achieving results been efficient so far, specifically, whether the results so far justify the costs incurred, what factors have contributed to implementation efficiency during the year and whether the project activities overlap and duplicate other similar interventions. The exercise will further assess whether there are more efficient ways and means of delivering more and better results with the available inputs including proposals on any different approaches that could have produced better results. The level of collaboration with Local Authorities, and actors in the sector, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the project implementation will also be assessed under this component.

Under the component of sustainability, the exercise will assess the extent to which the results achieved during the year are likely to be sustained in the medium and long-term including the key factors that will require attention to improve prospects of sustainability of results and the potential for replication of the approach. This will further include how the capacities of actors were strengthened at the individual and organizational level (including contributing factors and constraints). The exercise will also describe the main lessons that have emerged and make recommendations for the remainder of the strategy based on the assessment findings.

In terms of Geographical scope, the assessment will cover Adjumani and Obongi districts where significant implementation took place during the year.

Contract Schedule

The schedule of the service to be contracted shall form part of the proposal, integrating a detail of the tasks to be performed as well as deadlines. In any case, the objective is to have all the products delivered by 24th January 2024 at the latest.

Submission of bids

Bids must be submitted electronically to Ayuda en Accion through the country administrator at dbigabwa@ayudaenaccion.org, dokello@ayudaenaccion.org and hmugisha@ayudaenaccion.org no later than 14th December 2023.

Should you require any information to develop the proposal to be submitted, please do not hesitate to contact us by the means indicated above.