Opportunity International
I. Introduction
Fonkoze intends to submit to BMZ a project proposal for co-financing of an ultrapoor graduation project (“Chemen Lavi Miyò”) in the Northwest Department of Haiti. The project objective is to improve the nutritional, health, educational and housing situation of 500 ultra poor and 500 extremely poor families (about 5,000 people). Building on existing capacities, the two target groups will be supported in establishing sustainable economic activities and strengthened according to a holistic approach in the following areas: access to health care; safe housing; WASH; social, entrepreneurial and financial skills. Local structures are promoted that improve community development and the social and economic integration of the target groups in the long term. To ensure that the special circumstances of the “extreme poor” receive more attention in Haitian social policy, the partner organization lobbies and works with regional government agencies, especially the departmental offices of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, or MAST.
Opportunity International Deutschland, who will manage the BMZ grant for its implementing partner Fonkoze, is looking for experts to assess the feasibility of this project. The purpose of the study is to determine the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of this project. Furthermore, the study shall provide a sound basis for developing and perfecting the project concept, by identifying project prerequisites, opportunities, and risks.
II. Timeframe
• Main Research activities: October 21st 2022 – November 18th 2023
• Reporting: November 21st 2022 – November 30th 2022 • Draft report due on December 1st 2022
• Final report due on December 15th 2022
III. Contracting agency
Opportunity International Deutschland (OID)
Bremsstr. 6, 50969 Köln, Germany
IV. Short project description
Project : Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM) : Tailored Livelihood Approaches for Families in Extreme Poverty and Ultra-Poverty in Bombardopolis and Baie de Henne Communes, Haiti
Sector: Social protection / social promotion
Project duration: June 2023 to April 2025
Summary:
The project aims to improve the nutritional, health, educational, and housing situation of families living in extreme poverty in Bombardopolis and Baie de Henne Communes, in northwestern Haiti, by providing them with the level of support they need to change their own lives.
Since 2007, Fonkoze has been offering its graduation program to families living in ultra-poverty. Over 9,000 families have successfully completed the program to date, and over 2,000 are involved currently. Four cohorts of families have already been financed or are being financed by the BMZ involving 1,350 families in ultra-poverty and 500 families in extreme poverty.
Fonkoze now identifies two different levels of extreme poverty, providing the poorest families with its well-tested approach for them. Members of its program for families in ultrapoverty start with almost nothing. They average fewer than a single meal each day. Many have children whom they cannot afford to send to school. They have deplorable housing and lack reliable sources of income. By graduation, members have reliable income, dry and secure housing, are eating hot meals every day, and send their children to school. They have a plan for the future and the confidence they need to succeed. At the end of the project, 96% of the households meet criteria designed to show that they have a good chance to sustain or build on the progress they’ve made, and long-term studies have shown that even five years after the end of the project, more than two-thirds of the participants maintain or even add to the progress they’ve made. Evaluations of the program, both internal and independent, have consistently shown that over ⅔ of participating families retain the progress they made or even continue to make further progress even four-six years after completing it. (See, for example, here)
Fonkoze now also offers a second, less comprehensive approach for families slightly less poor. The graduation approach for families in ultra-poverty includes training, a short-term weekly cash transfer, a transfer of business assets, facilitated access to healthcare, and most importantly close accompaniment in the form of weekly visits from a case manager for eighteen months. (For a detailed explanation of the approach, look here.) The approach for families in extreme, but not ultra-, poverty includes coaching, inclusion in savings groups, and an investment fund that the family can use to build its income. Fonkoze is implementing various versions of this approach for families in four corners of Haiti. In all, 500 families will receive the program for ultra-poverty, and 500 the one for extreme poverty.
With every new group that Fonkoze has shepherded through the program, it has learned new lessons and applied them by tweaking its work. Upon request, interested parties will receive access to reports and field visits about past and current CLM interventions in the Central Plateau and elsewhere in the country.
V. Purpose
The feasibility study will have two points of emphasis:
- An analysis of existing infrastructure (social protection, primary health care, education, WASH, economic and financial, etc.) in the project area. This will include a survey of the development initiatives currently underway in the region and a consideration of the ways in which the work that Fonkoze plans can build on existing initiatives. The available health services require special attention, since a current BMZ-funded project in Savanette, in central Haiti, is facing severe challenges around helping its participants access the care they need.
- Analysis of both the types of business assets that Fonkoze typically transfers to program participants, with advice about the issues that could affect their viability in the proposed project region, and other possible businesses that the program should consider offering to participants there. The project concept should be evaluated with regard to the OECD DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. Wherever necessary, concrete recommendations for adjustments to the specific project concept, logframe/impact matrix, measures and stakeholders, shall be proposed.
VI. Provision of preparatory documents to the consultant(s):
- Project concept note/draft proposal including draft budget and draft logframe.
- Reports of other CLM projects that have recently been implemented or that are currently being implemented
- Reports from research that has been undertaken into the CLM program and its impact
- National social protection strategy and policy papers
- Organigram Fonkoze and CLM
VII. Outputs and Deliverables
The expert/consultant (team) is expected to work in close cooperation with Fonkoze. The following products are expected from the consultancy team:
- Feasibility Study report (max. 30 pages) in English or French plus info graphs providing an executive summary, description of the whole process of the feasibility study including data analysis, findings, results and recommendations for the project planning and implementation according to the above mentioned purpose and the BMZ guideline on feasibility studies (Annex 1). Please attach: List of abbreviations, list of institutions visited and persons interviewed, consultants schedule during the field phase, list of used documents, data and literature, brief professional profile consultant.
VIII. Expert/ consultant (team) profile
Independent team of consultants, experienced with DAC evaluation standards, working experience as consultants with sound experience and proven references in:
- Minimum 4 years of relevant experience in social protection/social development research/ quantitative and qualitative data analysis
- At least 2 similar assignments conducted in previous experiences
- Experience in conducting project evaluations according to DAC standards in the fields of social protection/social development
- Sound knowledge of Haitian social protection policy processes
- Participatory research approaches
- A solid understanding of household economics in rural Haiti
- Qualitative methods like focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, etc.
- Quantitative survey methods
Skills
- Strong background in business analysis
- Strong data management skills (designing and submission of questionnaires, quantitative and qualitative data management, data analysis).
- Strong communication and writing skills: fluent English or French. One or more members of the team should be fluent in French or Creole.
- Excellent organization and time management skills.
- Promptness in deliveries and communication.
The experts will not act as representatives of any party and must remain independent and impartial.
How to apply
Interested parties should e-mail a letter of interest, a technical proposal, and a proposed budget to:
Andrea Zipprich [email protected] and Steven Werlin [email protected]
Deadline for submissions is October 3rd.