Terms of Reference for Identifying and Benchmarking Key Livelihood
Indicators and training needs assessment for the Virtual Livelihood School
Africa (VLSA) – Kenya Partners
1.0 Background
1.0 Background
The
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) is a capacity building
organization. Since 2011, IIRR Kenya has been the nesting institution for the
VIRTUAL LIVELIHOOD SCHOOL AFRICA (VLSA) - Kenya and in 2012, IIRR has been the
facilitating organization for VLSA Initiative in the five pilot Countries in
Eastern and Southern Africa.
In
April/May 2012, IIRR developed a proposal for VLSA to Ford Foundation which was
funded for 2 years in July. This funding was for facilitating formation of 5
VLSA chapters in Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.
In
September 2012 VLSA – K members started implementation of this strategy and the
anchor or Livelihood School Manager was employed to coordinate the funded
program activities and spearhead the institutional development of the VLSA – K
Initiative.
The
VSLA-K initiative is a partnership of 11 diverse partners.
The
founding and collaborating partners are:
- three
Government of Kenya Ministries – Agriculture (MOA), Livestock Production
and development (MOPLD) and Labor (MOL);
- 4
CSO partners - Practical Action, Netherlands development organization
(SNV), International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) and Cascade
Development Organization;
- 2
Universities - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and
Cooperative University;
- Kenya
Agriculture Research Institute (KARI) and K-REP Development Group.
According
to its strategic plan 2017, VLSA Kenya envisions resource poor communities in
Kenya have access to affordable and professional livelihood support services,
skills and knowledge to transform their wellbeing in a changing
environment.
Its
mission is to utilize collaboration to sustainably improve the wellbeing of
resource-constrained communities through innovation and dissemination of best
practices and joint research that will promote and support livelihood practices
and supportive policies.
The
primary beneficiaries are livelihood promoters or facilitators, lead farmers
and enterprise owners.
For
the Virtual Livelihood School of Africa to achieve its mission, it will focus
on the local or grass root levels and aim to reach scale through its network of
members.
In
its efforts to influence the livelihood agenda in the country, the VLSA – K
will also target learners in institutions of higher learning and schools as
secondary beneficiaries.
The
livelihood school will seek to influence the teaching and learning in these
institutions to ensure that fresh graduates have the pre-requisite practical
skills and access to resources and information.
In
primary and secondary schools, VLSA – K will strengthen the teaching and
learning of agriculture while supporting schools to make income and supplement
school diet.
2.0
The assignment
In
order to enhance learning within the school, a short term consultant is
required to undertake the following:
a) Review the
Monitoring and Evaluation Systems related to livelihood programs of the
participating institutions and how these are aligned to the National Monitoring
system.
b)
Make
recommendations of the identified M & E systems that will support and
demonstrate positive progression in the livelihood programs of the Livelihood
School and those of participating institutions.
c) In the process of
developing a) and b) identify and benchmark Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
that will be used to measure performance of livelihood School initiatives under
the programme in Kenya
d)
Assess
and identify capacity gaps (including in M & E) among key programme and
monitoring and evaluation staff in the partner organisations
e) Recommend strategies
to address the M & E knowledge and skill gaps identified under “d” above
3.0 Scope of work
3.0 Scope of work
The
consultant will undertake the following:
a)
Desk
review of programme documents to understand the programme orientation,
structure and expected results
b)
Conduct
Key Informant Interviews with the 11 partner organisations with view to profile
their monitoring and evaluation systems and to draw comparison and differences
in the approaches as well as bench mark existing capacity and key competence
gaps
c)
Develop
a standardised framework for monitoring and evaluating the livelihood school
interventions in Kenya drawing from project documents and indicators of
partners programs
d)
Produce
Draft Report and share with the Livelihood School Project Manager and Regional
M & E manager
e)
Incorporate
comments and finalise the report
4.0
Timeline
The
final report (with all the deliverables) is expected by December 15, 2012
5.0
Deliverables
The
following outputs are expected:
a) A
Baseline/Benchmarking Report – detailing the Monitoring and Evaluation Profiles
of the partner organisations and the key competence gaps that the school should
address
b) A Standardised
(recommended) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework with Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) for measuring performance of livelihood school interventions
among partners.
c)
A
debriefing with IIRR team and project partners in the Cross Cutting issues
working group
Application
procedure
Those
interested should send an Application letter detailing their relevant
experience in facilitating similar assignments, availability, copy of CV, daily
fee rate and an indicative work plan to HR and Admin.
Officer
by email at recruitment@iirr.org by November 16th 2012