CAFOD is recruiting to fill the following positions:

1.) Project Officer (x2)
2.) Terms of Reference

See job details and how to apply below.

1.) Project Officer (x2)

Job Title: Project Officer

Contract Duration: Fixed contract for Nine (9) Months

No. of Person: Two (2) Persons

Duty Station: Bombali and Bo Districts.

JOB SUMMARY

CAFOD works in partnership with local partners and faith-based organizations in Sierra Leone, supporting  them amplify the voiceless and reaching people and communities beyond reach. CAFOD is supporting the Inter Religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL) to implement the “Women’s Voice and Engagement for  Peace” project and is seeking the recruitment of Project Officers to be based in Bombali and Bo districts respectively. The Project Officers would be responsible to support in the implementation of the “Women’s  Voice and Engagement for Peace” project in Bombali and Bo District. They will be tasked with implementing  project activities to support the projects objectives at district and community levels, as well as reporting to  the General Secretary of IRCSL. They will also support to facilitate in the identification, assessment, and  training of women in the 8 selected chiefdoms in the two districts.

CAFOD AND IRCSL IN BRIEF

The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) is the official development and humanitarian  agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and part of the global Caritas family. CAFOD’s way  of working is through partnership, both civil society and private sector. CAFOD believes in investing in the  capacity of local partners; promoting ownership and responsibility; facilitating the flow of resources and  knowledge to the point of need, rather than duplicating efforts or direct implementation by outsiders in  unknown contexts. As an enabling agency, CAFOD also supports partners to facilitate change at community  level, ensuring communities have the spaces, skills and tools to exert their rights.

The Inter-religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL) is an interfaith organisation working on, inter alia,  national reconciliation, health and religious harmony. The IRCSL came into existence to facilitate interfaith  collaboration as part of efforts to end the country’s civil conflict. Inaugurated in 1997, it is composed of  adherents of the two main religions in Sierra Leone – Christianity and Islam. The organisation has a network  of clergy and imams in every part of the country, from village, town, chiefdom, and district, to national levels.  They are entrusted with undertaking sensitisation, awareness raising and community education. Its core  values and mission include the fundamental responsibility to promote interfaith dialogue, promote peaceful  co-existence in communities and provide spiritual, moral guidance for congregations.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Work in collaboration with IRCSL’s District Coordinators to organize, implement, supervise and monitor the project  activities and report to the General Secretary of IRCSL with committed accountability to CAFOD’s Programme Officer on  quarterly submissions of project narrative report. The responsibilities will include:

Participate in the Training of Trainers facilitated by the Lead Consultant on Civic Roles &  Responsibilities, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Rapid Conflict Assessments, Gender  Championing & Peaceful Masculinities.

Lead in the development to tailor training contents according to the target audience in communities,  especially the women at chiefdom level.

Lead the development implementation plans in consultations with the General Secretary, Finance  Officer and District Coordinators of the IRCSL.

Support in organizing programs and activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the  project.

Work in collaboration with the District Coordinators to identify, select and training of the women on  the various training packages identified in the project.

Lead community engagements and mobilization meetings to raise awareness and provides  constructive feedbacks.

Facilitate religious leaders’ sessions with men and boys focusing on combatting negative social  norms, practices and stereotypes.

Facilitate the development and signing of Community Peace Commitments in the selected  chiefdoms.

Facilitate chiefdom to chiefdom and district to district exchange visits to translate cross learning  among targeted women in selected chiefdoms working on Civic Roles & Responsibilities, Alternative  Dispute Resolution (ADR), Rapid Conflict Assessments, Gender Championing & Peaceful  Masculinities.

Develop projects utilizing tools to effectively gather data and other relevant information for  reporting.

Ensure that the project is on track and challenges are dealt with through regular project review  process.

Provide technical support, and team coordination, including ongoing technical guidance and support  with the women trained with the responsibility to translate the knowledge in their respective  communities.

Maintain oversight of project budgets for field operations and ensure proper controls and  compliance.

Conduct regular field monitoring and supervision of project activities.

Provide weekly or monthly updates to the General Secretary and submit quarterly and end of  project narrative reports to CAFOD.

Requirements

Person Specification – Essential Requirements

Qualification

A minimum of first degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, Gender and Development Studies, other  Social Sciences, or a similar relevant field.

Additional related courses would be an added advantage.

Experience

At least 2 to 5 years of experience in implementing peacebuilding, gender and civic education projects. o Experience working within the NGO sector.

Experience in working in projects that worked with vulnerable women.

Experience in budgetary and financial controls of field operation activity budget

Experience in working with team and playing supervisory roles.

Demonstrable experience in promoting peace, gender and social cohesion in communities.  Experience in training and field use of quantitative data collection methods.

Good knowledge of the area and local customs.

Previous work experience in project location highly desirable.

Skills and Competencies

Technical knowledge of mediating and dialogue creation processes in conflict situations. o Excellent interpersonal communication skills.

Ability to prepare budgets and control expenses.

Highly organized, with excellent planning, prioritization and problem-solving skills.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Competent in Microsoft packages (Word, Excel).

Fluency (written and spoken) in English and ability to communicate one predominant local language in the  district.

Must be able to work on their own and able to manage multiple tasks.

Plan, coordinate and organize workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing  deadlines.

TO APPLY

Applicants are required to submit application package via email address to csamaura@cafod.org.uk and copy  amadukamara2@gmail.com with mail subject indicating “WOVEN Project Officer – Name of Applicant and for  which duty station (i.e., Bombali or Bo)”. All Candidate’s Cover Letter and Resume (CV) must be submitted on or  before Friday,  3rd March 2023 5:00pm GMT.

2.) Terms of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE 

FINAL EVALUATION ON YOUTH ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT THROUGH STRENGTHENED  VEGETABLE VALUE CHAINS IN KAMBIA AND PORT LOKO DISTRICTS, SIERRA LEONE.

Funding Partner: European Union

Contract Number: FED/2019/411-235 

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

1.1. About CAFOD 

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) is the official relief and development agency  of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and a member of the Caritas Internationalis,

providing humanitarian assistance and development support in many countries worldwide with  the aim of protecting lives and relieving suffering during emergencies as well as reducing disaster  risks to vulnerable communities. CAFOD currently works in partnership with more than 500  national nongovernmental organizations in about 40 countries, from those of all faiths, and  none. CAFOD Sierra Leone, does work in areas including Food and Livelihoods Security, Rights  and Participatory Governance and Emergency Preparedness Response and Recovery.

As part of our work in Resilience and Livelihood Support, CAFOD is undertaking a Youth  Empowerment through Agribusiness and the Strengthening of the Vegetable Value Chain project  funded by the Boosting Agriculture and Food Security (BAFS) project and the EU. CAFOD Sierra  Leone is implementing an EU funded project, Youth Economic Empowerment through  Strengthened Vegetable Value Chains in Sierra Leone. The key focus for CAFOD and her  implementing partners (KADDRO is on ‘Promotion of Agribusiness and Innovative Farming’ and  ‘Support to short-scale value chains.

1.2. About the Sierra Leone Country Context 

Sierra Leone is ranked one of six countries worldwide with alarming levels of hunger. Sixty  percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day. The highest number of food insecure  people are those who are engaged in smallholder farming, which is no surprise considering it  constitutes 77.3% of households in rural areas. Vegetable and fruit farmers are among the most  vulnerable. Kambia and Port Loko are the two leading districts in poor food consumption. In both  regions, most households are mainly engaged in agriculture, specifically crop farming (87.8% of  households in Kambia and 79.1% of households in Port Loko), but more than 50% of their  populations face moderate to severe food insecurity, the highest rates in the country. Over half  of the chiefdoms in both districts have food insecurity levels of over 70%. High rates of poverty  among farming households can be attributed to the fact that farming in Sierra Leone is  characterized by environmentally degrading farming techniques, a lack of application of  sustainable inputs, low yields, low income and limited investments on-farm. Farmers are largely  dependent on manual cultivation, with little access to advanced tools, infrastructure and  sustainable inputs, greatly constraining potential production. A lack of diversified livelihood  options has led to food and income insecurity. Within the local economy, there are few  opportunities for poor people, especially women, who lack resources, information and the  capacity to experiment, adapt and establish new and innovative income-generating options. Low  incomes, lack of diversification and over-reliance on one income source mean many poor  families lack savings to fall back on in times of shocks or stresses. Climate change has led to more  drastic environmental hazards and limits the poor’s ability to depend on natural resources for  their livelihoods. In addition, public policies have not been able to effectively support agri business initiatives for the poor. These elements were the key drivers for the intervention of  CAFOD and its partners resonating with the rapid assessment carried out by project partners.

1.3. Project Description 

The project is a response to the call to promote agribusiness and innovative farming in Sierra  Leone through the Boosting Agriculture and Food Security (BAFS) project. The project is  contributing to the development of a diversified and efficient agriculture sector that promotes  sustainable growth and creates jobs by focusing on economic empowerment of youth through  capacity development and job creation in the agricultural sector. At the same time, the initiative  is also to support the collaboration of Private Sector, Farmers and Non-State Actors in  developing economic, social and environmentally sustainable Agriculture Value Chains by  contributing towards a vegetable value chain that is economically, environmentally and socially  sustainable. The project is directly targeting youth, especially young women, in the creation of  medium-scale youth-managed farms. To ensure that these farms are sustainable, the project  prioritize careful identification and capacity-strengthening of youth, land planning and  management, and enhanced coordination among value chain actors. The environmental impact  of each farm was carefully assessed and the most sustainable and profitable methods for  production will be prioritized. Technical support on production, marketing and value chain  addition were also be provided. The project is to facilitate sustainable service provision and will  use social media and digital platforms to enhance connections between youth, strengthen  information-sharing and access to markets, as well as offer ongoing technical support and  financial services, including mobile money and linkages to lenders.

Overall Objective 

The overall objective of the project is: “To provide targeted economic empowerment and  resilience strengthening of key rural communities in Port Loko and Kambia Districts in Sierra  Leone”. The final evaluation shall collect data on endline values for project indicators for the  outcomes and outputs as indicated in the project log frame, in order to monitor and measure  project progress towards the indicators throughout the period of implementation.

The Project objectives and Outputs are to: 

Specific Objective 1: To increase food and income security for medium-scale youth-led farmer  groups.

– Output 1.1: Strengthened technical and financial capacity of youth in agriculture,  vegetable production, marketing and sustainable business management.

– Output 1.2: Creation of viable employment opportunities for youth through engagement  in year-round production of enhanced breeds of tomatoes, sweet peppers and onions  using environmentally sustainable agricultural practices.

Specific Objective 2: To enhance the national and regional performance of the vegetable value  chain.

– Output 2.1: Improved production and post-harvest of advanced breeds of vegetables  through increased input and service options, access to markets and stronger networks and  coordination between value chain actors.

2. STUDY OBJECTIVES 

The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess the project’s overall performance and  establish whether the project’s intended outputs and outcomes were achieved, providing a clear  explanation of why or why not for each result/situation. In addition, the consultant will examine  the design of the program. The specific objectives to be addressed by the evaluation are:

▪ To assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the  outputs and achievements of the project.

▪ Drawing lessons learned for better implementation performance and for possible scaling  up.

▪ Make recommendations to strengthen the impact and sustainability of achievements  after the end of the project.

3. EVALUATION SCOPE, FOCUS AND TIMELINE  

Evaluation Focus  

The evaluation will focus on the project’s beneficiaries and other relevant stakeholders in order  to address the following issues:

1. Analysis of the project Logframe.
2. The review should place a focus on how similar projects might be improved in the  future, as well as limitations.

iii. Replicability and scaling-up of good practices and lessons learned analysis. In addition, it will cover the following:

▪ The evaluation is expected to assess the entire financial and non-financial results of the  program and its management by the Implementing Partners per the OECD/DAC criteria  (Likely Design, Impact, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and sustainability).

▪ The evaluator may adapt the evaluation criteria and questions, but any fundamental  changes should be agreed between the CAFOD, Partners and the Evaluator and reflected  in the inception report.

▪ The evaluator will focus to analyze the design of the project (and beneficiaries’  participation into the design); and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the project

implementation by the partners (including CAFOD) within the agreed contractual  conditions.

▪ Assess the program objectives, outcomes and recommend measures (if any).

▪ Investigate the relevance of the project objectives and identify the program priorities  areas of interest and the needs of the beneficiaries. Hence, recommend means of  incorporating those priorities for similar intervention.

▪ Review the appropriateness and clarity of the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders  and the level of coordination between them and the value chain actors.

▪ Review the program concept and design to the clarity of the addressed problems by the  program and the soundness of the approaches adopted by the program team to solve  these problems.

▪ Assess the performance of the program in terms of timeliness, quality, quantity, and cost effectiveness of the activities undertaken including project procurement.

▪ Assess the application of the project strategies, principles and prospects of the  sustainability and ownership of the programme.

4. SCOPE AND TIMELINE

The scope of this exercise will include operational communities in the 6 chiefdoms (Gbinleh,  Dixon, Masungbala and Magbema Chiefdoms in Kambia district and Bureh and Loko Masama  Chiefdoms in Port Loko district) covered by the project throughout the 42 months period. As a  result, the complete intervention period (17th December 2019 to 16th March 2023) will be  covered in order to provide comprehensive findings, recommendations, and conclusion. The  evaluation must be completed in four weeks (20TH February- 20th March 2022), including  planning, data gathering, and report writing. A final report must be submitted no later than 31st March 2023 CoB.

5. EVALUATION CRITERIA  

Data should be analysed in line with the below criteria: 

▪ The relevance of the project

▪ The effectiveness and the impact of the project

▪ The efficiency of the project and the methodology

▪ The sustainability of the project

6. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY 

Evaluation Design and Approach 

The Evaluator will propose a suitable study design based on the scope and objectives of the  study and the context. The sample population should include the direct project beneficiaries  targeted during the implementation of the project.

7. THE EVALUATION TEAM ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS

8. ROLE OF CAFOD AND PARTNERS 

• Review and approve the work plan, including the timeframe and methodology to be  applied.
• Provide the consultant with background information and reference material including all  relevant project documents.
• Ensure that the health and safety procedures and CAFOD’s Safeguarding, Code of Behavior and Antibribery Policies are fully adhered to.
• Ensure smooth flow of consultancy engagement processes including contractual  obligations.
• Provide timely feedback to consultant on products submitted for review. • Ensure community sensitization and mobilization of respondents.
• Follow up and evaluate progress on execution of the task assigned.
• Review and approve the draft and final product as stipulated in the expected outputs/deliverables.
• Quality assurance of the final product

9. KEY DELIVERABLES 

The consultant is liable for the following deliverables during the service period: I. Inception Report: This should be accompanied with the general research instrument  and should be presented to CAFOD and Partners within maximum 4 days upon contract  signing. This will include, a statement of work clearly outlining a methodology, sampling,  and work plan. This may be further refined after additional meetings with the project  team.

1. First Draft Report: The consultant will make a draft report and share for review to both  CAFOD and Partners on the key findings of the final evaluation and recommendations.  III. Final Report: The final report should be submitted within five (5) days after reviewed.  The soft copy of the report will be submitted to CAFOD.
2. All data collected (both raw and aggregated) should be submitted to CAFOD and  Partners. The data set should be in the appropriate format agreed upon.

10.DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT  

The overall timeframe of this consultancy is 20 days from the date of signing of the contractual  agreement.

11. PAYMENT SCHEDULE AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT 

The consultant/consultant company will be paid in instalments after important deliverables are  completed and submitted. All Payments shall be made through bank transfer in three instalments.

The following is the payment schedule:

▪ 1st instalment of 40% on Signing of Contract.

▪ 2nd instalment of 30% upon submission of an acceptable first draft report ▪ 3rd and final instalment of 30% upon submission of acceptable final Report incorporating  inputs from the dissemination meeting.

Note: The stipulated total cost of the assignment should cover all costs incurred during the  research period including travel costs and sustenance for the research team. Reports produced  in soft copies and all other costs that may arise during the research period. 10% of Withholding  tax shall be deducted from the total Professional fees.

12.CODE OF BEHAVIOUR  

The consultant including any member of their research team will abide to CAFOD’s code of  behaviour and in line with the Safe, Accessible, Dignified and Inclusive programming framework  throughout their engagement with CAFOD. The Consultant will be required to sign the code of  behaviour, as well as the safeguarding and anti-bribery policies at the signing of the contract,  before commencement of the work. Any violation of Welthungerhilfe’s Code of Conduct or  failure to discharge duties according to these terms of reference by the consultant will lead to a  unilateral termination of the contract.

13. APPLICATION & QUOTATION REQUIREMENTS  

Interested applicants to send a technical and financial proposal for the work in line with the  following guidance:

– Technical Proposal: The consultant’s understanding and interpretation of the Terms of  Reference (TOR), a detailed methodology on how the data collection and analysis will be  done and detailed implementation schedule for the evaluation as well as any other  proposed approaches the consultant may deem fit for this assessment. Capability  statement on How the consultant or firm is structured for the assignment, the role each  staff will play including the CVs of the key personnel who will take part in the consultancy.  References of three organizations that you have conducted evaluations for within the last  three years, that will serve as your professional referees.

– List of Evaluation reports: Final reports for the evaluations conducted for the three  reference organizations provided.

– Financial proposal: Itemized budget proposal that should include the consultancy fees  and operational costs.

14. TIMELINE SUMMARY 

Interested consultants/firms that meet the requirements should submit an expression of interest  to csamura@cafod.org.uk by 26th February 2023. Include ‘EU-BAFS Agribusiness Final  Evaluation’ in the subject line.