IIRR TOR for Benchmarking, Standardisation and TNA

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

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.
 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

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
The final report (with all the deliverables) is expected by December 15, 2012
 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
 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