CAR BMZ Project End Line Evaluation
Terms of Reference (ToR)
1. Background of the project and rationale for the evaluation
Tearfund envisions to see people freed from poverty, live transformed lives and actualize their potential to roll back poverty. Among the Corporate Priorities that are strategically devised to help the vision be fulfilled are Economic and Environmental Sustainability (EES) and Reconciled and Peace-filled Societies (RPS). Pursuing the EES and RPS priorities lies at the heart of Tearfund’s interventions in the Lobaye Prefecture of the CAR in reaching the economically, socially and emotionally vulnerable populations and hence the design and implementation of this BMZ-funded project.
A total of 10,000 individuals are directly targeted by this project to participate in and benefit from the peacebuilding, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and livelihood enhancement endeavours which will ensure integration of some of the key sectors of development. The project “Consolidating Peace in Lobaye through WASH, social cohesion and livelihoods resilience interventions Programme” was launched in December 2022 and will end in November 2025. Tearfund’s implementing partner in CAR, Alliance Evangélique en Centrafrique (AEC) and Tearafund CAR are directly implementing the project in five sub-prefectures of Boganangone, Boganda, Boda, Mbaïki and Mongoumba in the Lobaye Prefecture.
As part of the design, monitoring and evaluation of the project, baseline and mid-term evaluations were undertaken for the project in January 2023 and October 2024, respectively. Given that the project is nearing completion, Tearfund is aiming to conduct its end line evaluation externally by an independent evaluation firm. The findings of the end line evaluation will help Tearfund, the target communities, its implementing partner, the donor, government partners and other stakeholders to look at how the implementers have become accountable to all those affected by the interventions. Moreover, all stakeholders will be apprised to see the impact of this project and measure the level of effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and relevance of the project, after the end line evaluation.
Below is a summary of the project impact, outcomes and outputs:
Project goal: Increased resilience of people and structures in targeted areas in Lobaye to the impact and consequences of crises
Outcome 1 Equitable Access to Safe Water and Prevention of Waterborne Diseases Ensured
Outcome 2 Reduced incidence of social unrest or conflicts in targeted areas
Outcome 3 Target households’ livelihoods improved and livelihood sources diversified
Output 1.1. Hygiene promotion undertaken
Output 1.2. Target communities access safe water supply and sustainable water services through rehabilitated water sources and structures
Output 1.3 Increased niche business opportunities around WASH services (collection of users’ fees, preemptive maintenance, etc.)
Output 2.1. Increased awareness of conflict resolution and reconciliation techniques
Output 2.2. Local and indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms (local authorities, elders, faith leaders, peace committees, gender champions, etc.) technically and financially supported to improve access to justice and prevent identity conflicts
Output 2.3. Women’s groups and youth clubs established to strengthen social cohesion in communities
Output 3.1. Vulnerable households and IDPs supported to meet acceptable Food Consumption Score
Output 3.2. Local businesses supported with capacity, material inputs and market infrastructure improvements
Output 3.3. Access to financial services ensured, especially for women and other vulnerable groups
2. Goal, objectives and questions
a) Evaluation goal
The goal of the end line evaluation of the BMZ-funded project is to demonstrate the impact the project has brought about in the lives of conflict-affected, marginalized and economically disempowered target populations along with the comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention situations of these people in the target locations.
b) Evaluation objectives and questions
The goal of the evaluation will be attained through the following objectives:
- To see the change in the measure of project performance indicators as compared with the baseline values and other findings;
- To explore if the project activities have been delivered with the required results as per the design;
- To assess if the costs intended to run the entire project work were spent efficiently with the required results;
- To assess if the desired high-level positive changes in our target communities due to the project are realized;
- To systematically understand the likelihood of the “Consolidating Peace in Lobaye through WASH, social cohesion and livelihoods resilience interventions Programme” project to continue despite Tearfund’s and AEC’s closure of the project in the operation areas.
Corresponding to the objectives, the evaluation questions will be the following:
- What are the changes in the measure of project performance indicators as compared with the baseline values and other findings?
- Have the project activities been delivered with the required results as per the design?
- Were the costs intended to run the entire project work spent efficiently with the required results?
- Have the desired high-level positive changes in our target communities been realized?
- What is the likelihood of the “Consolidating Peace in Lobaye through WASH, social cohesion and livelihoods resilience interventions Programme” project to continue despite Tearfund’s and AEC’s closure of the project in the operation areas?
3. Scope
The thematic scope of this end line evaluation will be the three thematic areas of the project – WASH, livelihoods, and peacebuilding. The three outcomes yielding to the project impact are around these three technical themes and the evaluation will focus on the performance indicators of these outcomes. The timeframe of the project implementation which the end line evaluation will cover will be the whole project period for the three years. However, due emphasis should be placed on the period not assessed by the mid-term review, that is, from November 2024 to October 2025. When it comes to geographical scope, the end line evaluation will be undertaken in the project operational locations in the sub-prefectures of Boganangone, Boganda, Boda, MbaĂŻki and Mongoumba in the prefecture of Lobaye, Central African Republic.
The project will target mainly direct project participants whereby information will be brought from them. In addition, other stakeholders such as government sector representatives, representatives from the Bangui university and other research institutes, community facilitators, staff of Tearfund and AEC will in one way or another be part of the end line evaluation.
This evaluation will take into account the five OECD-DAC criteria of evaluation: Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Impact and Sustainability.
4. Methodology
The end line evaluation will be assessed against the evidence principles and therefore the consultant should be aware of these before designing the methodology. The methodology of the end line evaluation will be determined by the type and scope of the evaluation and any other requirement (eg donor specific requirements).
Both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods will be used in the evaluation. The consultant should ensure how the evaluation can be made into a capacity building and learning process. They should also make sure that the selected evaluation approach is participatory – it should take into account the views of beneficiaries and others affected indirectly by the project.
Activities kindred to the evaluation methodology are expected to include:
- Desk review of key documents prior to departure to the field including UK final report.
- In country key informant interviews e.g. with government officials, households, other humanitarian actors.
- Community Focus Group Discussions.
- Tearfund and partner staff interviews.
- Direct observation/project visits in-country.
- Secondary data where available (eg Fewsnet).
- Discussion of initial findings with in-country Tearfund and partner staff teams while still in the country.
- Documentation of process with professional photos
5. Ethics
The following will be key pieces of information about the ethical considerations in the end line evaluation:
Will the evaluation involve human participants (e.g. surveys, interviews, FGDs, case studies, participatory methods, storytelling, observations etc)? Yes
Will the evaluation involve the collection and/or the analysis of secondary data that is not publicly available? No
Will the evaluation involve the analysis of secondary data that has the potential to harm vulnerable groups, communities and/or organisations? No
Will the evaluation involve analysing records where an individual’s information has not been anonymised?
Yes
If you have answered YES to any of these questions, it is good practice to complete an ethics risk assessment.
Is the ethics risk assessment complete?
No (to be conducted by the evaluation consultant as per the template and guidance)
The evaluation team will manage ethical issues in two ways. On the one hand, for survey subjects, a preamble describing survey purpose and requesting their willingness to respond to the questions will be prefixed into the questions list. Options will be given for a household head or member to agree or disagree to participate in the survey. On the other hand, focus group discussions will be informed in the same way about the purpose of the qualitative information they have to give, and made to sign consent before the discussions. In either case, the data gathering will be made only after confirming their consent.
6. Governance and accountability
This evaluation is commissioned by Tearafund to be undertaken by an external evaluation firm. Whilst the chief consultant will be the lead of the evaluation team, they will be leading a team composed of thematic WASH, Livelihoods, Peacebuilding and MEAL experts to be readied by the consulting firm, the survey data enumerators, qualitative enquirers – facilitators and interviewers, and logistics personnel.
The Tearfund ECA DME Advisor, Regional and Global technical advisors, the Tearfund CAR DMEAL Coordinator, the Tearfund BMZ Project/Programme Manager, the Tearfund CAR Programme Director, and the Tearafund CAR Country Director will be technically and administratively guiding and monitoring the whole course of the evaluation. In addition, the AEC technical and administrative teams will be strongly involved in the follow up and support of the evaluation.
The evaluation consultant will be technically accountable to the Design, Monitoring and Evaluation team at Tearafund. Evaluation tools, methods, inception notes, data collection processes, data quality, draft evaluation reports and other deliverables will be reviewed and overseen closely by the Tearfund CAR and Tearfund ECA DME staff. The quality of the evaluation in all the steps and procedures will be assessed in accordance with the Tearfund’s evidence principles (developed by BOND). The evaluator needs to be aware of this and adhere to these principles.
7. Timetable/schedule
Approximate Date Activities planned
Third week of August 2025 Develop and finalise the evaluation terms of reference
Third week of September 2025 Complete bidding process
Fourth week of September 2025 Screen, shortlist consultants, and evaluate and offer consultancy to the best candidate
First week of October 2025 Inception note and validation of evaluation tools and training data enumerators
Second and third weeks of October 2025 Data collection and data quality assessment/check
Third week of October 2025 Present first draft of the end line evaluation
Fourth week of October 2025 Present and validate final draft of the end line evaluation
First and second weeks of November 2025 Finalize and disseminate the end line evaluation report
8. Evaluation output and deliverables
The expected outputs and deliverables of the evaluation will be:
- An inception report that aligns with the evaluation ToR (both in a Google Doc/MS Word document and in Google Slides)
- Quantitative and qualitative evaluation tools
- A draft evaluation report
- Complete quantitative and qualitative data sets (exported survey data, qualitative data transcriptions/notes)
- A final evaluation report with the following recommended sections:
- Executive summary: summarise what the report is about, the project purpose, the evaluation purpose, the methodology used, the key findings, the conclusion and recommendations – max 2 pages)
- Introduction: States the purpose of the evaluation
- Methodology: Explains where the evaluation was carried out and the data collection and analysis tools that have been used
- Context analysis: Gives a brief overview of the local context
- Project overview: Summarises the main problem that the project is addressing and the changes it is seeking to make
- Key findings: Shares and analyses the key findings for each of the evaluation questions**.**
- Conclusions: Draws out the main points from the analysis of the findings
- Recommendations: Makes specific, actionable recommendations to the project team and wider organisation. In order for recommendations to be realistic and feasible it is essential the evaluator understands the constraint of the project.
- Annexes: Includes an updated logframe with disaggregated data, copies of questionnaires / surveys / focus group questions used.
9. Dissemination plan
Stakeholder/audience
Outputs (reports, presentations, infographics?)
Will they need the outputs translated? If so, indicate language(s)
What will they use the findings for?
Internal stakeholders or audiences
Tearfund CAR program and management teams
Final evaluation report
The evaluation report will be in English, the summary translated into French for presentations.
The report will be consumed to review context suitability, adherence with the ToR, and lesson sharing
Tearfund ECA program and management teams
Final evaluation report
The evaluation report will be in English
The report will be consumed to review context suitability, adherence with the ToR, and lesson sharing
Tearfund Germany
Final evaluation report
The evaluation report will be in English
The report will be consumed to review context suitability, adherence with the ToR, and lesson sharing
External Stakeholders
BMZ
Final evaluation report
The evaluation report will be in English
The report will be consumed to review context suitability, adherence with the ToR, and lesson sharing
10. Assessment of the evaluation
The evaluation will be assessed against the Bond Evidence Principles (Voice and Inclusion, Appropriateness, Triangulation and Contribution and Transparency).
11. Payment Terms and Conditions
Payment will be effected as follows: first instalment 45% at the signature upon submission of a validated work plan; 45% after presentation of draft report approved by the Tearfund; final payment 10% upon completion and approval of the final report by the Tearfund. Additional information on payment terms and conditions will be included in the contract.
NOTE: “Tearfund CAR shall withhold tax of 15% as per CAR Taxation Policy”CF00018312
12. Additional Information
- Consultants shall be required to sign and abide by Tearfund’s Safeguarding Policy, particularly expected behavior protocols when undertaking work with Tearfund.
- Consultants shall abide by BMZ beneficiary data management policies
LIST OF ANNEXES (To be provided upon signature of agreement)
Submission of Application
Qualified independent consultants and consultant firms who possess valid documentation are encouraged to submit a request to participate in the tender. The request should be submitted to car.procurement@tearfund.org indicating the tender reference number, Company Name, Contact person and email address.
Closing date: The closing date for submission of completed bid documents is on date 14 September 2025 at 00:00 hrs Central African Time.
No hard copy will be accepted.
Further information: Bidders can consult Tearfund for further details on email address car.procurement@tearfund.org or on the telephone +236 72546982, and +236 75306111.
Consultant firms, who meet the eligibility criteria, are required to provide the following documents:
1. A cover letter
2. CVs of the proposed consultant teams, including reference details of their previous clients.
3. References with detailed contact addresses of at least three organizations, in which the consulting firm provided similar services recently.
4. Samples of 3-5 previous works in similar consultancy fields such as assessments, surveys, and baseline/end line assessments.
5. All relevant legal documents, including a VAT registration certificate, renewed licence, etc.
6. Separate Technical and financial proposals.
Note! It is important to ensure that all applications are submitted to the designated address before the indicated hours. Applicants are requested to include “Tearfund CAR BMZ-funded Project End Line Evaluation” in the subject line.
13. Sign-off
The evaluation ToR should only be signed off if the ethical risk assessment is complete and a valid hyperlink is provided to the completed assessment.
How to apply
Submission of Application
Qualified independent consultants and consultant firms who possess valid documentation are encouraged to submit a request to participate in the tender. The request should be submitted to car.procurement@tearfund.org indicating the tender reference number, Company Name, Contact person and email address.
Closing date: The closing date for submission of completed bid documents is on date 14 September 2025 at 00:00 hrs Central African Time.
No hard copy will be accepted.
Further information: Bidders can consult Tearfund for further details on email address car.procurement@tearfund.org or on the telephone +236 72546982, and +236 75306111.
