ForumCiv Medium Partnership Funding Project
Job Summary
Climate Justice Work as it focuses on the preparedness and resilience of vulnerable communities, advocating for better social protection policies, equitable climate transitions, and finance. AAL is guided by feminist and human rights-based principles and approaches and works to seek to shift and transform both visible and invisible power structures to ensure
gender equality. This also applies to relations of power between women and men, intergenerational, and other oppressed gender identities. Women are exposed to different layers of exclusion and oppression based on their gender, ethnicity, literacy level, social background, etc., and this power imbalance will be addressed across all levels.
. Relevant Country Background
In Liberia, high demand for housing has resulted in the use of swamps and low land, blocking waterways and threatening life in swamps and marshes, and resulting in flooding, and consequently loss of houses, valuables, and fatalities. Coastal cities are also severely affected by sea erosion due to rising sea levels and illegal sand mining along beaches for housing and commercial construction. One of the major challenges that rural communities,
especially women smallholder farmers, are facing is a significant reduction of agricultural produce owing to climate change, which has altered farming patterns. Food insecurity disproportionately affects rural areas, and a quarter of rural households are food insecure; hence, there is a need to support rural women smallholder farmers and young people in Liberia to adopt agroecology to not only improve yields but also reduce the overexpansion
of agricultural activities into natural forest areas in search of fertile soils.
Job Description
Key Responsibilities
1.2. The Intervention to be Evaluated
The ForumCIV Medium Partnership intervention seeks to support the transformation of social relations of power that oppress and exploit any set of people based on gender and interrogate the relation of power in political processes. Over the last ten years, ActionAid Liberia has taken a deliberate stance in ensuring increased partnership with women and young women-led organizations and movements as a way of transferring capacity and resources to strengthen their agency and promoting their leadership and participation in diverse programs. The project is seeking to tackle multiple challenges exacerbated by the negative impacts of climate change that confront smallholder farmers, particularly women and young people.
Poverty in Liberia remains a considerable challenge, with a large part of the population living on less than $1.90 per day. The COVID-19 pandemic, which was compounded by climate change, posed a significant risk to the country. Liberia has a high level of dependency on climate-sensitive activities such as rain-fed agriculture for local subsistence and economy. Variable rainfall (reduced in some areas, extremely heavy concentrations in short periods in others) has resulted in a shorter and more precarious growing season, threatening families who rely on subsistence farming for income and food security, and rising sea levels, flooding, displacement, and inaccessibility of communities. The ultimate goal of the project is to ensure a just, equitable, and sustainable world in which every person enjoys the right to a
life of dignity, freedom from poverty, and all forms of oppression, while the objectives are:
• To improve adaptation capacity and coping strategies for smallholder farmers
affected by climate change, especially women and youth in three counties (Gbarpolu, Bong, rural Montserrado).
• To improve knowledge and awareness of climate change to facilitate climate actions in the three targeted counties.
• To support access to improved income for at least 135 smallholder farmers through improved post-harvest handling, crop value addition, and collective marketing in the
three counties.
• To strengthen advocacy work for climate justice at the local, national, and regional
levels.
1.3. Stakeholders of the Project
In Liberia, the project has been implemented in Gbarpolu, Rural Montserrado, and Bong Counties. Key stakeholders of the project include government agencies and ministries as well as local CSOs, CBOs, farmers' networks, and women’s networks. Those specific ministries include: the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Gender, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as local authorities at the county level, CSO networks working on agriculture and climate change, and youth and women-led movements in rural areas of the three project counties.
2. Objectives of the Evaluation
The primary objective of this evaluation is to assess the outcomes and impacts of the project aimed at empowering women and young smallholder farmers in the context of climate change and food security at the midterm level. While focusing on the goal of the project: “Smallholder farmers, particularly women and young people in Bong, Gbarpolu, and Rural Montserrado Counties are resistant to multiple challenges exacerbated by negative impacts of climate change that confront them,” including the outcomes indicators, the evaluation will specifically focus on the following key objectives:
• Assess Impact on Agricultural Productivity: Evaluate the extent to which the project
has led to improvements in farm productivity among women smallholder farmers and young smallholder farmers, including changes in crop yields and farming practices.
• Analyze Income Improvements
• Examine the changes in the income status of the target farmers, identifying any
increases in household income and economic stability as a result of project
interventions, such as improved post-harvest handling and collective marketing.
• Evaluate Adaptation Strategies: Assess the effectiveness of the strategies
implemented for enhancing the adaptation capacities and coping mechanisms of
smallholder farmers in response to climate change impacts, especially among
women and youth.
• Measure Knowledge and Awareness Levels: Determine the improvement in
knowledge and awareness of climate change issues among project participants and
how this has facilitated climate action in their communities.
• Assess Advocacy Strength: Evaluate the strengthening of advocacy efforts for
climate justice at local, national, and regional levels, and the role of project
participants in these advocacy initiatives.
• Identify Challenges and Lessons Learned: Identify the challenges faced by the
project during implementation and extract lessons learned that can inform future
interventions aimed at supporting smallholder farmers.
• Inform Future Planning: Provide recommendations for future programming and
strategies that can enhance the effectiveness of interventions targeting women and
young smallholder farmers in the context of climate resilience and food security.
Through this evaluation, stakeholders will gain insights into the successes and areas
for improvement, ensuring that future actions are aligned with the needs and
aspirations of the communities served.
2.1 Expected Outcome
It is expected that the evaluation will lead to the following outcomes:
• Enhanced Understanding of the Project Impact: A comprehensive assessment of
how the initiatives have improved the adaptive capacity and resilience of women and young smallholder farmers to climate change impacts, including qualitative and
quantitative data on agricultural productivity, food security, and income levels.
• Case Studies of Knowledge and Awareness Initiatives: Insights into the effectiveness of capacity-building workshops in agroecology and advocacy aimed at increasing
knowledge about climate change among participants, improved application of the
methods of agroecological concepts, adaptation strategies, and how this knowledge
translates into actionable climate adaptation practices within the communities.
• Documentary of Case Studies of Economic Improvements Among Women
Smallholder Farmers: Analysis and documentary of the financial benefits
experienced by farmers among the 135 smallholder farmers as a result of enhanced
post-harvest handling, crop value addition, and collective marketing efforts. This will
include measuring changes in income and market access.
• Documentary of Case Studies of Advocacy Efforts: Documentation of the advocacy
strategies aimed at promoting climate justice, reflecting on the level of engagement
and influence at local, national, and regional levels, with recommendations for
strengthening these efforts.
• Stakeholder Engagement Analysis: A detailed review of collaboration with key
stakeholders, including government agencies, CSOs, and farmer networks,
examining the effectiveness of partnerships and their contributions to achieving
project objectives.
• Analysis of Challenges: Documentation of persistent challenges faced by women and young smallholder farmers, providing insights into barriers to the adoption of
agroecological practices and participation in advocacy efforts.
• Recommendations for Future Interventions: Clear and actionable recommendations based on findings that can inform future project implementations, ensuring that
interventions continue to address the needs and priorities of women and young
farmers in the context of climate change.
• Analysis of Policy Influence and Recommendations: Evaluation of how the project
has influenced policy discussions and decisions related to climate change and
gender equality, alongside recommendations for enhancing policy frameworks to
support vulnerable communities more effectively.
• Sustainability and Continuity Assessment: An evaluation of the sustainability of the
project outcomes, considering how the improvements achieved can be maintained
and scaled up, including the role of ongoing capacity building and support for local
organizations.
• Impact Stories and Case Studies: Collection of success stories and case studies that
highlight individual and community transformations as a result of the project, which
can be used for advocacy and awareness-raising efforts. These outcomes aim to
provide a holistic understanding of the project’s effectiveness, its alignment with
broader objectives, and the pathways for continued support and engagement with
women and young smallholder farmers in Liberia.
2.2. Methodology
The evaluation of the FMP Project is designed to assess its effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. The evaluation will cover the entire duration of the project from its inception to the present and will include several phases, each contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the project's outcomes and areas for improvement in future projects. The consultant is requested to propose a methodological approach; however, at a minimum, the evaluation should be structured around both quantitative and qualitative methods to ensure a thorough analysis of the project's impact and effectiveness. Here are some proposed methods:
• Focus Group Discussions (FGDs): Groups of women and young farmers from the
three counties to discuss their experiences with the project interventions, challenges
faced, and benefits. The consultant is expected to organize discussions to facilitate
interaction and capture diverse perspectives.
• Key Informant Interviews (KIIs): Project staff, local government officials, and
leaders of partner organizations are expected to be interviewed as key informants. It
is expected that the consultants will ask questions that provoke insights on project
implementation, partnership effectiveness, and advocacy efforts. The consultant
should conduct in-depth interviews to gain contextual understanding and expert
opinions.
• Case Studies: targeting selected women and young farmers who have notably
benefited from the project, the consultant should produce a detailed documentation
of individual experiences, challenges, successes, and changes in livelihoods. This
will require intensive field visits and interviews to compile personal stories that
highlight the project's impact.
• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): Targeting community members, including
both project beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, the consultant should use the PRA
to investigate community-level changes in agricultural practices, resource
management, and adaptation strategies. This will require the use of participatory
tools (e.g., mapping, and ranking exercises) to engage farmers in self-assessment.
• Analysis of Secondary Data: Using government agricultural reports, local market
data, and climate-related studies, the consultants should review trends over time
concerning agricultural productivity and economic conditions in the target areas. This will require assessing how the project interventions align with broader agricultural trends.
2.3. Required Outputs
• Inception meeting report, including agreed evaluation approach, the outline of the
report, timeline, work plan, etc.
• Draft report/first findings between 50-60 pages, including a table of contents, a brief introduction, the objectives, and the methodology, and an evaluation of the project based on the criteria (relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, impact,
sustainability), observations, lessons learned and conclusions as well as a list of
recommendations and appendix (e.g. acronyms, list of interviewees, methodology,
schedule, etc.).
• Final report including recommendations and a presentation to ActionAid (up to 60
pages)
• Presentation: The consultant will finally make a 2-hour presentation to ActionAid and the project partners, reviewing the main conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation. This presentation will be used by ActionAid to present the results to
external stakeholders.
3. Evaluation Questions
The evaluation will seek to answer the following key questions:
• Project Relevance: How relevant were the project objectives and activities to the
needs of women and young smallholder farmers in the targeted counties? To what
extent did the project align with the priorities of local communities and national
policies on climate change and agricultural development?
• Effectiveness: What changes have occurred in the adaptation capacity and coping
strategies of women and young smallholder farmers as a result of the project’s
interventions? How effective were the training and capacity-building initiatives in
enhancing knowledge and awareness of climate change among the target
beneficiaries? What improvements have been observed in post-harvest handling,
crop value addition, and collective marketing practices?
• Impact: What are the measurable impacts of the project on food security and income levels of the participating smallholder farmers? How has the project contributed to empowering women and young farmers in leadership roles within their communities and organizations?
• Sustainability: What systems or mechanisms have been put in place to ensure the
sustainability of the project’s benefits after its completion? - How likely are
beneficiaries to continue using the strategies and practices introduced by the project in their farming activities?
• Stakeholder Engagement: How effectively did the project engage with local
stakeholders, including government agencies, community-based organizations, and
farmers' networks? What role did partnerships play in the implementation of project
activities, and how can these partnerships be strengthened in the future?
• Advocacy and Policy Influence: To what extent has the project contributed to
increasing awareness and advocacy for climate justice at local, national, and regional
levels? What policy changes, if any, have been influenced by the project’s advocacy
efforts regarding the challenges faced by smallholder farmers?
• Challenges and Lessons Learned: What were the major challenges encountered
during the implementation of the project, and how were they addressed? What
lessons can be learned from the project's successes and failures that can inform
future interventions aimed at supporting smallholder farmers?
• Overall Satisfaction: How satisfied are the beneficiaries with the project’s support
and the resources provided? What feedback do the participants have regarding the
relevance, effectiveness, and impact of the project?
4. Requirements for the Evaluation Contract
Applicants must meet the following requirements:
• A university degree or professional experience in a field related to the project
(Agriculture, Gender Studies, Social Sciences, or related fields)
• At least 5 years of experience in external evaluation
• Experience in the evaluation of projects in the Liberian context would be an asset
• Fluency in English as well as good writing skills is mandatory. Understanding the
local dialect (Kpelleh) would be an asset.
• Availability and ability to work independently and on a flexible schedule.
5. Budget
The budget for the evaluation will be outlined separately and should include costs for personnel, travel, materials, and any other relevant expenses. The following guidelines are to help with the preparation of the budget in line with expectations.
• The budget must include all costs incurred by the consultant, including the hiring of enumerators, accommodation, transportation, and other requirements of the evaluation.
• Implementation of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
• Data is expected to be collected in the three project counties (Bong, Montserrado, and Gbarpolu).
How o apply
6. Application Process
Interested evaluators should submit a proposal including:
A brief description of relevant experience
Proposed methodology and work plan
Budget estimate to the below email addresses on or before 29th July, 2025:
Vacancy.liberia@actionaid.org and Elizabethgbah.johnson@actionaid.org
