Consultant for Mid-term Project Evaluation

TERMS OF REFERENCE (ToR)

CONSULTANT – MID-TERM PROJECT EVALUATION

Position: Consultant/consultancy team conducting mid-tern projact evaluation

Duty station: Home, Hanoi and 3 project communes in Nghe An province

Duration: maximum 21 working days from October 15, 2025 to November 28, 2025 and present at the project provincial workshop tentatively organized on December 5^th , 2025.

Reporting: The Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas – CISDOMA

1. General Information

The project “Enhancing income and promoting gender equality for ethnic minorities in Nghe An province” is funded by the German NGO INKOTA and implemented from 2023 to 2026. The total project budget valued 331, 382.15 EUR. The project aims to strengthen ethnic minority women’s capacity in land management and utilization, and to increase their agricultural productivity.

The Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA) is the lead implementing agency, coordinating with local stakeholders.

Implementation period: August 2023 – December 2026
Project sites: 03 communes in the former Que Phong district, Nghe An province

Overall Objective:
Improved income and gender equality for ethnic minorities in former Que Phong district

Project Objective: Ethnic minority women in the 03 project communes get actively engaged in the usage and management of of their land and achieve better yiels.

Key Project Results:

Result 1: 500 ethnic minority women and their families have improved awareness of administrative procedures and regulations related to land issues and land use right certificates.
Result 2: 12 ethnic minority women’s clubs in the 03 project communes are strengthened in their ability to function, offer their members concrete support services and are perceived by their communities as influential actors.
Result 3: 360 ethnic minority women club members have improved agricultural skills and apply agroforestry techniques suitable for their household conditions.

CISDOMA is currently conducting a participatory and in-depth evaluation of the project implementation at mid-term, looking at the achievements and the challenges encountered so far with the view to reflect on experience and lessons learned in order to adapt the implementation plan of the rest duration phase of the project. This evaluation, which spans from October 25 to November 28, 2025, involves the project staffs from field level to headquarters and partners and community through meetings, participatory review IDIs, FGDs and consultations.

2. Evaluation Objectives

CISDOMA is seeking for a consultant / consultancy team (National) to (i) provide an assessment of the project achievements to date against the intended results, (ii) to analyse the enabling and constraining factors during project implementation and to draw lessons for similar projects in the future and to (iii) provide concrete recommendations to CISDOMA and local strakeholders for potential adjustments with regard to the last year of the project implementation in order to ensure the project achieves its objectives by December 2026.

The evaluation should follow the OECD DAC quality standards for evaluations and pay special attention to the 6 criterias relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability.

Important questions that need to be answered are:

Relevance: Do the project objectives correspond to the needs of the target group? What significance do income and gender inequalities have in the everyday lives of the beneficiaries and can these be reduced through better access to land and improved agricultural methods?
Coherence: Is the project aligned with similar development efforts in the region? How are existing women initiatives or group structures utilized?
Effectiveness: To what extend does the project contribute to women being more involved than before in decisions on land use and production issues? To what extent have the project activities led to an increase in income for the target group? To what extent does the project support women in obtaining formally correct land use certificates? To what extend do the women groups offer their members concrete support? To what extend are the women groups perceived by the project communities as influantial actors? To what extend have the group members expanded their agricultural capacities and adapted the management of their land and forest areas accordingly? How should the quality of project implementation be assessed? Are there any unintended side effects (positive and negetaive) to report on?
Impact: To what extent do the implemented activities contribute to greater gender equality and improve the economic situation in the addressed commues?
Sustainability: To what extent are the group members able and willing to maintain the positive effects of the project after the end of the funding period? To what extent has the project contributed to strengthening the resilience of the target group?

3. Scope and the methodology

The consultant is expected to use a panel of methods and tools including (i) secondary data review, (ii) semi-structured interviews of key informants (Project Support Unit in 3 project communes, CISDOMA project team), (iii) field and households visits, and (iv) group discussions with households, women club members, and local authorities and (v) appropriate tools to measure income improvement of households who receive livelihood support from the project.

While the initial meeting and the discussion of the first draft report will take place in Hanoi, the field data collection will be carried out in the three communes Nam Nhoong, Cam Muon, Tien Phong in Nghe An Province. Moreover, the evaluator is expected to present the final report at the project provincial workshop tentatively organized on November 28, 2025.

4. Outputs/Deliverables:

A detailed workplan which includes set of tools and methodology, a compiled questionaires and a schedule for the evaluation in Englisch and Vietnamese.
Records/minutes of all meetings/consultations conducted in Vietnamese;
Quantitative data, including raw data collected in Vietnamese.
A draft evaluation report in English and Vietnamese, based on which a joint discussion will take place in Hanoi (partly in form of a virtual workshop) with representatives of CISDOMA and INKOTA
A Final mid-term evaluation report in English and Vietnamese, structured according to the table of contents in Annex 1, including a 2- to 3-page executive summary.

5. Tentative Timetable

No	Term of actions	Timelines	Responsibility	Note
1	Consultant selection and contract conclusion	1^st -15^th October	CISDOMA/Project
2	Review of project documents & reports, secondary data… Submission of a workplan in Englisch and Vietnamese, including finalized tools/questionnaires; set-up data storage system, detail schedule of field data collection Further discussions with the project team in Hanoi and/or submitting a report outline prior going to the field	15^th – 31st^h October 2025	Consultant(s)
3	Participatory data collection in Hanoi and 3 project communes, Nghe An province	Between 1^st and 15^th November 2025	Consultant(s)	CISDOMA support logistic arrangement
4	Analysis, report writing and first draft Submission	By 17^th November 2025	Consultant(s)
5	Feedback and discussion of the draft with representatives of CISDOMA and INKOTA in a virtual workshop; Review of the draft, taking into account feedback from CISDOMA and INKOTA, and, based on this, preparation of the second draft report.
	Second commentary y revision loop
6	Finalized and submission of final mid-term evaluation report	By 28^th November 2025	Consultant(s)
7	Present evaluation results at the provincial workshop	By December 5^th, 2025	Consultatnt(s)

6. Consultancy Management

In support of the consultancy CISDOMA will make their staff available for discussing the strategic approach of the assignment as well as to discuss content and review the draft versions of the reports. CISDOMA will ensure the logistic and human resource support for the organization of meetings, the field level study.

INKOTA will be involved in the selection of the evaluator and will support in commenting on the workplan and the strategic approach and later on the draft reports, both in writing and in a virtual workshop.

The consultant will officially report to CISDOMA. CISDOMA will be responsible for the coordination with other relevant stakeholders in the field as well as INKOTA.

7. Consultant profile

The consultant/consultancy team shall have the following skills and experience.

As a requirement, the consultant must be institutionally and personally independent of INKOTA and the local NGOs implementing the project
At least 5 years of theoretical and practical work experience on women empowerment, livelihood support and climate change adaptation including all crosscutting issues
Proven technical capacity and experience in evaluating NGO-led developing projects (preferably those funded by German donors), with at least two certified evaluations of projects with comparible objectives than the project adressed by this evaluation.
Methodological experience in participatory social, agricultural and environmental data collection and data analysis; evaluation of social and gender processes in rural communities; extensive knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative research methods and techniques.
Excellent communication and documentation skills in English and Vietnamese
Results focused and accountable

8. Consultant Fee

Consultancy rate per day basis, including PIT, will be negotiated based on quality and experience of the consultant. An advancement payment of 25% is paid after the submission of workplan and set of tools. The last payment is paid after the acceptance of the final report. Expenses in the field (transport, accommodation, stationaries….) will be covered by the project at CISDOMA’s cost norm. CISDOMA will not pay any health/ accident insurance. The consultant /consultancy team will have to ensure its own health and accidental insurance.

9. Application Procedure and selection

Interested candidates are invited to contact Ms. Lê Thị Tâm Đan ([email protected]) for additional details about the assignment and then to send their applications by email in English consisting of a CV, a letter of motivation, a financial and technical offer and a list of samples of previous assignments with a similar content and name references from previous clients.

to: [email protected] and cc to [email protected] Please indicate clearly your application subject: “INKOTA CISDOMA – Mid-term Evaluation consultant”.

Deadline for application: 10^th October, 2025 at 17:00, Hanoi time. Please note that only applications which are submitted in English and contain all above mentioned documents shall be considered.

The selection and commissioning of the evaluator is based on the following criteria:

Technical and methological qualifications
Strategic approach
Former experiences and references from previous clients
Ability to communicate in English and Vietnamese
Availability in the mentioned time frame
Price

While CISDOMA appreciates all responses, only candidate short listed will be contacted for an interview.

Annex 1: Evaluation Report sample that should be largely followed