Total duration of the study: 2 weeks based in North Horr :
• 2 days desk research•
• 2 days travel to and from the field•
• 8 days field work•
• 2 days report writing•
• Under responsibility of the Field and the Food Security Coordinator but working closely with the Program Manager(s).
• Funding sources for the evaluation: EC
Presentation of the project

Background
The EC project will be implemented in 3 districts of Marsabit County: North Horr, Chalbi and Loiyangalani districts. The project is designed to Improve preparedness and prevention to drought in pastoralist and agro pastoralist communities of northern Marsabit County. It is noted that greater Marsabit region has faced three droughts cycle in the past five years. These droughts have increased intensity and frequency such that they have weakened community coping strategies and traditional means of rebuilding assets against future shocks.
While the traditional pastoralist system in Northern Kenya is based on increasing the number of animals to cope with natural disasters, it has been proven in the 2011 drought to be a positive strategy for those pastoralists who have a high number of animals (>200) as the impact of animal mortality is lower than on those pastoralists with lower average number of animals (<50). While this strategy may be good for the individual, it has a negative impact on the community due to the over-exploitation of resources that a high number of animals generates and reduces the overall resilience of pastoral communities during stressful period of drought. The lack of market orientation of livestock production in places like Marsabit County related somewhat to cultural reason as it becomes socially difficult to sell livestock means that pastoralists are not able to de-stock quickly enough in drought periods before the value of the animals becomes negligible, therefore pastoralists are not able to adequately protect and rebuild their livelihoods. The project seeks to improve community resilience to drought by improving and re-orientating the management of natural resources to benefit existing local livelihoods. It also aims at diversifying incomes, establishing and linking farmers/fisher folks to Market value chains. Overall Objective Reducing the vulnerability to drought affected population living in Arid and Semi -Arid Lands of Kenya Planned impact: Strengthened drought preparedness mechanisms through adoption of sustainable livelihoods in Northern Marsabit County. Planned outcome The community will have enhanced their existing local production, developed linkages to local markets and improved natural resources management. Beneficiaries:22,800 directly and 35,310 indirectly. Output 1: Pastoralist vulnerability to drought is reduced through an improvement in natural resources management Activities to achieve output 1: A1.1: Development or updating community and District level DRR contingency plans through CMDRR approach The Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) methodology will be used to define (or where appropriate, review) the community contingency plans in 10 administrative locations. In liaison with NDMA, SI will support the implementation of the contingency plan with a small grant to kick-start micro-projects. A1.2: Rehabilitate and Construct strategically located Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) systems to support pastoral livelihoods SI will work with local communities to develop water harvesting structures (earth pans) in 4 locations near to pasturelands where there is currently limited water access, thus improving pastoralist mobility. This will be achieved through a participatory planning process with earmarked communities in order to agree on the appropriateness and relevance of earth pans in the specific context. This planning will also be integrated into the DRR contingency planning process. A.1.3: Enhance productivity of rain-fed crops through promotion of water retention techniques and training on best practices to increase soil fertility. Two water retention techniques will be promoted, the Negarim micro catchments, earth basins, and rectangular or trapezoidal bunds for crop production. Farmer’s Field Schools (FFS) approach will be used as a vehicle in achieving the adoption of a new technology and improving the capacity of the farmers. Once the micro-catchments are installed, the farmers will be trained on conservation agriculture to improve soil fertility and optimize yields in their plots. A.1.4. Introduce and promote multiplication of drought resistant varieties of rain fed crops. This activity will be implemented through 7 selected farmer common interest groups (CIGs) and would be in tandem with the Ending Drought Emergencies sector plans flagship project 2013- 2017 to increase production and marketing of drought- tolerant crops in semi -arid areas(farmer associations). The promotion will be achieved with support from the technical officers from the County Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Marsabit Centre. A.1.5: Promotion of better management practices of Prosopis Initially, the activity will focus on capacity building of community DRR committees and local administrative and political leaders on the management and utilization of the prosopis plant by communities. Later, it will mainly focus on the support to the creation of Prosopis Managed Areas(PMA) in eight locations in collaboration with existing Youth Groups currently involved in activities aimed at managing the Prosopis plant. Output 2: Pastoralist and agro-pastoralist revenues are increased by orienting livestock, fisheries and fodder production to the market Planned activities under output 2: A.2.1. Support and capacity building of Livestock Common Interest Groups (L-CIG) Creation and support of 22 Livestock Common Interest Groups with an average membership of 20, to improve the capacities in overcoming the difficulties encountered while obtaining fair prices for their animal production. A.2.2 Awareness raising on good practices oriented to improve livestock management. The activity aims at improving the capacities of livestock owners (through the PFS approach) on good management practices to orient their production to the market. This activity will be complimented with a series of sensitization campaigns through local media broadcasts to increase coverage of dissemination of information. Specific messages will be disseminated on the importance of stocking and de-stocking at an appropriate time, importance of vaccination and deworming, hygiene practices especially in relation to milk handling and the use of high nutrient fodder during the peak of the dry season. A.2.3. Facilitate networks between herders and the market promoting inclusive business. Activity will facilitate the exchange of information towards addressing the livestock marketing problems experienced by producers, livestock traders and the other actors on the line to the consumer. A.2.5. Promote Fisheries value chain in Turkana Lake by providing proper equipment and training on processing and marketing. This activity intends to promote sustainable fisheries in the lake in line with the End Drought Emergencies sector plan that aims at supporting fish farming through the involvement of communities, through CIG and the Ministry of Fisheries. Purpose of the Livelihood study The purpose of this study is to generate information on existing practices and information related to the core purpose of the project, to verify the target communities and to redefine selection criteria according to the activities proposed. The study will help generate and redefine indicators where possible and/or check the relevance of the indicators to which the success of the program shall be measured. It will also assess the context of the project, to inform the process of implementation. The results of the study will be used to define and perform a household survey among the targeted communities. Scope and focus The livelihood study will focus on the project area of implementation whilst gathering information from approaches similar to those proposed in the project strategy in other areas that share similar climatic, vulnerability contexts. For each livelihood group (farmers, agro pastoralists, herders, etc.), the study should provide information on: 1. Review of context as at the time of project start 2. A conceptual framework that helps us to understand how assets, the various institutions and processes combine to enable households to make a living. 3. The various livelihood strategies in the target areas analyzed per livelihood group and in regards to the seasonal calendar/to seasonal specificities 4. Analyze each livelihood group to understand as well as define the various coping mechanisms from each livelihood group while facing a drought (normal and severe). 5. Carry out an income and productive asset assessment of each livelihood group and fluidity trends of these assets 6. Look into the vulnerability context ( How long term trends, seasonality and natural and man- made shocks can affect livelihoods) 7. The choice of targeted geographical locations (having considered ongoing interventions in the area, the targeted communities of the ongoing DFID funded drought resilience project and taking into consideration their access to markets in line with livelihood findings, which livelihoods groups are represented in the different areas, which areas are most vulnerable to drought, in those areas which livelihood groups are the most vulnerable and why? 8. Similar practices/ interventions in and outside Marsabit 9. Review of indicators in relation to context as at the time of the study 10. Quantify indicators at baseline stage and revise targeting and or make recommendations on relevance in line with context and proposal 11. Carry out market value chain analyses per livelihood activity (livestock, fish, MUBs, Fodder, showing gaps and recommended interventions for SI. Critical questions to be answered by the survey 1. What are the different characteristics of the different livelihood groups (give ideas on wealth groups distribution among each livelihood group) in the area of intervention? What are the characteristics of their vulnerability context and institutional context? 2. Which are the best locations according to the needs and the proposed activities? 3. What are the community coping mechanisms in severe drought? Negative/ Positive?, Reversible, Non reversible? 4. Are there any of the beneficiaries that have lost all their livestock to past droughts? If so, How many? 5. Which water retention techniques have been adopted by farmers in Hurri hills and Gataab? 6. Household income levels at the start of the project and how it can be measured and monitored throughout the project? 7. What are the livestock assets at the beginning of the project? 8. Local systems in place to monitor market information on livestock, are markets available and functioning effectively? Can people trade goods freely within the county? 9. If markets do exists, how are they regulated eg price controls, black market? 10. Livelihood strategies in place throughout the year for each livelihood groups 11. Are the local communities willing to engage to alternative income generation activities such as the one proposed by project activities (prosopis management, fodder production, Multi-Urea Nutrient block production, fishing) 12. Local capacity in contributing to project activities 13. Existing sources of fodder for cubing and kidding livestock? Where do they get it from, if they buy, how much does it cost them? Do they have their own resources? 14. On CMDRR, does community have contingency plans? What are other similar interventions that have taken place and with who ( NGOs, ALRMP etc) How often are the plans updated? 15. How is the existing market chains for livestock (private individuals, Community organized, GoK led) and how are these chains organized? 16. What are doing other actors in the target area or similar location for similar interventions and what can be the synergy with our intervention? Study process and methods The study methods should be clearly stated prior to field visits and submitted to the Food Security & Livelihood coordinator for comments and validation. A description of the overall flow of the survey process (i.e. sequence of the key stages) should be given in the livelihood survey report. The study approach and the methods used to collect and analyze data should also be described. While designing the surveys and methodology, the consultant should clearly review the EU donor guidelines. Procedures and logistics • The Consultant must comply with SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL’s rules and procedures related to security and relations with the media. A specific security briefing will be organized once the evaluator arrives in Nairobi. • The consultant must respect the ethic and the deontology related to survey/assessments practice. • Logistics, movement and security will be provided and organized by the SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL team • A translator will assist the evaluator in performing surveys or focus group (no of enumerators to be defined by the consultant). Deliverables The Livelihoods study report should include at least: • One narrative report (max 40 pages) including an executive summary (2 pages maximum). • Detailed description of context, in general and a more specific analysis relevant to the project • A separate table summarizing the main findings in relation to previous practices and the lessons learnt. from other actors or even previous actions within SI • A separate table showing the different recommendations and tips for their implementation • Relevant maps and photographs of the assessed zone and programme annexed. • If possible, a map showing the main findings and relevance of activities proposed. • A Power point presentation of the main findings and recommendations of the study must be submitted to SI in order to facilitate dissemination of the results of the study to stakeholders. This power point presentation should be used to debrief the field team and the coordination team. Annexes • Terms of Reference; • A Map with the project locations • List of persons / organizations consulted; • List of literature and documents consulted; • List and number of sites visited; • Summary tables of data collected… • Stakeholders’ analysis Documents of reference • Proposal of the project • Relevant maps • Additional reports and assessment documents including from other INGO work relevant to the project • Ongoing DFID interim reports • EC guidelines Consultant qualifications • University degree in Project management, social sciences, livestock/veterinary medicine and, Disaster Risk Reduction or related field. • Strong research and data analysis background highly preferred. • Minimum 8 years of proven experience with NGOs • Proven experience in similar consultancies context (ASAL) and in particular experiences relevant to this assignment • Basic knowledge on Food Security, Livelihoods and WASH issues • Strong methodology and writing capacities HOW TO APPLY: Please send your proposal to info@solidarites-kenya-som.org highlighting the following: • A brief introduction of bidding firm or person attaching relevant CVs • Your understanding of the Terms of Reference • Proposed methodology and approach • Proposed budget • Your availability