On 26 November 2019, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Albania at 3.54 am local time, centered 30 km west of Tirana, at a depth of 10 km. A second earthquake of 5.4 magnitude followed at 7.10 am with the epicenter near Durres (34 km northwest of Tirana) and aftershocks (peaking above Magnitude 4) in subsequent weeks. According to official sources a total of 51 people lost their lives and 913 people were injured.
A total of 11,490 housing units were categorized as fully destroyed or demolished and need to be rebuilt. An additional 83,745 of housing units were either partially or lightly damaged. Approximately 17,000 people are displaced and are living in temporary accommodation. Most of the displaced households are staying in tents, host families or rented apartments.
The most affected administrative regions are the prefectures of Durrës, Lezhë and Tiranë. Structural damage is widespread, yet focused on old buildings and those built with poor building practice in the transition area of the 1990s and early 2000s. Additional administrative areas considered secondary affected are those where people have been evacuated to by the government, including Berat, Dibër, Elbasan, Fier, Kukës, Shkodra and Vlorë (minor damage is reported in several villages in some of these prefectures).
The revised emergency appeal plan of action aims at meeting immediate needs and supporting the early and mid-term recovery of the most vulnerable population affected by the earthquake in Albania with focus on the population of the most affected prefectures of Durrës (Durrës city, Shijak), Tirana (Vorë), Lezhë (Laç, Shëngjin), and Kruja (Thumane).
The targeted groups through this operation included people whose homes were damaged (collapsed, severely damaged or lightly damaged) and are vulnerable due to having lost a family member, low level of income, and household composition (disability, single female heads of household, older people, pregnant women).
This Emergency Appeal has been contributing to the overall ARC plan of action for their response to the earthquake, complementing the national and bilaterally funded activities of ARC in the respective sectors. More than 20,000 people have been supported with health/PSS, WASH (hygiene kits), livelihoods and basic needs (multi- purpose cash grants), and shelter (household items) activities.
Up to 50,000 people will be reached with community based DRR, PSS and health activities through awareness programming. The operation thereby takes an integrated approach for activities in the sectors of WASH, health/PSS, Shelter, PGI (including RFL) and DRR through multifunctional mobile teams.
The number of households supported thought unconditional CVA has been increased from 700 to 1,100.
Replenishment of ARC contingency stocks as well as NS capacity development in cash preparedness, volunteer management, IT, finance and logistics systems support have also been included in the plan.
The timeframe of the Emergency Appeal operation has been extended three months in order to be able to complete the activities which could not be implemented due to COVID 19 related measures.
IFRC has been supporting ARC in responding to the needs of affected communities through the Areas of Focus identified, complementing the capacity and experience of ARC in this comparatively large-scale disaster by national standards. The EPoA outlines actions that not only seek to support the communities affected, but also strengthen the National Society’s capacity and preparedness for future disaster response.
This final evaluation aims to assess the relevance, effectiveness (and any clear impact), efficiency and sustainability of the activities, systems, management, and coordination of the IFRC Emergency Appeal (MDRAL008) responding to the Albania Earthquake as well as identify lessons learned for future interventions.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Objectives:**
Objective 1: To assess the structure, systems and processes across different levels of the Albanian Red Cross, related to their programming capacity (in relief and recovery), organizational sustainability and coordination, and how efficiently the capacity strengthening activities are conducted under the EA including CVA, volunteer management, logistics, CEA, Communications and PMER.
Objective 2: Assess the achievements, effectiveness and efficiency of key programmatic areas defined in the emergency plan of action, with particular emphasis on the
· Livelihoods and basic needs – in-kind and CVA (Cash and Voucher Assistance modality review is running in parallel, results will be available as secondary data)
· Psychosocial Support
· Disaster Risk Reduction
Objective 3: To assess the relevance and efficiency of the support provided by the IFRC throughout the operation, focusing on the timeliness and modality of financial, human resources and technical support.
+ Optional objective based on evaluation team capacity: To assess how the emergency response has influenced the status and external cooperation of the Albanian Red Cross in its auxiliary role, and how the Albanian Red Cross took part in different coordination mechanisms and interacted with other organisations within the national context.
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the operations implementation has to be carefully analysed throughout the whole final evaluation process, as well as Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI) and Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) as cross-cutting approaches.
Evaluation Criteria
The following are the evaluation criteria by which this evaluation will be conducted. These criteria should be used as applicable for every question and objective, based on their relevance for the given objective and the questions related to the objective.
1) Relevance and appropriateness of the operation in delivering assistance based on needs and context;
2) Coverage in reaching target population across different groups, ethnicity, gender, physical construct etc.
3) Efficiency of the interventions in delivering quality services with minimum resources, effectiveness of the management and systemic mechanisms and strategies; and accountability to the impact population in relation to service delivery, sustainability, inclusion and resilience building.
4) Impact of the interventions on the National Society’s capacities and the level of resilience of the communities and institutions in areas covered by the operation.
5) Connectedness and sustainability of the interventions in developing the organizational capacity of PRC and enhancing the resilience of assisted people against future hazards.
Evaluation criteria are key internationally recognized measures endorsed by IFRC for evaluation of its work. They specify the key areas (criteria) by which assessment will be made. IFRC criteria are presented in the IFRC Framework for Evaluation, which should be referred to when preparing this section. IFRC criteria include: 1) adherence to Fundamental Principles and Code of Conduct, 2) relevance and appropriateness, 3) efficiency, 4) effectiveness, 5) coverage, 6) impact, 7) coherence, 8) sustainability and connectedness.
Evaluation Methodology
Expected to include: review and analysis of key documents, key informant interviews, volunteer interviews and if feasible, interviews with people reached by the emergency response. The evaluator can suggest other methodologies. Sampling as well as data collection methods and pace are to be decided by the evaluator, in consultation with ARC and the EMT, and should be reflected on in the cover letter, and if selected, described in detail in the inception report.
· Desk review
· Key informant interviews
· Field visits and primary data collection (interviews with people reached and/or community leaders)
The Evaluation Management Team will provide support in developing an arrangement in which primary data collection with people reached and/or community leaders can be feasible, involving the NS’s capacities if possible. Potential solutions include building on NS volunteer capacities for interpretation, to establish contact with people to be interviewed by the team or to conduct the primary data collection based on guidance from and questionnaire design developed by the evaluator.
Evaluation Team
The team consists of an Evaluator and a Research Assistant. The evaluator will have the ultimate responsibility to lead the evaluation process, design the methodology and deliver the outputs as described below.
The Evaluator will be supported by an Albanian-speaking Research Assistant.
Evaluation Management Team
The team consists of the IFRC Regional Office for Europe PMER Manager, Head of DCPRR, Operations Coordinator and the in-country IFRC Operations Manager. The EMT will ensure coordination between the IFRC Regional Office in Budapest, the IFRC delegation in country and representatives from the implementing NS. The EMT will support the Evaluation Team with establishing contact with relevant stakeholders in the implementing National Society, and with developing modalities to ensure remote and, if feasible, on-site access for conducting the evaluation. The EMT is tasked with reviewing and approving the deliverables listed in the following section.
Deliverables
· Inception report
· Debriefing
· Lessons Learned Workshop
· Draft report
· Final report
Proposed Timeline
Week 1-2
· Desktop study
· Development of detailed inception report, or data collection/analysis plan and schedule, draft methodology
Week 3-4
· Data collection according to data collection schedule
· Data analysis, start of final report drafting
Week 5-6
· Debriefing with initial findings, conclusions, and recommendations before revision and final approval of the final report
· Preparation of draft evaluation report
· Address feedback with revisions in report where appropriate
· Revise and submit final evaluation report
· Presentation of final report findings to key stakeholders
Education
Experience
Required:
· 7-10 years of demonstrable experience in leading evaluations in humanitarian programmes responding to emergency and recovery programs
· Previous experience in coordination, design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian programmes
· Experience in the evaluation of both urban and camp programs and/or post disaster recovery programming and evaluation.
· Knowledge of activities generally conducted by humanitarian organizations in the sectors of livelihoods and basic needs (with a focus on CVA), health and PSS, shelter, PGI and CEA
· Experience in participatory approaches to evaluations
Desirable:
· Very good understanding of the RC/RC Movement and types of humanitarian response.
· Field experience in the evaluation of humanitarian or development programs with prior experience of evaluating Red Cross programmes.
Knowledge, skills and languages
Required:
· Excellent English writing and presentation skills in English, with relevant writing samples of similar evaluation reports.
Desirable:
· Knowledge of Albanian language is strongly preferred.
How to apply:
Applications are to be submitted by the 13 December 2020 to hr.europe@ifrc.org stating in the subject line:
‘Albania Emergency Appeal Final Evaluation
The following should be submitted with the application:
The application should include:
Cover letter clearly summarizing experience as it pertains to this assignment, daily rate, and contact details of three professional referees
Technical proposal, including budget: a technical proposal should accompany the application, detailing the consultant’s understanding of the ToR with a detailed budget to undertake the work. The proposal should explain how the challenges and constraints outlined in the ToR will be dealt with, and include a timeline of activities (specifying what part will be done remotely and in the field).
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Provide samples of previous work (reports of previous evaluations and reviews completed)
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
For more detailed TOR please contact hr.europe@ifrc.org