INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE DEMOCRACY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (DEW) PROJECT

Dear Sirs/ Madames.

Within the frame work of the Democracy and Empowerment of Women (DEW) project, COMINSUD hereby launch a restricted tender for the evaluation of the said project.
Interested applicants who could be individuals or organizations are called upon to pick up the tender document from COMINSUD office located at SIRDEP COMPLEX- Ntarinkon (Opposite Park Pharmacy), Mankon – Bamenda for more details.
The Technical and Financial offers must be submitted at COMINSUD office on or before the Thursday 29th May 2008 by 16:00. In case of need contact: 7766 64 86 / 7983 61 17

Sincerely,

FON NSOH

COORDINATOR

DEMOCRACY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (DEW) PROJECT.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATION

1. Background
COMINSUD for the past five has been implementing the Democracy and Empowerment of Women (DEW) project funded by Bread for the World. The pilot phase of the project was executed for two years (July 2003- June 2005) in Mezam division and latter expanded to the rest of the divisions in the North West Province. The target population was informed, sensitized and trained on democracy and grassroots political empowerment and societal transformation with special focus on women and the marginalized groups. Besides the project concept was extended to the South West Province where a similar project is implemented, and in the Littoral, Center and West Provinces where the project concept was introduced with the provision of the main tool for grassroots political empowerment a manual designed for the purpose. At a higher level, and within the frame work of Bread For the World and Cameroon Canada Cooperation financing, grassroots actors in the North West and South West Provinces and a Coalition of Civil Society Organization actors I Cameroon under the Coordination of COMINSUD monitored the 2007 Municipal and Parliamentary Elections as a contribution to good governance and democracy in Cameroon. This Evaluation is intended to demonstrate the impact of the project sponsored by Bread for the World and executed by COMINSUD in collaboration with its partners of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon the Decade Motivation Program and the Presbyterian Church Center Mankon. The evaluation will also enable the design of phase three of the Project, with respect to aspects as such as scope, scale, coordination, target group and issues to be addressed.

2. Brief over view of the Project.
2.1 Origin
Project Goal
To contribute in poverty eradication and enhancement of good governance practices at all levels of the Cameroonian society, through the transformation of power relationships and structures that promotes discrimination and oppression against women in particular and the marginalized in general.
General objective
An enabling environment is created for the fair and balance participation of women and the marginalized in decision-making processes and power structures in 10 sub divisions of the 7 divisions that make up the North West Province.
Project Output
-Women’s interests are fairly addressed in cultural norms and institutional practices and policies across the North West Province.
-The knowledge and participation of women and the marginalised on issues of governance, human rights and democracy is improved
Target group
-Women especially in the family, and the marginalized groups,
- Religious, political and religious institutions in
-Religious Institutions: .Christian grouping made up of the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) and the Cameroon Baptist Church (CBC)
.Muslim grouping made up of the Hausas, the Mbororos and the Fulanis.
-Political Parties and Municipal Councils.
-Traditional Institutions.

2.2 Area of operation
North West Province (16 Sub Divisions)

2.3 Main Activities Undertaken
-Carried out inventories and sensitisation on traditional norms and practices which disfavour women
-Trained in each Sub division Promoters and animators to scale up sensitisation and carry out grassroots political empowerment
-Produced and disseminate materials on issues of Democracy and Human Rights.
-Supervised and followed up the work of the promoters and animators in their sensitization efforts.
-Carried out Gender analysis and promote the development of Gender Policies in villages and other institutions.
-Promoted Civil Society Organisations’ and citizen participation in the 2007 Electoral Process.
-Trained and deploy election observers for the 2007 municipal and legislative elections

3. Context of the evaluation
The Evaluation will be based on the projects financed by Bread for the World democracy and Governance from July 2003 to present. The project proposals, progress reports including a Self Assessment Report of the DEW project carried out in 2006 will be put at the disposal of the evaluation team as their entry point.

4. Purpose of evaluation
The evaluation aims at assessing:
-The effects and changes (impact) noticed as a result of the project.
-Deriving key lessons learnt.
-Making adjustments of phase 11 of the project to take into account weaknesses identified in the implementation in order to formulate recommendations for Phase 111.

5. Methodology
The evaluation will be done in conformity with Bread for the World’s standards on external evaluation. The team will be expected to undertake the evaluation in a vigorous manner as much as possible. This will entail a participatory information collection and analyses that provides an assessment of what has been realized and valid recommendations to move the vision and or goal of the project forward. Review of secondary data, field visits and discussions with relevant actors in the project to collect primary data will be vital.

6. The evaluation should provide answers on the following issues among others:
Relevance
-are the objectives in line with locally defined needs and priorities of the target population?
-are the project activities adequate to attain the objectives?
-What is the perception of the planned and realized activities by the target communities?
Effectiveness
-To what extent has the project objectives and outputs been reached?
-how participatory was the implementation of the project?
-What can be done to improve effectiveness in meeting these needs and priorities?
Efficiency
-How cost beneficial were the selected activities and means to attain the project objectives
Impact
-What effects and changes are noticed as result of the project?
-How can the achievements be consolidated in the future?
What has been the impact of the project on different gender groups (women, men and youths)?
Sustainability
-What systems and measures were put in place to ensure sustainability?
-Are the beneficiaries willing and able to continue the activities initiated by the project?
-How long lasting are the achievements of the project?

Project management and Structure
-What management structure was in place to ensure the realization of the project and to what extend did it contribute to the realizations?
Recommendations for scaling up
-How can the overall project design be improved to better achieve project objectives in the next phase and create a wider impact?
-in what ways can the project activities be improved to better meet project objectives?

7. Reporting
The report shall be written in the English language. Two sets of reports are expected:
-A Draft report be shall be submitted in 1 soft and 3 hard copies. This will be followed by a formal presentation and discussion of the report for consultant to make the necessary amendments based on the feedback.
-The final Evaluation report shall be submitted in 6 hard copies and 3 soft copies on CD not exceeding 30 pages.

8. Duration
The evaluation exercise shall last maximum 25 days to be carried out in the month of June 2008.

9. Profile of Consultants
The evaluation team shall consist of two persons (a lead person and an assistant) with expertise in project evaluation, good back ground knowledge on gender issues, human rights, democracy, governance and participation.
They are expected to be able to express themselves perfectly in English and pidgin.

Deadline for submission of offers
Interested organizations or consultants are invited to apply, submitting Technical and financial Tenders written in English in 3 copies at COMINSUD office in a sealed envelope on or before the Thursday 29th May 2008 by 16:00. the application should be addressed to:

The Steering Committee DEW PROJECT
C\O Board Chairlady COMINSUD
P.O.Box 356 Mankon Bamenda

Opening of Tender and Selection of the Consultant.
The opening of the tenders shall be done by a committee put in place. The Technical proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their conformity with the TOR and the financial offer shall be evaluated based on relevance to the proposed budget.
Upon selection of the Consultant, COMINSUD and the Consultant will signed an engagement via a contract, in which the following issues agreed upon will be specified:
-Time frame
-Fee and payment modalities
-Documents to be made available
-Roles and responsibilities OF COMINSUD and the consultant
-Reporting structure and format

Confidentiality
The consultant team shall respect the rules of consultation, treat as confidential information and documents confined to them and us them only for the purpose intended.

Financing
The consultant shall receive 40% of the payment upon signing of the contract, 30% after the presentation of the preliminary report and the remaining 30% upon submission of the final report.

21/05/2008

Subject: INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE DEMOCRACY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (DEW) PROJECT.

Dear Sir/ Mrs.

Within the frame work of the Democracy and Empowerment of Women (DEW) project, COMINSUD hereby launch a restricted tender for the evaluation of the said project.
Interested applicants who could be individuals or organizations are called upon to pick up the tender document from COMINSUD office located at SIRDEP COMPLEX- Ntarinkon (Opposite Park Pharmacy), Mankon – Bamenda for more details.
The Technical and Financial offers must be submitted by 16:00 at COMINSUD office on or before the Thursday 29th May 2008. in case of need contact: 7766 64 86 / 7983 61 17

Sincerely,

FON NSOH

COORDINATOR