SPECIFIC TERMS OF REFERENCEMid-term Review of Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS) in Eight Districts of Sindh Province, PakistanFWC SIEA 2018-

LOT <nr 4> : <Human Development and Safety Net>EuropeAid/138778/DH/SER/multi

1. BACKGROUND

The country context is challenging. The recently concluded national census (2017) shows that Pakistan's population has now reached 208 million. The country ranks 147 out of the 188 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), according to the 2016 Human Development Report. The ranking puts Pakistan in the ‘medium human development’ bracket, which also includes India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kenya, Myanmar and Nepal. According to the 2016 survey conducted under the revised, multidimensional poverty index (MPI) methodology, poverty head count has declined from 55.2 % in 2004/05 to 38.8 % in 2014/15, this even though the Pakistan economy has been facing severe challenges since 2007/08 with a low rate of economic growth, high inflation (especially for food), power shortage, soaring oil prices and poor law and order situation.

However, this is an aggregate picture, as there is great variation in the incidence of poverty in different parts of the country and within different social groups. For instance, poverty in Pakistan is concentrated in the rural areas where the bulk of its population lives. Rural poverty in the province of Sindh is 75.5 %, according to the MPI Report. Also, women suffer more from conditions of poverty, marginalisation and discrimination than men.

The Province of Sindh itself has a total population of 47 million, of which 23 million are classified as rural. Sindh is the financial and economic hub of Pakistan, especially thanks to Karachi, contributing to one third of the GDP. The social and economic situation in rural Sindh is characterised by a dual dichotomy of: i) urban versus rural and ii) a small group of wealthy landlords versus a large number of smallholder and landless farmers.

Whereas economic and development indicators for urban populations are comparatively good, the situation is worse for rural households. The lowest 60% income groups report higher expenses than income, which is an indication of predisposition to chronic indebtedness. Public service delivery is generally poor or altogether absent. 50% of under 5 children in Sindh are stunted (44% at national level), and the global acute malnutrition rate in Sindh is 17.5%. Enrolment in education is among the worst in the country. As a consequence, Sindh was off-track or facing unsatisfactory progress on all the Millennium Development Goals indicators. The situation is particularly alarming for women whose development indicators are significantly worse than those of men.

Despite best efforts and sizeable investments made by the public sector and donors, and despite decent growth rates achieved during the past many years, poverty still persists as an entrenched problem, especially for Sindh, which ranks as the second poorest province in Pakistan, after Balochistan.

Within this background, the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP; local NGO) started working in few villages of Badin district, Sindh in 1992 to release the potential abilities, skills and knowledge of rural men and women, to enable them to articulate their aspirations and to effectively marshal the resources they need to meet their identified needs. The conceptual tool used for doing so is social mobilization, which is to provide 'social guidance' (organizing

local men and women who will take on a leadership role), advocacy, capacity building and awareness raising. The programmatic tools are training, support to institutions, micro-credit, infrastructure development, natural resource management and 'productive linkages'.

Subsequently the Government of Sindh launched the Union Council Based Poverty Reduction Programme (UCBPRP)1, which is a pioneering initiative of the Government, implemented by the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO), and Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP). The UCBPRP programme started in 2009 in 4 districts (Kashmore-Kandkot, Shikarpur, Jaccobabad and Tharparkar).

In 2015, upon the request of the Government of Sindh, the European Union agreed to finance a 6-year (2015-2021) project called the "Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS)"2, with 82 million EUR budget. The aim of the project is to reduce poverty in eight districts of Sindh, namely: Qambar Shahdadkot, Larkana, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar and Tando Muhammad Khan. The SUCCESS programme is based on the UCBPRP approach and focuses on social mobilisation of women in rural areas of the target districts, with an aim of enabling communities to lift themselves out of poverty, through active participation in the decision-making processes at the local level. While it has some specificsof its own (single focus on women, 100% coverage of targeted districts, RSP co-financing), SUCCESS is seen as the sister project of UCBPRP under the common umbrella of a community-driven local development (CDLD) approach.

1 http://www.ucbprp.net.pk/home.htm 2 http://www.success.org.pk/

In 2017, the UCBPRP was expanded to a further 6 districts of Sindh (Khaipur, Sanghar, Umerkot, MirpurKhas, Badin and Thatta), bringing the UCBPRP coverage to a total of 10 districts. The programme with these latter six districts is being implemented by SRSO, bringing UCBPRP coverage to a total of 10. Therefore together, UCBPRP and SUCCESS are bringing a CDLD-based approach to 18 districts of Sindh.

The GoS has requested the EU to undertake an impact-evaluation of their UCBPRP programme in the first four districts. This evaluation is underway and would be expected to contribute information relevant to the MTR of SUCCESS.

The SUCCESS programme is being implemented by a coalition comprising the Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN), Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO), Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP), and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP). A Technical Assistance component provided by Ernst & Young (EY) is assisting the Government of Sindh to formulate and implement an overall Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and CDLD policy. The PRS, which addressed both urban and rural poverty, has recently been approved and launched by the GoS and it is envisaged that strategies included in the PRS, which incorporates the CDLD policy, will be implemented across the province with funding from the Government of Sindh itself, as well as potential further funding from donors and other sources. The TA component of SUCCESS is currently assisting the GoS to develop a roadmap for implementation of the PRS, including the CDLD Policy. Consideration of the requirements for and implication of the Roadmap will also be important in consideration for the MTR of SUCCESS, since these requirements are expected to have some impact on the second stage of implementation of SUCCESS, and impacts beyond the existing programme.

The stakeholders of the Action are

The Government of Sindh through its Planning & Development Board and the Strategy and Policy Dialogue Committee (SPDC);

The EU-funded "Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS)", (http://www.success.org.pk) and its implementers (RSPs and Technical Assistance team);

The local authorities of the eight Districts targeted; The different Community Organisations (CO), Village Organisations (VO) and Local

Support Organisations (LSO) created through SUCCESS; The Government of Sindh- funded UCBPRP

Other available information concerns the UCBPRP impact assessment that started in April and should be completed by end of August. The present mid-term review assignment is expected to get inputs in terms of lessons learned and methodological recommendations from the UCBPRP impact evaluation.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Type of evaluation Mid-termCoverage Eight districts of SUCCESSGeographic scope Qambar Shahdadkot, Larkana, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari,

Sujawal, Tando Allahyar and Tando Muhammad KhanPeriod to be evaluated 2015 - 2018

Global objective

The main objectives of the evaluation are to provide the relevant external co-operation services of the European Union, the partner government and, when appropriate, the wider public with:

an overall independent assessment of the past performance of the intervention of the SUCCESS programme, paying particular attention to the results of the programme against its objectives;

Key lessons and recommendations in order to improve current actions and to further guide the development, implementation and strengthening of the Sindh Poverty Reduction Strategy and Community-Driven Local Development Policy.

Specific objective(s)3

This Mid Term Review intends to:

draw lessons from the first 2.5 years of the intervention implementation; adjust the contents of the on-going intervention in relation to realities in the field

and/or contextual developments; improve the intervention under way and its results.

Required outputs

The mid-term evaluation of the first phase of the SUCCESS programme will assess the Action using the five standard DAC evaluation criteria, namely: relevance, effectiveness,

3 The global and specific objectives shall clarify that all EU funded actions must promote the cross-cutting objectives of the EC: environment and climate change, rights based approach, persons with disability, indigenous peoples and gender equality.

efficiency, sustainability and impact. In particular the evaluation team will assess progress towards implementation of the logframe and review the logframe for the remaining period of the project. In addition, the evaluators will assess the narrative explanation (Theory of Change) of the logic of the Action that describes how change is expected to happen within the Action, all along its results chain. This explanation includes an assessment of the evidence underpinning this logic (especially between outputs and outcomes, and between outcomes and impact), and articulates the assumptions that must hold for the Action to work, as well as identification of the factors most likely to inhibit the change from happening. Should it be necessary, the evaluators will facilitate the development of the Theory of change for the remaining part of the project with all key stakeholders.

The mid-Term evaluation will identify key milestones to guide the Programme through the changes proposed.

The evaluation team shall furthermore consider whether the following cross-cutting issues: formal & non-formal education, health services, nutrition, local governance, gender equality, promotion of human rights, children's rights and indigenous peoples, basic infrastructure development, sustainability of natural resources, climate change and environment were taken into account in the identification/formulation documents and the extent to which they have been reflected in the implementation of the Action and its monitoring.

The specific Evaluation Questions as formulated in Annex I to these TOR's are indicative. Based on them and following initial consultations and documental analysis, the evaluation team will propose in their Inception Report a complete and finalised set of Evaluation Questions with indication of specific Judgement Criteria and Indicators, as well as the relevant data collection sources and tools. Once agreed with the approval of the Inception Report, the Evaluation Questions will become contractually binding.

Requested services, including suggested methodology4

The Specific Organisation and Methodology that the Framework Contractor shall submit with reference to these Terms of Reference is the basis to judge the appropriateness of their proposed approach to work.

It should provide an interpretation of these ToRs and a clear description/justification of the methodology proposed for conducting the assignment.

In particular, it should detail on which basis evidence and data will be gathered in support to the evaluation and what incidence this will have on both the planning and costing of the mission.

It should also include an initial set of proposed evaluation questions.The evaluation process will be carried out in three phases: an Inception Phase, a Desk & Field Phase, and a Synthesis Phase. Deliverables in the form of reports and slide presentations should be submitted at the end of the corresponding phases as specified in the synoptic table below.

4 Contractors should describe how the action will contribute to the all cross cutting issues mentioned above and notably to the gender equality and the empowerment of women. This will include the communication action messages, materials and management structures.

The submission of deliverables by the selected contractor will be performed through their uploading in the EVAL Module, an evaluation process management tool of the European Commission; the selected consultant will have access to online guidance in order to operate with the module.

Synoptic table

The following table presents an overview of the key activities to be conducted during each phase (not necessarily in chronological order) and lists the deliverables to be produced by the team, including the key meetings with the Contracting Authority and the Reference Group. The main content of each deliverable is described in Annex II.

Phases of the

evaluationKey activities Deliverables and meetings

Inception Phase

Initial document/data collection and definition of methods of analysis

Background analysis Initial interviews with key

stakeholders Reconstruction of Intervention

Logic and description of Theory of Change, incl. objectives, specific features and target beneficiaries

Kick-off meeting in Karachi with SUCCESS team and the Government of Sindh [face-to-face].

Inception report Slide presentation Meeting with Reference Group

on Inception Report [Karachi but with possibility of VC with Evaluation Manager in Islamabad]

Desk & Field Phase

Initial meetings in Karachi with GoS Planning & Development Board (Secretary Planning), UCBPRP Management, SUCCESS Management, RSPs (SRSO/ TRDP/ NRSP/ RSPN) and SUCCESS TA.

In-depth document analysis (focused on the Evaluation Questions)

Interviews with key actors Identification of information gaps

and of hypotheses to be tested in the field phase

Methodological design of the Field Phase

Gathering of primary evidence with the use of the most appropriate techniques [to be developed in the Organisation & Methodology and further discussed with Reference Group]

Data collection and analysis

Meeting with Reference Group [Karachi but with possibility of VC with Evaluation Manager in Islamabad]5

Intermediary/Field Note Slide Presentation [key support

to the debriefing sessions] Debriefing with the Reference

Group [Karachi but with possibility of VC with Evaluation Manager in Islamabad]

5 Frequency and modalities [regular meeting, VC, emails] of interactions between the evaluators and the Reference Group, during the Desk & Field Phase will be proposed in the Organisation & Methodology

Phases of the

evaluationKey activities Deliverables and meetings

Synthesis phase

Final analysis of findings (with focus on the Evaluation Questions)

Formulation of the overall assessment, conclusions and recommendations

Organisation of the final presentation seminar

Draft Final Report Executive Summary Final Report Slide presentation [key support to

the debriefing sessions] Meeting with Reference Group Final presentation seminar [to be

combined with Reference Group meeting and to conducted with the GoS Strategy Policy Dialogue Committee]

Language of the Specific Contract

The language of the specific contract is to be English.

and further agreed during inception phase

EXPERTS PROFILE or EXPERTISE REQUIRED

Number of requested experts6 per category and number of man-days per expert or per category

As minimum requirement (MR), a team of 3 key experts is expected.

One member of the evaluation team will be appointed as Team Leader. He/She will be a Category 1 Expert (as per Global Terms of Reference - MR). His/her input is estimated at 65 working days (including report finalisation).

The two other experts are Category 2 (as per Global Terms of Reference - MR). Their inputs are estimated at 130 working days (65 per expert).

The total number of working days for the team is estimated at 195 days.

Profile per expert or expertise required:

- Category and duration of equivalent experience, Education, Experience

• Qualifications and skills: Education at least Master Degree or, in its absence, equivalent professional experience (which needs to be above the general professional experience duration fixed by category of expert); - MR

• The team shall have a cumulative experience of at least 15 years in the area of evaluation with at least 3 evaluations conducted in the South Asia region (prior such experience in Pakistan will be considered an added advantage) over the past 10 years; - MR

• At least one member of the team has international comparative experience of Evaluations for EU or other multilateral or bilateral development partners; - MR

• At least one member of the team must have at least 5 years’ experience and proven competence in Local governance, decentralisation and reform; - MR

• At least one member of the team must have at least 5 years' experience and proven competence on poverty alleviation and/or community-mobilisation projects/programmes; - MR

• At least one member of the team must have at least 5 years’ experience and proven competence in instruments of economic empowerment of communities (Income Generating Grant, Technical Vocational Training, Community Investment fund…); - MR

• At least one member of the team can attest of a significant knowledge of most recent Data Collection Design and Survey Tools Assessments; - MR

• At least one member of the team can attest knowledge of gender-disaggregated surveys and/or gender analysis. - MR

• Extensive experience of similar Evaluations outside the Asian context would be an asset (Preferred Requirement - PR)

- Language skills of the team:

• English (mandatory) MR• Urdu (for at least one member of the team) MR

6 The European Union pursues an equal opportunities policy. Gender balance in the proposed team, at both administrative/secretarial and decision-making levels, is highly recommended.

• Sindhi will be considered an added advantage. PR

Management team member presence required or not for briefing and/or debriefing

The presence of member(s) of the management team is not required for briefing or debriefing purposes.

3. LOCATION AND DURATION

Starting period:

Provisional start of the assignment: 20th August 2018.

Foreseen finishing period or duration Maximum duration of the assignment: 6 months (including time for finalising the final

report). Planning, including the period for notification for placement of the staff as per Article 16.4

a) of the General ConditionsAn indicative calendar of the expected activities will be defined in detail in the Organisation and Methodology, taking into account that the calendar may be subject to adjustment in agreement with the contracting authority. The calendar should encompass the timing for submission of the deliverables, meetings during the different phases of the evaluation, as well as the information related in Annex II .

Location(s) of assignment: in case of more than 1 location of assignment, identify the main location and for each location the working days per expert needed

The assignment will take place in the Province of Sindh, based in Karachi but with field visits in the 8 Districts of Qambar Shahdadkot, Larkana, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar and Tando Muhammad Khan and Islamabad. -

4. REPORTING

Content

The reports must match quality standards. The text of the report should be illustrated, as appropriate, with maps, graphs and tables; a map of the area(s) of Action is required (to be attached as Annex).

The evaluation team will submit the following reports:

Number of Pages (excluding annexes)

Main Content Timing for submission

Inception Report

Up to 15 pages

Intervention logic [reconstructed or not; please add text explaining the Theory of Change of the Action.]

Methodology for the evaluation Evaluation Questions, judgement

criteria and indicators Evaluation Matrix Data analysis and collection methods Work plan Stakeholder map Consultation strategy Field visit approach (including the

criteria to select the field visits) Analysis of risks and of mitigating

measures Workplan

End of Inception Phase

Intermediary Report/Field Note

Up to 15 pages + annexes

Activities conducted during the field phase

Difficulties encountered during the phase and mitigation measures adopted

Key preliminary findings

End of the Desk & Field Phase

Draft Final Report

Up to 30 pages + annexes

End of Synthesis Phase

Executive Summary

3 pages 2 weeks after having received comments to the Draft Final Report.

Final report Up to 30 pages + annexes

Same specifications as of the Draft Final Report, incorporating any comments received from the concerned parties on the draft report that have been accepted

2 weeks after having received comments to the Draft Final Report.

LanguageAll reports shall be submitted in English.The Executive Summary of the final report shall be furthermore translated into Urdu and Sindhi.

Submission/comments timingAll reports will be produced using Font Arial or Times New Roman minimum 11 and 12 respectively, single spacing. For each intermediary report (inception/field note), the Project Manager will submit comments within 10 calendar days. For the draft final report, the Project Manager will submit comments within 21 calendar days. The revised reports incorporating comments received from the Reference Group shall be submitted within 7 calendar days from the date of receipt of the comments. The evaluation team should provide a separate document explaining how and where comments have been integrated or the reason for non-integration of certain comments.

Number of report(s) copies

The final version of the Final Report will be provided in 5 paper copies and in electronic version (Word and pdf).

6. INCIDENTAL EXPENDITURE

The provision for incidental expenditure covers ancillary and exceptional eligible expenditure incurred under this contract. It cannot be used for costs that should be covered by the Contractor as part of its fee rates. Its use is governed by the provisions in the General Conditions and the notes in Annex V to the Contract. It covers: Per diem. International flights return tickets for the experts (1 return flight per expert). Local flights return tickets for the experts on the basis of 5 return flights per expert). Car rental for non-local transportation. Cost of dissemination/restitution seminar. These are limited to petty expenditures for

refreshments, hand-outs and stationary. Assumption for this incidental expenditure is that the dissemination seminar will be conducted in the premises of SRSO or the Government of Sindh.

Survey Costs (personnel + logistics). The methodology will need to detail the basis for computation of these costs as well as modality of implementation (sub-contract or direct hiring).

Security costs (as established by the proposal and after acceptation by the Delegation). Cost of translation of reports The local taxes upon eligible incidental expenditure incurred under the Specific Contract

shall be reimbursed in full. No expenditure verification report is required.

7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Definition of indicators

The quality of the final report will be assessed by the Project Manager following relevant quality assessment if required by the EU methodology for scoring of performance of evaluation assignment.

ANNEX I

1.1.1 Indicative Evaluation Questions

An indicative list of Evaluation Questions is presented hereafter. The contractor is expected to critically reflect on them during the Inception phase, discuss them with the Reference Group and propose a final version for approval in their Inception Report.

1. Relevancea. To what extent has the design of the programme remained relevant to the

outcomes and results sought?b. To what extent have the socioeconomic problems and gender/age specific

aspects encountered by the target districts and target communities, and their causes, been sufficiently analysed and clarified to justify the choice of strategic priorities of the programme?

c. To what extent has the project mainstreamed cross-cutting issues in the implementation of its interventions?

d. To what extent do the programme’s interventions remain relevant for the remainder of the implementation period?

e. To what extent have contextual developments affected the relevance of the project in the previous 2.5 years and what changes in interventions may be needed for the remaining 2.5 years to ensure ongoing or improved relevance?

2. Effectivenessa. To what extent has the design of the programme ensured effectiveness?b. To what extent were the project’s results attained, and the project’s specific

objective(s) achieved, or are expected to be achieved?c. To what extent have the project’s interventions met the expectations of the

Beneficiary (GoS) and are expected to meet them during the remainder of the implementation period?

d. To what extent has the project contributed towards empowerment of target communities and, in particular, women and girls (using SMART indicators as well as SPICED indicators)?

e. To what extent are the project’s interventions expected to ensure ongoing effectiveness in achieving the project’s results and what changes may be required to ensure ongoing/improved effectiveness?

3. Efficiencya. To what extent has the design of the programme ensured best value for

efficiency?b. To what extent have the project's interventions (fostering of community

institutions, training, community investment funds, income generating grants, community infrastructures, health insurance, in support to community organisations achieved expected effects respectively for women, men, girls and boys with the lowest transaction costs possible?

c. To what extent have programme interventions and targeting met VFM objectives/targets, or will meet for the remainder of the implementation period?

d. Is there evidence of greater value added by the project interventions that have mobilised the most resources?

e. What changes may be needed to ensure greater value added?4. Sustainability

a. To what extent has or will the design of the programme contributed, or is expected to contribute, to the sustainability of its results?

b. Are there indications that the programme interventions will be sustainable, to meet programme and Beneficiary needs and requirements, for the remainder of the implementation period?

c. Are there indications that the expected outcomes of the intervention will be sustainable?

d. To what extent are beneficiary communities, and particularly women and girls now able to advocate their needs and rights and secure support from local governments, national government and other stakeholders (SMART and SPICED indicators to be used)?

5. Impacta. To what extent has or will the design of the programme contributed, or is

expected to contribute, to its anticipated impact?b. To what extent has the project contributed in social empowerment of women?c. To what extent has the project contributed towards increasing opportunities for

generating incomes, standards of living and community empowerment in the target districts and the Province, respectively for women, men, girls and boys’?

d. To what extent has the project contributed towards modifying/developing/improving poverty alleviation policies and programmes in the Province?

To what extent is the ongoing programme expected to contribute to the above impacts during the remainder of the implementation period, also in terms of poverty reduction

Once agreed with the approval of the Inception Report, the Evaluation Questions will become contractually binding.

ANNEX II

1. Inception Phase

This phase aims at structuring the evaluation and clarifying its key issues.The phase will start with an initial briefing with the EU Delegation (Project Manager), in Islamabad mainly to discuss contractual and planning issues. This meeting will only require the presence of the evaluators' Team Leader.It will be immediately followed by a kick-off session in Karachi between the Planning and Development Board of the Government of Sindh (Secretary Planning, Chief Economist, and Chief Foreign Aid), SUCCESS team, UCBPRP Programme Coordinator, the Reference Group and the evaluators. Half-day presence of all key evaluators/experts is required. The meeting has the purpose to arrive at a clear and shared understanding of the scope of the evaluation, its limitations and feasibility.In the Inception phase, the relevant documents will be reviewed (see annex II).Further to a first desk review of the political, institutional and/or technical/cooperation framework of the Action and Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) in the Province of Sindh, the evaluation team, in consultation with the SUCCESS team and implementing partners, will reconstruct the Intervention Logic of the Action to be evaluated.Based on the reconstructed Intervention Logic and on the Theory of Change, the evaluators will finalise the evaluation methodology, the Evaluation Questions, the definition of judgement criteria and indicators, the selection of data collection tools and sources, and the planning of the following phases. They will also summarise their approach in an Evaluation Design Matrix, which will be included in the Inception Report.The limitations faced or to be faced during the evaluation exercise will be discussed and mitigation measures defined. Finally, the work plan for the overall evaluation process will be presented and agreed in this phase; this work plan shall be in line with that proposed in the present ToR. Any modifications shall be justified and agreed with the Project Manager.On the basis of the information collected, the evaluation team should prepare an Inception Report;.The evaluation team will then present in Karachi the Inception Report to the Reference Group.

2. Desk & Field Phase

The Desk & Field Phase starts after approval of the Desk Note by the Project Manager.Initially, the Desk Phase aims at conducting most of the documental analysis needed for carrying out the evaluation; the analysis should include a brief synthesis of the existing literature relevant to the action, especially evaluations and research studies carried out by civil society, Government, other donors and/or the private sector. This is to ensure a more robust approach to identifying information gaps and to ensure complementarity with evaluations that have already been done.The analysis of the relevant documents shall be systematic and reflect the methodology developed and approved during the Inception Phase.Selected interviews with the SUCCESS project management, the Government of Sindh and other key partners in Sindh (including local authorities) can be conducted during this phase as to support the analysis of secondary sources.The activities to be conducted during this phase should allow for the provision of preliminary responses to each evaluation question, stating the information already gathered and its limitations. They should also identify the issues still to be covered and the preliminary hypotheses to be tested.

If any significant deviation from the agreed work plan or schedule is perceived as creating a risk for the quality of the evaluation, these elements are to be immediately discussed with the Reference Group and the Project Manager.The Field Phase aims at validating / changing the preliminary answers formulated during the Desk phase and bringing further information through primary research (tools to be used for this research need to be developed during the inception phase but can be further reviewed during the desk phase in consultation with the Reference Group and the Project Manager; these TORs' budget allow for tailor-made surveys to be conducted).During the field phase, the evaluation team shall ensure adequate contact and consultation with, and involvement of the different stakeholders; with the relevant government authorities (provincial and local) and agencies. Throughout the mission the evaluation team shall use the most reliable and appropriate sources of information, respect the rights of individuals to provide information in confidence, and be sensitive to the beliefs and customs of local social and cultural environments.At the end of the field phase, the evaluation team shall summarise its work, analyse the reliability and coverage of data collection, and present preliminary findings in a meeting with the Reference Group, using an Intermediary/Field Note (with slide presentation)..

3. Synthesis Phase

This phase is devoted to the preparation of the Final Report and entails the analysis of the data collected during the desk and field phases to finalise the answers to the Evaluation Questions and prepare the overall assessment, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation.The evaluation team will present in a single Report plus Annexes their findings, conclusions and recommendations in accordance with the agreed structure (see Annex III); a separate Executive Summary will be produced as well. The evaluation team will make sure that:

Their assessments are objective and balanced, statements are accurate and evidence-based, and recommendations realistic.

When drafting the report, they will acknowledge clearly where changes in the desired direction are known to be already taking place.

The evaluation team will deliver and then present in Karachi the Draft Final Report to the Reference Group to discuss the draft findings, conclusions and recommendations. This presentation will be combined with a final presentation seminar to be conducted with the Government of Sindh's Strategy Policy Dialogue Committee of the Planning and Development Board.One day (or more) of presence is required of all members of the evaluation team.The Project Manager consolidates the comments expressed by the Reference Group members and sends them to the evaluation team for revision, together with a first version of the Quality Assessment Grid assessing the quality of the Draft Final Report. The content of the Quality Assessment Grid will be discussed with the evaluation team to verify if further improvements are required.The evaluation team will then finalise the Final Report and prepare the Executive Summary by addressing the relevant comments. While potential quality issues, factual errors or methodological problems should be corrected, comments linked to diverging judgements may be either accepted or rejected. In the latter instance, the evaluation team should explain the reasons in writing.