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LESOTHO:
CIVIL SOCIETY SUPPORT PROGRAMME
END
OF PROGRAMME REVIEW
TERMS
OF REFERENCE
FEBRUARY
2008
1.
Background
1.1.
The Government of Lesotho embarked on developing its Poverty
Reduction Strategy (PRS) process in 2000.
After substantial consultation throughout the nation and at
village level, the PRS was finalized and endorsed by Cabinet and the
World Bank in 2004. During
its formulation, several development partners provided funding to
the Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) to enable the participation of
civil society in the consultative process.
LCN has determined that the PRS was the main focus for its
work over the past three years, hence the emergence of Civil Society
Support Programme (CSSP).
1.2.
The Lesotho Council of NGOs was established in May 1990, as
an umbrella body for Lesotho NGOs.
The main objective is to provide supportive services to the NGO community in
Lesotho through networking, leadership, information dissemination,
capacity building, coordination, advocacy and lobbying, and
representation when dealing with international community and
government. The
Council’s mission statement is to stimulate, promote and build
capacity within Lesotho NGOs so that they are stable, democratic,
transparent, skilled, empowered, sustainable and responsive to their
beneficiaries’ needs and those of the voiceless and marginalized.
1.3.
DFID-Southern
Africa, Irish Aid, OSISA and WK Kellogg Foundation have been
supporting the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) since October
2004. The programme is
intended to meet the capacity needs of the Lesotho civil society as
a whole in addressing poverty through the national PRS.
The
overall goal of the programme is ‘To
improve the quality of life of Basotho’.
The purpose is to ‘Support the development of a dynamic and
sustainable civil society engagement in monitoring and shaping PRS
implementation. The
project is funded through the
LCN, and is available to the entire civil society, regardless
of LCN membership.
1.4.
The CSSP complements the LCN mandate of engaging government
in order to contribute to the development of pro-poor national
policies aimed at improving the quality of lives of Basotho through
tracking the public expenditure thereby holding the Government to
accountable.
2.
Programme Objectives
2.1.
CSSP’s overall objective in Lesotho is to support the
development of a dynamic and sustainable civil society engagement in
monitoring and shaping PRS focusing on four outputs:
·
enhanced
civil society organizational development and institutional capacity
in evidence-based advocacy, poverty monitoring and evaluation on key
issues.
·
improved
civil society pro-poor policy engagement, formulation and influence
including budget formulation, monitoring and expenditure tracking.
·
increased
civil society awareness and understanding of oversight management
institutions.
·
strengthening
of LCN to become financially and organizationally stable and
diversify financial support base.
3.
Terms of Reference
3.1.
The review will be conducted with the full participation of
project staff, benefiting NGOs, supporting partners (DFID, Irish
Aid, WK Kellogg Foundation and OSISA) and other key stakeholders
such as MoFDP and the Ministry of Local Government and
Chieftainship. The
review will evaluate the project from 2004 -2008 through the
following:
·
project
achievements specifically progress towards the Purpose
·
project
management; and
·
Consider
lessons-learned and the role of the project in the wider context of
supporting the policy formulation and implementation processes
geared towards poverty reduction.
4.
Project Achievements
·
Evaluate
progress made towards the Project Outputs stated against OVIs.
·
Assess
progress towards project Purpose.
Consider the extent to which planned project Outputs are
contributing to the Purpose and whether they are still relevant and
realistic.
·
Consider
contribution of Purpose to project Goal.
·
Consider
validity of Risks/Assumptions identified during project design is
impacting on the project Purpose; how they are being managed and
whether any new Risks/Assumptions have been identified.
·
Assess
and analyse how the project has achieved the intended objectives
·
Evaluate
whether the program reached beneficiaries
·
Assess
the continuity of CSSP in line with specific activities and
objectives developing links with Capacity Building Programme and
recommend accordingly
·
Conduct
visits to project implementation areas to assess the impact short
and envisaged long term impact
5.
Project Management
·
Review
the effectiveness of project monitoring and reporting;
·
Review
the Project management systems control
of expenditure;
·
Review
expenditure to date against the project’s budget;
·
Review
project management arrangements and effectiveness;
·
Review
Monitoring and Evaluation of the project by JMC
6.
Lessons learned and Wider Context
·
Consider the overall impact of the Programme and
specifically assess:
·
the impact and progress of civil society’s capacity
to contribute effectively to poverty
monitoring and
expenditure tracking;
·
the progress made by civil society to develop a
long-term framework for institutional
capacity building in Lesotho;
·
the progress made to establish strong civil society linkages
with national and regional networks promotion of lesson learning and
sharing; and
·
the progress made by LCN to strengthen civil society
capacity as an umbrella
organisation
·
State
major achievements, challenges and lessons learned, and provide
recommendations on strategic options for future Civil Society
Support including areas where rationalisation is appropriate
7.
Supporting Documents
·
Programme
Memorandum and Logical Framework, 2004
·
Annual
Review Report ,August 2006
·
LCN
profile
·
JMC
Project Reports (2005-2007)
·
PRS
Document (2004-2007)
·
Capacity
building Project document
8.
Competency and Expertise Required
8.1.
The
consultant(s) should have relevant academic qualifications,
considerable experience of undertaking reviews of similar projects
including the production of quality reports, and be an established
development professional with not less than five years experience.
The consultant(s) will be required to demonstrate a track record in
consultancy, especially with civil society
organisations, through the provision of a detailed consultancy
profile and proposal with the budget.
9.
Duration and Timing
9.1.
It is envisaged that the Review will take a maximum of 15
days. This will include visits and interviews with primary and
secondary stakeholders, introductory briefings and preparation, and
time for report production as well as feedback meeting, with the LCN.
9.2.
A wrap-up and presentation meeting will be held in the LCN
Board Room. Key
stakeholders will include Joint management Committee and the Project
Team.
10.
Reporting
10.1.
The consultant(s) will produce a narrative consolidated
report of not more than 10 pages (minus annexes), plus soft copy on
disk MS Word based on the TORs. A
draft report will be circulated 3 days before the finalization for
comment to the relevant personnel,
supporting partners and LCN. The
final report will be completed one week after presenting the final
draft.
10.2.
The consultant will report and submit documentation to the
Programs Director of LCN.
The closing date for proposal is the
3rd March, 2008.
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