Country Evaluation: Evaluation of the European Union Cooperation with Nepal (2014-2021). The scope of the evaluation covers nine (9) projects supported by EU during 2014-2021 in Nepal. Four projects are related to agriculture and rural development, two projects related to education and three projects related to Federalism. My responsibility is to lead the agriculture and rural development and Federalism sectors and support for education sector. Tasks include support team leader in the preparation of inception report incorporating background analysis, inventory, desk report, country field notes, draft final report, communication products and final report, and participate in the final presentation seminar. Tasks also include initial document/data collection, inception interviews, stakeholder analysis and reconstruction of the intervention logic; in-depth document review, analysis of information gap of hypotheses to be tested in the field, primary data collection and analysis, discussion of the findings of the field phase with EC/EEAS HQs & EU delegation and national counterparts; final analysis of findings (with focus on the Evaluation Questions), and formulation of the overall assessment, conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations.
Mid-term Evaluation of the EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Programme (TIP). The project is expected to contribute to Nepal’s sustainable and inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction through increased trade and participation in regional and group value chains, improved investment climate for attracting foreign direct investment and improved trade and investment coordination. The focus of the project is on the value chain of Coffee and Pashmina. My task is to support team leader in designing evaluation, preparing inception report, taking charge of field activities, preparing interim report and the final report. Detail works include document collection and review, conducting stakeholder analysis and selection for evaluation, reconstruct intervention logic/theory of change, formulate evaluation questions and matrix, conduct FGD, conduct in-depth analysis, draft intermediary note and presentation, final analysis of findings, summarize overall assessment, lessons learned and recommendation, prepare final report and make presentation. EU-fund.
Final performance evaluation of the Knowledge-Based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture in Nepal (KISAN II) Activity. The purpose of this market led KISAN II is to increase the resilience, inclusiveness, and sustainability of income growth in the Zone of Influence (ZOI). Specific responsibilities of the specialist include to provide technical guidance and strategic support to the evaluation team leader, specifically to assist in the process of drafting and finalizing the evaluation design, data collection instruments, data analysis plan, data collection plan, workplan, data collection tools, briefings, and the evaluation report; assist in crafting briefings and drafting the PowerPoint presentation and evaluation report, and coordinate with SI’s HQ team throughout the evaluation. Tasks included providing inputs for preparation of inception report with details of methodology, conducting key informant survey and focus group discussion as well as direct observation; data analysis, report writing, reporting progress to the hiring company; preparing presentation and taking part in briefing and debriefing sessions US Mission in Nepal. USAID-fund.
Final Evaluation of the complementary measures of the EU action for Recovery and reconstruction in Nepal. It had two projects: (1) Nepal-EU Action for Recovery and Reconstruction (NEARR) – Support Facility and (2) Integrity in post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation (IPERR). Both projects were part of the State Building support of EU to Nepal for social accountability, capacity building, and a reconstruction support facility providing technical assistance. NEARR provided technical assistance for the programming, annual planning, implementation and monitoring phases of the reconstruction process, which contributes to address cross-cutting issues such as enhanced resilience, employment and livelihoods, social inclusion and protection, and gender. The IPERR was to foster in a well-coordinated and complementary manner transparency by creating and developing accountability systems and processes at sub-national level affected by the earthquakes and enhancing gender and conflict sensitivity. The evaluation assessed the achievements of the two projects, analyzed of the contributions of the governance structures of the facility to the achievement of its results, assessment of the major constraints faced in the implementation of the programme; analyzed the capacity of the programme to mainstream cross cutting issues (gender and environmental issues) in design and implementation. My role was to support the team leader in designing the evaluation, preparing inception report, conduct interviews, focus group discussion, and coordinate for online survey; prepare draft and final report and make presentation. EU-fund.
Food and Nutrition Security programme in Bangladesh 2015- Mid-term Evaluation. The programme had six projects with nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive climate smart activities implemented through multi-sectoral governance at local and policy levels for improving of Bangladesh citizens. The projects were funded by European Union, USAID and DfID and implemented by six consortia, each having several partners. To evaluate the complex programme, mixed method approach was used. Specific technical responsibilities include implementing the evaluation techniques and methodology, and applying food/nutrition security expertise and social protection issues; supporting the Team Leader in planning and technical, administrative and financial management; organising in-country, regional and district consultations with government, implementing partners, and members of the multi-stakeholder coordination committee; focus group discussion and individual discussions with ultimate beneficiaries; ensuring the planning, preparation of report, debriefing with funding agencies and supervision of the missions. Analysis included review of country and programme strategy, cooperation policies and strategies of EUD, USAID and DfID as it related to food and nutrition security (SDG2) in Bangladesh, theory of change, institutional performance, strategic planning, value chain analysis (crops and livestock), partnership and synergy, governance structure and process, project and program effectiveness, efficiency of results, sustainability and potential impact, cross-cutting issues including gender, resilience and innovation as well as programme coherence. EU-fund.
Mid-term performance evaluation of the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project. The project is a five-year USAID global Feed the Future (FTF) activity running from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2021. It works to advance food security objectives by increasing agricultural productivity. Its overall goal is to build competitive and synergistic seed and fertilizer value chains for inclusive and sustainable growth in agricultural productivity, business development, and income generation. My tasks: Provide technical guidance and strategic support to the evaluation team leader; review and provide feedback for the finalization of the evaluation design; lead the process of drafting and finalizing the data collection tools and data collection plan; collect and review secondary information from existing sources; participate in the data collection in the field; collate, compile, and code the field data; analyze and interpret the findings; organize consultations with government, NGOs, private firms at national, provincial and district levels; lead the briefing sessions on initial findings with the USAID Mission and implementing partner (“IP”); lead the recommendations workshop with the USAID Mission and IP; present key findings to the USAID Mission and IP; contribute to the drafting and finalization of the evaluation report; and collaborate closely with other evaluation team members and CAMRIS Kathmandu staff. Analysis included policies, plans, and strategies related to agricultural production and productivity, seed system and capacity, fertilizer and seed value chain analysis, and fertilizer system and capacity considering also GESI and new federal structure of Nepal. USAID-fund.
Independent Final Evaluation of the project “Enhance Government and Civil Society Responses to Counter Trafficking in Persons in Bhutan (BHUZ13). The project has four components: Country strategies and policies; inter agency partnership and collaboration; awareness raising; and protection mechanisms for trafficked victims. The stakeholders who took part in the evaluation included government agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, private agencies, and target population including students, dancers, LGBTIQ, job seekers, etc. Key tasks included coordinate and oversee the tasks of the team member/expert throughout the evaluation process; preparation of inception report; conduct preliminary observations and presentation of preliminary observations and recommendations; draft evaluation report; revised draft report based on comments received from the various consultative processes (IEU, internal and external); prepare final evaluation report evaluation brief; and make final presentation of evaluation results to stakeholders. Analysis included policies and strategies, project alignment to the SDGs, innovation, design, relevance, efficiency, partnership and cooperation, effectiveness, impact, sustainability, human rights, gender equality and leaving no one behind. USAID-fund.
Final evaluation of Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture for Nutrition and Food Security (POSAN FS). POSAN FS was in 4 districts of Far Western Region in Nepal. The overall objective of the project was to contribute in achieving national food and nutritional security target articulated in the periodic and multi sector nutritional plan of the Government of Nepal, whereas specific objective of the project was to improve food and nutritional security of 7,000 food and nutrition insecure households in Achham, Doti, Bajura and Bajhang Districts of Far Western Region in Nepal. The project worked directly with marginalized farmers, business service providers, traders, market actors, on-farm and off-farm labourers, micro-finance institutions and government line agencies. The evaluation assessed the overall impact of the project, relevance of project strategies and business model, effectiveness of project interventions and its sustainability, relevance of project assumptions and overall design and made recommendation for future project design. Analysis also covered availability, access and utilization domains of the food security considering geography, climate change/resilience, SDGs and gender and equity, and analysis of inclusive and pro-poor value chain to commercialise goat, fisheries, vegetable and spice crops. My major activities: Development of methodology, participation in the field mission, conduct consultations, provide guidance to team members and keep track of their activities, analysis of data, preparation of draft and final report of the evaluation. EU fund
Final evaluation of Strengthening Implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Nepal executed by the UN Women with funding support of the Government of Finland. Responsible for: i) overall team and work coordination, ii) liaison with the client on any technical issues, iii) preparation, supervision, guidance and overall responsibility for the production of all deliverables. Major activities included: Desk review including documents on government policy in mainstreaming gender and equity, preparation inception report, preliminary interviews with UN Women and implementing partners, structuring the evaluation and definition of the methodology, mapping of stakeholders, field missions, summary of preliminary findings at the end of each field mission, small scale surveys, preparation of all deliverables, evaluation report validation workshop (at regional and national level), power point presentation of the report, final report preparation and final dissemination workshop. The report analysed stakeholders, post-conflict peace building process, federalism, peace keeping operation, governance and humanitarian planning, social and economic empowerment, SDGs, and leadership enhancement in addition to relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability. UN Women fund.
Evaluation of the program-based support through Finnish Civil Society Organizations. The objectives of the evaluation were to provide : (1) independent and objective evidence on the results (outcome, output and impact) of the Civil Society development cooperation programmes receiving programme-based support; (2) evidence on the successes and challenges of the Civil Society development cooperation programmes by assessing the value and merit of the obtained results from the perspective of MFA policy, CSO programme and beneficiary level; (3) evidence on the functioning of results-based management in the organizations receiving programme support; and (4) evidence of the successes and challenges of the programme-support funding modality from the results based management point of view. My tasks: review of documents (MFA policy), contribution to the inception report (evaluation framework) and participation in inception meeting; main responsible for the field evaluation in Nepal for FELM and WWF; contacts with FELM, WWF and government agencies and projects including climate change and REDD+ implementing partners in Nepal; logistics for field work in Nepal; writing a report of the field work; and comments to the evaluation report. The projects under this evaluation were those related to forestry including REDD+, climate resilience agriculture, education, child protection, health, mental health, infrastructure and capacity development. Funded by Finnish Government.
Evaluation of UNICEF’s Response and Recovery efforts to Gokha Earthquake in Nepal. The project was about the emergency response and recovery support of UNICEF to the government of Nepal and to other national stakeholders involved in earthquake response. I provided expertise in water, sanitation and health (WASH), infrastructure (transport including road and trails, irrigation, buildings), social policy, communication, and adolescents and supported health, education, nutrition and social protection themes. Responsible for ensuring the appropriateness, adherence to deadlines and quality of all outputs in line with the standards of the UNICEF Office of Evaluation. Reviewed and analysed existing data, developed selection criteria for site visit, contributed to the design of the evaluation methodology, preparation of evaluation tools, conduct evaluation, and writing report in the areas given above and participate in debriefing sessions and dissemination workshop. Provided recommendation in view of reducing the future disaster and preparation of Country Programme Action Plan of UNICEF Nepal. Carried out interview, meetings and focus group discussions with beneficiaries of the disaster, government agencies, civil society organisations and UNICEF staff in Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts. Analysis included alignment with standards of humanitarian action, equity and gender sensitive programming, appropriateness, connected and sustainability, transitional planning and operation, coordination and communication, coverage with special attention to vulnerable persons, efficiency and effectiveness, strategic partnership and innovation. UNICEF fund.
Cluster evaluation of (1) Strengthening the Role of Women in Agriculture Development for Improved Household Food “GCP/AFG/069/GER” (2) Strengthening Policy Development and Coordination for Food and Nutrition Security in Afghanistan “GCP/AFG/075/GER” and (3) Support to Extension Systems, Household Food and Livelihood Security “GCP/AFG/072/LUX”. The evaluation assessed the overall effectiveness of the capacity development work on country capacities, governance, policies and strategic partnership within Food Security and Nutrition; the overall effectiveness of gender responsiveness and empowerment, the quality of the advisory services and coordination mechanisms; the overall contribution of the portfolio to the CPF and the FAO Organizational Outputs; and the overall efficiency and effectiveness of partnership strategies including working with non-state actors. My role was to guide and coordinate the team members in their specific work, discuss their findings, conclusions and recommendations and prepares the final draft and the final report, consolidating the inputs from the team members with my own. As a contribution to the OED Knowledge Management System, I as a team leader was responsible for completing the OED quantitative project performance questionnaire, to be delivered at the same time with the final evaluation report. FAO-fund.
Himalaya Region for SERVIR Performance Evaluation: E3 Analytics and Evaluation Project. Management Systems International (MSI) is conducting a performance evaluation of the joint USAID/NASA regional visualization and monitoring system known as SERVIR. The SERVIR program is intended to help government officials, scientists, researchers, students, and the general public by providing them with Earth observations and predictive models based on data from orbiting satellites. This information uses a number of software and data products known as “Science Applications” to facilitate monitoring and decision-making related to air quality, extreme weather, biodiversity, and changes in land cover, and environmental threats such as wildfires, floods, landslides, and harmful algal blooms. My Major task: support the MSI evaluation team in the design phase for the evaluation. This includes: reviewing and commenting on all relevant internal documents, such as the Concept Paper and the Scoping Trip Report; participating in team planning and coordination meetings with MSI and USAID personnel; drafting sections and providing technical guidance for the development of data collection methodologies and other key sections in the Evaluation Design Proposal; and supporting general field logistical preparations.
Evaluation of Strengthening Smallholder Enterprises of Livestock Value Chain for Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth in Nepal) is one of Heifer International’s flagship projects and being at the mid-point of implementation, the mid-term evaluation is an important moment of reflection on their learning experience. The main purpose of the evaluation study was to zoom into the sub-projects to assess progress, process, impacts, and innovations to provide a balanced assessment of the sub-projects’ strengths, weaknesses, and side-effects. The main task of the senior researcher was to assist the evaluation team to oversee data collection activities to ensure the quality of data collection. The specific tasks included recruit and advise/supervision of 16 enumerators and 4 field coordinators, monitor the quality of data collected and assist for conducting key informant interviews.
Mid-term evaluation of Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Project-II (GEP-II). GEP-II is a collaborative project between the government of Afghanistan and UNDP Afghanistan for mainstreaming gender for improving the social and economic status of vulnerable Afghan women and girls focusing mainly on policy review and support, economic empowerment of women and justice and human rights. It is a three year project supported by multi donors. Tasks included in this project are (1) assessment of internal processes including strategy, governance, and progress against expected results, and synergy analysis, and (2) review theory of change, project achievement, and prevailing gender equality issues in the context of Afghanistan and make recommendations for improvement of the current project as well as for future gender programming. Assessment is done using the evaluation criteria. Task included formation of interdisciplinary team, team orientation, performance assessment of team members, evaluation design, preparation of inception report, primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data collection, preparation of data collection tools, document review, field visit, consultation, draft report preparation, debriefing with UNDP and donors, final report preparation and sharing.
Mid-term review of the Gender Responsive Recovery for Sustainable Peace in Kavre, Ramechhap and Sindhuli Districts of Nepal. The project supports the provisions in National Action Plan (NAP) focusing mainly on protection and prevention; and relief and recovery of NAP on UNSCRs 1325 and 1820. The project intends to benefit about 2,000 conflict-affected women and girls, including ex-combatants, through psycho-social counselling and among them 1000 beneficiaries from community based economic recovery initiatives. The project is executed by UN Women, FAO and ILO and implemented through local NGOs and government agencies. The review used multiple data collection methods (quantitative and qualitative) including document review, field visit, semi-structured interview, focus group discussion and consultation and analysed governance, process and progress and made recommendations for improvement. The deliverables included inception report, review tools, draft mid-term review report, power point presentation and final review report.
Final Evaluation of the Transparency International Asia Pacific Regional Programme: Towards Effective Leadership and Reforms in the Fight against Corruption. This is a three-year programme from 2011 to 2014 with a budget of 5.3 million Euro and has four components: Institutional and Network Strengthening, Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres, National Integrity Context and System Analysis, Youth Integrity Promotion. As a part of regional study, these programmes in four countries Nepal, Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea were expensively evaluated by a team of three members. My tasks included contributing to the evaluation design and the planning of the field research; context analysis of the programme/programme components/projects; and quantitative and qualitative data collection & analysis and final reporting (including undertaking, and writing a case study report on, a case study in Nepal). Analysis included governance, complementarity, resource duplication, coordination, partnership, achievement, and provided lessons learnt, good practices and recommendations.
Evaluation of the Norwegian support to and through umbrella- and network organisations (UNOs) in civil society. Objectives of the assignment include: (i) establish and assess the theory of change and the assumption behind the Norwegian support to or through UNOs; (ii) assess the effectiveness and added value of the support given through/to the UNOs in Nepal and Tanzania from the perspective of the intended beneficiaries and other stakeholders; and (iii) assess the effectiveness, efficiency and value added of the UNOs as compared to alternative ways to channelling support to civil society development. Tasks included development of methodology, interview with stakeholders, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, report writing and presentation.
Final evaluation of Promoting Organic Production and Marketing through policy, information and advocacy (PROMS III). The evaluation assessed the progress made by the project in achieving its goals and objectives taking into consideration the sustainability, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, equity and replication. Task included design including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and instruments, team formation, team orientation, performance assessment of team members, stakeholder consultation/interview, data analysis, report preparation and sharing.
Internal evaluation of Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research for Adapting Livestock Systems to Climate Change research project. There are four projects in Nepal under this assignment: (1) Improving the Resilience of Mixed Farm Systems to Pending Climate Change in Far Western Nepal; (2) Adaptive Pathways to Climate Change (APaCC): Livestock and Livelihoods Systems in Gandaki River Basin; (3) Adaptation for Climate Change by Livestock Smallholders in Gandaki River Basin; and (4) improving nutrition and productivity of buffaloes to adapt to the impacts of climate change in Nepal. Tasks: data collection through interviews, site visits, and/or other data collection in Nepal related to the above referenced projects in accordance with plans worked out with the project manager and which fit within the allocated time; analyzed and provided a summary qualitative and quantitative of data collected according to expectations provided by the project manager; review evaluation design for future data collection to ensure appropriateness for the local situation in the research projects within the Feed the Future Innovation Lab in Nepal.
Terminal Evaluation of Support to Integrated Farming Project. The project is t to provide long-term support for economic development of communities through agriculture extension and integrated farming. The interventions focused on expansion, diversification and business orientation to agriculture and farming in the Maldives. The evaluation reviewed the project’s concept, strategy and approach within the context of effective capacity development and sustainability; assessed project governance including management, planning and operational capacity among the project’s stakeholders, particularly at the national and island level; and provided recommendations based on findings, including suggestions on exit strategies and integration into other government led programmes.
Evaluation of Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) of the Government of Nepal supported by the Asian Development Bank. The overall objective of this project is to reduce poverty in the rural communities of 11 districts in the Eastern Development Region (EDR) of Nepal through equitable and sustainable commercialization of agriculture through five components namely (a) Commercial Agriculture Investment and Management (b) Inclusive Development of Stakeholders (c) Market Information Dissemination (d) capacity enhancement of stakeholders and (e) project implementation support. The task of this assignment was to figure out level of impact of the Project towards reducing poverty in the project area including equitability and sustainability of commercialization of agriculture and assessing the achievement towards improving efficiency of marketing and processing of high-value crops. Formed interdisciplinary team, led team and developed the study methodology, mobilized team for survey, analysed quantitative and qualitative data, wrote report and presented it. It reviewed project documents including logical framework and indicators, assessed level of impact of the project towards reducing poverty and achievement towards improving efficiency of marketing and processing of high-value crops. ADB fund.
Value for money for the Energy Sector Assistance Programme in Nepal supported by the Government of Denmark. Tasks include ensuring social (ethnicity, economic status) and gender perspectives in economy, efficiency and effectiveness and development in respect of approach and methodology contributing to the project objectives. Danish Government fund.
Impact Evaluation of Food Assistance in Protracted Refugee Situation of Bangladesh for WFP and UNHCR. Tasks include development of proposal for survey, final survey design, preparation of inception report, explorative field study, briefing and debriefing with WFP and UNHCR, draft report preparation and final report preparation, especially in the area of coping strategies, social protection and self-reliance. WFP fund.
Evaluation of Economic Empowerment: Catalytic Programme in India. The evaluation is a part of global evaluation of the Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) Programme of the UN Women. The project is about the economic and political empowerment of marginalised women—Dalit women to increase their access to claiming entitlements provisioned in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which includes 100 days employment per year per rural household within 15 days of demand, unemployment allowance if employment is not given within 15 days of work demand, gender parity in wages, worksite facilities such as servicing water, healthcare, childcare, and shade. Tasks included development of context, description of programme, preparation of inception report which included details of the methodology, design of evaluation, field mission, evaluation report and assessment of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability by analysing both quantitative and qualitative data. Assessment included the capacity and governance of two implementing civil society organisations to support the project after the FGE fund is terminated. UN Women fund.
Evaluation of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). It is a global evaluation conducted in four countries and one Region. Main responsibilities: designed (preparation of UNGEI logic model, sampling plan, evaluation framework), conducted and reported the evaluation in Nepal using result-based and right-based approach. Documents review, stakeholder consultation, field observation, preparing inception report, country report and aligning this to the global report. Contribution Analysis technique was used to assess the contribution of UNGEI partners who belonged to the government and civil society sectors to girls’ education. UNICEF fund.
Impact Evaluation of Local Initiatives for Food-security Transformation Project (LIFT) and baseline survey for Hadia Agriculture no Nutrisaun (HAN) – Improving Agriculture and Nutrition. (1) Measuring the impact of the LIFT Project among the target beneficiaries and report on achievement of objectives and specific project targets and (2) Providing baseline information of HAN by which project effectiveness and impact was measured; providing information that would guide activity design and implementation; assisting in identifying target beneficiaries including women, men and children; and assists the government of Timor-Leste in policy and strategy planning, and assists CARE in their capacity building work with government. Evaluation methodology included random selection of samples, quantitative and qualitative data collection instrument development and testing, assessment of enumerators and supervisors for field survey, focus group discussion of men, women and children, triangulation, data analysis, report preparation and sharing.
Evaluation of project on Economic Security of Women Migrant Workers. Tasks included designing of the evaluation, review of project documents and progress reports; assess the selection process of beneficiaries, the training modality and contents, the linkage with service providers and current status of the potential entrepreneurs and of implementing civil society organisations; field visit to assess the interaction process; conducting meetings and consultation with staff of UNIFEM and partner organisations and government; preparing report to document good practices, lesson learnt and preparing recommendations for the development of enterprise development guidelines for replication and scaling up of the programme. IFAD fund.
Creating comprehensive evaluation framework including developing indicators, logframe, performance monitoring plan, quantitative and qualitative data collection plan, carrying out process monitoring and evaluation, carry out M&E of governance risk and preparation of mid-term evaluation for the Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project executed by the Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh and supported by the World Bank. Accomplishments included review of documents relevant to the assignment; preparation of inception report, field visit to Khulna and Barguna sub-districts; preparation of documents and facilitation of workshop on project understanding for national staff and consultants; review of procurement plan for goods, consultancy services and work contract of the FAO and suggestions for finalization; review of two EOIs of FAO for selection of NGOs (livestock and fisheries) and suggestions for improvement; identification of baseline indicators for tracking out inputs, output, outcomes and impact; development of result framework, responsibility matrix, baseline survey formats, process monitoring format, performance monitoring formats, record keeping and reporting formats for FAO, NGO, CBO; preparation of guidelines for national expert to carry out M&E tasks during the implementation; presentation of result framework and formats of agriculture sector to PCMU and FAO; and prepared mission completion report. WB fund.
Evaluation of the Smallholder Irrigation Market Initiative (SIMI). SIMI was developed to promote micro-irrigation for poor farmers of different ethnic groups and the evaluation documented the challenges, achievements and sustainability of the SIMI activities and outcomes. Activity included designing methodology; quantitative and qualitative data collection by undertaking field visit, stakeholder consultation, focus group discussion, and interview; analyzing and synthesizing information, and report writing. USAID-fund.
Mid-term evaluation of Local Initiatives for Food-security Transformation Project (LIFT) that focused on promoting the empowerment of vulnerable women, men and youth groups to access social and agricultural support services; increasing agricultural production and productivity; increasing availability of improved seed through seed production at the households level, and mainstreaming community-based disaster risk management and climate change for sustainable production systems. Activities include document review, methodology design, field survey, data analysis and report preparation. Scope included assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the project, assess the impact and sustainability of the project, lessons learned of the project and recommendations for the remaining period of project implementation, and measure the indicators as provided in the logical framework of the project. EC and ADA fund.
End of project evaluation of UNIFEM’s “Deepening Democracy, Women’s Participation in Politics and Peace (DDWPPP)” that focused on inclusion of gender concerns and women’s rights in the new Constitution of Nepal and in legislation, policies and plans as well as increased participation of women of different castes and ethnicities in political and peace processes. The project was executed by UNIFEM Nepal and implemented by civil society organization including 14 NGOs working in different empowerment aspects. Activities: preparation of methodology, inception report, desk review, stakeholder consultations with implementing partners, roundtable, focus group discussion, report writing and presentation. Area of assessment: effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and sustainability of the project outcomes. UNDEF-fund.
Review of the work of UN – Donor Peace Support Working Group (PSWG) on UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Nepal. Assessed the work of the PSWG during the last two years in terms of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency and made recommendations for future priority issues and working methodologies for the working group. Activities includes desk review of relevant documents and meeting and interview with stakeholders such as Members, other coordination focal points, NGOs, Government (UN RC/HC, UNDP, OHCHR, SDC, DFID, DANIDA, MoPR, MoWCSW, WAPPDCA, Women’s Commission).
Review, analysis and profiling of community development projects/programmes practiced in recent 5-years in Nepal for JICA-Nepal in the areas of local development, poverty alleviation, agriculture, forestry, and watersheds management. 37 projects profiled and analysed. Activities included team formation and orientation, team mobilization, monitoring of team performance, collection and review of project documents, selection of projects for study, stakeholder consultations at project and central levels, profiling of projects, case studies of 10 representative projects, report writing and presentation. Funding agencies of the analysed projects included JICA, USAID, CARE, WWF, UNDP, SNV, DfID, GEF, EC, GTZ, IFAD, AusAID, DANIDA, and SDC. The analysis was done on such issues as governance system, capacity building, social inclusion, coordination, complexity, donor type, sustainability, exit strategy, scaling up strategy, transition management, typology of group, access to group, target district and group, field facilitation, recipient body, conflict management, transition management, duration of project and project type.
Impact evaluation of the Ultra-Poor Programme of SSMP in Nepal. Activities included preparation of survey design and methodology; development of instruments for gathering both qualitative and quantitative data; selection of survey sample and control groups; field testing of survey instrument, adjustment of survey instrument to reflect lesson learned during the field test; finalization of the survey; administering the survey; interviewing respondents; stakeholder consultation; data entry and analysis. Other activities included team formation and orientation, team mobilization, monitoring of team performance, preparing inception report, orientation training for enumerators, overseeing generated data, supervising fieldwork, drafting and finalizing report, presenting and sharing findings in a national workshop. Major analysis included change in human, physical, financial, natural, political and social capitals and food security situation; gender and social inclusion; programme and cost-effectiveness; economic, environmental and social impact; benefit-cost analysis of major agriculture and livestock commodities; sustainability and up-scaling; and developed recommendation for post project support activities.
Final evaluation of a CARE-implemented Poverty Reduction Project and designing Post-Project Support Programme for Bajhang, Bajura and Syangja districts which were highly conflict sensitive. Responsibilities included to keep the whole team active, dynamic and motivated throughout the study period; act as a focal person between CARE Nepal Country Office, Project Office and NARMA Consultancy Private Limited; design methodology, collect quantitative and qualitative data by carrying out interviews, conducting stakeholder consultation and focus group discussion. Tasks also included to lead evaluation team and ensure that all necessary information and data are collected; orient and train the research assistants on the evaluation study, framework and methodology; ensure that the key questions are adequately and appropriately addressed during the evaluation and write the evaluation report; coordinate the “Design Team” and write the proposal based on the series of interactions, discussions and brainstorming sessions within the “Design Team”. The project which was financially supported by CARE Denmark, Netherlands Development Assistance, USAID, CIDA and E.T. Baldridge, an individual donor included such components as institutional strengthening, agriculture and natural resource management, community health and reproductive health, and education, skills enhancement and employment of male, female and children.
Developed proposal and evaluation strategy, selected indicators, prepared study design and sample survey methodology, and conducted impact evaluation of the Ford-funded phase I Agroforestry Extension Project. Process included formation of evaluation team, orientation training on how to draw random sample, collect quantitative and qualitative data by taking interview, conducting focus group discussion, and stakeholder consultation and ethical aspects to be considered while interviewing with stakeholders. Methodology included desk study, field survey, and interaction with donors, members of the NAF board and users of training materials.
Evaluated the performance of the IFAD-funded Poverty Alleviation Project in Western Terai, Nepal as a rural development specialist in a supervision mission.
Designed methodology and conducted indirect impact study of the Community-Based Economic Development project in Baitadi, Dadeldhura, and Jumla districts, Nepal wrote report and presented findings.
Impact study of small ruminants under coconut plantation in Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines (Team leader)
Developed participatory monitoring and evaluation model of the Upland Watershed Management Project around Bhusundikhola in Gorkha for FAO (Team leader)
Studies included: