Terms of Reference

Title: Short Term Technical Assistance to upgrade Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) system: roll out, troubleshooting, training and operationalization  

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

This consultancy has the following objective(s):

1. Enhance functionalities, usability for data recording, collection, analysis and reporting of the currently developed participatory monitoring, evaluation and learning system for the TREPA project by making it more interactive and user friendly (interface for data entry and a shared database with different access rights).
2. To allow for a uniform, accurate, quick and easy generation of Project dashboards and reports per IP and at PMU level.
3. To ensure, through training and mentoring, knowledge sharing and capacity amongst TREPA Project’s IPs to use and maintain the PMEL system functional.
4. Support and maintenance services of the developed system (on-site assistance services).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Project Reference: P03168

Donor reference: DR90020.30

IUCN is developing a Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) system to facilitate improved performance tracking, accountability, learning and data assurance, data integration, visualization, retrieval and reporting for TREPA Project. The system will be used by the Accredited Entity (AE) and Executing Entities (EEs) project teams. The first phase focused on the MEL part and laid a basis for an online system.

The PMEL system is meant to support project teams, and partners to TREPA Project namely International Union for Cconservation of Nature, Enabel, Rwanda Forestry Authority ICRAF, World Vision & Cordaid to easily collect and use quantitative M&E data for project reporting. There is a need to make the system operational and this require IT developments with improved features allowing an integrated and fully functional PMEL system.

The Consultant will review the status of the PMEL and advise for better user access management; data collection and data processing ability, storage capacity, compliance with GCF reporting requirements and IP needs, appropriate security, protection measures and controls; and check how different modules are structured and speak to each other to track performance, produce needed aggregations and dashboards with good visuals.

This request for proposals calls competent consultants to submit their best offers clearly showing how and to what extent they can fulfil outlined requirements; the detailed budget aligned to the level of effort the consultant will dedicate to this assignment.

About IUCN

 UCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

 Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being. 

www.iucn.org

https://twitter.com/IUCN/

 About the Project

TREPA Project – Transforming Eastern Province through Adaptation is a six-year project, based in IUCN Rwanda Country Office, and funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The TREPA Project intends to restore 60,000 hectares of drought-degraded landscapes into climate resilient ecosystems through re-forestation, agroforestry, restoration of pasture-lands, and soil erosion control measures in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. In addition, irrigation infrastructure projects in the targeted landscapes of the eastern province will be climate-proofed by the TREPA Project. These projects under MINAGRI could include Export Targeted Modern Irrigation (ETI) in Mpanga (600 hectares) and Mahama (1200 hectares), Kayonza Irrigation and Integrated Watershed Management Project in Kayonza (2000 hectares), Warufu- Mugesera in Gatsibo and Ngoma as well as Rurambi dyke in Bugesera.

The TREPA Project will finally support the national and local institutions to effectively plan, manage and monitor climate adaptation outcomes from improved land use at national and decentralized levels.

The TREPA Project is implemented by IUCN (accredited entity) together with the Rwanda Forestry Authority and Enabel as executing entities in partnership with ICRAF, World Vision, and CORDAID. The Ministry of Environment is responsible for chairing the Project Steering Committee and ensures coherence with national strategies and policies.

For implementation of the TREPA Project, three components will be considered namely:

 Component 1: Restored landscapes that support climate resilient agro-ecological systems and livelihoods in Eastern Province

 Component 2: Market and value chain development for climate resilient agricultural and tree products linked to financial products and services for sustainable management of agro-ecological systems.

 Component 3: Strengthened enabling environment to effectively plan, manage and monitor climate adaptation outcomes from improved land use at national and decentralized levels.

To ensure that the project activities are implemented in the respective Components, the Executing Entities will enter into relevant subsidiary and/or procurement agreements with Service Providers and suppliers of Goods and Services and in respect of Component 3, relevant TA Provider(s) for the relevant Activities.

While 65% of TREPA budget is funded by GCF, the remaining is covered by co-finance from existing projects such as AREECA, COMBIO and DeSIRA. This financing structure implies the joint implementation and monitoring of those projects is aligned to that of TREPA.

PMEL system description

The PMEL (Project Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) system is designed to capture project data at various stages, including field/site level, community/beneficiary level, component level, and Project Management Unit (PMU) level. This system is utilized by the Accredited Entity (AE) and Executing Entities (EEs) project teams to facilitate comprehensive project management. The MEL system is intended to fulfil multiple critical functions, including:

1. Data Visualization:Creating dashboards and other data visualization tools to enhance data collection, analysis, and communication with key project and institutional stakeholders, thus improving transparency and engagement.
2. Data Export for Statistical Analysis:Providing clean and accurate data that can be easily exported to statistical analysis software packages, ensuring robust data analysis and reporting.
3. Traceable Workflow/Dataflow:Ensuring a clean and traceable workflow/dataflow from activity/milestone/deliverable trackers to a database
4. Project-Specific Learning and Reviews:Supporting project-specific learning initiatives and facilitating annual reviews of the theory of change, thereby promoting continuous improvement and adaptive management that can seamlessly export data into Green Climate Fund (GCF) reporting templates, thereby maintaining data integrity and compliance.
5. Effective Monitoring and Management:Enabling the effective monitoring and management of project implementation through the efficient capture and analysis of key output and outcome data at different levels
6. Real-Time Reporting:Generating real-time or minimal time-lag reporting on essential output and outcome indicators, ensuring timely insights into project progress.

Following are the PMEL modules currently in place:

Dashboard: These are graphical representations which seamlessly fetch the system data in real-time, ensuring a current and dynamic representation of the project's advancement.

 Work Plan: Capture annual and quarterly plans for each IP and consolidated version for the whole project

 Field Achievement: the tool facilitates the collection of implementation progress at activity level

Beneficiaries: this moduleitem particularly captures and maintains data about beneficiary profiles, the specific types of support they have been provided, and the geographical location down to the village level. The functionality of this interface is enhanced by its search capabilities, allowing users to efficiently locate beneficiaries based on their names, IDs, type of intervention received and the districts they belong to.

Trainings: All training information as per the annual work plan of each IP with all needed disaggregation.

Analytics: The Analytics module empowers system users to effortlessly generate visualizations, charts, and statistical tables by joining the data stored within various datasets of the system. This module serves as a pivotal tool, enabling staff members to conduct a load of analyses aligned with the objectives of the TREPA project.

Progress and performance trackers: including activity tracker, Indicator performance tracking table (IPTT), project level summary dashboard and IP specific dashboards.

Description of the Assignment

The Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) System was designed to facilitate improved performance tracking, accountability, learning and data assurance, data integration, visualization, retrieval, and reporting.

However, there is a need to roll out, enhancing functionalities, deployment, training, troubleshooting and operationalization of the system.

The Consultant’ services will include the following:

Specific Tasks

PMEL Review Phase

Review the existing PMEL system functionalities through the user guide manual, the PMEL system itself and propose updates or changes according to the system operationalization needs, where necessary.

Perform a system requirement analysis including constraints linked to the volume of information to be handled and produce a functional specification that will describe system requirements.

System updating phase (IT development)

• Fine tune the functionalities according to the Implementing Partners (IPs) data collection and reporting needs, different levels of access to the information and its dissemination depending on the user profile.
• Implement the upgrades of functionalities to the PMEL system with IPs participation and buy-in (Refer to Annex A)
• Incorporate the project activities trackers with their corresponding dashboards and indicator performance tracking table.

 Testing phase

• Initiate the core team (MEL, GIS & Project Admin)
• Data entry/ import for testing purposes: facilitate transfer of existing data in the new PMEL system with support of MEL staff
• Perform modules testing with focus on expected results/dashboards/reports
• Develop, adjust and produce the user manual
• System presentation

Deployment, training and mentoring phase

• Practical training of end users (MEL & Field staff) to make the system operational using real data.
• Introduction to the PMEL functionalities
• Access and use of the PMEL system (different user roles, and access rights)
• Demonstration and discovery of platfor
• Troubleshooting (with practice: Unique fields, check duplicates, testing different functionalities.)
• Creation of own custom forms and surveys/ reports forms (adding records)
• Sharing created forms with other users (field staff/enumerators)
• Data analytics with real data and dashboards
• Results management (log frame, and link to database, import template from Excel or creating templates manually, updating indicators, linking indicators to forms for automatic updates)
• Progress Reports: Using the real data, guide the MEL team to produce reports, to check the level at which the system supports user-driven data descriptive statistics and data cleaning on categorical and numerical questions (frequencies, means, modes, targets vs. actuals); and dashboard functionality to visualize data and track progress on outputs.
• Assist the IPs to generate quarterly reports through the PMEL system.
• Data entry and report production by IPs
• In-depth functional and technical training for in-house IUCN staff (MEL, GIS &Project Admin) whO will act as trainers and help desk in future and be able to run and administer the PMEL system after the consultancy ends.
• Final Validation Workshop

Handover phase

The Consultant will provide the following documentation package:

• Source Code:  Provide access to the complete and well-organized source code of the system. Ensure that the code is properly commented and follows best practices for readability.
• Documentation: Include comprehensive documentation that covers system architecture, design decisions, and code structure. Provide installation and setup instructions for the development, staging, and production environments. Also include list of technologies used licenced/ not.
• Database Schema and Documentation: Share the database schema and documentation, including tables, relationships, and any stored procedures. Document important data models and explain the purpose of each database table.
• Dependencies and Libraries: List all third-party libraries, frameworks, and dependencies used in the project, along with their versions if any. Include instructions on how to install and update these dependencies.
• Configuration Files: Hand over any configuration files used in the project, including environment-specific configurations. Document the purpose and settings within these configuration files.
• Hosting and Deployment Information: Provide details about the hosting environment, server configurations, and deployment procedures. Include any scripts or automation tools used for deployment.
• Security Information: Document security measures implemented in the system. Provide guidelines for securing the application, including recommendations for server and application security.
• API Documentation (if applicable): If the system includes an API, provide detailed documentation on endpoints, request/response formats, authentication methods, and usage examples.
• User Manuals and Guides: Include user manuals or guides for end-users, administrators, or any other relevant stakeholders. Explain common workflows and features in a user-friendly format.
• Testing Documentation: Share information about testing procedures, test cases, and any automated testing scripts. Provide guidance on how to run tests and interpret results.
• Bug and Issue Tracking Information: Hand over any information related to past bug reports, known issues, and their resolutions. If using a bug tracking system, provide access or export data.
• License and Ownership Information: Clearly state the licensing terms of the software. Confirm the ownership status of the codebase and any third-party components.
• Contact Information: Provide contact information for key team members or support personnel who can assist with questions or issues post-handover.
• Training Sessions (if applicable): If training sessions were conducted during the development process, provide recorded sessions or training materials.
• Future Roadmap and Recommendations: Share insights into potential future developments, improvements, or updates for the system. Provide recommendations for ongoing maintenance and enhancement

Duration of the Assignment

Three months from the contract signature date

Activities, deliverables, and payment schedule

The consultant will provide the following deliverables and carry out the following activities:

Skills and Experience- The consultancy team

The consultant will work in collaboration with the IUCN TREPA Project Manager and the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer under the overall coordination of the TREPA’s Chief of Party. He/she should meet the following conditions:

• A relevant University degree at MSc level or higher in computer science, computer engineering, IT, Information System or any other related field
• At least five (5) years’ experience (or alternatively bachelor’s degree with professional experience of at least 8 years) in designing and managing MEL systems and/or management information systems (MIS).
• The Consultant is expected to have a Monitoring and Evaluation assistant who is conversant with MEL systems and results framework and should have demonstrated experience in MEL functions for donor funded projects, developing quality M&E plans, capacity building for technical staff, advanced quantitative & qualitative data analysis and reporting especially for climate change adaptation and environment protection projects.
• Both are expected to be fluent in spoken and written English.
• Knowledge of Kinyarwanda language is desirable.

Supervision and coordination

The consultant will report to the IUCN-TREPA Project Manager and work closely with the following other IUCN staff for technical matters

• Project Administrator & Procurement Officer for contract and administrative matters
• MEL staff from IUCN and IPs for guidance and support on M&E aspects.
• the ESARO Regional IT for compliances, hosting, deployment issues, license and ownership information, testing documentation, potential future developments (roadmap and recommendations).

ANNEX A:Preliminary list of functionalities to be upgraded- TREPA PMEL System

 To apply for this tender, please follow these: Currently running tenders | IUCN No later than 20th september 2024