Haiti: Kore Lavi Social Safety Net Resilience Assessment (REF. PR#9080)

I.Background and Context

A number of development organizations including CARE, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Cordaid, and Rikolto, as well as others, increasingly recognize the complexity of the contexts in which they operate and the need to better understand participants' experiences in order to improve project design, implementation and results. Recent publications (Anderson et al, 2012; Barder, 2014; Blum, 2014; Watts et al, 2003; World Bank, 2014) have emphasized the need for a fundamental transformation in the way that development organizations deliver aid in a complex context. Ramalingam (2013) argues for a more systemic, adaptive, networked, and dynamic approach requiring those engaged in the delivery of aid to listen, learn, and adapt their thinking, thereby enabling the emergence of co-created interventions and solutions.

USAID also recognizes that complexity-aware monitoring – which takes into consideration the complex human, social, and political realities in which programming takes place – is distinct from performance monitoring as practiced by the agency and is intended to complement performance monitoring when used for complex aspects of projects and strategies, and that its consideration may strengthen practice.

Complex strategic and programmatic approaches and poor understanding of cause and effect relationships make it difficult to identify solutions, and therefore drafting detailed implementation plans in advance is difficult. Expected results may require refinement and revision as strategies and projects unfold. Projects (or parts of projects) that rely heavily on adaptive management to steer effectively in dynamic contexts, and projects that seek to influence social change or innovate to discover solutions are likely candidates for complexity-aware monitoring (USAID, 2016).

As part of its mandate, the Kore Lavi program has developed and established a voucher-based social safety net model in close collaboration with the Haitian Government – through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST). That safety net model targets the bottom 10% of the poorest households of the program’s intervention areas that were identified via a rigorous targeting process using the HDVI (Household Deprivation and Vulnerability Index) tool. The social safety net members benefit – on a monthly basis – a $25 USD voucher value that allows them to get access to local and nutritious food. The program also placed a special emphasis on linking safety net beneficiaries to complementary services via Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLA). Because of this, around 50% of the social safety net beneficiaries have participated in integrated VSLA activities – allowing them to get access to low-rate credit. Integrated VSLA activities combine savings and income generation to build financial resiliency and financial opportunity. A considerable percentage of those beneficiaries are now shareholders of VSLAs that have emerged into profitable collective enterprises.

At this stage, the program strives to understand how the safety net participants cope with unexpected shocks and stressors as a result of the program’s assistance and how the program may or may not have had an impact on household choices, decisions, and use of resources.

II.Rationale of the study

The rationale of the resilience study is to explore the impacts of the food voucher safety net activities on the living conditions of the poor households and to better understand the added-value of the program’s contribution on the lives of the targeted beneficiaries. Given the ambitious nature of the Kore Lavi program to increase the resilience to shocks among rural and vulnerable households – especially at time of phase-out transition – it is desirable to understand more about how the program has had an impact on the beneficiaries, particularly the most vulnerable among them. This is a very complicated task and therefore requires robust and rigorous methods. For the sake of transparency, objectivity, and reliability, the resilience assessment will be led by an independent consultant with proven experiences in similar endeavors.

A complexity-aware and narrative-based research tool called SenseMaker that comes with software packages for collection and analysis is proposed to be used for the study. According to experts in the field of evaluation, “this method recognizes that narratives may allow better access to contextualized knowledge and interpretation by enabling respondents to analyze and give meaning to their own narratives” (Snowden & Boone, 2010). SenseMaker is one of a few emerging M&E options to deal with complex situations and interventions, that are non-linear, multi-actor, unpredictable, and long-term (Guijt, 2016). (See more details on the methodology in annex)

The study will be contracted to a third party; but CARE proposes that MAST and the National Food Security Coordination (CNSA) participate actively by attending the training on the methodology that will be given to the enumerators who will be conducting the survey. This will help build more capacity and awareness among Kore Lavi’s government counterparts regarding M&E systems and methodologies. As CNSA hosts a pool of professional enumerators through which they conduct regular field analysis, this evaluation may also utilize these CNSA resources. Both institutions will also be able to attend some specific sessions on analysis; and interpretation to be provided by the contracted third party to build their capacity to use the SenseMaker method and software in the future.

III.Purpose and Learning Questions

Purpose

The main purposes of this study are:

1. A stronger understanding of the current resilience and food security situations of the most vulnerable program beneficiaries with a particular focus on those not participating in VSLAs with an emphasis on learning more about their coping strategies.

2. Introduce government counterparts to SenseMaker and build their understanding of an innovative complexity-aware M&E tool.

Learning Questions

CARE/Kore Lavi expects that the following learning questions will be addressed as a result of the assessment:

1. What are the most important shocks and stressors that program participants are facing, and how does it affect their abilities, opportunities, and capacities to move towards well-being and sustainable individual development?

2. What resources do the households have to deal with these shocks and stresses?

3. How has Kore Lavi’s food voucher impacted the household’s coping strategies with these shocks and stresses?

4. To what extent do the Kore Lavi monthly social transfers contribute to increased resilience among the safety net beneficiaries?

IV.Methodology

SenseMaker uses a prompt question to trigger a real-life experience. Based on this narrative, the participant is guided through a self-signification process where s/he gives meaning to the story shared with different, visual tools like triads, sliders, sliders with stones, and fields with stones. These visualization tools help to establish patterns and signals that can be used to analyze responses across those interviewed. Additionally, multiple choice questions are used to help define the characteristics of the population being interviewed and provide additional points of analysis including gender, region, activity, coping action, etc.

The methodology of this study will largely be defined by the use of the analytical tool SenseMaker. SenseMaker uses the following framework to define the study process:

1. Definition of the size and criteria of the population to be interviewed.

2. Development of the story prompt or frame to use in the interviews.

3. Finalization of a signification framework that includes dyad and triad questions as well as defining

yes or no responses that will be used in the analysis process supported by SenseMaker.

1. A sample frame to gather demographic data about respondents to contextualize

responses.

A detailed methodology will be further defined by the independent contracted third party under the leadership of the Kore Lavi Program Management Unit.

Process phases

Preparation for the SenseMaker: Design of the signification framework; Collection of narratives and facilitation of their significance; and SenseMaking including interpretation and analysis.

Sampling Method

A stratified sampling method should be applied to select the communes of interest in the five (5) geographic departments and a simple random sample should be applied from each subgroup (commune) for the selection of the safety net beneficiaries to be interviewed.

The table below lays out all the geographic sites covered by the program from which the consultant will define a sample frame based on certain criteria that could include but are not limited to social, economic, and demographic characteristics.

Kore Lavi Geographic Sites

Southeast

− Cayes Jacmel

− Belle Anse

− Grand Gosier

− Anse-à-Pitres

Centre

− Boucan Carre

− Cerca Carvajal

− Cerca la Source

− Thomassique

Upper Artibonite

− Gonaives (rural and urban)

− Anse Rouge

Northwest

− Port de Paix (rural & urban

− Bombardopolis

− Baie de Henne

− Moles Saint Nicolas

West (La gonave Island)

− Point-à-Raquette

− Anse-à-Galets

Units of Analysis

The main unit of analysis of this study should be household-based beneficiaries receiving food vouchers from the Kore Lavi program. To be clear, the comparative in this study will be:

· Households receiving vouchers but are not participating in VSLAs and their coping strategies and decision points

· Households receiving vouchers and are participating in the VSLAs and their coping strategies and decision points.

V. Selection Criteria

The consulting team should have sound experience on qualitative and quantitative research; clear knowledge on field assessment and experience in using different social research tools and techniques – especially the SenseMaker tool. In general, the consultant should satisfy the following criteria:

• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in social-science research, social safety nets or social protection programs, applied economics, or related fields;
• More than ten (10) years of experience in design, monitoring, and evaluation of relevant programs;
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in facilitation skills and use of participatory tools for evaluation purposes;
• Thorough understanding of the reality of the rural communities;
• Fluency in English required; working knowledge of French and/or Creole desirable;
• Willingness and ability to travel and work in remote and challenging environments.

VI. Outputs/Deliverables

The consultant will deliver the following outputs in English:

1. Detailed methodological approach

2. Detailed work schedule and budget

3. All raw and electronic data

4. Analytical framework and final version of learning questions

5. Clear data analysis plan

6. Signification framework in paper-based version and configured in the software module called DESIGNER

7. Instructions manual for facilitators

8. Instructions for follow-up of the collection process and database preparation – including an informed consent process

9. Presentation and story-packs for interpretation process

10. Final report that both summarizes and details findings from the key learning questions and the three purpose areas.

Applications should be sent to CARE Haiti no later than January 11^th 2019 at the following email address: to Wendy.Toussaint@care.org and cc: phineeslamarre.bijou@care.org. Please be informed that Haiti Government requires CARE to deduct and remit to the Tax office 20% on international consultancies.

The study is expected to commence by January 14^th, 2018 for an estimated period of 90 days – including tool development, data collection and analysis, report and presentation. The final report and all other outputs and deliverables are expected by May 31st, 2019.