Agriculture and Rural Development: Final Project Survey

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development in Kosovo

Project Title: Agriculture and Rural Development Project (KARDP)

IDA, Credit No 60170 XK

Assignment Title: FINAL PROJECT SURVEY

Reference No.: KARP - CS- 35

The Kosovo Agriculture and Rural Development Project (ARDP) is implemented with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD) since June 2012 and its closing date is June 2022. The funding to the project is provided through Financing Agreements for credit between the Government of Kosovo (GoK) and the International Development Association (IDA) as well as Grant Agreement between the GoK and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The first Financing Agreement was signed between the GOK and the IDA with Credit No. 5005-XK with its implementation period from June 2012 to September 2020. The total amount of the credit was Euro 15.3 Mil. In 2017, Additional Financing Agreement has been signed for the project between the GoK and the IDA in an amount of Euro 20.82 Mil extending the implementation period to June 2022 (credit No. 6017-XK). The ARDP received financial assistance by other sources of funding such as the grant which was extended by the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark to the GoK that was administered by the IDA (World Bank) under the ARDP Single-Donor Trust Fund, in an amount of Euro 6,2 Mil (Grant Agreement No. TF016235). Grant agreement covered the period between 2013 and 2017 and aimed at supporting the implementation of the Rural Development Grant Program (RDGP). In 2017, another grant has been provided under the ARDP by the same donor in a value of Euro 1,78 Mil.

The original project (Credit No. 5005-XK) had three components which included i) Transferring knowledge to the rural sector (through training activities and events for the rural advisory services from the public and private sector), ii) Enhancing investments to promote sustainable rural development (financial support to implementation of the RDGP and building institutional capacity of the MAFRD, respectively the Managing Authority and the Paying Agency, in approximating their practices with the EU IPARD standards) and iii) Project management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation.  The implementation of the current project with additional financing includes same activities as in original project with some being modified, and new activities to support the irrigation sector which are planned under the following components:

Component 1: Transferring Knowledge to the Rural Sector

Component 2: Enhancing Investments to Promote Sustainable Rural Development

Component 3: Support for Irrigation (included under the 3rd Additional Financing)

Component 4:  Project Management, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation

The Project Development Objective is to improve productivity of and access to markets by project beneficiaries in the horticulture and livestock subsectors of Kosovo and Strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development (MAFRD).

1. Objective of the Survey

The overall objective of the final survey is to review progress towards the project’s objectives and indicators, identify strengths and weaknesses in implementation during project period (2012- present), identify risks and counter measures supporting future projects implementation, determine economic and social impact of the grants program and to the extent possible of the irrigation activities, and provide recommendations on modifications to increase the likelihood of success of future projects related to grants implementation (if necessary).

The specific objectives of the final survey aim at the following:

• Collecting information and data about the project activities’ results through beneficiary survey and key informant interviews;
• Analyzing and assessing project achievements and perceived impact of project activities based on field survey and project documents;
• Appraising project beneficiaries’ satisfaction level with Project design and implementation; and
• Identifying and documenting challenges/lessons learned and formulating evidence-based recommendations to improve similar future interventions

2. Scope of work

The Consulting firm (hereinafter called “Consultant”) will conduct desk review of available materials and project secondary data, which will be provided by MAFRD/ ARDP. Upon review of project activities and results, the Consultant is expected to put together a detailed sampling methodology and calculations, data collection and reporting tools, as well as survey plan for review and comments by MAFRD/ARDP and the WB.

Once methodology and tools are finalized, the Consultant will begin field work, i.e. data collection from project beneficiaries (as well as control group for comparison) and key informant interviews. Following analysis of the collected data and desk review, the Consultant will submit a presentation of initial findings for the MAFRD/ARDP and the WB for validation purposes. Further, the Consultant will prepare and share the draft report for review and comments of the above-mentioned institutions and finalize the report within 17 weeks.

The assessment of the project’s performance from 2012 to 2022 should particularly look at the following key aspects:

• Project impact on beneficiaries’ economic performance and sustainability in line with results framework indicators of the grant program;
• Project effects of activities pertaining to beneficiaries’ capacity building, knowledge transfer and institutional strengthening;
• Satisfaction level of beneficiaries with the project and methodologies employed under project components;
• The citizen engagement approach considered and adopted during planning and implementation of project activities where possible;
• Effectiveness of the Grievance Redress Mechanism.

The survey methodology will be based on purposeful and random selection of respondents who directly and secondarily benefited from Project activities, as well as of a control group. The number of project beneficiaries under Component 1 is 5,923; under Component 2 is 1,211; and under Component 3 is around 6,000. As such, the combined sample size for all three components (including beneficiaries as well as control group) should not be smaller than 1,500.

3. Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from Consultant:

1. Work plan and sampling methodology prepared and submitted (the latest 10 days after Contract signing - subject to approval of the MAFRD/ARDP and the World Bank);
2. Data collection instruments and definition of survey samples prepared and submitted (the latest 2 weeks after getting No Objection on (i); subject to approval of the MAFRD/ARDP and the World Bank);
3. Quantitative data, in the form of an excel spreadsheets, collected through the Survey prepared and submitted to the MAFRD/ARDP (the latest 6 weeks after getting No Objection on (ii)).
4. Detailed output tables for each question in the questionnaire prepared and submitted to the MAFRD/ARDP (the latest 6 weeks after getting No Objection on (ii));
5. Qualitative data, in the form of transcriptions, collected through interviews and focus group discussions prepared and submitted to the MAFRD/ARDP (the latest 6 weeks after getting No Objection on (ii));
6. Draft report, including an analysis of the survey, interviews, discussions of the focus groups, general conclusions, findings and recommendations prepared and submitted (the latest 3 weeks after submitting (iii) – (v); subject to approval of the MAFRD/ARDP and the World Bank); and
7. Final report and presentation on the findings and recommendations of the survey prepared and submitted (the latest 1 week after getting No Objection on (vi); subject to approval of the MAFRD/ARDP and the World Bank).

This assignment is expected to last not more than 17 weeks.

The cumulative level of efforts for the Consultant team should be 211 staff-days.

Interested Consultants should provide information in their application demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The CVs of key staff (including their qualification experience) will not be taken into consideration for evaluation of the firms’ application; however, the first ranked firm will be required to fulfill key staff qualification/experience requirement during contract negotiations.

The Consultant Evaluation will be based on:

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Bank’s Guidelines: Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants [under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants] by World Bank Borrowers dated January 2011 revised July 2014 (“Consultant Guidelines”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub consultancy to enhance their qualifications.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Consultants’ Qualifications (CQ) method set out in the above-mentioned Consultant Guidelines, and following the above-mentioned evaluation criteria.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours i.e. 08:00 to 16:00 hours. Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by e-mail) by December 24, 2021 until 16:00hrs.

Agriculture and Rural Development Project (ARDP)

Project Implementation Unit – PIU

Mother Theresa Road Nr. 61, Floor - 3rd, Nr. 5, 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo

E-mail: ardp.procurement@gmail.com