Tenders are invited for TOR for Independent Evaluation services for Home-Grown School Feeding Program in Somaliland (HGSFP) Endline Study The Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Project, implemented by CARE International in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA), was designed to strengthen the nexus between agriculture, nutrition, and education in Somaliland. The project aims to ensure that school children, particularly in drought-prone and food-insecure regions, have access to regular, nutritious meals sourced locally from smallholder farmers. By linking school feeding programs with local food systems, HGSF contributes not only to improved student health, attendance, and learning outcomes but also to enhanced livelihood opportunities and market access for local producers. The project aligns with the Somaliland Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP 20222026) and the governments Home-Grown School Feeding Policy, emphasizing community ownership, sustainability, and inclusion. The HGSF project operates on the premise that improving nutrition and education outcomes requires an integrated, systems-based approach. At its core, the project recognizes that hunger and poor nutrition are among the leading causes of school absenteeism, low concentration, and early dropouts particularly among children from low-income households. Through targeted interventions such as the provision of school meals, capacity building for school management committees (CECs), and the creation of structured market linkages between schools and local farmers, the project stimulates demand for locally produced food. This, in turn, incentivizes smallholder farmers especially women to increase productivity, diversify crops, and adopt climate-smart agricultural practices, creating a sustainable supply chain that strengthens both the education and food systems. Somaliland job listings The Theory of Change (ToC) guiding the project posits that if schools are able to consistently provide nutritious, locally sourced meals, then childrens attendance, concentration, and learning outcomes will improve; concurrently, if local farmers and traders are integrated into the supply chain through training, aggregation, and contract farming, their income, resilience, and participation in local markets will increase. These dual outcomes reinforce each other, as improved farmer livelihoods sustain the school feeding system while enhanced education outcomes contribute to long-term human capital development. Furthermore, by embedding accountability, gender inclusion, and policy advocacy mechanisms, the HGSF model contributes to a nationally owned, economically viable, and socially inclusive school feeding system, thereby strengthening community resilience and government capacity to sustain the program beyond donor support. 1. Purpose and Objectives of the Endline Study The primary objective of the HGSF Endline Evaluation is to assess the extent to which the project has achieved its planned outcomes compared to the baseline benchmarks and project logical framework. The endline will measure performance against outcome and output indicators while analyzing the factors that have influenced results. The evaluation will draw lessons on sustainability, policy relevance, and scalability of the home-grown school feeding model within the Somali context. Specifically, the endline study is: · To validate and compare progress against baseline values and assess whether the observed changes in nutrition, attendance, and farmer income are attributable to the project interventions · To identify enabling and constraining factors influencing expected outcomes, testing the assumptions in the projects Theory of Change (ToC) across the educationnutritionlivelihood nexus · To demonstrate accountability to the Government of Finland, the Government of Somaliland, and other stakeholders by providing credible evidence of results and value for money · To inform learning and policy, generating actionable insights for MoE, MoA, and local authorities to strengthen national systems for sustainable, locally sourced school feeding · To share evidence and lessons with donors, research institutions, and regional school feeding networks to inform the broader discourse on sustainable and climate-smart school feeding in fragile contexts Tender Link : https://somalijobs.com/tenders
