Tenders are invited for Evaluation Services for Water at the Heart of Climate Action project of the Netherlands Red Cross Closing Date: 30 Jun 2026 Type: Consultancy Find the Complete folder TD 2026 1247_ Evaluation WHCA with all supporting documents including the Terms of Reference and Tender Dossier: NLRC TD 2026-1247 Evaluation WHCA.docx Please note that NLRC expects to launch an open tender in June 2026 for the establishment of Framework Agreements for Monitoring and Evaluation Services. Interested bidders are encouraged to retain this proposal and all supporting documentation, as many of the required submission documents are expected to remain the same. Introduction Water at the Heart of Climate Action (WHCA) is a programme designed to address systemic issues in early warning systems for water related hazards, stemming from a lack of community-centric early warning systems, a lack of investment in hydro-meteorological capacity, and a lack of coordination and siloed approach in planning and decision making. To address this, a consortium of United Nations and Red Cross Movement partners, in collaboration with national counterparts and government actors in five countries in the Eastern Africa region are implementing the WHCA programme between 2023-2028. The programme is structured around five Technical Focus Areas (TFAs): 1) water related disaster risk knowledge and governance, 2) observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of water related hazards, 3) water specific early warning systems, disseminations and communications, 4) anticipatory action and locally led adaptation, 5) crosscutting activities. Through the combined focus areas, the programme aims to increase the resilience in communities most impacted by water related disasters in Eastern Africa. This evaluation will take place during programme implementation and aims to assess The validity of the intervention logic (Theory of change at global level and country levels). The added value of the consortium partners (in breaking down the siloed approach in early warning systems). Early indications of successes or best practices, challenges and related recommendations for the remainder of the programme and/or future initiatives. The final evaluation report is to be submitted to NLRC by 30th April 2027. 2. Context & Background WHCA is a unique collaboration of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC), the Red Cross Climate Centre (the Climate Centre), the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and is well positioned to integrate their ways of working and collaborate with governments and communities to reduce climate vulnerability in Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda for end-to-end community-centered Early Warning Systems (EWS). The consortium aims to achieve the objective of accelerating and scaling up water actions to reduce impacts and increase resilience of vulnerable communities in the five selected countries through an integrated, systemic, silo-breaking approach. Five technical focus areas are central to the consortium-level theory of change: TFA 1: Water-related risk knowledge and governance Weather- and water-related disaster risk information system(s), established through participatory and inclusive processes, and effectively applying local, national and global level data, inform(s) decision-making to support affected communities with community-centered solutions for risk management. TFA 2: Observations, monitoring and forecasting of weather- and water-related hazards Improved production of and access to climate, weather and water observation, monitoring and impact-based forecasting/prediction products in order to deliver flood and drought warning services to various stakeholders for decision-making. TFA 3: Water-specific early warning systems dissemination and communication Most at-risk communities access relevant, timely, understandable, and actionable water-related alert/early warning messages that could enable them to take actions to protect lives, livelihoods and critical infrastructure. TFA 4: Anticipatory action and locally led adaptation Strengthened preparedness to take anticipatory action in response to warnings and enhanced locally led water-related climate adaptation capacities that could contribute to the reduction of water-related risks. TFA 5: Cross-cutting Cross-cutting enabling activities are implemented to ensure effective community and stakeholder engagement, response to protection-gender-inclusion needs, strong inter-TFA linkages, a cross-fertilization of learning, efficient knowledge management and high-quality actions. These outcomes have guided the country context-specific intervention plans, with contextualized definitions of success and a country-level theory of change. The details of this contextualization show that WHCA will be implemented in some countries with an existing stronger framework of policies and practices in which the programme intervention will be embedded (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda). In other countries WHCA will support the very foundation of establishing structures for Early Warning Systems (South Sudan) or the programme will be implemented in a context of active conflict (Sudan) where previous EWS achievements have suffered and are in need of supporting structures to serve people with EWS messages facing security and climate risks. The consortium partners further agreed on priorities for regional alignment: Regional and international climate policy events and stakeholder alignment Regional capacity strengthening and facilitation of cross-country learning Basin perspective Interoperable systems for early warning Contribution to EW4All initiative Alignment with other regional EWS programmes. 3. Purpose & Scope The evaluation will take place during programme implementation. The programme implementation is until 2028. As a result, it is not expected to evaluate outcomes and impact of the programme intervention, but rather to provide inputs and recommendations for the remainder of the programme (are we on the right track) and any future initiatives. That is not to say that there arent any results to be evaluated, but the main focus will be on: Key Objectives Assess the validity of the intervention logic (Theory of change at global level and country levels). Assess early indications of the added value of the consortium collaboration in breaking down the siloed approach in early warning systems. Analyse early indications of successes or best practices, challenges and related recommendations for the remainder of the programme and/or future initiatives. Outcome harvesting techniques (or a similar method) to assess the programmes current progress and intermediate results shall be used to substantiate findings in all three key objectives. As such, we still aim to structure the evaluation along OECD-DAC criteria where possible and relevant. The scope of the evaluation is mainly at global level. The evaluation is designed as a globallevel synthesis, with countrylevel evidence serving as the primary means of analysis. Country cases are used to substantiate, explain, and triangulate global findings, rather than to produce a set of standalone country evaluations. While findings specific to individual country contexts are important and should be documented (e.g. in case study chapters or annexes), the main evaluative judgments, findings, and conclusions will be drawn at the global level through crosscountry aggregation and synthesis. This analytical approach will be made explicit in the proposed methodology. To be accountable to the countries and communities of implementation, the donors and stakeholders, and for the partnership to learn for future programming, the evaluation shall be conducted by an independent external consultant or firm with no prior involvement in the planning or implementation of the Partnership. The final evaluation report will be shared within the partnership and with NL MoFA and (relevant aspects) on the WHCA website. The evaluation should take into account the ongoing developments during the running of the evaluation, up to the point of the submission of the draft report (70% version). Any developments and changes in the programme taking place after the submission of the draft report do not need to be included (unless mutually agreed upon) in the final report. 4. Key Questions The final evaluation will aggregate and analyse the achievements and challenges across WHCA global and country level actions, using the criteria. The key questions relate to one or more of the key objectives listed in section 3. Proposed key questions include but are not limited to: Relevance How was the intervention designed to address priorities for different stakeholders and end-users (both policy priorities at government and needs at community level including the specific needs of women, girls, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups) and how well are these needs articulated in the theory of change (both at country and programmatic level)? (key objective 1) How relevant was the inclusion of the river basin approach for the design of the programme? (key objective 1) How has the intervention managed to collaborate with relevant stakeholders at country and global level, and to what degree was this influenced by the partners in the consortium? (key objective 2) How has the intervention shown to be able to be responsive in the context or adapt over time? (key objective 3) To what extent were the design and implementation of the programme informed by participatory assessments with marginalized groups (e.g., women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities), and how were their priorities reflected i Tender Link : https://reliefweb.int/job/4213292/evaluation-services-water-heart-climate-action-project-netherlands-red-cross
