Feasibility Study in Kenya

Organisation Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V. www.hoffnungszeichen.de , www.sign-of-hope.org Position Feasibility Study Consultant Type of Contract Short-Term Consultancy Location Home-based with field mission travel to Marsabit County, Kenya Relevant languages English (required) / Kiswahili (desirable) Application Deadline Tuesday, 30th September 2025 @ 11:59 pm CEST Starting Date To be discussed between Mid-October – Mid-December 2025 Project Title Building Resilient Communities through Climate-Smart Livelihoods, Sustainable WaSH, and Peacebuilding in Marsabit County. Total Project Budget 888.890,00 EURO (approval pending) Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V. (SoH) is announcing an open tender procedure for consultancy services for a feasibility study in Kenya . Background and Organisational Setting SoH is a Christian motivated organisation for Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance and Development Cooperation. From its base in Constance, Germany, SoH is committed to helping those in distress and exploited people worldwide. This feasibility study is commissioned, prior to project implementation, under the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) budget for development projects run by private organisations. SoH will be the private German executing agency and the contracting party, with Caritas Marsabit (CM)being the local implementing partner. The goal of the proposed three years project is to improve access to safe, climate resilient WASH services, strengthen community capacity for sustainable natural resource management and peace building and enhance household resilience to climate change through climate smart livelihoods and inclusive governance in Marsabit County. As the project concept is currently in its development stage, it will further be refined until the start of the feasibility study, nevertheless the main frame will remain the same. The objectives will be realized through four output areas: 1) Enhance sustainable access to safe and reliable water for communities in Marsabit County by rehabilitating, developing, and climate-proofing water infrastructure. This will be achieved through; rehabilitation water harvesting structures,training of Water Management Committees (WMCs), participatory technical assessment and rehabilitation of non-functional water facilities and rehabilitation of one existing wetland. 2) Improve access to safe and sustainable sanitation and hygiene practices in Marsabit County. This will be achieved throughconstruction and rehabilitation of school latrines, training and activation of health clubs in schools and distribution of hygiene kits and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) support in two schools. 3) Strengthen community-led disaster risk reduction, environmental protection and peaceful coexistence among pastoralist communities. This will be realized through strengthening ward-based climate committees’ capacity, support harmonization of grazing plans and rights, support community-led seed multiplication and certification of selected indigenous pasture, training of Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups in Logologo, supporting two NRM groups to undertake briquette production and marketing and support reclamation of three acres of range lands through clearing of invasive Prosopis Juliflora and fencing. 4) Improve and diversify livelihood options for women and youths in Marsabit County. This will be attained through establishment and support of pastoralist production groups (honey, liquid soap making), drilling and equipping one borehole to support women and youths to undertake climate smart agriculture and support micro-irrigation scheme in Kalacha. The project directly targets a total of 9,611 persons across Maikona, Laisamis and Logologo wards of Marsabit County. Feasibility Study Objectives The purpose of the feasibility study is to provide SoH with a sound basis for developing a complete project concept, by identifying project prerequisites, opportunities and risks. This process includes an assessment of the feasibility of the proposed project intervention to assess if it can plausibly achieve planned objectives given existing contextual realities. This comprehensive study will verify relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the proposed project intervention. The study will provide concrete and practical recommendations that will assist with the finalisation of project design elements, including the logframe, risk analysis, problem analysis and relevance of the proposed project intervention, stakeholder analysis, among others. The study will support the project quality assurance measures implemented by SoH and contribute to the decision-making process regarding the funding of the proposed project activities. Duties and Responsibilities The selected Consultant will work in close cooperation with the responsible SoH Officer and the local implementing partner. The duties and responsibilities of the consultant will include: Develop a work plan outlining the proposed research methodology, geographical coverage, and schedule to conduct the feasibility study, Carry out a project site visit to the project location to conduct research, collect data and establish contact with the local implementing partner, potential beneficiaries and relevant project stakeholders, Review existing policies and structures, government development strategies as well as relevant studies and research projects that could serve as a basis for the feasibility study, Identify relevant project stakeholders at various levels (local, district and national if applicable), including local governing bodies, academia and industry as well as lessons learned and best practises of similar on-going and implemented projects relevant to the project, Evaluate all available data and sources providing background information on identified issues, the problem analysis as well as the selected intervention to address identified needs (baseline data with focus on the qualitative analysis), Assess the proposed activities, as well as their timing and required financial resources. Examine institutional, technical, staffing and financial capacities of the selected implementing partner, as well as its relationship with the target group. Based on the findings, determine if there are areas in which capacities of the local implementing partner need to be developed, Review main governmental and non-governmental stakeholders with a purpose to see if there is a potential overlap or conflict of interest as well as opportunities for coordination with the aim of creating synergies and new cooperation partnerships, Examine the identified target group, its needs and role in the broader social context as well as the relevance of the planned project activities for addressing their needs, Identify potential obstacles and alternatives to overcome the foreseen challenges, Review and analyse all available project design elements and draft documents related to the project concept, if necessary, Critically review the planned project in terms of OECD/DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability (please see www.oecd.org/development/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm ), Prepare a report containing the findings on the above items, specific recommendations for the project concept with a view to planning and implementing foreseen project activities. A second phase is planned to be conducted in early Q3/2026 in which the SMART indicators of the developed project Logframe (see deliverables) shall be verified and updated if needed. The updated values will serve as baseline for the project. Expected Deliverables The study will produce the following deliverables: a feasibility study outline, including the proposed methodology and data collection tools, table of content and a timeline of research activities (inception report) prior to the site visit to the project location, a summary containing a brief overview and the main findings of the study, a comprehensive report of a maximum of 30 pages with practical recommendations and relevant annexes, a review of the main project design elements and provision of concrete recommendations for improvement, an analysis of the institutional structure required for project implementation, stipulating the roles and responsibilities of staff members involved, a detailed problem analysis, a stakeholder analysis, a revision of the target group, an analysis of the potential risks and recommendations on how to mitigate these risks, a schedule of project activities, a financial plan (planning budget), a detailed project logframe with SMART indicators for the project objective and results listing related activities and required resources, a “Do-no-harm analysis” including recommendations on how to mitigate potential harm and conflict situations that can potentially arise during or as a result of the project activities a Gender mainstreaming analysis identifying potential risks and recommendations to ensure gender equality in all aspects of the project design and implementation. A template will be provided to serve as a guide and suggested structure for the final report. Process/Timeframe A total duration of the assignment is up to 28 working days within the period of mid-October 2025 to mid-December 2025 for phase 1 (21 working days). Phase 2 will tentatively take place early Q3/2026 (7 working days). Phase 1 – Feasibility Study A planning meeting with SoH and CM, handover of relevant documents 1 day Initial document review and preparing inception report 3 days Sharing inception report with SoH and CM 1 day Data collection site visit to a project location 6 days Data analysis, draft report with annexes, presenting to SoH 5 days Incorporating received feedback and finalising the report 5 days Phase 2 – Verification/Updating SMART indicators A planning meeting with SoH and CM, handover of relevant documents 0,5 day Document review and trip preparation 0,5 day Data collection site visit to a project location 4 days Data analysis, update Logframe/Indicators, draft a short report key findings 2 days Qualifications and Experience Essential: Minimum of 5 years of project evaluation and/or implementation experience in the result-based management framework Proven experience of conducting feasibility studies, evaluations and other research projects Technical and methodological knowledge to conduct research projects and formulate conclusions based on a solid methodology, assessing projects for relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of projects Experience working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and partnered projects Fluency in written and spoken English Desirable: Experience in the relevant field Fluency in written and spoken Kiswahili Professional familiarity with the project country/region Practical experience of working for and/or evaluating BMZ-funded projects Academic Background An advanced level university degree (Masters’ degree or equivalent) in social sciences, public administration, international development studies, law and/or Natural Resource Management, Climate change and Adaptation, Agriculture. A first-level university degree in combination with additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted. The consultant is to be independent and impartial with no liabilities to any other organisation or government entity regarding this evaluation.

Please submit the following documents as PDF files (documents in other formats will not be accepted) with the subject line “Feasibility Study in Marsabit, Kenya, DC-KEN26.01” to [email protected] no later than 30th September 11:59 pm CEST: - A résumé indicating all relevant experience (max. 2 pages), - contacts of at least two professional referees, - a cover letter, including a brief description of the proposed research methodology (technical proposal max 2 pages) and a comprehensive breakdown of costs (financial proposal), including professional fees and all other relevant costs such as travel expenses, - a writing sample of a document of similar research value (for example, a feasibility study, an evaluation report). Companies as well as independent consultants are invited for this tender. Female and differently abled candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Please note that due to a large number of applications we may limit establishing contact to shortlisted applicants. Bids received after deadline will not be considered. If offers are incomplete, depending on the number of received bids, bidders may not be able to hand in missing documents after the deadline. The selection of the consultant will be conducted jointly by Caritas Marsabit and SoH. Interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held online in the week of 15th-17th October 2025 (if needed, also 20th – 21st October 2025). The consultancy agreement will be set up by SoH and Caritas Marsabit. Consultancy agreements set up by the consultant won’t be accepted. Criteria and weighting for the evaluation of the submitted proposals: 1. Essential and desirable competencies, proposed methodology: 30 % 2. Financial proposal (fee): 30 % 3. Performance during interview: 20 % 4. Writing samples: 10 % 5. Minimum amount of years of relevant experience: 5 % 6. Language skills: 5 %