Palestinian PNGO-III Project

Request for Expressions of Interest

Consultants Services

Ref: 48 ID-C-09

The Welfare Association (WA) has received grants from the International Development Association (IDA) and the Agence Française de Développement (AfD) and intends to apply part of the proceeds of these grants to payments under the contract for

An assessment of the impact of the NGO Grants for Social Service Delivery Component of PNGO III Project

On behalf of the Welfare Association, The NGO Development Center (NDC) has been requested to implement the World Bank-financed Palestinian NGO III Project over the period January 1, 2007 through March 31, 2011. 

In December 2006, AfD granted six (6) million Euros to NDC through a financing agreement with the Welfare Association who in turn signed a management agreement with the NDC, as the Implementing Agency, for the management of the Employment Generation Project in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

NGO Grants for Social Service Delivery Component: US$6.623 million funded by IDA; and Euro 6.00 million in parallel financing by AfD.

This component provides five different types of sub-grants to NGOs for social service delivery

(a)   Empowerment Grants (US$2.29 million) support experienced NGOs in providing innovative social services.

(b)   Mentoring Partnerships (US$2.433 million) support social service delivery by small community based NGOs partnering with experienced NGOs.

(c)   Grants to Specialized Health Service Providers (US$1.6 million).  This sub-component supports NGO hospitals in WBG which are providing specialized health care services (physical therapy, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, and cancer treatment) none of which are available in the current public health system.

(d)   Piloting NGO-Local Government Partnerships (US$0.3 million) through joint activities designed and implemented by municipalities and NGOs. 

(e)   Emergency Grants to NGOs (Euro 6 million from AfD) to support communities impacted by the 2006 economic crisis through short-term employment generation. 

The Assessment Study will cover the following issues:

1-      Overall Assessment of the 5 types of grants measured against the objective of each type, with a focus on: strengths and weaknesses of each type; adequacy and complementarity of the different types of grants given the context, and NDC’s effectiveness in managing the grants. Special attention should be paid to the link between grant type and targeting of beneficiaries. The assessment will also evaluate the grant making process by reviewing the full project cycle (application submission, review, approval and implementation etc); effectiveness of targeting towards the poor and marginalized (the adequacy of mechanisms employed by NDC and by the individual NGOs; institutional development impact of the project (the extent to which the project contributed to enhancing the capacity of institutions); sustainability (the extent to which the project’s achievements are likely to be sustainable beyond the duration of the project) and impact on job creation.

2-      Beneficiary Impact Assessment: the evaluation will also carry out case studies with beneficiaries of around 20 NGO sub-projects financed through the 5 types of sub-grants. The focus will be on quality of services as perceived by beneficiaries, satisfaction, targeting of poor and marginalized, employment opportunities created and impact on beneficiaries (even if on a short term) and their communities.

3-      Lessons Learned: on the basis of the above assessments, the Study would present the main significant positive and negative lessons learnt and provide recommendations on how these could be reflected in the design for future projects.

The services will include at least the following: (i) Assessment Plan (inception report). The Assessment Plan is to provide information about the proposed methodology and work plan. It is important that the plan includes the proposed methodology showing how each assessment question will be answered by way of a) proposed methods, b) proposed sources of data, c) data collection procedures, and include a proposed calendar of activities (ii) Document review of relevant documentation furnished by NDC. These documents will be made available at the start of the assessment, and others upon request or as needed (iii) Selection of a set of case studies, which the evaluation team will visit and hold discussions (iv) Draft Assessment Report to allow stakeholder discussion of the findings and recommendations (v) Final Assessment Report.

The Study is expected to start by 7 January 2010

The Draft Assessment Report is expected to be delivered by 18 February 2010

The Final Assessment Report is due by 03 March 2010

The NGO Development Center (NDC) now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested consultants must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc.). Consultants may associate to enhance their qualifications.

A consultant will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants by World Bank Borrowers, May 2004 for the selection Based on Consultant Qualifications (CQS)

Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below no later than 7 December 2009

NGO Development Center

Mujahed Building , A-Ram

Telephone: 02-2347771, ext 117       Fax: 02-2347776      E-mail: impact@ndc.ps