Afghanistan: Central Highlands Program: self-dissemination study

1 Background Information

The Central Highlands Rural Development Programme (CHP) has as an overall objective to increase living standards and quality of life of rural mountainous populations by promoting balanced rural development and the preservation of natural resources.

One of its specific objectives is to improve energy resilience of households and their living conditions in winter while limiting the depletion of natural capital. In order to do this, GERES, develops and promotes energy saving solutions through an integrated value chain, by training craftsmen on these technologies and supporting the dissemination process through financial incentives and promotional activities.

Since 2005, GERES has developped passive solar infrastructures as a probant way to improve households resilience towards energy From 2009 to 2012, through the “Bamyan 1” project, GERES extended the network of so called verandas in Bamyan, Yakawlang and Shibar districts. 511 verandas were built during the project with sometimes great success near the marketplaces (Bamyan and Yakawlang). Research and development were also conducted on other Energy Saving Solutions (ESS): roof insulation, double glazing…

In summary, prior to the CHP, in collaboration with other partners, GERES built 647 throughout the project area.

The baseline study of the CHP shows that 10% of the population is equipped with an ESS, out of which 65% were built by themselves or a local (non-GERES trained) craftsman.

In Year 1 of the CHP project, verandas were the primary product being promoted. While, through the project mechanisms, only 27 verandas were disseminated, project staff has noticed a significant number of verandas being built outside of the Project framework. In Yakawlang, it is estimated that over 500 verandas have been built spontaneously.

In order to achieve the specific objective of improving the energy resilience of households, it is essential that further information being gathered about overall figures, quality, building costs, assets/constraints and reasoning behind this self-dissemination trend within the CHP area of intervention.

2 Purpose & Objectives

The purpose of this study is to provide the project team with a clear idea of the situation of self-disseminated verandas in order to:

1. Make a statistical estimation of how many verandas were self-disseminated in target districts;

2. Understand the reason why households did not follow the project framework (knowledge, price, availability of craftsmen or materials ...);

3. Understand who built these verandas and at which cost;

4. Compare the quality and price between GERES quality standard and self-disseminated verandas to understand the willingness of the population.

5. Design a clear strategy aiming at supporting self-dissemination of good quality verandas,

6. Estimate whether if these spontaneous initiatives need to be subsidized – to reach a certain levela of quality standard - or not -;

7. Adapt the project framework to meet the needs of these households whether through low quality (cheap) verandas thanks to controlled dissemination OR high quality (expensive) verandas dissemination support.

3 Intended Users & Uses

· Verandas builders (craftsmen) and users

· Local and national stakeholders (institutions, NGOs, …)

· CHP team: GERES and partners (SI and MADERA)

· GERES Afghanistan

· AFD

4 Principle & Approach

The study will be run with the primary goal of understanding the motivations of these households.

Participative approach remains the watchword of the suggested approach nevertheless GERES field staff will be a key source of information in identifying these households who self-built their veranda.

5 Methodology

The methodology should be set up in order to achieve as much information as possible regarding veranda self-dissemination. Some tips follow:

· To establish target areas where:

1. Not any GERES activities has ever being implemented

2. Bamyan 1 Project was implemented but not the current CHP

3. Bamyan 1 Project and the CHP were/are implemented

· To map verandas built by NGOs in the area (including the ones from Bamyan 1 Project, and the ones built by other NGOs)

· To identify various factors that impact self-dissemination (weather, materials availability, population density)

· To estimate the number of verandas self-disseminated as an impact of Bamyan1 Project

· To establish a household – owner of verandas - survey: households description, economic level, location, date of building, etc.

· To undertake a quality check of self-disseminated verandas including

1. Identification of primary differences in quality,

2. Identification of energy efficiency, structural stability, durability, plastic quality, etc.

3. Monitoring of effective durability (needs for replacing plastic, needs for maintaining, replacing beams, general state of the veranda correlated with its age),

· To organize focus groups involving verandas owners (built by different projects or self-built) and householders without verandas in order to compare reasoning, experiences and satisfaction levels

· To geo-localize (QGIS) these households in relation to the various projects intervention area

· To compile and consolidate all results in order to: compare quality checks and price between self-disseminated and GERES built verandas, examine position of these verandas in comparison to projects area, analysis of motivation and financial capacity of households.

6 Roles

· Consultancy team (external) will design study methodology in detail, coordinate with project and field team to organize responsibilities, and analyze results

· Project team will provide all necessary information regarding verandas dissemination patterns

· Field Officers (external) will conduct surveys, geo-localization, quality checks and focus groups

7 Responsibilities

· The consultancy team depends on the direct line management of i) GERES country director in Afghanistan and ii) The Project Manager of the Component II of the CHP, based in Bamyan.

· GERES is financially responsible of:

o Daily fees + per diem if any required by the consultant

o Visa (to be arranged by the consultant)

o International transportation (to be arranged by the consultant)

o Local transportation

o Accommodation and cooking facilities in GERES guesthouses and sub-bases

o Office and printing specificities

· The consultant is financially responsible of:

o Personnal insurance cost

o Own laptop

8 Reporting Requirements

The study will be documented by:

· An inception report handed over during the first week of the field mission

· A report in .doc format, including an abstract of a maximum of 3 pages and technical annexes

· A detailed roadmap including concrete recommendations in order to orientate GERES strategy with support to new built verandas

· A PowerPoint presentation as a debriefing base to GERES team in Bamyan and/or Kabul

· A PowerPoint presentation to display and comment in front of the CHP stakeholders in Bamyan

· Quantitative results and QGIS mapping identifying self-disseminated verandas in comparison with verandas built with projects’ support (to be stored in the current GERES M&E system)

9 Expected Planning

Since the central highlands region is at a minimum altitude of 2500m, most districts have limited access between the months of December and March. Considering this, the methodology, planning, training of field staff and pilot stage should be finished by end of March 2016, in order to allow the study to begin as soon as access opens up.

Task

Days

Responsibility

Support from

Status

Mapping of verandas built by NGOs in the area

1 day

Internal M&E

N/A

Achieved

Define methodology of study, including:

· Identification of areas of intervention and survey size;

· Design of household questionnaires;

· Design of quality check for self-disseminated verandas;

· Design of focus group leading questions;

· Resource needs assessment.

5 days

External consultant

CII PM

N/A

Recruitment and trainings of external field team

5 days

GERES HR

External Consultant

N/A

Field work (Pilot, baseline household survey, geo-localisation of households, quality check, focus groups) in 3 areas

20 days

External consultant

External field teams

N/A

Reporting and analysis, including:

· QGIS mapping of self-disseminations;

· Final report with recommendations for potential activities;

· Powerpoint and presentation of results;

· Fact sheet.

15 days

External consultant

N/A

10 Expected schedule

Expected start date

April, 01, 2016

Expected end date

April 31, 2016

Submission of draft report

May, 15th, 2016

Submission of final report

May, 30th, 2016

11 Profile expected

· Background and experience

o Energy engineer with previous knowledge and experience in cold countries;

o Previous experience in the design and construction of low-cost energy solutions essential;

o Previous experience in the design and analysis of projects focused on a market-based approaches welcome.

· Specific personal skills

o Able to manage a team in difficult geographical conditions;

o Comfortable and able to work in a high-risk country;

o Autonomous, rigorous and self-learner.

12 Confidentiality rights and obligations

· The ownership of the draft and final documentation belong to GERES and the funding donor exclusively. The document, or publication related to it will not be shared with anybody except GERES.

· GERES is to be the main addressee of this study and its results might impact on both operational and technical strategies. This being said, GERES is likely to share the results of the assessment with GERES partners in Afghanistan and the CHP stakeholders in Bamyan Province.

13 Selection criteria

The proposals will be scored on a total of 100 points, following these criteria:

· 1. Technical quality of the proposal in relation to the methodology and the work plan: 70 points

· 2. Financial offer: 30 points

14 How to Apply

In order to apply, please submit the following:

· An up to date CV (max. 2 pages).

· A technical offer, including a detailed action plan and methodology.

· A financial offer, including a detailed budget including daily fees, per diem if any, number of work days.

The above mentioned documentation is to submit to afghanistan@geres.eu with the subject title “Self-Dissemination Study” before March 30^th 2016