TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAMME, VIETNAM

CARE Danmark & CARE International in Vietnam

Civil Action for Socio-economic Inclusion in Natural Resource

Management (CASI)
Terms of Reference for Final Evaluation of Phase II, 2004-2009

1. CASI Program background

The Civil Action for Socio-economic Inclusion in Natural Resource Management (CASI) Program runs
from January 2003 to December 2009. CASI is funded through CARE Danmark and in line with
Danida’s Civil Society Strategy, it takes the form of a single, coherent program which supports and works
with civil society. CASI has the following goal:
Sustainable improvements in livelihood security of disadvantaged and natural resource-dependent people
in rural areas who lack access to resources and influence over decisions that affect their lives.

The CASI Program works towards this goal through partnerships with and support to local civil society
organizations engaged in poverty reduction at various levels, including community-based groups and
organizations, farmers’ cooperatives, non-government organizations (VNGOs), professional associations
and mass organizations. The goal is pursued through three program objectives:
i. Mass organizations, VNGOs and CBOs are providing appropriate and relevant services to the
rural natural resource-dependent poor that enable them to improve their livelihoods.
ii. Mass organizations, VNGOs and CBOs facilitate participation of the rural natural resource-
dependent poor in decisions that affect their lives.
iii. Mass organizations, VNGOs and CBOs promote sustainable natural resources management
based on community needs and involvement
The CASI program is the result of a development process that started in 2002. It responds to the
challenges facing Vietnam’s emerging civil society and to problems of poverty that persist in rural areas
despite the country’s rapid economic growth. More than 90% of the country’s poor households are found
in rural areas and 80% are dependent on farming or other uses of natural resources. Poverty is also
increasingly associated with people of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. Ethnic minority groups make up 14%
of the population, but account for 30% of the country’s poor people (2002). The concept of civil society
is gradually gaining acceptance in Vietnam with a rapidly increasing number of civil society
organisations (CSOs) and networks working in service delivery, community development and policy
dialogue.

Program implementation activities are undertaken through a series of interlinked and coordinated
components in the poor rural provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La and An Giang. In 2006 the program
extended to Bac Kan Province and in January 2007 to Thanh Hoa Province. Components have been
designed to reach the poorest, particularly women and people from ethnic minorities.

1.1 CASI Components

In CASI Phase I a number of pilot components were implemented to explore the feasibility of working
with civil society, networking, capacity building and policy support. One project (CODE) was started in
Southern Vietnam. Components from January 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to 2009 are as follows:

Components 2004 to 2006 Location Components 2007 to 2009 Location

1 Program Development and Hanoi Continued: Program Development and Hanoi
Coordination Facility Coordination Facility (PDCF)
TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAM – CARE VIETNAM

(PDCF)
2 Livelihood and Rights Hoa Binh Expanded: Livelihood and Rights Hoa Binh
Clubs (LARC) Clubs (LARC) Bac Kan
3 Community Empowerment Bac Kan Continued: Community Empowerment Bac Kan
for Forest Management for Forest Management Component
Component (CEFM) (CEFM)
4 Vietnamese NGO Capacity Hanoi New evolution: Effective Networking Hanoi and
Building (VNCB) and for a Better Learning Environment 5 provinces
VUSTA and Vietnamese (ENABLE)
NGO policy feedback
(VUSTA)
5 Community Organization Son La New evolution and location: Thanh Hoa
Strengthening (COS) Participatory Watershed Management
(PWM)
6 Collaborative Development An Giang Discontinue CASI in Southern
in An Giang (CODE II) Vietnam to consolidate CASI area in
north. New independent project
funding to be sought for new proposals
for An Giang.

Decisions for closing components and design of new components were based on individual component
reviews and evaluations undertaken in 2005 and 2006.

Objectives of CASI components.

Program Development and Coordination Facility (PDCF): “Achievement of CASI Program objectives
enabled by efficient and collaborative coordination, learning, quality programming and management”
The Vietnamese NGO Capacity Building (VNCB): “Vietnamese NGOs are applying improved
managerial and program capacity gained from capacity building, increased opportunities for policy
dialogue and improved recognition of their work”.
Effective Networking for a Better Learning Environment (ENABLE): “Capacity of VNGOs
strengthened for increased representation of rural poor people and support to poverty reduction programs
through enabling information sharing, networking and dialogue among VNGOs and with government
agencies”
Collaborative Development in An Giang (CODE II): “Poor households in five target communes in An
Giang Province have improved livelihoods through their membership of AGFU supported Cooperation
Groups”
Community Organization Strengthening (COS): “Village Development Boards are capable of
representing interests of the poor, women and ethnic people in nine communes in Phu Yen district, Son
La province, through an appropriate community development planning process and approach”
Livelihood and Rights Clubs (LARC): “Poor women in Hoa Binh and Bac Kan provinces have
improved their livelihoods and are actively addressing rights issues”.
Community Empowerment for Forest Management Component (CEFM): “Poor and forest-dependent
communities in two communes in Cho Don District, Bac Kan Province are empowered to sustainably
manage allocated forests and equitably share costs and benefits”
Participatory Watershed Management (PWM): “Participatory natural resource management and
livelihood improvement systems operationalized in three watershed communities of Ba Thouc District,
Thanh Hoa Province”

1.2 CASI Program Strategies

The program and all components are guided by milestones and strategies agreed with CARE Danmark
and Danida. In the CASI program document these are: program approach, policy feedback,
incorporating a rights-based approach, addressing marginalization, poverty and gender imbalances, and

2
TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAM – CARE VIETNAM

working in partnership. Following changes within CARE Danmark, CARE Vietnam re-formulated the
program strategies as follows in 2006:
1. Poverty Reduction and Natural Resource Management: Strengthening and diversification of
livelihood strategies and integrated environmental protection and development (See CASI program
document)
2. Advocacy and RBA: Effectively strengthening advocacy and civil society for pro-poor rural
development. (See CASI advocacy concept and CARE Danmark RBA guidelines)
3. Gender Equity: Mainstreaming gender equity into programme activities (See CARE Dk and CARE
in Vietnam gender strategies)
4. Capacity building, organisational development, networking for and among civil society organisations
(See VNCB and ENABLE component documents and reviews)
5. Programme and Partnership Approach: All activities implemented in coherent programmes
including long-term working relationships with civil society partners. (See CARE Dk partnership
strategy and guidelines for partner finance)
6. CARE’s Organisational Capacity: CARE’s systems and structures are aligned to sustain the new
programme modalities

1.3 Program progress

CASI has focused attention on designing and implementing individual components which contribute in
some way towards strengthening civil society at local and national level and achieving sustainable natural
resource management alongside livelihood improvements for poor, mainly ethnic minority, communities.
Components operating at community level have designed and implemented some innovative methods for
building capacity, confidence and incomes of poor rural communities and in some cases these have
influenced national policy (eg on rural collaboration groups). In 2006 and 2007 more specific natural
resource management components were included on community based participatory forestry and
watershed management. There are a number of policy issues relating to land and forest use rights which
CASI began to engage more actively in, in addition to continuing to address civil society rights at all
levels. The PDCF has been used to provide management support to each component and as a vehicle for
implementing some specific national level policy initiatives related to civil society and collaborative
rights. From the 2007 mid term review the role of the PDCF expanded to facilitate more linkages and
learning between components, develop and share program level strategies for M+E, advocacy and
gender which are applied in the context of each component. Experiences and lessons are regularly shared
across the program and within components providing an opportunity to discuss coordination and specific
cross cutting issues and themes and to enable a deeper understanding and potential for greater impact and
influence. Strengthening participation of civil society organizations through direct capacity building and
through the creation of spaces for dialogue and negotiation of agreements between community groups or
VNGO networks and local authorities/policy makers, such as forest forums, has demonstrated the power
of increasing poor people’s rights and voice. Individual components have presented succeses in
participatory processes for sustainable forest management, visioning for community based watershed
management, and advocacy for grass root democracy by women’s rights groups. The aim is to ensure that
CASI as a program can contribute to leveraging improvement at national and local level in opportunities
and rights of civil society and poor rural communities. Climate change (CC) is a new focus for CASI in
recognition that it can reverse all positive impacts on the CASI target group. A CC strategy and
positioning within Vietnam at national level has resulted in leadership of the NGO Climate change
working group and contribution to pro-poor policy messages from NGOs to national government
programs. Activities within one component have been assessed against potential impacts.

In 2008 CARE Danmark has developed a framework for rights based approaches (RBA) linked to three
basic principles which are also reflected in global CARE principles: Empowerment & and participation,
equality and non-discrimination and accountability and three related procedural rights from the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of particular relevance to natural resources management, the right to:
information, participation in decision making and remedy in discriminatory treatment
The RBA framework takes these principles and focuses on four concrete areas
• Recognizing diversity, focus on inclusion and the most vulnerable groups
• Engage duty bearers, strengthen their capacity and hold them accountable
• Empower people and strengthen their capacity to effectively address rights

3
TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAM – CARE VIETNAM

• Focus on root causes of poverty

2. Objectives of the Final Evaluation

In line with CARE Danmark contractual requirements an external final evaluation is to be conducted at
the end of the first six year phase in 2009. The evaluation should measure the global impacts of the
program from the entire period. The main objectives of the evaluation are to assess CASI impact on:

a) disadvantaged and natural resource-dependent people in rural areas, with particular reference to
changes in sustainable improvements in livelihood security, access to resources and services and
influence over decisions that affect the lives of rural poor (Team A)

b) changes in civil society focusing on develoment capacity and representation of the poor of mass
organizations, VNGOs and CBOs and on how CASI systems have enabled this (Team B)

3. Scope of the Evaluation

Various studies have been made by CASI over the last 6 years including: an initial assessment of civil
society in 2003; CARE component level baselines, evaluations and impact assessments; assessments of
CASI capacity building and partnership strategies, and assessment of the value and impact of community
groups. CASI mid term review was conducted through a workshop looking at program impact and
strategies in mid 2007. CARE in Vietnam and CARE Danmark have documented a number of strategies
CASI has been following, including partnerships

Two evaluation teams will work to review these and other relevant documents and conduct relevant
meetings and field observations to assess the realisation of CASI program objectives. This will include
but not be limited to the following detailed areas:

3.1 Team A assess impact on disadvantaged and natural resource-dependent people in rural areas:
1. Impact on: Sustainable improvements in livelihood security
Relates to objective i: appropriate and relevant services to improve livelihoods. Assess:
• livelihood changes, their impacts, sustainability, scale and outreach
• changes in access to services by beneficiaries and their perceptions of relevance and effectiveness
(eg.credit, agriculture extension services, informal education services)
• impacts of CASI methodologies: FFS, SALT, livelihood support, credit provision etc

2. Impact on access to natural resources

Relates to objective ii: sustainable natural resources management based on community needs and
involvement. Assess:
• changes in land and forest use and management,
• participation in and impacts of community based NRM in forestry and watersheds
• changes in farming systems for sustainable land use

3. Changes in influence over decisions that affect the lives of rural poor
Relates to objective iii: participation in decisions that affect the lives of the target group. Assess:
• changes in empowerment, voice and decision making and how this has impacted on peoples lives
• impact of community group organisation, advocacy and RBA strategies and actions in achieving
these changes

4. In all three areas above analyse how and to what extent CASI has reached its target group of poor
natural resource dependent people in rural areas.

3.2 Team B assess impact on Civil Society - Mass organizations, VNGOs and CBOs including:
1. changes in awareness and capacity of targeted civil society organisations including for pro-poor
service delivery, community development and representation of the poor

4
TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAM – CARE VIETNAM

2. changes in participation and voice of targeted civil society (CS) organisations over the last 6
years. Consider CSO types, numbers, activities, representation of the poor and natural resource
dependent, stakeholder dialogue platforms, policy dialogue, legal framework etc
3. changes in service provision from mass organisations, VNGOs and CBOs
4. changes in CS networking and relationships between mass organisations, VNGOs and CBOs
3.3. Team B will also assess program coordination, sharing and learning impacts including:
1. effectiveness of CASI program structure, looking at how it evolved over 6 years in terms of
leadership, division of roles and responsibilities between CARE and partners, coordination, links
between components, role and function of PDCF, links with CARE Vietnam and other actors in
development, staff and partner capacity development etc
2. relevance of CASI in relation to underlying causes of poverty and the socio-economic context in
Vietnam over the 6 year period, and how well CASI has aligned with the DANIDA strategy for
support to civil society and CARE’s strategic goals (Denmark and Vietnam).
3. effectiveness and impact of CASI monitoring, sharing and learning mechanisms (bi-monthly program
meetings, component quarterly meetings, MSC stories, annual review workshops, indicator
monitoring etc) in measuring and improving the program and component’s interventions
4. impact and effectiveness of capacity building and partnership approaches and interventions.
5. efficiency in the use of HR, financial and logistics for achieving expected results taking into account
the piloting nature of the programme in civil society strengthening

3.4 Team A and Team B will assess cross cutting issues and process impact as follows:
1. Disagregate all data by gender, wealth status and ethnic group of the beneficiary
2. How and to what extent program/project interventions have leveraged impact beyond the direct
beneficiaries
3. Assess any policy/legal changes to natural resource access, service delivery, people’s participation
and civil society that have impacted positively or negatively on rural poor communities and how
CASI contributed.
4. How have CASI strategies (capacity building, advocacy/RBA, gender mainstreaming, working in
partnerships) contributed positively and negatively to observed impact.
5. Assess how CASI program has had an impact in the four focus areas of rights based approaches given
above
6. Seek an understanding of why/how all observed changes took place
7. Assessments made must consider and refer to the following five evaluation criteria; relevance,
effectiveness; efficiency, impact and sustainability (DAC/EU/DANIDA). The assessment of
sustainability should consider whether the programme has been able to create favourable conditions
that can support the sustainability and replication of results at various levels, including:
• Ecological- environmental: CBNRM systems, watershed etc.
• Economic: support to CBOs, livelihood models, extension systems, enterprise development,
credit services etc
• Social: gender and diversity, local knowledge and institutions, local government system, mass
organisation support system
• Institutional: sustainability of structures put in place, of CSOs/CBOS/VNGOs/ networks, linkages
to local government system, regional, national stakeholders etc

4. Methodology and tasks

Two teams will be established and both teams will conduct the following process:
1. documentation review and planning with the CASI management team
2. design detailed methodology and itinerary in consultation with CASI Management team
3. conduct information collection through field visits/meetings with key stakeholders, partners
4. analysis and synthesis of findings by each team, and development of recommendations to CARE
for future programming
5. present initial findings to CASI team and partners for verification and analysis across the two
teams in a workshop on 10-11th June
6. draft complete report of findings, analysis and recommendations
7. finalise report based on comments from CASI team.

5
TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAM – CARE VIETNAM

The evaluation should be participative, involving the program staff and partners, to allow for their
contribution and to provide an opportunity for lesson learning on the impacts of the programme and its
implications for future programming. The teams are expected to use existing documentation to inform
findings. They should develop criteria for taking a sample of target beneficiaries and CSOs from across
the 6 years and 5 provinces where CASI has worked and the numerous partners and collaborators. The
design should aim to gather and analyse representatitve information into a concise report.
5. Outputs required
Each consultant team are required to write a report (approx. 20 pages excluding annexes) with the
following contents:
1. Findings in relation to the requirements given in section 3 scope of work
2. Analysis of these findings which compares achievements with initial program document and
baseline information, provides an explanation of why changes and impacts have come about, both
positive and negative, and the unique contribution or added value that CASI has made to the
target group and broader development goals in Vietnam
3. In relation to the analysis, provide recommendations for CARE’s future strategic and operational
programmatic work.
4. Annexes including: TOR, final itinerary, methodology used, list of persons met/interviews made,
list documents reviewed, raw data
The report will be submitted in electronic form and will be prepared in English.

6. Itinerary
The evaluation will teams will work approx. 15 days during the period 14th May to 15th July 2009
including reporting and comments. The workshop to present initial findings will be held on 10-11th June
2009 and therefore the timeframe for data collection and initial analysis must be prior to this date and
consultants must be available on these dates to present findings.

7. Call for consultants

Individuals or teams (maximum 3 people) are invited to send expressions of interest. Teams are expected
to have a mix of international and national experts having complementary and relevant competence and
experience in relation to either poverty impact/natural resources management or civil society/program
systems as described above for Team A and Team B respectively. Individual consultants are welcome to
apply alone to join or lead one of the teams. Given the broad scope and timeframe of CASI, the team
leaders are expected to have a good strategic overview and ability to sample, evaluate and analyse across
the range of issues to be addressed in a short time frame. Team leaders must take responsibility for the
report and be excellent writers in English.

Interested consultants are invited to send a cover letter presenting the consultant(s) with examples of
relevant past consultancies which demonstrate capacity and experience for this evaluation. Where a team
is presented in one application, please give a short resume of each mermber and describe how the team
will work together. Please also provide:
• Up to date CV(s)
• Summary of proposed methodology for realising the evaluation
• Expected number of consultancy working days
• Consultancy fee rates

The cover letter must specify which Team the consultant is applying for – ie. Team A or Team B and the
application should be received no later than 5 pm on 3rd April 2009 to Nguyen Thu Phuong at
phuong.nguyenthu@care.org.vn . Please note that all documents must be submitted in English and only
short-listed candidates will be contacted.

8. Preparation and Logistical Support

An information package comprising of the relevant program/component documents, baselines, annual
progress reports, evaluation reports etc will be forwarded to the selected evaluators prior to the start of the
review. CARE Vietnam will facilitate the work through the provision of all required logistical support
required including if needed, any flights, accommodation in Hanoi, transportation, translation and
documentation as well as all logistical arrangements for the workshops and field visits.

6
TOR FINAL EVALUATION CASI PROGRAM – CARE VIETNAM

Contacts in Vietnam: CARE International, 66, Xuan Dieu, Hanoi

Nguyen Thu Phuong, PDCF assistant phuong.nguyenthu@care.org.vn
Fiona Percy, RD Coordinator, fpercy@care.org.vn
Nguyen Van Anh, RD and NRM Programme Manager nvanh@care.org.vn
Le Van Son PDCF Component Manager lvson@care.org.vn