1. Introduction

Afghanischer Frauenverein e.V.: AFV is a non-profit, non-governmental and non-political humanitarian aid organization registered with the Ministry of Economy in Afghanistan and has been working in the field of Education, Health, WASH, Vocational skills development, and humanitarian emergency response in Afghanistan since 1992. With a Country Office in Kabul and over 200 local staff members countrywide, AFV is implementing sustainable relief programs that are mainly in the rural areas, focusing on supporting children and their families in extreme poverty. Today AFV is engaged in over 21 relief programs serving over 200,000 people per year all over the country. The organization provides technical and financial support to five schools in Kabul, Kunduz and Ghazni provinces; runs vocational training courses for people with disability in Kabul and Ghazni; provides safe drinking Pipe for poor communities in remotest parts of some provinces; supports seven Basic Health Clinics (BHCs) in Kabul Province; and delivers humanitarian assistance particularly in partnership with other local partners.

1. Background/Description of the project

The implemented emergency response project aimes to alleviate human suffering by providing immediate life-saving Shelter (Transitional Shelter), and WASH assistance to communities in Herat Province affected by earthquake. AFV has focussed on two sectoral responses:

1. Emergency Shelter, and
2. Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH).              

The response has taken the form of a combined modality and has reached until now 30 earthquake affected households in target locations in Herat by providing them with shelter assistance and cash for construction of sanitation facilities to create a foundation for their long-term stability and restore their lives. The response is in line with the Afghanistan Shelter cluster for emergency response in Herat region.

The Transitional Shelters were built according to the Transitional Shelter Guidelines developed by the ES/NFI Cluster to guide cluster partners on transitional shelter construction response in Afghanistan, especially Herat region. Construction plans and BQ were developed by the Technical Working Group (TWiG) and have been updated in February 2024. The Technical Working Group (TWiG) comprised of representatives from ADRA, AfghanAid, CRDSA, DRC, NRC, IOM, UNHABITAT and UNHCR.

The project implemented average sized family shelters with 30 sq m of living space for households made of up to 7 members. The BOQ developed and approved by the ESNFI cluster is attached as ANNEX A highlighting the items provided.

Based on AFV’s coordination with members of the WASH cluster, AFV implemented a light WASH and provided cash to the affected families for construction of emergency latrines. The selected families were provided with technical assistance by the project team to do the construction work.

2. Purpose of the consultancy

The purpose of this ToR is to provide a technical evaluation of 30 constructed shelters and latrines in Zinda Jan and Injil districts of Herat province in regard of quality, efficiency and sustainibility. The consultant will conduct an end of project evaluation to gauge the overall quality of the construction work completed under the 30 Transitional Shelters and HH latrines as per the technical documents (BoQ and drawings) of the project which shall form essential part component of this assignment. In addition, the consultant will be expected to assess the quality of the construction materials used in the Transitional shelters and verify the strength and resistance with the cold temperature in the project sites, assess the cost of the construction materials vs its quality and durability as per the approved BoQ, and document the achievements, challenges and shortcomings as lessons learned for future programming.

3. Scope and focus of the technical evaluation

The end project technical evaluation aims at assessing effectiveness of implementation and completed construction work around 30 transitional shelters and HH latrines in Zinda Jan and Injil districts of Herat province. This will include assessing the implementation modalities, quality of the construction materials used, durability of the transitional shelters handed over to the project beneficiaries in line with the approved project design and pre-implementation assumptions. The evaluation will analyze the project implementation and completion of construction work from engineering perspective to determine the extent to which AFV’s Herat team achieved the desired results meeting the quality criteria specified in the approved BoQ and project designs. The following key stakeholders will be engaged in the assessment.

- AFV Kabul team as the prime point of contact

- AFV Herat team as the direct responsible for field level implementation

- Project beneficiaries and surrounding communities

4. Target audience of the assignment:

The result of the assignment is intended for use by:

- AFV Country office and Head Office leadership team.

- Donor organizations for the shelter project in Herat.

5. Specific Areas of Evaluation:

Relevance (Project Technical documents including BoQ and Design):

• To what extent was the shelter construction completed according to the approved technical documents?
• To what extent the quality of construction materials meets the specifications in approved documents?
• Were the inputs/materials appropriately and adequately used to achieve the intended purpose?
• Was the modality of implementation appropriate?

Effectiveness (whether activities, outputs and outcome were achieved?);

• How effectively were the resources and construction materials utilized in all construction work? 
• How effective were the strategies and tools used in the implementation of the project?
• How effective is the project in response to the needs of beneficiaries considering the cluster standards and engineering norms?

Efficiency (were inputs i.e staff, time, money, equipment) used in the best possible way to achieve outputs; could implementation be improved? are there better ways of doing things?);

• Was the construction activity implemented in a cost-efficient way? Please present the degree of cost efficiency of construction materials considering its quality and approved specifications?
• What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the implementation process?

Impact (the evaluator will assess the positive and negative changes of the project, directly or indirectly, intended, or unintended. (Optional)

• Did the shelter response reduce future vulnerabilities?
• To what extent are the interventions improving the condition of affected communities?
• How satisfied are the communities with the response?

6. Proposed methodology:

The technical evaluation should be a mixed approach for data collection. This is a summative evaluation involving qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the project implementation, assess the quality of construction materials, and to make recommendations for the future programming. The step by step process should include the following:

• Desk study and review of all relevant project documentation including:

Project proposal, Project technical documents including BoQ and design of transitional shelter,  work-plans, etc..

• Field visits to all the project sites and physical inspection of all the 30 shelters and latrines.
• Data analysis, debriefing, and preparation of technical evaluation report for AFV.
• All data must be disaggregated by sex, age, and disability

7. Duration of the Evaluation and time schedule

The technical evaluation should be completed within an estimated duration of 8 days. This includes desk review, field visits to project locations, and submission and discussion on final report.

Required expertise and qualification of the consultant

To achieve the objectives of this assignment, the consultant should be experienced individual with the following expertise and qualifications:

• At least bachelor degree in civil engineering or structural engineering. Master is preferred, hands-on experience in project evaluation will be an added advantage.
• Extensive expertise, knowledge, and experience in evaluation of similar humanitarian projects with focus on   
• Knowledge and experience of MS office and other engineering statistical programs such as AutoCAD, and other related construction design programs
• Full knowledge of designing and implementation of Shelter Response projects
• Familiar with Transitional/Permanent Shelter standards. Ideally in Herat Province and/or other earthquake affected regions.
• Knowledge of international standards code for building material and testing.
• Experience in design and construction of transitional shelters.
• Excellent communication, cooperation, and interpersonal skills
• Experience of program design/ formulation, monitoring and evaluation.

Submission Guidelines:

Interested candidates meeting the mentioned criteria set for the position can send her/his CV along with a motivation letter to the following email address:

info@afv-organization.org with the subject line “Vacancy No: AFV25-003-Consultancy Assignment for Technical Evaluation”. If you have questions regarding the vacancy, please contact the mentioned email address. Shortlisted candidates will be considered for further recruitment process.

Submission Email:

info@afv-organization.org