End-line Evaluation of the Amhara Local Governance Project-Plus (ALGP+)

Context and Background

Ethiopia remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with over 80% of its population residing in rural areas, where limited access to basic services is a significant challenge. In the Amhara region, as in most parts of the country, communities rely heavily on subsistence agriculture, exacerbating vulnerability to economic shocks, inflation, and climate-induced droughts. These conditions strain local governance resources and impede equitable service delivery. Regionally, long-standing gender disparities and low literacy rates hinder inclusive governance. Women’s participation in decision-making remains constrained by structural inequalities, while rural literacy barriers limit citizens’ engagement in planning processes. Cultural norms further marginalize groups such as persons with disabilities, and youth, undermining their representation in local development priorities.

While Ethiopia has made strides in decentralization, challenges persist in ensuring inclusive, accountable, and effective service delivery, particularly in rural areas like the Amhara region. Limited citizen participation in local planning and budgeting, coupled with capacity gaps in local governments and elected council oversight, often hinders responsiveness and transparency. These pre-existing governance weaknesses have been severely compounded, and in many areas significantly deteriorated, by the region’s complex and sensitive political context.

Recent and ongoing conflicts, including the northern conflict involving the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and current clashes with armed groups, have devastated the region, exacerbating governance challenges and severely disrupting essential services and stability. Of the total 29 project target districts, 11 were severely affected by the northern war: five from Wag Hemra Zone and six from South Wollo Zone. The project provided material support to help these districts resume their activities. Similarly, the ongoing conflict that erupted in July 2023 has impacted districts in East Gojjam, North Gojjam, South Gondar, and Central Gondar. Some kebeles in these districts remain inaccessible to the project due to the conflict. To address these governance challenges in the Amhara region, HELVETAS, with funding from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and its own resources, and in partnership with five local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), has been implementing the Amhara Local Governance Project-Plus (ALGP+) since October 2022.

Operating across six zones, ALGP+ aims to strengthen community-responsive governance by enhancing institutional capacity, fostering inclusivity, and empowering citizens for accountable and quality local service delivery, while navigating the complex regional dynamics. This phase of the project is scheduled to conclude in 2025. The overarching aim of ALGP+ is to enable communities within the intervention areas to benefit from improved delivery of basic services that are participatory planned and accountably delivered, with the project targeting three key outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Communities are empowered to hold the elected councils accountable to effectively represent their needs and priorities. This outcome focuses on enhancing community participation and ensuring that elected councils are responsive to the demands of their constituents.
• Outcome 2: Elected councils are capacitated to hold the administration accountable for responding to the needs and priorities of their constituencies and to effectively oversee the work of the local administration. This outcome aims to strengthen the oversight and accountability functions of elected councils.
• Outcome 3: Good practices and lessons learned from the project implementation are effectively captured, disseminated, and the resulting knowledge products are developed and anchored within relevant national and regional institutions to ensure wider adoption and sustainability.

The project directly targets 48,351 individuals (24,175 female), including council members at different levels, woreda and kebele service providers, community members involved in Integrated Community Based Participatory Planning (ICBPP) and consultation meetings, and community-level CSOs & CBOs.

Despite HELVETAS’s adaptive approach, employing a localisation strategy that engaged grassroots partners, utilized conflict-sensitive methods, and included relocating project activities from conflict-affected woredas to safer areas, which was crucial for achieving results, the ongoing armed conflict in the region has remained the paramount challenge since ALGP+’s launch. This conflict, particularly in the project’s target zones of East and North Gojjam and South and Central Gondar, has led to significant issues such as movement restrictions, restricted gatherings, disruptions to basic services, and hindered the implementation of planned activities.

Purpose and Objectives

This independent endline evaluation, which will be conducted mid-2025 to inform the design of a potential second phase before the current phase concludes (end-2025), will assess ALGP+’s performance against three OECD/DAC criteria. It aims to determine its success, challenges, and lessons learned in achieving intended outcomes and advancing participatory, accountable basic service delivery for target communities.

The findings will be used by HELVETAS, ADA, implementing partner CSOs, government stakeholders, and other interested parties to: (1) inform the design of a potential second phase by providing evidence-based lessons and recommendations to directly shape its strategy, interventions, and implementation approach (2) ensure accountability by measuring performance against objectives (3) guide strategic decisions on resource allocation and local governance initiatives, and (4) foster transparency by sharing results with communities, local governments, and CSOs to inform future interventions.

The specific objectives of this endline evaluation are to:

• Assess the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the project outcomes.
• Identify key challenges, adaptive measures, and factors influencing results (including conflict impacts).
• Evaluate the effectiveness of partnerships among implementing partners and the outcomes of capacity-strengthening initiatives.
• Document good practices and lessons learned from project implementation.
• Provide actionable recommendations for the project’s next phase and the sustainability of results.

Scope

This endline evaluation will assess the ALGP+ implementation from October 2022 to June 2025, measuring outcomes against baseline data to determine progress and lasting impacts. The geographical scope will encompass three purposively selected intervention zones (South Gondar, South Wollo, and Wag Hemra), chosen for their relative security and to ensure a mix of older and newer project intervention areas. Two woredas will be selected from each zone, and two kebeles from each woreda. Woredas and kebeles selection is contingent upon real-time security assessments to ensure evaluator safety and feasibility.

The evaluation will focus on three core areas: Governance Strengthening, including community empowerment, council oversight capacity, and local accountability mechanisms; Service Delivery Improvement, examining the ICBPP approach’s effectiveness in health, education, water, agriculture, and road sectors and critically assessing the levels and consistency of financial contributions from government versus communities, including the impact of these funding patterns on project outcomes, sustainability, and the overall viability of the approach; and Cross-Cutting themes of gender equity, social inclusion (specifically underserved groups), and conflict sensitivity.

This evaluation will employ a rigorous mixed-methods approach guided by OECD/DAC criteria of Relevance, Effectiveness, and Sustainability. Gender and social equity will be explicitly assessed throughout by systematically analysing how the ALGP+ addressed (or failed to address) the specific needs, priorities, and differential impacts on various groups including women, men, youth, people with disabilities, and other marginalized or vulnerable populations across its design, implementation, and outcomes. The ALGP+ project document and results framework will serve as the primary reference point for the evaluation mission, providing essential background information and project-specific details.

Evaluation Questions

The questions that guide the consultant and key issues for review as identified as follows:

Relevance

• To what extent did the project’s interventions remain aligned with the evolving priority needs and challenges of the local communities and government stakeholders it aimed to serve throughout its implementation?
• To what extent did the project actively contribute to and align its objectives and activities with the specific local governance policies, priorities, and development plans within the Amhara region and at the national level?
• How effectively did the project adapt its strategies and interventions based on feedback from stakeholders and lessons learned during its implementation?
• To what extent were the needs and priorities of women, youth, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups integrated into the project design and strategic adaptations?

Effectiveness

• To what degree are citizens, particularly through CBOs and established consultation platforms now able to hold elected councils accountable for representing their needs? What evidence exists of increased citizen participation in government planning/budgeting processes (e.g., ICBPP uptake)?
• How effectively are elected councils fulfilling their oversight roles (e.g., reviewing budgets, monitoring service delivery)? What improvements are visible in council-administration accountability mechanisms?
• Were good practices (e.g., ICBPP, gender-responsive planning) documented and adopted by the regional institutions?
• How effective have the collaborative partnerships among implementing partners been in achieving project outcomes, and what have been the key results of capacity-strengthening initiatives undertaken within these partnerships?
• What measurable changes occurred in the quality and accessibility of basic services (health, education, water, agriculture, road) as a result of the project?
• What measurable changes occurred in trust between communities and local governments?
• Were there any unintended consequences (positive or negative) resulting from the project?
• To what extent did the project promote meaningful participation and leadership of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in governance processes, and how did it address existing power imbalances or structural barriers that might hinder their full engagement? What were the perceived or documented impacts of their inclusion or exclusion?

Sustainability and Scalability

• To what extent have the capacities developed within local councils, plan units, pro-poor sectors, and partner CSOs (e.g., in areas like participatory planning, budgeting, oversight, service delivery) been institutionalized through formal procedures, training systems, or resource allocation within the Amhara regional and local governance structures?
• How effectively have the key project approaches and methodologies been integrated into the ongoing work plans and operational strategies of relevant government bodies and local partner organisations?
• What level of ownership and commitment exists among regional and local government stakeholders, as well as partner CSOs, to continue and expand the project’s successful initiatives and practices beyond the project’s lifespan?
• Are there clear strategies and resource allocations at the regional or local level to support the continuation and potential scaling up of the project’s successful models and innovations in other parts of the region?
• To what extent have the knowledge management centres been established and are functioning effectively in the target kebeles and woredas to support documentation, knowledge sharing, and learning within the ALGP+ and among stakeholders?
• To what extent have the project’s successes, lessons learned, and documented good practices been effectively disseminated and shared with other relevant stakeholders and potential implementing partners within the Amhara region and potentially at the national level to facilitate replication?
• What measures have been taken to ensure the sustainability of gender-transformative and inclusive practices beyond the project’s duration, including changes in social norms or power relations that underpin gender inequality? How likely are positive changes for women, youth, and PWDs to continue, given strengthened institutional capacities?

Conflict Sensitivity:

• To what extent and under what specific conditions was Helvetas able to meaningfully implement ALGP+ in active conflict areas within the Amhara region? This includes assessing the project’s potential contribution to social cohesion (e.g., through inclusive platforms) and its limitations (e.g., where local government structures were absent or compromised).
• How was ALGP+ perceived by various stakeholders (e.g., communities, local councils, regional actors) in conflict-affected contexts? Provide evidence on whether interventions were seen as reinforcing contested state authority or impartially strengthening inclusive governance.
• What specific operational adaptations were made to address security challenges (e.g., activity suspension, remote engagement, partner realignment), and how did these affect project outcomes?

Design and Approach

The evaluation shall apply a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques to provide a comprehensive and triangulated understanding of the project’s performance against the stated evaluation questions. Using the ADA Evaluation Matrix (as per Annex 7 of the ADA Evaluation Guideline), the consultant shall align the evaluation criteria, questions, data sources, and methods in a structured manner. The matrix will be developed during the inception phase and submitted as part of the inception report.

Human Rights-Based Approaches (HRBA), gender equality, social inclusion, conflict sensitivity, and do-no-harm principles will be systematically integrated throughout all phases. The evaluation will be participatory and consultative, engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders including local communities, kebele standing committee members, woreda council members, zonal council members (for nationality zone), woreda and zonal plan units, woreda pro-poor sectors, regional signatories, CBOs, partner CSOs, and project staff. The evaluation design should be iterative and adaptive, allowing for necessary adjustments based on emerging data and contextual realities on the ground.

Data Collection Methods: The Consultant is expected to employ a combination of the following data collection methods, ensuring methodological rigor and appropriateness for the context:

Desk Review: The consultant is expected to undertake a comprehensive desk review to analyse pertinent project and contextual documentation. This includes, but is not limited to: HELVETAS Ethiopia’s Country Strategy (2019-2023 and 2025-2029), HELVETAS’s GSE policy, Impact Evaluation of Ethiopia Social Accountability Program Phase 3 (ESAP 3), The Functioning of Woreda Councils in Ethiopia (study by ESAP 3 Management Agency), the ALGP+ project document, annual implementation plans, advocacy strategies and concepts, project progress reports (both financial and narrative), M&E reports, assessment reports (including the baseline survey, intersectional gender analysis, formative assessment, midterm evaluation, and annual outcome survey), ICBPP guideline, manuals, and plans, documentation of best practices and success stories, minutes and reports from council meetings and oversight activities, training materials developed and utilized, knowledge management guideline, capacity assessment and its results, visualisation diagrams, relevant regional and national policies and legislation related to local governance.

Key Informant Interviews (KIIs): The Consultant will conduct semi-structured KIIs with a carefully selected purposive sample of key informants, ensuring female representation and explicit inclusion of people with disabilities and their representatives. Interviews will utilize conflict-sensitive protocols, avoiding politically charged terminology and including questions on HRBA implementation and unintended exclusion effects. Key informants will include: elected council members and administrative staff at the local level, relevant government officials at different levels, representatives from partner CSOs, Project staff, Other relevant stakeholders as identified during the inception phase.

Focus Group Discussions (FGDs): Facilitated group discussions will be held with diverse groups of community members including women, youth, and persons with disabilities, to gather in-depth perspectives on their experiences with the project and its impact. Separate FGDs will be specifically designed and facilitated to ensure diverse voices are heard and to create safe spaces for marginalized groups to express their views freely without undue influence. These discussions will explore perceptions of fairness, equity, and the project’s role in addressing power imbalances.

Surveys: The Consultant will design and administer structured or semi-structured surveys using Kobo Toolbox to a statistically representative sample of community members and elected council members at the woreda and kebele levels. The sample size and methodology should be clearly justified and statistically sound to allow for generalisable quantitative data on the breadth of project outcomes Survey questions will incorporate indicators relevant to gender equality, social inclusion, and perceived changes in accountability and participation, with all data disaggregated to allow for a detailed analysis of differential impacts. The survey instrument must be developed in consultation with the Client and pre-tested.

Direct Observation: The Consultant is expected to undertake site visits to observe and verify reported outcomes, such as improvements in service delivery points and the implementation of ICBPP.

Case Studies (Optional, depending on findings): In-depth case studies of particularly successful or challenging aspects of the project may be undertaken to provide richer contextual understanding.

Data Analysis: Quantitative data collected through surveys or project monitoring systems will be analysed using appropriate statistical methods to identify trends, patterns, and correlations. This analysis will consistently disaggregate data by relevant social markers (sex, age, disability, etc.) to reveal differential impacts. Qualitative data from KIIs, FGDs, and open-ended survey questions will be analysed using thematic analysis to identify key themes, patterns, and narratives related to the evaluation questions.

Data Triangulation: The Consultant must employ a robust data triangulation strategy, systematically comparing and contrasting findings from different data sources and to enhance the validity and reliability of the evaluation findings. Any discrepancies or contradictions in the data should be critically examined and explained. Furthermore, the Consultant is expected to actively consult and reference relevant external documents, including related research findings, donor guidelines, and other associated documents pertaining to local governance projects in Ethiopia and the specific context of the evaluation. These external sources will be used to corroborate findings, provide context, and triangulate successes and failures to facilitate comprehensive lessons documentation.

Ethical Guidelines for Evaluations and Data Collection: All data collection will adhere to international ethical standards and HELVETAS’ safeguarding policies.

This includes:

• Informed Consent: Obtaining written or documented oral consent in local languages from all participants, with child assent protocols observed for minors.
• Confidentiality: Ensuring anonymisation of sensitive responses, utilising secure Kobo Toolbox encryption with 2FA, and managing all data with strict privacy.
• Do No Harm: Employing trauma-trained enumerators, establishing referral pathways for support, and adhering to conflict-sensitive protocols to prevent any unintended negative impacts or distress to participants.
• Security: Conducting daily risk assessments to ensure the safety of the evaluation team and participants and implementing measures to avoid reporting that could be linked to individual identities and lead to grievances.

Workplan deliverables

This endline evaluation is expected to commence by mid-August 2025. The Consultant will conduct a participatory endline evaluation, delivering a maximum 35-page report (excluding annexes) through the following phases. The total estimated working days for the consultant are 40.

Phase 1: Inception (estimated 7 working days)

The Inception phase will culminate in the submission of an Inception Report (maximum 15 pages excluding annexes). This report will detail the evaluation methodology, data collection tools, and a comprehensive fieldwork plan. It will also present preliminary findings from the desk review and outline any identified limitations along with proposed mitigation strategies. The Consultant will submit the inception report to the project team and the ADA Coordination Office for their comprehensive review and approval. Feedback will be consolidated by the ALGP+ team, and a joint meeting will be held to discuss and finalize the inception report before fieldwork activities commence. The quality of the Inception Report will be checked using ADA’s quality checklist for inception reports.

Phase 2: Fieldwork (15 days)

Fieldwork will be conducted in a representative sample of program areas to collect primary data through agreed-upon methods, ensuring ethical data collection and detailed record-keeping. Direct observations will be carried out at selected project sites to verify outcomes and gather contextual information, and in-depth case studies may be conducted based on emerging findings and in consultation with the project team. Throughout the fieldwork, the Consultant will ensure anonymized data collection and employ conflict-sensitive practices. The Consultant will maintain regular communication with the ALGP+ team (MEAL officer) during fieldwork, providing brief progress updates and highlighting any emerging key challenges. This will enable the timely addressing of issues and data verification. ALGP+ team may also observe selected fieldwork activities.

Phase 3: Data analysis and draft report preparation (10 days)

During this phase, the Consultant will analyse and present preliminary findings to the project team to gather initial feedback and clarify any outstanding questions. Subsequently, a comprehensive draft report, not exceeding 35 pages excluding annexes, will be compiled, ensuring all evaluation questions are thoroughly addressed and including preliminary recommendations based on the findings. Finally, this draft will be submitted to the ALGP+ team and the ADA Coordination Office for their formal review and feedback. HELVETAS (including advisors, program team, and project team) will also contribute to this review. Feedback will be consolidated and provided to the consultant within 5 working days to ensure a streamlined review process.

Phase 4: Final report and dissemination materials (8 days)

This includes incorporating feedback and comments on the draft report received from HELVETAS (including the program team, advisors, and project team), the ADA Coordination Office, and other relevant partners. Subsequently, the Consultant will finalize and submit the comprehensive endline evaluation report, ensuring it contains all necessary evaluation sections, in both soft (editable Word and PDF) and hard copies, with a clearly articulated, self-explanatory section dedicated to lessons learned. As a mandatory deliverable, the Results Assessment Form (as per Annex 9 of the ADA Evaluation Guideline) must be completed and submitted together with the final evaluation report. Additionally, a visually engaging and concise PowerPoint presentation summarizing the methodology, key findings, conclusions, and recommendations will be developed for dissemination.

Finally, the Consultant will provide the project with organised and accessible soft and hard copies of all collected field data (transcripts, survey files, observation notes, etc.) and all documents reviewed during the desk study. The final report will undergo a final review by the ALGP+ project team to ensure all feedback has been adequately addressed and the report meets the required quality standards for final acceptance. This includes a final check against ADA’s quality checklist for evaluation reports and HELVETAS’s evaluation report guideline.

Evaluation Management Arrangements

External consultants will manage the endline evaluation, working closely with and under the oversight of the MEAL Officer, who will be primarily responsible for overall coordination. The evaluation management will strictly adhere to international ethical standards and guiding principles for evaluations, including impartiality, independence, confidentiality, and do-no-harm.

The MEAL Officer will collaborate with the Senior MEAL Expert and project team to ensure effective implementation. The evaluation team will also receive support from the Safety and Security Expert regarding security arrangements during field data collection. All parties commit to maintaining objectivity and avoiding undue influence throughout the evaluation process.

Requirements for the Evaluator(s)

The consultant team should possess the following expertise and experience:

Lead Evaluator:

• Minimum Master’s degree in a relevant field: Political Science, Public Administration, Development Studies, Social Sciences, etc.; PhD advantageous.

Team Expertise:

• Collective expertise including at least two other members with Master’s degree in a relevant area. A gender-balanced and diverse team is required.

Evaluation Experience:

• at least 5 years proven experience in designing and leading development project evaluations, preferably in local governance, decentralization, civic engagement, or service delivery.

Local Governance Understanding:

• In-depth knowledge of Ethiopian local governance structures, policies, and challenges, ideally with Amhara region experience and familiarity with national/regional frameworks.

Mixed-Methods Expertise:

• Proven ability to design and implement evaluations using qualitative and quantitative methods with OECD-DAC criteria.
• Demonstrated expertise and experience in applying HRBA, intersectional gender-responsive methodologies, disability-inclusive practices (particularly for persons with disabilities), and conflict-sensitive/responsive frameworks across project design, implementation, and data collection/analysis.
• A strong understanding of and commitment to gender and social equality principles.

Analytical & Reporting Skills:

• Excellent ability to synthesize complex data, present evidence-based findings, draw conclusions, and provide actionable recommendations in well-written reports.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills:

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills for engaging diverse stakeholders (government, communities, CSOs).

Language Skills:

• Excellent written and spoken English is essential; working knowledge of Amharic (for fieldwork) is required.
• Evaluators must not have been involved in the design or implementation of the project.

Desirable:

• Experience evaluating ADA-funded projects, familiarity with Theory of Change, experience working with Ethiopian CSOs/communities, previous local governance project evaluations in Ethiopia or similar contexts, and familiarity with participatory planning, social accountability, and service delivery reforms.
• Specifications for the Submission of Offers
• Qualified consultants or consultancy firms interested in the assignment are expected to submit the following documentation.
• Technical and final proposal need to be submitted in a separate sealed envelope within 10 days of these announcement.
• The technical proposal (max 15 pages) will interpret the ToR, detail the proposed methodology and design with a draft work plan, provide a brief overview of the consultant/firm’s relevant skills and experience (including CVs), and include contact details for three recent referees.
• A financial proposal must clearly detail all costs in Ethiopian Birr, including the professional fee per day and all other relevant logistical expenses.
• Minimum of two (2) samples of reports recently developed by the Consultant addressing similar issues.
• The consultant should provide all the legal documents (Licence, certifications, VAT & TIN registration numbers) and reference from previous assignments.
• Overall conformity with administrative criteria will qualify consultant for further consideration. Technical proposal is weighted out of 80% while financial is 20%.
• Annexes:
• ALGP+ ProDoc
• HELVETAS Country Strategy (2019-2023 and 2025-2029)
• ADA Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluations