Context:

As the armed conflict in Ukraine massively escalated on February 24, 2022, almost 14 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes, seeking refuge in other countries. Among them, around 1,55,301 refugees have completed registrations for temporary protection in Romania till 18 March 2024.

The Regional Refugee Response plan (RRRP) designed in April 2022 and also the operational strategy developed by the IFRC (revised in May 2022) highlighted the importance and need of the health services for both Ukrainians fleeing their country and host communities welcoming them in neighboring countries. The need assessments in Romania, explored the need for strengthening the capacity of the national health system to deliver health services to refugees and other persons in need of emergency medical assistance, including the essentials medicines, vaccines, mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS).

In response to the surge, the Romanian Red Cross, in collaboration with the IFRC, ICRC, and different partner national societies such as the French Red Cross, plays a crucial role in providing temporary protection, healthcare, CASH assistance, MHPSS, and supplying essential needs for the affected population. Access to fundamental rights and services, such as healthcare, has been facilitated by the Romanian Red Cross in support of the French Red Cross. Measures have been implemented to integrate and protect individuals within national systems, particularly in the realms of health services.

The French Red Cross (FRC) is participating in the response of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement to the Ukraine crisis and its surrounding countries, by providing significant financial, technical and logistical support and by opening one delegation in Romania covering also Moldova, since April 2022. The French Red Cross is technically and financially supporting the MHPSS project to the Romanian Red Cross (RRC) as part of the response to the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. The main implementer for the project is the Romanian Red Cross.

Project description:

Implementation dates: March 2023 to October 2024

The main goal of the project to be assessed is to improve mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of the Ukrainian refugees and hosting Romanian families.

The project has seeks to main outcomes:

1. Strengthen the capacity of the Romanian Red Cross in the area of MHPSS

2. Promote well-being and support social inclusion among targeted communities.

Missions :

The FRC is committed to ensure quality standards and foster a culture of ongoing learning across its all projects and programs. As part of this commitment, the FRC undertakes comprehensive final evaluations of all its projects and programs to enhance service delivery and accountability to beneficiaries, donors, and other stakeholders.

These evaluations provide valuable insights for enhancing the FRC future projects, operation modality and overall continuous improvement efforts. As the MHPSS Project is due to finish by the end of October 2024, FRC is planning to conduct this final external evaluation.

These final evaluations have a dual objective of accountability and learning towards the FRC, RRC, partners and stakeholders involved in the project. It aims at gathering lessons learned and recommendations for potential future phases of the project.

FRC is looking for an individual or consulting firm with the MHPSS profile to carry out this final evaluation.

The consultant should carry out the final evaluation of the MHPSS project. The MHPSS projects are targeting the Ukrainian refugees and the vulnerable Romanian population.

The main recipients of the findings of this evaluation are the FRC, the RRC and its branches. The secondary recipients are the actors/stakeholders working in Romania especially on MHPSS thematic.

The specific objectives of this final evaluation must be based on following evaluation criteria: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. For the final evaluation, FRC suggests the following evaluation criteria and evaluation questions, that will be reviewed and re-structured by the selected consultant.

The evaluator’s focal point will be the project manager of RRC in close contact with the FRC delegation (Head of Delegation, Health & First Aid and MHPSS Delegates). The evaluation will be conducted through quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The RRC/FRC expect a participative process.

A period of 25 days is envisaged for the completion of this evaluation. The consultancy is due to start in the first week of September 2024 and the final validated deliverables are to be submitted by end of October 2024 at the latest.