About Us
S M Sehgal Foundation is a rural, grassroots implementing NGO that operates across 12 states of India, reaching over 4.2 million people and counting. The organization’s mission is to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India. It addresses critical issues concerning food security, water security, and local participation with a focus on empowering women and children. The foundation brings together a dedicated team of experts who create sustainable programs and work directly alongside rural communities to better manage their water resources, increase their agricultural productivity, strengthen and articulate their vision for village development, and transform the lives of youth and schoolchildren. S M Sehgal Foundation has five main program areas: Agricultural Development, Water Management, Local Participation and Sustainability, Transform Lives one school at a time, and Outreach for Development.
As part of its project on “Building capacities of farmers to promote sustainable and more remunerative agriculture practices,” the foundation is seeking to hire an agency/individual consultant to conduct an impact evaluation survey in select villages of the Nuh district of Haryana. The intervention details will be shared in due course, along with the timelines of the project implementation period. Baseline data is unavailable; therefore, interested agencies/ individuals will have to design a methodology considering this factor.
The following are the deliverables desired from the engagement:
Deliverables
1. Attend brainstorming and review meetings to discuss methodology and sampling design with team members of SMSF (biweekly).
2. Create a theory of change of the key project activities, as will be highlighted in the previous step.
3. Develop qualitative and quantitative tools for evaluation.
4. Survey the field through a trained team of surveyors with validation checks in place.
5. Create a detailed evaluation study report mapping key indicators as a benchmark for evaluating the outcomes.
6. Provide raw data, interview transcripts, audio-visual attachments, and/or photographs as necessary.
Project Overview
Nuh district, Haryana, is one of the aspirational districts identified by Niti Aayog in 2018 and requires special development interventions. S M Sehgal Foundation’s report to Niti Aayog in 2015 shows that the district is backward in terms of standard of living, and a large population is engaged in agriculture. Still, productivity is affected by low rainfall, saline water, and traditional agriculture practices.
Project Krishi Samriddhi was designed to focus on achieving Zero Hunger — Sustainable Development Goal 2. The main aim of this project is to build capacities of traditional agrarian communities with low productivity and encourage them to adopt sustainable agriculture practices and allied interventions and water conservation in agriculture. The project under consideration intends to provide sustainable solutions focusing on improving soil health and crop productivity through a package of practices and promoting high value salt tolerance across the 15 villages in district Nuh, Haryana.
The project worked on awareness generation and capacity building of villagers and active community members to access government agriculture support programs and services. Additionally, demonstrated and trained farmers on water conservation practices such as laser levelling, micro-irrigation techniques like mini sprinklers, and incorporating renewable-based solutions for farming like solar spray pumps and preparation of organic manure through building compost units. Further, initiatives such as Farmer Field Schools (FFS) Krishi Mitras and Pashu Sakhis were undertaken to promote Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) in vegetable and crop development, water-saving practices, and livestock management.
The primary objectives of the project are:
1. Provide knowledge on sustainable and modern agricultural practices
2. Promote water conservation practices in agriculture
3. Promote allied agricultural activities to develop alternate livelihood
4. Build capacities of active community members for improving access to government agriculture support programs
The impact evaluation is intended to establish benchmark values per the project’s objectives to track changes that happened in due course of project intervention. The impact evaluation survey will include key project stakeholders, and the survey results will establish the reference data of key indicators for the project.
Interested research agencies/individuals should submit their technical proposal outlining the sampling design and the financial proposal as soon as possible.
Objective of the Survey:
The objective of conducting an impact evaluation, is to map the changes caused due to project intervention over time. Broadly, the survey aims to collect information specific to project interventions to evaluate the changes due to project activities.
This survey is expected to provide information on the following interventions:
1. Social and demographic variables such as age distribution, gender characteristics, literacy levels, caste & religion, educational levels, etc.
2. Economic variables like income levels and sources, land holding pattern in the community, number of small and marginal farmers, current agricultural practices
3. Map the changes in agricultural practices such as soil health, crop productivity, irrigation practices
4. Provide information on allied agricultural activities and alternate livelihood
5. Access the role of Krishi Mitras, Pashu Sakhis, and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) on Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) on vegetable and crop development and water-saving practices in the selected villages.
6. Government schemes/ services available and availed by the people in the project locations.
7. Provide information and recommendations for sustainable and modern agricultural practices
Project Intervention Locations:
Jaurasi, Rathiwas, Jhamuwas, Kalwari, Bissar Akbarpaur, Guddhi, Bhango, Kharak Sohna, Beri Nifsi Taoru, Sarai, Panchgaon, Raheri, Silkhoh, Buraka and Chilawali- in Taoru block of district Nuh (erstwhile Mewat), Haryana
Duration of the study:
Three months from the date of signing the agreement.
Submission Criterion:
1. Proposal for the study – to include objectives, methodology, sampling, timeline, team credentials, and budget.
2. Credentials of the organization and projects handled.
3. The agency/individual should have relevant thematic experience working in the social sector (at least 5-6 years), specifically on Sustainable Agriculture Development, and expertise in applying digital tools. Experience in working with non-profit organizations and international donors is desirable.
4. The selection of a research agency/individual will be done considering the technical proposal’s soundness and the financial proposal’s feasibility.
5. Interested agencies/individual should submit their technical and financial proposal by June 30, 2023, to a.mukherjee@smsfoundation.org
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