Consulting Services for Impact Study of Project for Strengthening the National Rural Transport Program (SNRTP)

Project Description

The Government of Nepal (GON) aims to provide all-weather road access to all local levels (Rural Municipality and Municipality) by gradually upgrading the District Road Core Network (DRCN) and providing proper maintenance with the aim of promoting economic growth, providing access to services and creating sustainable decent jobs in rural areas. In this context, GON with support of the World Bank is implementing the Strengthening the National Rural Transport Program (SNRTP) project to strengthen the DRCNs. Department of Local Infrastructure (DoLI) is the executing agency and have established Central Project Coordination Unit (CPCU) based in Kathmandu that have overall responsibility for managing SNRTP, as well as two regional Project Management Units (PMUs) based in Hetauda and Butwal to provide close technical support and supervision to project districts. Strengthening the National Rural Transport Program (SNRTP) has hired the consultant to conduct an Impact Evaluation Design through Baseline Survey in 36 districts. The proposed study is expected to identify, locate and store required details of those participating districts.
The general objective of this study is to conduct Impact Evaluation study of the Project (SNRTP) including establishing Baseline (with Qualitative and Quantitative data collection matched against indicators) as is required for the purpose to measure impacts of road and bridge works on social and economic life of the people of the zone of influence based on the SNRTP logic focusing on overall welfare of the beneficiary communities including factors such as (i) income, (ii) employment, and (iii) access to social and economic services

Assignment Description

Design and implement the entire Impact Evaluation study including establishing the Baseline; Prepare required tools for collecting relevant qualitative and quantitative data • Conduct literature reviews and surveys for data collection, compilation and analysis • Required quantitative and qualitative primary data collected from two groups of communities • Retrospective approaches adopted wherever required especially in establishing the Baseline • 1553 households Survey (SurveySolutions platform) in approximately 90 settlements along around 45 roads including paved, gravel and earthen in 36 SNRTP districts (Treatment Roads - HH 1035; Control Roads -HH 518); Geographical Positioning System (GPS) used for each location. • Traffic count at 45 stations (24 hours) and transportation indicators • Apart from HH survey Consultant also carried out Community Level Survey, Market Survey, Business Operator Survey, Industry Operator Survey, Hotel Operator Survey, Financial Institution Survey, Transportation Association Survey, Vehicle Owner Survey, Vehicle Driver Survey, Transport User Survey; Also carried out Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) with the stakeholders; Preparation and Submission of Data and Reports. The impact design focused on the inclusion of the following aspects with relevant parameters; • Accessibility : • Detailed Information on sampled roads with detailed demographic information on the study areas • Traffic count at 45 stations (24 hours) and transportation indicators • Indicators specific to Agriculture and access to transport facilities • Impacts on enterprises/business entities due to access changes etc. • Income: • Indicators specific to income sources, levels, plans, etc. disaggregated by gender and other parameters • Expenditure indicators • Availability of and access to financial institutions • Impacts on profits, saving, borrowing/loaning practices etc. • Employment: • Employment generated by project activities disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, age group, locality of workers (local/immigrant), etc. • Information on total work-person-days • Overall employment/unemployment scenario in the study area disaggregated by gender, caste/ethnicity, education, age group, etc.