Location
Kabul (possible travel to Mazar, Nangarhar and Herat provinces)
Time Frame
18 Days
Tentative Start date
25 Aug 2020
The Social Council for Consolidation of Peace (SCCP) Programme, has its roots in the National Ulema Council for Peace (NUCP) programme. The programme commenced in 2013 and thus far, through six separate phases, has engaged with 485 religious’ actors, who have come together under the SCCP from all provinces of Afghanistan. The overall goal of the programme is “Religious actors contributing to a sustainable reduction in violent conflict through inclusive peacebuilding actions with Arm Opposition Groups (AOGs) and other conflicting parties”. The programme also recognizes the need for Afghan female religious actors to engage in peacebuilding prominent and therefore 113 (23.29%) of the members of the SCCP network are women, with many of whom play prominent roles in the field of journalism and education, specifically teaching in Madrassas. The sixth phase of the programme has further institutionalized ownership and consolidated inter- and intra-group linkages with formal and informal peace institutions. The programme is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). To reach the goal of the programme the following outcomes are set:
Project name: Strengthening the Religious Actors Network for Peace[1]**
1. Strengthened engagement of religious actors in localized peace process with armed opposition groups
2. The SCCP is able to establish formal linkages with formal and informal peace institutions
3. SCCP is a functioning organization delivering strategic peace initiatives
About NCA: NCA has been working with the Afghan people for nearly four decades, engaged in long-term development, humanitarian support and advocacy work. This long presence has allowed NCA has built solid relationships with national civil society organizations, including NCA partners, government agencies, and institutions at the national and local level. Focus on improved livelihoods through support to economic empowerment, access to water, sanitation and hygiene and peacebuilding initiatives has been at the core of NCA's engagement for the strategic period of 2016 - 2020. Based on its commitment to, and length of, service in the country, together with the well-documented quality of its work and its ability to access hard to reach communities, NCA is seen as a respected development actor in Afghanistan. NCA is responsible for the overall management of this programme, while Sanayee Development Organization (SDO) is the implementing partner.
Against this background, NCA Afghanistan is looking for an external evaluator/team of evaluators to carry out the evaluation of Strengthening the Religious Actors Network for Peace project to provide an independent assessment of the progress and performance of the project to date against expected outcomes and comment on what has worked and why and what has not worked and why. Specific objectives of the evaluation include as follows:
· To assess if the project is aligned with the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF, 2017 – 2021)[2]
· To assess the strengthened level of religious actors’ engagement in localized peace process and its impact on communities
· To assess changes in the level of engagement of targeted religious actors’ network in the local and national level.
· To assess the effectiveness of the Programme and its achieved planned outcomes
· To analyze the programme’s wider impact and contribution to peacebuilding in Afghanistan (planned and un-planned results)
· To assess how the SCCP work on social cohesion with community peace institutions (Shuras, Jirgas and Councils of Elders)
· To assess whether or not the strengthened role of the targeted religious leaders in local peace process with armed opposition had a positive impact and can this role be continued in future?
· To assess the effectiveness of structure and system of the SCCP, especially to what extent SCCP was able to communicate their communities’ wishes and priorities in the peace processes.
· To assess the effectiveness of linkages established by SCCP with formal and informal peace structures and whether or not SCCP was able to work effectively together with formal and informal peace structures to promote dialogue
· To assess the effectiveness and relevance of strategy in securing female participation.
· To assess role of men and women members of the SCCP in facilitating peacebuilding programme with AOGs
· To assess how women members of the SCCP were able to achieve beyond the engagement of armed groups (other local peacebuilding efforts)
· To assess the recommendation of previous evaluation is addressed in this phase of the project
· To make recommendations (at both operational and strategic level) regarding the future development the programme
Stakeholder participation is fundamental for NCA evaluations. The consultant is expected to conduct a participatory evaluation with meaningful involvement of implementing partner, right holders and other relevant stakeholders. It is to be an integral component of evaluation design and planning; information collection; the development of findings; evaluation reporting and results dissemination. The evaluation report will bring evident based for a comprehensive understanding of the project results and impact for the interested stakeholders. The consultant is expected to elaborate on the intended use of the evaluation for different stakeholders. Therefore, the findings from the broad consultations with all stakeholders are expected to guide and inform the efforts of religious actors to contribute for peace as well as highlight the project’s strengths and challenges. Following is an overview of the relevant stakeholders for this evaluation:
Relevant Stakeholders
1 Ministry of Religious Affairs of GoIRA
2 High Peace Council - Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme Secretariat (national and provincial)
3 NCA staff in Kabul and Peacebuilding advisor at NCA Head office (Oslo)
4 The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kabul
5 The relevant member of communities in conflict areas (where the religious actors have been engaged-provincial or district level) or if possible, interview with some members of the AOGs who has returned to civilian life as a result of the SCCP efforts
6 Members of the government bodies (governor etc) in areas where the RA have been working
7 Ministry of women in Kabul and directorate of women affair in the targeted province
8 Sanayee Development Organization (SDO)
9 Religious Actors network (male and female)[3]
The hired external evaluator is to propose a robust methodology for the evaluation. NCA has a strong preference for both qualitative and quantitative methods and identify unintended effects and outcomes outside the results framework, as formalised in the LFA. Participatory review methods are encouraged to be applied (please consider COVID-19). Furthermore, the evaluator will prepare an inception report prior to the commencement of the field work. The inception report should present the proposed evaluation methodology, an evaluation matrix, instruments that will be used for data collection, and an evaluation timetable.
Inception report must document approach and methodology to the following:
· DAC criteria
· NCA added value in the programme
· Cross-cutting issues (Anti-corruption, environment, gender and conflict sensitivity)
· Beneficiary participation and complaints handling
The inception report must account for ethical approaches to data collection, analysis and dissemination of findings. The evaluator shall commit to protect the rights and confidentiality of informants and abide by “Do No Harm (DNH)” principles. Data and information collected in the course of the assignment will be used for the purpose of the assignment only, and hand over to NCA once the assignment has been completed.
NCA will establish a Steering Group is to quality assurance and approve of evaluation process deliverables. The evaluator will report to NCA’s Steering Group Chairperson.
The evaluation should apply the OECD/DAC[4] five criteria for evaluation; 1) relevance, 2) effectiveness, 3) efficiency, 4) impact and 5) sustainability. Addressing the evaluation purpose will require that the consultant to provide answers to the following specific questions – which should be refined in the submitted inception report:
· Relevance: Is the broadened scope of Phase 6 of the programme relevant for the context and needs of the National Ulema Council for Peace? Are the stated goal and objectives relevant to issues of Strengthening the Religious Actors Network for Peace and aligned with the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF, 2017-2021)? Furthermore, what men and women in the context has stated as needs when it comes to having peace and peaceful coexistence in their communities/contexts
· Effectiveness: What part of the programme has been the most effective and had a positive role through the established NUCP network? What has been the contribution of programme across other sectors?
· Efficiency: Is the relationship between the programme costs and results reasonable? Have the most efficient approaches been used during the implementation of the activities?
· Impact: What is the impact of the programme on the participants and wider peacebuilding? Is there evidence that the programme is having an impact (Positive/negative, intended or unintended) on key issues and conflict drivers?
· Sustainability: Is there evidence that the results of the programme can be sustained? To what extent has the programme established institutionalise ownership and consolidate inter and intra-group linkages with formal and informal peace institutions that are likely to support the continued implementation of the programme to ensure building sustainable peace.
Minimum requirements under deliverables are as follows:
Consultant budget within existing frames
Inception report including detailed description of methodology, as highlighted in section 3.
Presentation of draft evaluation report with focus on findings and analysis of key findings
Share draft of the evaluation report
Final evaluation report.
The draft and final evaluation reports need, as a minimum, to contain the following components:
The evaluation will result in an English report maximum 29 pages (one-page recommendations, 3 pages executive summary and maximum 25 pages presentation of the findings, lessons learned – outlining the overall evaluation methods as well, their appropriateness and evaluation constraints faced, if any). The annexes should contain any literature consulted, data collection instruments, the ToR, list of interviewees and any additional information required. Prior to finalizing the evaluation report, the evaluator will submit a draft to NCA for comments and inputs.
Evaluation background
Deviations from ToR and/or inception report.
Disaggregated data by gender and age
Brief analysis of interesting findings
Lessons learned from data collection
Link to raw data
Annex 1 - Description and approach of evaluation (method(s), sampling framework etc.)
Annex 2 – Data collection tools used
Annex 3 – Full ToR
Outline timeline in detail.
Activity Description
20 July 2020 Submission of expression of interest, budget and CV
30 July 2020 Selection and to inform the eligible consultant
08 Aug 2020 (1 working day) Submission of inception proposal and questionnaire to NCA (after desk review of relevant documentation and skype meeting with NCA).
10 Aug 2020 Review the inception report by the steering committee and feedback to the consultant
13 Aug 2020 (1 working day) Submission of the final inception report
25 Aug to 09 Sep 2020 (14 working days) Data Analysis and a draft of evaluation report
13 – 15 Sep 2020 Draft version reviewed and commented by NCA and sent to the consultant for revision and finalization
20-21 Sep 2020 (2 working Days) Submission of the final report to NCA
The external evaluator/team of the evaluator must have documented ability to undertake such evaluations, preferably with long and direct experience of carrying out evaluations and assessment in Afghanistan.
The evaluator should have the following competencies and skills:
Required Qualifications:
· University degree in any field, preferably Social Sciences. Postgraduate education is an added advantage.
Technical evaluation
Maximum Points **
Candidate’s relevant academic qualifications
Candidate’s relevant experience with relevant research methods
Candidate’s knowledge and familiarity with Afghanistan
Candidate’s relevant language skills
Candidate’s knowledge of peacebuilding and conflict transformation and knowledge of working with religious actors
Candidate’s analytical, communication and report writing skills
Sub-total Candidate and/or Organisation 50
To what degree does the proposal show understanding of the task? 15
Have the Terms of Reference been addressed in sufficient detail? 15
Is the conceptual framework adopted appropriate for the task? 10
Is the sequence of activities and the planning logical, realistic and promising efficient implementation to the Contract? 10
Sub-total Methodology 50
Total Technical Score 100
Annex One: Project Result Framework:
OVERALL GOAL: Religious actors contributing to a sustainable reduction in violent conflict through inclusive peacebuilding actions with Armed Opposition Groups
(AOGs) and other conflicting parties
INDICATORS
BASELINE
TARGET
SOURCES OF VERIFICATION
Group member dialogue meetings
1: 266
1: 50
Self-Reported Data of the Religious Actors
OUTCOME 1
Strengthened engagement of religious actors in localized peace processes with
armed opposition groups
OUTPUT 1
1.1.1: No of selected SCCP members
1.1.2. No of newly selected members trained in basic peacebuilding, conflict analysis, resolution and action plan
1.2.1: No of religious actors provided refresher training in dialogue facilitation methods, negotiations and CVE
1.3.1: No of action plans for peace processes developed
1.4.1 No of women member of SCCP trained in
peacebuilding in perspective of Islam
1.1 Profile of new members
1.1.2 List of participant, pre and post-test result and picture of training session
1.2.1: Lists of participants,
Pre-test and post-test results
1.3.1: Action Plans
1.4.1 List of participants, pre and post test result and picture of training session
1.1: The outreach of the SCCP network is expanded.
1.2: Increased technical skills of selected religious actors to engage in peace processes with armed opposition groups.
1.3: Religious actors increase face-to-face meetings members of armed opposition groups
1.4 Women members of SCCP knowledge on peacebuilding in perspective of Islam increased
Sample of Activities:
1.1.1 Identify and select 20 new religious actors to become members of SCCP
1.1.2 Basic peacebuilding and conflict resolution training to 20 new SCCP members
1.2.1 Provide technical refresher training to 30 (20% women) selected religious actors on Peace Processes, Dialogue Facilitation Methods, Negotiations and action planning to enable the religious actors to directly engage in dialogue with armed opposition groups. The training will be for three days in Kabul.
1.3.1 Hold dialogue meetings with armed opposition groups
1.3.2 Assess outcomes of dialogue meetings with armed opposition groups in a reflective session, for two days, in Kabul
1.4.1 Training on peacebuilding from perspective of Islam organized to 28 women members of SCCP in three days in Kabul
OUTCOME 2
2.73
2: MoUs
The SCCP is able to establish formal linkages with formal and informal peace institutions
OUTPUT 2
2.1.1: No of meetings between SCCP, Ulema Council members, HPC and PPCs members.
2.2.1: No of local level institutions acknowledging the positive supporting role of SCCP members.
2.3.1: No of awareness raising campaigns conducted through media.
2.1: Minutes
2.2.1: Interviews with members of institutions
2.3.1: Recordings of campaigns (broadcasting through radio and TV, if possible), Facebook page.
2.1: Regular interaction in place between SCCP members and formal provincial and national level structures (HPC, NDS, PPCs,
Ulema Council)
2.2: SCCP members serve as resources to peace at provincial and district levels (HPC,
PPC, District level peace shura)
2.3: People are aware of SCCP impartial and independent functions towards Afghanistan
Peace
Sample of Activities:
2.1.1 Religious Actors hold meetings with Office of the HPC, NDS, PPCs, Ulema council their Departments at 7 regions- three times during the programme period.
2.1.2: Draft MoUs, share and sign them with mentioned authorities.
2.2.1: Interviews with members of institutions.
2.3.1: Awareness raising campaigns through media to be conducted in 7 regions.
OUTCOME 3
SCCP is a functioning organization delivering strategic peace initiatives
% of SCCP members satisfied with how SCCP internal structures (i.e. leadership panel, policies and procedures) are working, disaggregated by gender, age and religious sect
91%
85 -95 %
Questionnaires with regional committee and leadership panel members
OUTPUT 3
3.1.1: Total No of SCCP member participated at least one exposure visit
3.1.2: % of participants knowledge increase as a result of participating in the exposure visit
3.2.1 No of trainings provided to members of leadership panel in leadership, management and reporting
3.1.1 List of participants
3.1.2 Pre- and post-test results
3.2.1 Training attendance Sheet and
Training Report
3.1 Transformational experience provided to SCCP members (in terms of new perspectives on peace processes, changed conflict resolution and dialogue methods)
3.2 Increase the capacity of leadership panel members in leadership, management and reporting
Sample of Activities:
3.1.1 Organize exposure visit for 19 members of SCCP in Turkey
3.2.1. Provide capacity building to 23 members of leadership panel on leadership, funding and donor relations, management and reporting
[1] Annex one is the result framework of project
[2] http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/afg148215.pdf
[3] All data needs to be gender disaggregated for this evaluation
[4] http://www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm
This vacancy is archived.