Evaluator \ Consultant

1. Cause and objective of the evaluation

As this program comes to an end, it is crucial to evaluate the program as a whole, and especially the modalities used. We must investigate if the chosen modalities – ie, training workshops and supported community initiatives – have led to long-term and sustainable change in the targeted communities. As this model is a cornerstone of FDCD’s grassroots approach to peacebuilding in both Lebanon and Syria, it is crucial for us to evaluate the logic of the Theory of Change underlying the intervention, its efficacy and long-term viability, as well as any adaptations that may be necessary to achieve the desired outcomes, so that we may also apply these learnings to other programs moving forward. 

This evaluation will be an end-of-project evaluation to be conducted during the final phase of the project implementation, to properly assess the overall impact of the action. The findings of the evaluation will be used furthermore to document best practices and to provide learning and recommendations for future programming.

An evaluation of this program was conducted last year; as such, although this will be a comprehensive evaluation, it will have a specific focus on the local initiatives implemented as part of the project and their impacts in their communities.

In light of the Evaluation, FDCD intends also to exemplify values of accountability towards different stakeholders including donors, partners and beneficiaries.

2. Key questions

This evaluation will be cumulative and cover all aspects of the IDPD program. The key questions fall into several categories: relevance, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability:

[ Relevance

• To what extent did the action address the need of the most vulnerable groups affected by conflicts and the lack of social cohesion?
• How well did the project align with both FDCD’s strategic orientations and aspirations?

[ Effectiveness

• To what extent did the project contribute to all eight outcomes included as part of its Theory of Change (TOC)?
• What was the role of the community leaders throughout their engagement in the project?
• What level of involvement in and type of relationship to the project and other local actors including the project’s target groups did they have?
• How did they influence the promotion of Good Governance and Social Cohesion, Citizenship and Resilience across different religious and ethnic groups?
• To what extent did the action contribute to the creation of safe spaces and other sustainable frameworks and structures involving different groups?
• How well did the project contribute to improving the knowledge, skills and behaviors of the different target groups?
• What resources did it provide? And how did FDCD influence the abilities of the target groups as well as their access to financial, technical and other types of resources?
• How did the action contribute to addressing issues affecting cohesion and positive interaction between different groups? Including issues of gender barriers and lack of access to Human Rights?
• Did the capacity building delivered to the different actors influence their attitude, behaviors, and practices with and towards the different others?
• Did the created safe spaces and regional platform involving the religious and political leaders contribute to more peaceful societies? Did the financial support provide to support local peace initiatives fulfilled the needs of the marginalized groups for interfaith and intercultural exchange and thus contributed to creating more peaceful communities?
• Did the project achieve all its outputs?
• How gender and HRBA intelligent and sensitive the project is?
• How innovative were the adopted approaches?
• How valid was the project’s ToC and assumptions?

[ Impact

• How well did the project contribute to cultural and religious pluralism, tolerance and peaceful coexistence in Syria?
• Did the program produce or contribute to all eight intended outcomes in the short, medium and long term? For whom, in what ways and in what circumstances?
• What unintended outcomes (positive and negative) were produced? To what extent can changes be attributed to the project?

[ Sustainability

• What drivers for sustainability did the project produce?
• How did community ownership, engagement, participation, and capacity building contribute to the project’s sustainability?
• How likely will the positive effects of the project last?
• How scalable is this project?

Although this evaluation will be comprehensive, the primary focus of the evaluation will be the local initiatives implemented as part of the project, and their efficacy in contributing to the outcome “Enhance dialogue and collaboration across religious, ethnic and political divisions on local and regional level in Syria, through empowerment and capacity building of community members and leaders to become active citizens, engaged in rebuilding communities, institutions and society in which all people enjoy a more sustainable quality of life and are active citizens in promoting a just, fair and peaceful society.” Specific questions about the local initiatives include:

• Have the local initiatives contributed in achieving the specific objective?
• How did the participants of the different rounds of capacity building use their knowledge? which tools were most useful? 
• What outcomes/impact did the initiatives have on local level? Where they instrumental to people enjoying a more sustainable quality of life? A more active citizenship? In promoting a just, fair and peaceful society?  

3. Evaluation design/methods

The key goals of this evaluation will be to evaluate both the logic of the program intervention and the implementation. In order to do so, the evaluation will rely primarily on feedback from participants and other key stakeholders and a comprehensive literature review. Interviews will include feedback from all stakeholders. The primary methods will be:

1. Desk review: a review of recent situational analysis to sectors of Peace Building and Social Cohesion in Syria, as well as the current overall situation in Syria, and a review of the project documents, and a review of the access of FDCD, its partners and beneficiaries to models and leverages of HRBA (PANEL), Gender Equality and Social inclusion.

2. Focus groups with a representative sample of project stakeholders, including the local actors and change agents, representatives of partner organizations, CSOs and CBOs, representatives of local authorities (municipal representatives/Mukhtars) engaged in the project, other direct and indirect beneficiaries benefitting from the initiatives with emphasis on IDPs, youth and women.

3. One-to-one interviews with key actors including political and religious leaders, community leaders, change agents, representatives of CSOs and other CBOs as well. Additionally, the team will interview implementing staff to assess the process and progress of the project throughout the implementation phase, as well as the challenges, limitations, best practices and areas of improvement.

4. Comprehensive review of local initiatives, including interviews with participants, review of initiative outcomes, and long-term impact on the community.

4. Process of the evaluation/time frame

The evaluation will take place beginning at the beginning of December 2021, and be completed in early 2022. The first month will be dedicated to planning the evaluation, and a month of field work will occur after that. The final month of the evaluation process will be dedicated to data analysis and synthesis of final results.

5. Expected products

The expected deliverables throughout the process include:

1. An inception report, including at least:
   1. Validated, tested and translated data collection tools
   2. Data collection updated plan and timeline
   3. An elaboration of the RBA approached applied by the consultant
   4. Hard copies of the questionnaires (if hard copies) and/or raw cleaned data (if on tablets) in annexes
   5. Data analysis plan and timeline
   6. Budget breakdown

2. A narrative report answering the objectives of the consultations, and include the following:
   1. Datasets (should be delivered in an excel database structure)
   2. Qualitative data analysis spreadsheets
   3. List of interviewed respondents
   4. 2-page summary factsheet (in English and Arabic)
   5. The report must be structured in line with the RBA framework and the five PANEL principles.
   6. Learning aspects of the findings and recommendations

All collected data is legally owned by FDCD, and the consultant is expected to hand over all data sets. The consultant shall maintain in confidence and protect all information provided to him/her by the consortium partners, employees, and beneficiaries. The consultant may only disclose the extent necessary to perform the baseline.