External Consultant

About Pursue: Pursue is a leading provider of consulting, research and training services in the Middle East and North Africa. With years of combined experience in conflict, post-conflict, and fragile environments, we are equipped to design and implement innovative research and programmatic solutions to complex socio-political, security, and developmental problems. We are committed to empowering local communities and beneficiaries through the provision of evidence-based programmatic and policy recommendations that truly reflect a participatory identification of local needs. This entails bridging the gap between the aspirations of local communities and the priorities of governmental and multilateral actors. Utilising innovative quantitative and qualitative social science methodologies to generate data, we analyse and synthesise results, brief clients and beneficiaries, deliver interventions, and measure impact. About the programme and the evaluation: Pursue has been programming in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon since 2010. Since then, a small team of five Pursue staff and ten camp coordinators have implemented PALCAP, a programme that seeks to increase the efficacy of community engagement in decision-making on issues of public interest (i.e. governance, service delivery, and security) in the Palestinian camps. The key approaches employed in this intervention include: creating opportunities for engagement amongst community members and governance actors (popular committee and neighbourhood committee members) and capacitating youth groups to advocate for better representation, inclusion, and participation. To date, PALCAP has been implemented as a series of five one-year projects. As such, the project has developed organically, iteratively refining a model for supporting community-based processes to change local decision-making dynamics. This spring, Pursue has an opportunity to significantly expand the project in terms of timeframe (from one year projects to three year projects), geography and target beneficiaries (expanding into non-camp settings and targeting Syrians in Lebanon as well as host communities), and sectors (from youth and governance to livelihoods and inclusion). To inform design of the expanded project, Pursue seeks to gain insight into direct and indirect, intended and unintended project results to date, as well as insight into whether different intervention components are complementary, which are most effective, and the extent to which results can be replicated in different (non-camp) contexts and amongst different populations. Therefore, the objectives of the evaluation are to understand PALCAP’s impact on direct and indirect beneficiaries, to analyse the project model and to identify key lessons to be learnt,to improve the design and implementation of subsequent programming. Towards that end, Pursue is seeking to contract an evaluator to design the evaluation in collaboration with Pursue management and M&E staff, independently collect and analyse data, and facilitate uptake of evaluation results amongst project staff and donors. Preliminary Evaluation questions: a. Primary questions: 1. What real difference has the project made to local decision-making dynamics, camp residents’ relationships with governance actors, and residents’ expectations of governance actors in the camps? 2. What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of project results? b. Secondary questions: 1. Which components of the intervention are most integral to achieving intended outcomes? Which are not? 2. Are components of the intervention (e.g. stakeholder engagement, partner selection) appropriately suited to the current operating environment? i. Which components of the PALCAP programming model can be applied to other contexts and which are specific to the Palestinian camps and the current PALCAP project team? Evaluation users: Pursue senior management team are the primary users. The project team, project funders, and key project stakeholders are the audience. Key considerations to guide evaluation design: The project logic is based on a theory of change (TOC) that was developed by the project team and has been refined over five years of implementation and research. At this juncture in the programme, Pursue is keen to test the assumptions that underpin the TOC. The intervention has been carried out in 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon. The camp environments vary significantly. The intervention activities directly engaged a core of twenty youth groups (with 50 members each) and dozens of members of popular committees and neighbourhood committees, and indirectly engaged five hundred to one thousand community members in each camp. However, due to the evaluation objectives, as well as time and cost constraints, it is possible to limit the scope of the evaluation to as few as two contrasting camps. In each location, the project implemented a set of core activities, including stakeholder engagement and skills development with youth groups, as well as the improvement of key services, such as electricity. Following those activities, each location engaged in tailored activities suited to the needs of each community. Project funders, Pursue management, project staff and key partners are largely in agreement about the project’s long-term aims, however, each constituency prioritizes different near-term results, with some focusing on economic outcomes, others on youth empowerment, others on broad-based participation in consultative processes. The evaluator is expected to facilitate uptake of evaluation results through in-depth discussions with the project team (e.g. evaluation planning meetings, in-depth interviews, half day workshop on preliminary findings) and through a presentation to donors at the conclusion of the evaluation. Evaluation design, data collection and analysis should be in accordance with the Bond Evidence Principles. Project monitoring and evaluation data including: quarterly reports, progress reports, and an in-depth mixed methods study on governance (2011), is readily available for inclusion in the evaluation. Management and Logistics: The Pursue M&E Lead will manage the evaluation, in coordination with the Pursue Country Manager. The evaluation will be based in Beirut, with travel to selected Palestinian camps pending security and logistical considerations. Pursue’s administrative team is available to organise travel and accommodation, arrange meetings with the project team and key staff, set up interviews with project beneficiaries (if deemed appropriate), arrange interview venues, and provide translation support for data collection instruments, as needed. Proposed Timeframe: 1. Start date: May 30, 2016 2. Interim findings: June 10, 2016 3. Final report: June 30, 2016 Deliverables: Brief, informal (bullets, not paragraphs) inception report containing evaluation design and plan (timeline and activities), overview of data collection instruments, and data analysis plan Interim findings workshop (half day) with project staff Draft written evaluation report (in English) Final written evaluation report (in English) Two hour presentation to donors (in English) Evaluator qualifications: Fluent English and Arabic speaking and writing abilities. Experience conducting independent evaluations, including evaluations of stabilisation programming. Familiarity with the Lebanese political context and Lebanese-Palestinian dynamics. Availability in June 2016 to undertake this work. To apply, please send a proposed methodology and a CV to: larachidiac@pursuelb.com no later than May 30, 2016, clearly stating the title in the sunject line.