Call for Consultant- Final Evaluation Peace Pionears

Terms of Reference for a Final Evaluation

December 2017

 

Search for Common Ground Lebanon (Search) seeks to recruit a consultant to conduct a Final Evaluation for its Swiss Embassy funded project in Lebanon (https://www.sfcg.org/peace-pioneers/ ). The assessment should be completed by the 23rd of February, 2018.

Search Lebanon invites all interested and qualified candidates to apply by submitting their resume, letter of interest, tentative plan, and budget, clearly explaining how their experience meets desired qualifications by the 20th of December 2017 through email to mortmans@sfcg.org.

Intervention Summary: Search for Common Ground is implementing a 14-month project scheduled to conclude February 2018. The overall goal of the project is to stimulate Lebanese private sector engagement in peacebuilding.

 

The Final Evaluation

Assessment’s Objectives: The intended evaluation should be based on the OECD-DAC peacebuilding Evaluation Criteria: relevance and effectiveness, investigating below set of questions, and utilizing and/or addressing the performance indicators described in the project document. The final evaluation will also consist of a comparative assessment towards the baseline findings. In particular, it will answer to the following questions:

Relevance: Are the stated goal and outcomes relevant to the context in Lebanon? Did the project work on the right issues at the right time? Did the activities and strategies fit objectives?  

Effectiveness: To which extent did the project contribute to stimulate the Lebanese private sector engagement in peacebuilding? To which extent did the project achieve to change the targeted stakeholders understanding, perceptions and attitudes on how collaboration between the Lebanese private sector and civil society can contribute to advance peacebuilding in Lebanon? To which extent did the project succeeded in initiating working relationships between private sector and civil society actors around shared values? What were the internal or external factors that facilitated or hindered the objectives’ achievements? What are the major best practices and lessons learned stemming from the project’s implementation? What are the main results from the project, intended and unintended, positive and negative?

 

In addition to the above lines of inquiry, the evaluation is expected to provide quantitative and qualitative information on the key indicators as listed in the project logic:

 

Impact Goal: To stimulate Lebanese private sector engagement in peacebuilding

 

·         of concrete examples of increased collaboration between civil society and the private sector participants to effectively promote peacebuilding

·         of key Lebanese stakeholders who are committing to officially join, in 2018, the Global Compact Network Lebanon with a focus on SDG 16

 

Specific outcome 1: Increased understanding for key stakeholders on how the private sector in Lebanon can contribute to peacebuilding

 

·         # of project participants who show increase in understanding of how collaboration between the private sector and civil society in Lebanon can contribute to peacebuilding

·         # of project participants who believe in the potential of the private sector in Lebanon to contribute to peacebuilding and can provide specific examples

 

Specific outcome 2: Strengthened working relationships between private sector and peacebuilding actors in Lebanon around shared values

 

·         # of participants who participate in project meetings, workshops, and conferences

·         % of project's participants who changed their perceptions towards their own group and the other group stakeholders' ability to advance peacebuilding in Lebanon

·         % of participants who can elaborate on how they will pursue the engagement initiated through the project

 

b. Audience: The primary audience of the Final Evaluation will be Search. Recommendations should emerge from the study to inform current and future programming in Lebanon and in the region.

The secondary audience will be the donor, the Swiss Embassy in Lebanon, as well the peacebuilding community at large, which will use the findings and recommendations to strengthen its current and future programming.

 

c.  Methodology:  Approach

Search approach to evaluation is grounded in the guiding principles of our work: participatory, culturally sensitive, committed to building capacity, affirming and positive while honest and productively critical, and valuing knowledge and approaches from within the context. Search and the hired consultant(s) will agree upon a joint set of evaluation standards when negotiating the final contract of agreement.

The below principles should be taken into account:

● Inclusiveness—the methodology should include a wide range of viewpoints, specifically gender and age-sensitivity when applicable.

● Mixed-method approaches—both qualitative and quantitative methods need to be present in the methodology.

●   Rigor of evidence—gathered information needs to be reliable and transparent

● Ethics—the methodology needs to consider ethics in order to insure that the evaluation is fully objective.

 

In addition, the consultant is expected to respect Search  evaluations standards, to be found in Search evaluation guidelines: https://www.sfcg.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SFCG-External-Evaluatio…

 

Methodology & Scope of Evaluation:

The evaluation will investigate two principal target groups: the Lebanese private sector and the Lebanese civil society active in peacebuilding. The sample size should be adequate and representative of the target groups. In addition, the evaluation should employ both quantitative and qualitative methods.

 

It will draw on the following sources and data collection methods:

Desk study review: Project documents and other relevant sources of data to complete the assessment.

Reflection Sessions: two reflection sessions to be conducted separately with (1) civil society project’s participants and (2) private sector project’s participants.

Key Informant Interviews (KIIs): interviews to be conducted with key stakeholders involved in the project (e.g. implementation staff, research partner, UN Global Compact, etc.)

Survey: Surveys to be conducted with all stakeholders from the private sector and civil society who have been directly engaged in the project.

 

2.                   Implementation Information

                       

a.  Final Evaluation Team

The consultant will work closely with Search Lebanon DM&E and Learning Manager who will be ensuring that all milestones are met. He/she will also act as focal point on all issues including logistics and will sign off on the final papers in consultation with the MENA Regional DME Specialist and with the final approval of the Lebanon Country Director.

 

b. Deliverables

Within seven days from signing the contract, the consultant should submit an Inception report, which clearly defines the study background and methodology, including clear outlines for the data collection tools and research timeline with specific deadlines for each deliverable. The Inception report and the data collection tools need formal approval from Search before starting the data collection in the field.

A draft final evaluation report to be submitted within 10 days of completion of the data collection for review and comments from Search country team and the Regional DMEL specialist. The review and feedback of the report could be more than one round depending on the quality of the report and the extent to which the comments and suggestions from first round have been incorporated.

A final evaluation report to be submitted after incorporating the comments of Search. The report should be written in English, 30-35 pages excluding annexes, and using the Baseline Template provided by Search, consisting of:

-              Cover page, Search will provide sample cover sheet for reference

-              Table of contents, list of acronyms, abbreviations and list of tables and charts.

-              Executive summary of key findings and recommendations – 3-4 pages

-              Background information and context analysis presented per key criteria with a brief description

-              Evaluation methodology with clear explanation of sampling and limitations, participants’ selection and data analysis approach.

-              Research findings, analysis, with associated data presented, where appropriate in clear graphs or charts. The findings can include subsections for each research criteria.

-              Conclusion and Recommendations for future project implementation.

-              The recommendations should be framed according to each evaluation criteria.

-              Appendices should include the ToRs, collected data, detailed description of the methodology with research instruments, and list of participants.

A Digest Assessment of no more than 10 pages to be shared with the wider target audience.

Once the draft is submitted and reviewed, Search may decide based on the quality of the draft whether the consultant may be required to revise the draft, working closely with Search DM&E Manager as necessary.

The report should be submitted electronically in a MS – Word document. The consultant is responsible for English editing of the final report which should be well formatted. The report will be credited to the evaluator and potentially placed in the public domain at the decision of Search.

All handwritten and electronic transcripts of data collection, hard copies of survey questionnaires, photographs taken during the assessment and any equipment received from Search for the purpose of the study should be submitted to Search. Furthermore, all information generated during the baseline study will be the sole property of Search and is subject to submission to Search along with the final report, prior to the end of the contract.

 

3.    Deadlines

Consultant recruitment deadline: December 21, 2017

Deadline for finalizing the Inception Report and data collection tools: January 15, 2018

Deadline for finalizing data collection: February 9, 2018

Deadline for the draft report: February 19, 2018

Deadline for the final deliverables: February 26, 2018

 

The Final Evaluation Consultant: Search Lebanon seeks an experienced consultant with the following qualifications: Proficiency in Arabic and English; Solid understanding of the Lebanese peacebuilding context; More than 5 years of experience in private sector and civil society research or equivalent project evaluation and baseline expertise, including collecting and analyzing data from interviews, surveys, FGDs, etc.; Solid knowledge and experience of corporate social responsibility and related concepts as well as SDGs application in Lebanon.   ; Experience in working with international organizations.; Strong communication and writing skills.; Research and evaluation methods and data collection skills; Ability to be flexible with time and work schedule.; Attention to detail and ability to meet tight deadlines; Conflict resolution/peace building experience.

 

6.  Budget: The budget allocated for the baseline study is up to 6,100 USD.