RootsLab Final Evaluation and Research Consultancy

Terms of Reference

RootsLab Final Evaluation and

Research Consultancy

1. Background

RootsLab is a collaborative pilot project by FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund, Global Fund for Women, Oxfam and Young Foundation. It seeks to test how best to incubate social change driven by young women and trans activists. The first pilot is taking place in Lebanon, and is being hosted by Oxfam’s country office.

The project is piloting an innovative approach to advancing young women's rights, leadership and collective action, by directly providing resources and support to young women and trans people to help them imagine and develop impactful social change initiatives in their communities. This includes professional skills, connections and networking opportunities, financial resources, access to mentoring and coaching support, and, most importantly, a collective structured process to develop and test their ideas.

Over the past year and a half, 10 activist teams, selected from over 45 applications, have successfully undergone a thorough selection process, a 4-months incubation phase, a mentorship program, and a proposal submission process. The teams are currently in the implementation phase of the journey, and are testing out their ideas for change. In the last phase of the journey, RootsLab will continue to provide tailored support and accompaniment to the teams as they implement their initiatives, and seek to support them in sustaining their work.

The project is providing valuable findings about the tools, resources and support systems required to nurture young feminist activism, innovation and leadership. The midterm review has also highlighted a demonstrable positive impact on the scope for, and quality of, collaboration and intergenerational cooperation within Lebanon’s feminist movement. As the pilot comes to an end in 2019, a review and planning process is underway to build on learnings from the project and inform future gender programming at Oxfam in Lebanon.

2. Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this exercise is to provide key learning around supporting feminist activism and movement building, through conducting a final evaluation of the RootsLab pilot in Lebanon, and assessing the wider state of feminist organizing in the country and the relevant funding landscape.

The RootsLab pilot was designed and implemented with a specific ambition to see the pilot make a positive contribution to the effectiveness and sustainability of the local feminist movement. As such, this review is being conceived and commissioned as having 2 complimentary parts:

1. RootsLab Pilot Final Evaluation (50%)

The final evaluation will answer to the following objectives:

1. Build on the work of the mid-term review to assess the pilots achievement against original objectives and expected outcomes through capturing learning from the different phases of the RootsLab journey, as experienced by the activists themselves, complemented by insights from the project team members and other key contributors (trainers, mentors, and host organizations). This would involve documenting learning in answer to the pilot’s learning objectives (see below).

2. Evaluate the project partnership model and governance structure and ways of working, through in-depth interviews with the project team as well as global and local partners, to assess how far these have enabled and supported the pilot - and make recommendations for the evolution of future partnerships.

3. Evaluate the program’s efficiency and its sustainability in terms of model.

2. Analysis of current state of feminist activism (50%)

The exercise will seek to provide an analysis of the current state of feminist organizing and activism in Lebanon, and the relevant funding landscape. The purpose of this analysis would be to identify the role that RootsLab global partners and Oxfam’s country program can play in supporting the growth of local women’s rights and feminist organizations and initiatives, as well as feminist movement building through RootsLab and beyond.

This part of the research should look at the feminist movement in Lebanon in its diversity, and hence focus on young and grassroot activism, including non-established and unregistered groups, small and independent initiatives, university clubs, within and outside of Beirut. It would also build on previous research by Oxfam in Lebanon which identified the organization’s role in Active Citizenship and Good Governance as convener, capacity-builder, connector, and funder.

The RootsLab project team will brief the consultants on the overall rationale and specific objectives of this research exercise, building on previous work from RootsLab global partners and other organizations as well as findings from the project.

3. Research Questions

Part A

The final evaluation will be guided by the following learning questions:

1. 1. What tools, resources and support systems do young women and trans people need to enable their activism and innovation?
   2. What types of spaces, linkages and connections enable collaborations amongst young women and trans people to advance their rights?
   3. What types of spaces, linkages and connections enable collaborations across sectors to advance gender justice?

A full monitoring, evaluation and learning plan – including full set of indicators - were developed at project outset and will be used to guide the projects’ evaluation in relation to effectiveness and relevance. Additional learning questions covering the pilot’s efficiency, sustainability and governance structure must be developed by the consultant (with support from the RootsLab programme team) to respond to the other objectives of this evaluation.

Part B

The research will answer the following questions:

1. What dynamics are shaping the growth of the feminist movement in Lebanon?
   1. What kind of initiatives, groups or organizations have emerged in the past 10 years in the feminist movement and what role did/do they play?

What challenges have they faced or are they currently facing in setting-up and growing? What were/are the opportunities?

1. 2. What kind of collective feminist action has emerged in the past 10 years? What enabled or hindered such action?
   3. What are the barriers and incentives to young women’s engagement in the movement?
   4. How does the current wider context (structural determinants at the political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological level) affect the growth of the feminist movement?

2. Building on the findings that have emerged from RootsLab, as well as past research, how can activists, supporters and allies challenge existing patterns that hinder the growth of the movement? How can they nurture and encourage those that instead foster movement building?

3. Based on the answers to the first two research questions, what role can Oxfam in Lebanon and the global partners play in supporting feminist movement-building?

4. Proposed Methodology

The research is expected to adopt an insider research methodology, whereby researchers will come from the feminist movement themselves. Rather than applying a scholarly “observer” lens to the piece, researchers will have an intrinsic and tacit knowledge about feminist activism and the movement in Lebanon.

The exercise will follow RootsLab’s feminist principles and consultants are expected to design and agree the methodology and tools, together with the RootsLab project team. As a minimal requirement, they should integrate the following concepts into their methodology:

• A feminist approach, in the process, methodology, tools, analyses and contribution to knowledge; This includes establishing a more equal relationship between the research team and other actors involved in the process; examining assumptions and biases in designing data collection tools; and challenging power dynamics involved in the research process.  An intersectional lens must also be adopted in the analysis. Finally, for the first part of the exercise, i.e the final evaluation, the activists would participate in collecting their own stories, rather than becoming research subjects.

• A narrative approach which involves capturing the stories of the teams and their experience of setting-up new initiatives, through which the learning questions below will be answered. It is suggested that the approach includes collection of individual narratives along with a collective or sense-making approach, to allow people involved to reflect on shared meanings and explore discrepancies in personal and collective stories.

• Triangulation of data with insights from other stakeholders; While recognizing that the activists’ stories are their own, and do not require validation, findings will be extracted from those stories around how best to support young feminist activism and movement building. Such findings must be triangulated with information collected from relevant project stakeholders, which include mentors, host organizations, trainers, and the project team.

• Build on findings from previous research available, especially Oxfam’s and RootsLab global partners’, as well as on RootsLab’s MEAL exercises, reports and documentation.

• The methodology should include both a review of existing literature, at the national and global level, and qualitative field work. Findings will be validated and discussed further in a roundtable attended by current RootsLab partners and allies, as well as selected groups, activists and defenders from the feminist movement in Lebanon.

• A recognition that knowledge is power and that we seek with this evaluation to contribute to a growing body of evidence about the power and importance of young feminist innovation and movement building. This therefore requires an analysis and framing of learning emerging from this review in ways that enable RootsLab partners to make an effective case for more and better investments in young feminist innovation. 

Methods and tools are flexible as per the consultants’ area of expertise and proficiencies.

5. Target Audience

This piece will aim to build locally-specific knowledge around how best to support feminist activism. Therefore, it will serve to open space for local activists to share learning - and examples of powerful change – with audiences inside and outside of Lebanon, specifically local and international stakeholders working on gender justice, including INGOs, women and innovation funds, and donors.

The final product is expected to inform future gender programming of the RootsLab global partners and to make the case for support and resource mobilization towards young feminist innovation processes.

6. Timeline and Deliverables

This research will be conducted over a period of 3 months, starting January 2019, by an external consultant(s). Below is a list of expected tasks (not necessarily in order) to be included in the workplan:

• Design and agree methodology with RootsLab project and MEAL teams
• Attend RootsLab or initiatives’ activities (to get acquainted with the project and activist teams)
• Conduct desk review of existing literature, and RootsLab documentation and reports
• Develop data collection tools and methods (individual and collective)
• Conduct data collection exercise, analysis, and draft report
• Deliver raw data of interviews and data collection exercises
• Validate findings and recommendations in a roundtable attended by RootsLab partners and allies, as well as selected groups and organizers from the feminist movement
• Submit draft report
• Receive and incorporate feedback into final report
• Submit final report/products

The schedule for this review will be agreed upon in collaboration between the consultant and project team.

7. Payment Schedule

Deliverable

Deadline

Payment (%)

Submit and approve methodology

11 February

30%

Submit and approve 1st draft

15 March

40%

Submit and approve final draft

15 April

30%

8. Profile and Requirements:

The consultant(s) will have:

• Required availability from January until April 2019
• Demonstrated experience in research/evaluations related to feminism or gender justice issues, preferably in Lebanon or the MENA region;
• Proven qualitative research skills, in terms of design, analysis, and reportwriting;
• Previous involvement in feminist activism in Lebanon;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in English and Arabic;
• Experience in narrative research/storytelling or similar evaluation/data collection methods (Preferred);

9. Working Conditions

• The consultant(s) are expected to carry out the duties within the agreed timeframe.
• Flexibility to visit the participants in different areas of Lebanon is required.
• RootsLab’s project team will provide the consultants with documentation from previous MEAL exercises as well as relevant project documents.
• The consultant will work closely with RootsLab’s project team to design the methodology and tools, as well as the final product.
• The consultant(s) will follow data protection guidelines shared by Oxfam Lebanon. RootsLab partner organizations maintain ownership of the data collected and material produced as a result of this assignment.

Interested individuals, or teams must submit their technical proposals by the deadline, January 31, 2019.

The Technical proposal should include:

• A methodology for achieving the above objectives and deliverables;
• A detailed work plan, in-line with the timeline and deliverables section above, including number of days;
• A detailed budget for achieving the above objectives and deliverables;
• The Curriculum Vitae for all consultants on the team;
• List of previous experiences that are similar and/or relevant to this consultancy in terms of type and scale;
• Samples of previous work;
• Any other supporting documents.