Baseline and Endline Assessment, Area Assessment and CSO Mapping / Consultancy

Search Lebanon: 

Search for Common Ground (Search) is a non-governmental organization working to transform the way societies deal with conflicts. We have acquired over 30 years of experience in peacebuilding and are based in 53 local offices worldwide. We strive to build sustainable peace for generations to come by working with all sides of a conflict, providing the tools needed to work together, and finding constructive solutions. While conflict is inevitable, violence is not! Our mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. Instead of tearing down an existing world, we focus on constructing a new one. We do this through a type of peacebuilding called “conflict transformation.” We shift the everyday interactions between hostile groups of people, so they can work together to build up their community, choosing joint problem-solving over violent means. We rely on local staff as well as local partner organizations in order to ensure our work is culturally sensitive, sustainable and well-grounded in the context.

For more information, visit www.sfcg.org.

The Baseline/Area Assessment and CSO Mapping:

Objectives:

Search is conducting a Baseline and Area Assessment and CSO stakeholder Mapping, which will feed into shaping the project activities. The aim of the study is to:

1. Investigate security contexts, and local and regional conflict lines in the six targeted areas. This should also include a gender-sensitive analysis, detailing the public perceptions on women’s engagement and provide recommendations to streamline women’s empowerment throughout the project’s activities. This will inform the local actors’ capacity for movement and will define the project’s implementation strategy.
2. Identify existing CSOs, their capacities, fields of intervention, perceptions by their local communities and networks in the six targeted areas. This mapping should also combine an analysis of the organisation’s capacities and profile with its operating context. This will mainly contribute to developing outreach and strict selection criteria for working with civil society organisations as key actors.
3. Based on the above-mentioned levels of inquiry, the consultant will be expected to provide recommendations to inform the implementation of the project in terms of: 1) potential impact in reducing local-level tensions, strengthening civil society capacities, and fostering inclusive dialogue; 2) access and feasibility (including expected challenges related to individual movement and money wiring, among others); and 3) specific CSOs needs for training and support. This will constitute the baseline and will inform the update of the project’s logical framework.

Below are the specific lines of inquiry:

• Understanding conflict dynamics in selected areas including sources of conflict, types of conflict and dividing lines.
• Identifying connectors and dividers among key stakeholders in each area.
• Investigate dispute resolution mechanisms and structures, if any exist, in the six areas targeted.
• Research on network establishment best practices available.
• Understanding the potential risks of establishing inclusive CSO networks in the targeted areas.
• Provide recommendations on preventive measures to be taken by Search to accommodate the challenges that might affect the function and sustainability of the networks to be established during the project.
• Research on the status of women’s engagement on a community level, in each area.
• Provide recommendations on sensitive measures to promote women’s empowerment throughout the project.
• Cast a wide net which will allow us to identify suitable CSO partners in each of the targeted areas.
• Contribute to developing outreach and strict selection criteria for working with civil society as a key actor.
• Understand what key CSO capacities need to be developed, and identify entry points for creating linkages and networks.

At the end of the project, the Consultant will be expected to conduct an Endline assessment to measure the project’s relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. Specific assessment inquiry lines will be developed prior to the Endline assessment, in complementarity with the measurement of the project’s indicators.