Final Evaluation: Strengthening local capacities for social stability in Tripoli & Beqaa” project implemented by International Alert and funded by the RDPP.

Project Background: The “Strengthening local capacities for social stability in Tripoli & Beqaa” project is implemented during the period extending from March to December 2022. International Alert is leading on this project together with “House of Peace” and “Basmeh & Zeitooneh” NGOs. The project is implemented in Tripoli and Beqaa, two areas where social stability has rapidly deteriorated due to a number of factors including but not limited to the economic crisis, political tension between power holders and the lack of an agreed recovery plan.

While opportunities for meaningful interaction between the Lebanese and Syrian refugee communities have always been scarce, they have further shrunk as a result of extended lockdowns, closed public schools, re-focused civil society focus to respond to basic needs, among other factors. Based on Alert’s experience with long-term social stability mechanisms, individuals who have interest and commitment to participate in such mechanisms and engage in community initiatives have also faced challenges ranging from pressure on male participants to generate additional income and increased care responsibilities of female participants related to the pandemic and closed public schools.

In this context, the need for tailored social stability interventions is very pronounced, yet these interventions do need to also address priority needs such as protection, education and livelihoods. The approach proposed by International Alert, its two partners therefore includes two main elements:

Strengthening the capacities of active local organizations working on protection, education and livelihoods to integrate social stability into their work and pilot community initiatives, and Strengthening capacities and supporting youth and women led local committees and dialogue groups to implement initiatives in the community, which respond to locally identified needs and create opportunities for interaction and collaboration.

  Objectives of the evaluation

This end-line evaluation is conducted to assess the impact of the project in order to point out achievements, challenges and to draw on a list of Learnings and best practices so that future projects could benefit from these insights. Not only will this evaluation understand the performance and impact generated by the project especially at the beneficiaries’ level, it will help understand issues like relevance and sustainability, and will analyse the impact of the work in the complexity of the current Lebanese context. The evaluation will also assess the efficacy of the tools used in improving perceptions of different communities (inter-community relations, security incidents involving Syrian refugees, disputes between host communities and refugees, as well as existing conflict mitigation mechanisms) that will lay the foundations for recommendations to effective peacebuilding interventions in those areas. It will also appraise the many actions undertaken to attain the objectives of “strengthening local capacities for social stability in Tripoli & Beqaa” and will help guide further action and/or projects by listing learnings and best practices and analysing the difficulties faced in the context of the implementation.  

The specific objectives are to:

1. Document major security incidents involving Syrian refugees, as well as disputes between host communities and refugees in the Beqaa and North Lebanon.
2. Assess inter-community relations between host communities and refugees in Beqaa and North Lebanon.
3. Explore existing conflict mitigation mechanisms in the above-mentioned areas.
4. Assess the perception of community members toward other groups in their communities in both Beqaa and North Lebanon (Outcome level).
5. Extract lessons learned from implementation challenges, document successful models, and suggest recommendations that can enhance progress towards the impact through a learning paper.
6. Assess the relevance and potential for success of a further project phase.

Relevance

• Does the intervention appear to address relevant key causes and drivers of conflict and fragility in the areas of implementation?
• What is the relevance of the intervention as perceived by the local population, beneficiaries and Alert partners?
• Has the intervention responded flexibly to changing circumstances over time?

Effectiveness

• To what extent were the objectives achieved?
• What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives?
• Would the same theory of change and intervention strategy be suitable for a future intervention?
• What are the direct and indirect, positive and negative, intended and unintended, immediate and long-term results of the project in terms of social stability in relation to inter and intra community relations in the Bekaa and Tripoli?
• What changes can be ascertained in attitudes, behaviours, relationships or practice in target communities and in Alert’s partners?

Sustainability

• To what extent would the benefits of the project continue after donor funding ceases?
• What were the major factors which influenced/influence the achievement or non-achievement of sustainability of the project?
• To what extent do Alert’s partners and beneficiaries see and evaluate the added-value of the peacebuilding and conflict-sensitive perspective in the way they implement/facilitate programs?

Learning

• What were the major lessons learned from the project?
• What were the main learnings/contribution of training/coaching activities and peace initiative to local peacebuilding outcomes?
• What were the main learnings/lessons learned regarding Alert’s selection of partners for the implementation of project?
• What were the main lessons learned regarding mainstreaming conflict-sensitive approaches to local peacebuilding and social stability?
• What recommendations did the project result in that can help Alert in future proposal writing and program planning 

   Evaluation Timing and Duration

The evaluation will be conducted between October and November 2022, with the final report produced during the first week of December 2022. It is expected to take 20 days. The precise timing will be discussed and agreed on with the consultant, however, Alert envisages a preliminary schedule that includes the following:

• Desk review & literature review: 4 days
• Inception report (including reporting on literature review): 3 days
• Development of tools/adapting existing tools: 1 day
• Reviewing the collected data : 1 day
• Internal reflection session with Alert and partners on Learnings: 1 day (including preparation)
• Endline Report Writing: 5 days (20 pages max)
• Drafting a Learning paper: 4 days (4 pages max)
• Finalisation of both Endline document and Lessons learned paper  after feedback: 1 day

Alert will review and respond to the first draft of both documents (the endline report and the Learning paper) within 10 working days. Based on the comments, the Evaluator will amend the draft report and the final documents should address and respond to Alert’s feedback.

   Evaluation Methodology

This evaluation will adopt a quantitative, qualitative, and reflective approach, and will be based on several data collection tools: literature review of existing data on social stability and perception surveys in Lebanon (specifically in Bekaa and Tripoli) includingcontext review, in addition to project documents (including desk review and the collected data by Alert and partners).  Given the learning outcomes to be derived from this project, it is essential that the evaluation process engages Alert’s partners, and the partners’ beneficiaries in the evaluation. This evaluation will build on the results of a) Literature review & Desk review b) Survey results (data will be collected by partners), c) 4 FGDs and d) 6-8 KIIs.

   Deliverables

• Inception report by October 25, 2022
• Finalising the data collection tools (Inputting on existing tools and developing others if needed) by October 31, 2022
• Review of Primary and secondary data by 1st week of November, 2022
• Draft documents by November 12, 2022
• Half-day presentation/ Learning Workshop for Alert, partners and donor, by November 21 2022.
• Final documents (Endline report and Learning paper) by November 30, 2022

All deliverables are to be presented in draft format and at a meeting for Alert and partner staff, before being finalised. All deliverables and data of the evaluation will be owned by Alert and may be used for both internal and external reporting and communications.

Support and resources to be provided by Alert

Alert staff, the Deputy Country Director, the Projects’ Coordinator and Senior MEL Officer, will be available to provide the necessary support (including logistics and the needed coordination) to the external evaluator. 

The consultant is responsible for his/her own transportation and will need to have his/her own computer. 

Alert will also provide all key documents such necessary to perform the assignment.

   Required skills and experience

• University degree in social sciences or relevant fields
• Experience of conducting external evaluations in Lebanon
• At least five years of experience with familiarity for standards of ethical conduct in research/evaluation settings 
• Has experience in evaluations/research relating to peacebuilding, protection, livelihoods, and/or social stability
• Sound and proved experience in conducting evaluations and impact assessments, particularly utilization and learning focused evaluations.
• Expertise in qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques
• Expertise in conducting learning sessions and/or trainings
• Fluent in English and Arabic
• Strong inter-personal communication skills
• Excellent skills in research and data collection
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and professionalism
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Prior experience working on public consultation projects is a plus

   Application process

To apply, please submit the following documents:

• A detailed CV
• A proposal for the evaluation methodology, including draft work plan incorporating the various steps of the evaluation
• Two examples of previous relevant work or writing samples
• Candidate's proposed daily rate and team