Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC and Brussels, Belgium, Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - away from destructive approaches towards cooperative solutions. With more than 600 staff worldwide, Search implements projects in more than 30 countries across the globe.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Final Evaluation Consultant (Deepening Peace in the Niger-Delta)
Location: Niger Delta
Design Monitoring & Evaluation: Africa - West
Consultant - Local
About the Project
The “Deepening the Peace in the Niger Delta” Project is funded by the German Cooperation, to support a locally led peace architecture that is inclusive, at all levels of society. The project is in its second phase of implementation (Oct 2019 - Dec 2020), aiming to scale up impact and build on the positive results yielded from successful implementation of the project’s pilot phase (Nov 2018 – Sep 2019). In the first phase of the project, including a period of no cost extension (Jun – Sep 2019), the project focused on Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states, directly benefiting communities in 8 LGAS (Rivers State: Okrika, Gokana, and Port Harcourt LGAs, Bayelsa State: Southern Ijaw and Kolokuma/Opokuma LGAs, and Delta State: Warri North, Warri South-West, Isoko South LGAs).
This scale up phase of the project targets 20 communities in 20 LGAs in the three focus states, (Rivers State - Okrika, Gokana, Port Harcourt, Khana, Obio/Akpor, Asari-Toru and Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni; Bayelsa State - Southern Ijaw, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Ogbia, Sagbama, Ekeremor, and Brass), Delta State - Aniocha North, Isoko South, Udu, Ughelli South, Ukwuani, Warri North and Warri South West) and continued to engage diverse stakeholders including Government authorities, security agencies, community leaders, women and youths, to collaboratively respond to conflict drivers in the region.
The overall goal of the project is to support an inclusive, multi-level dialogue process to peacefully address governance and resource issues driving conflict in the Niger Delta. This project goal is being achieved through two specific objectives and corresponding outcomes:
Objective 1
Strengthen linkages between citizens and local authorities in the Niger Delta to respond to drivers of violence in the region.
Expected Outcomes:
People of the Niger Delta, including militants and ex-militants, feel that cooperation between them and local authorities is strengthened;
Platforms for collaborative response to underlying conflict issues by communities, government, and security are established in project LGAs
Objective 2
Amplify the voices of key stakeholders, particularly women, youth and marginalized groups to contribute to discussions around regional conflict issues and promote peace in the Niger Delta region.
Expected Outcomes:
2.1 Journalists and civil society organizations increase their capacity to report on elections and manage rumours;
2.2 Increase in the number of voices of women, youth and marginalized groups contributing to discussions on regional conflict issues in the Niger Delta; and
2.3 Increase in public awareness and support for peace in the Niger Delta
Purpose of the Final Evaluation:
Building understanding and trust is the most critical precondition to peace building. With the growing population and resultant lack of control of resources such as land and crude oil proceeds, communities in the Niger Delta are prone to conflicts over these resources. In the absence of understanding and trust, intra and inter-communal clashes are rife and further clashes with the Oil Producing Companies are also common. This project recognizes that if members of communities are empowered with non-violence means of resolving conflicts and embrace dialogues, and thus develop locally-owned and sustained mechanisms for conflict prevention and dispute resolution, the risk of intergroup violence will be reduced and norms and institutions favourable towards peace and reconciliation will be reinforced.
To this end, the final evaluation will provide information on the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of the project, for internal accountability and learning which will be used for designing, planning and implementation of future programs and for accountability to donors.
The evaluation will also determine the level of adherence to the planned activities and associated results planned during project implementation.
Objectives of the Final Evaluation are to:
To determine the project’s contribution and impact in achievement minimizing conflicts arising from governance and resource issues
To document outcomes/impact in line with all project expected outcomes and objectives.
To determine the extent to which the project is having an impact on gender and inclusion dynamics, specifically the role of women, youth and marginalized groups in peace building in the communities.
To determine the capacity and motivation of project beneficiaries to sustain the gains of the intervention especially the platforms created by the project after the lifespan of the project.
To provide an overview of the strengths, weaknesses, challenges and gaps in the project implementation, and recommendations for addressing the weaknesses and challenges which will inform future programming.
To provide and share actionable lessons learned and recommendations for the design and implementation of future projects.
Lines of inquiry will be determined more in detail and should include:
Relevance:
How relevant were the project strategies, activities and partnerships to the specific context and objectives of the project?
How relevant were the project strategies, activities and partnerships to the result of the project?
Impact:
To what extent can changes (intended/unintended, positive/negative) be attributed to the program?
What particular features of the program have made a difference in the governance and resource issue conflict in the communities?
What is the influence of other factors and conflict context on the impact of the project?
Effectiveness:
To what extent were the objectives of the intervention achieved?
What components of the intervention have been more successful and what components proved to be more challenging?
Sustainability:
To what extent are the benefits of the program likely to persist after donor funding ceased?
What are the major factors that are influencing the sustainability of the program?
If the project has contributed to strengthening the linkage between the citizens and local authorities to address the drivers of conflict, how sustainable are these linkages?
Methodology
Using Search’s tools and guidelines for working with project beneficiaries, the study will bring the perspectives of different stakeholders together through a participatory and solutions-oriented process that specifically includes women, youth, and other marginalized groups.
The evaluation will be conducted using a mixed methodology that includes both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. This will allow for the triangulation of information, allowing for in-depth findings and recommendations. The study, from conception to recommendations will be grounded on conflict sensitivity and Do No Harm principles, to ensure that the needs of women and youths are met, in ways that do not entrench dividing lines between various groups in the community.
Operationalization of this proposed methodology is to be clearly stated in the application, detailing how this research and methodology is actionable in the states and to the purpose of the evaluation. In addition, the application should include details on logistics and roll-out of the study: who the target respondents will be and why, how will they be identified or recruited, how data collection and data quality assurance will be carried out, as well as how data analysis will be done.
The inception and final reports will be developed by the consultant and/or team, and reviewed and approved by Search. The tools will be administered by the consultant and/ or team, working with a team of data collectors, while the data will be analyzed by the consultant and/or team chosen to perform this research. In addition, the consultant and/or team chosen will develop the report with guidance and reviews by Search’s DMEL team.
Deliverables:
An inception report detailing the proposed method, study matrix, and work plan. It is to be approved by Search’s DMEL staff before starting data collection.
Research tools and data collection (developed by the candidate and/or team with the input of Search’s DMEL staff)
Draft report for review by Search staff and other stakeholders
Final Report, consisting of but not excluded to: Executive Summary, Methodology, Findings and Analysis, Conclusions, Lessons Learned and Recommendations. The report should be structured according to the evaluation questions and should include information on:
All data collected for this research including audios and transcripts for all interviews, and quantitative data entered in a template, based on the methodology used
Appendices, including data collection tools and list of interviewees
A power-point presentation summarizing the report’s findings
