South Sudan: Terms of reference: end of project evaluation

Community Security and Peacebuilding Programme: Duration: 1^st June 2016 – 31^st May 2019.

Background and context

Saferworld is an independent peace building and conflict prevention non-governmental organisation that works to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives. We work with people affected by conflict to improve their sense of safety and security. We also work with the South Sudan Bureau for Community Security and Small Arms Control (BCSSAC), South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS), and civil society organisations to support effective policies and practice through advocacy, research and policy development, and by supporting the actions of others.

In June 2016, Saferworld began phase-II of a three-year programme entitled “Community Security and Peacebuilding (CSP) Programme” in South Sudan funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Sudan. The CSP programme covers sixteen locations (counties) in eight of the former ten states of South Sudan: Juba in Central Equatoria (CES), Yambio and Tambura in Western Equatoria (WES), Torit in Eastern Equatoria (EES), Rumbek Centre, Rumbek East and Aluak-luak in Lakes (LS), Aweil Centre and Aweil East in Northern Bahr el Ghazal (NBGS), Bor and Duk in Jonglei (JS), Wau in Western Bahr el Ghazal (WBGS) and Kuajok, Gogrial-West, Tonj North and Tonj South in Warrap (WS).

The programme is guided by Saferworld’s Community Security approach with major focus on sustainable interventions to improve people’s perceptions and experiences of safety and security. The approach focuses on understanding what makes communities feel insecure and finding locally appropriate ways of responding to these causes of insecurity in partnership with local authorities, the police and other formal and informal groups.

Saferworld works to influence the behaviour of, and relationships between and among four types of actors listed below to achieve our organisational strategic objectives. Through our programme we seek results under four categories or outcomes:

· Individuals and communities have the opportunity and capacity to influence effective responses to conflict and insecurity and to promote peace.

· Authorities are responsive and accountable to people’s needs and their actions help to build peace.

· Civil society plays an active role in influencing authorities and building capacities for peace.

· External actors operate in a way that supports peace, including through their engagement on security and justice provision.

Project objectives and outcomes

Saferworld’s South Sudan Country Programme is rooted in our organisational theory of change. This identifies three essential conditions for peace, which Saferworld works to realise:

• that people play an active role in preventing and transforming conflict and building peace;
• that people with influence use their power to promote just and equitable societies; and
• that people have access to fair and effective paths to address the grievances and inequalities that drive conflict.

In this way Saferworld plays a role in influencing the key people and institutions that, in combination, can make a significant difference to the conditions required to create lasting peace.

CSP programme outcome areas are outlined below:

Outcome 1: (Individuals and Communities) – Selected communities and community action group members in South Sudan use their increased analysis, dialogue, and peacebuilding skills to identify, prioritise, analyse, and resolve local- and state-level peace and security concerns, engage in reconciliation processes and support newer groups. They do this independently and collaboratively through established mechanisms (e.g., CAGs[1], PCRCs[2], and peace committees).

Outcome 2: (Local- and State-Level Authorities) – Formal and informal authorities and service providers, responsible for building peace and security and contributing to community resilience at the local and state levels, consult more with communities on peace and security issues, incorporate community concerns into their related responses, and operate to standards that are transparent, inclusive, and legitimate.

Outcome 3: (Civil Society) – CSO partners and other civil society actors, individually and collectively, plan, facilitate, and implement conflict- and gender-sensitive community security and peacebuilding programming in conjunction with other actors (including formal and informal authorities and service providers). They advocate on behalf of communities for transparent and accountable policies and services contributing to community resilience at the local, state, regional, and national levels.

Outcome 4: (National and External Actors) – National and international actors (national authorities, donors, INGOs, and multi-laterals), listen to community-level peace and security priorities and start to integrate those priorities into national- and international-level policies, practices, and intervention strategies.

Evaluation purpose

In order to guide organisational learning, assess project impact and analysis on community security, we are committed to gathering evidence of the project impact, and documenting lessons and best practice to inform the next phase of Saferworld’s programming in South Sudan. Evaluation is an integral part of our overall project management cycle to ensure effective oversight of the project. This evaluation is intended to assess the (i) relevance and adaptation to conflict/context - the extent to which the programme activity is suited to the priorities of the target group(s) and designed to be implemented in a conflict-and gender-sensitive manner; (ii) effectiveness - the extent to which the programme attains its objectives and expected results/outcomes and (iii) impact– the extent to which our work makes difference on the life of targeted beneficiaries.

The emphasis on learning lessons speaks to the issue of understanding what has and what has not worked as a guide for future planning. It will assess the performance of the project against planned results. The evaluation will assess the indications of impact and sustainability of results including the contribution to capacity development and achievement of sustainable development goals. The results of the evaluation will draw lessons that will inform the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Sudan and Saferworld including the key stakeholders of this evaluation who are the CSOs partnering with Saferworld in project implementation, government representatives in project locations and Community Action Groups (CAGs).

The purpose of the consultancy is to conduct an end-of-project evaluation of the above-mentioned programme in South Sudan. The consultant will:

· Assess the impact of the programme against the programme’s objectives and theories of change and analyse the sustainability of results. This includes reviewing the processes behind the programme, as well as the key outcomes of the programme.

· Analyse which factors and constraints have influenced programme implementation, including technical, managerial, organisational, institutional, and policy issues, in addition to other external factors unforeseen during design.

· Assess Saferworld’s partnership approach and provide lessons learned in relation to sustainability of results.

· Provide lessons and best practices behind community security more broadly to support organisational learning and thinking.

· Lessons that can benefit future programming, taking into consideration community/partner and government perceptions of the programme; how to better integrate women, youth and how the programme can have a greater level of impact.

Specific objectives of the evaluation are:

· To assess the extent to which the objectives and the overall goal/ outcomes of the programme are still valid or relevant in addressing the drivers of conflict at local and sub-national levels in South Sudan.

· To advise how different aspects of the project can be enhanced/improved for future programme design – with a specific focus on how local results can feed into wider reform processes at sub-national and national levels and how to integrate CSP programme with access to justice programming.

· To identify and document the lessons learned and best practices of the CSP programme to support broader organisational learning and development.ng the harvested outcomes as the main source of data the consultant can use the following:

· Desk Review: The evaluator(s) will review and analyse evidence already collected of progress towards results, and test this against our theory of change. The evaluator will be required to draw on a range of internal programme documentation. These includes proposal documents, community security assessment reports, and annual (donor), quarterly and activities reports, harvested outcomes and change stories.

· Focus Group Discussions: Focus group discussions will be conducted with different groups in conflict and gender sensitive manner as part of the assignment to receive feedback on how our beneficiaries and stakeholders perceived the programme.

· Key Informant Interviews: Interviews will be conducted with our Juba-based MEL advisor, programme manager, area programme managers, with selected field based project coordinators, implementing partners (either in person or remotely), communities and different stakeholders with whom we are working. The assignment will require travel to some selected programme locations to carry out interviews and focus group discussions. In addition to the above data collection methods, the evaluator will be expected to employ appropriate outcome harvesting evaluation methods accounting for the difference the project has made among the target beneficiaries. The evaluator is expected to use Outcome Harvesting in this evaluation in addition to other results-based evaluation methods. The evaluator will also be expected to use Most Significant Change methodology to collect at least 2 change stories per partner and select 3 Most Significant Change stories that will be part of the final evaluation report. These outcome monitoring methodologies must be described by the evaluator in the expression of interest, clearly outlining how practically they will be used during the data collection.**Evaluator/s role and responsibility**

· Prepare a coherent plan for the evaluation, to include methodology, evidence review, further data-collection and analysis, proposed consultation with implementing partners, project staff and primary stakeholders, timetable for fieldwork and reporting, and proposed initial draft and feedback process.

· Conduct a desk review of existing documentation these includes: country strategy, proposal documents, annual community security assessments, outcomes collected through regular outcome harvesting with partners and community members, and partner reports and others.

· Design methodology for the collection of data for the assessment.

· Organize and facilitate training workshop for data collectors and other evaluation team members on evaluation implementation, including the evaluation protocol and tools to be used and pilot testing of the tool.

· Develop a clear plan for field visits to collect required data in accordance with the selected methodology.

· Conduct the evaluation in the selected project locations to measure key indicators as defined in the project logical framework.

· Collect and analyse available secondary data to augment the evaluation findings.

· Based upon a reading of the programme documents, propose any additional topics or issues for analysis in the end of project evaluation.

· Analyse and interpret data to develop a comprehensive evaluation report.

· Share key findings and insights from the evaluation with relevant staff through consultations.

Deliverables and outputs

The task and report should be completed by 28^th February 2019. Based on the timeline below, the total time requirement is 27 days, excluding travel time.

Profile of consultant(s)

· 5 years’ experience of leading evaluations and in designing and administering evaluations, including a demonstrable understanding of outcome harvesting approach, qualitative and participatory approaches;

· Strong experience and capacity to facilitate FGDs and KIIs at the community and administrative levels;

• Experience managing a diverse team and providing capacity building and training support;

· Demonstrable practical experience in monitoring and evaluation approaches. Practical experience in Outcome Harvesting, Most Significant Change and Utilisation focused evaluation tools will be an added advantage;

· Practical knowledge of the OECD DAC Criteria for Evaluating Development Assistance;

• Experience developing community security projects in conflict settings;
• Proven ability to manage highly confidential and sensitive information;
• Experience managing projects in complex and dangerous environments;

· Experience working in active conflict environments;

· Demonstrable experience of producing high-quality, credible reports;

· Excellent English written and verbal communications skills;

· Knowledge of Arabic a bonus;

· Eligibility to travel to project locations;

· Sound knowledge of South Sudan is desirable; and

· Experience of working with security providers.

Full terms of reference are available at https://www.saferworld.org.uk/job-postings/terms-of-reference-end-of-project-evaluation

Saferworld invites expressions of interest from teams or individuals with the required skills and experience.

Saferworld is seeking a suitably qualified and experienced consultancy team or individual with a strong track record in conducting end-of-project evaluations for community security and peacebuilding projects.

Candidates will manage the evaluation process with support from Saferworld’s South Sudan team. Candidates will have an excellent knowledge of monitoring and evaluation in theory and practice, and a good overall understanding of how community security feeds into wider conflict, security and development processes.

The expression of interest should comprise:

· An expression of interest (5 pages max)

· Capacity and experience to meet the requirements of the ToR (short CV for all team members, cover letter and samples of previous work relevant to the assignment).

· A broad outline of the approach that you would use to review the programme (1-2 pages max)

· Indicative budget (0.5 page) covering daily rate(s). Rates should be in USD and inclusive of VAT. International flights, visas and international accommodation will be arranged for and covered by Saferworld.

Please submit completed expressions of interest with all supporting information to jobs@saferworld.org.uk. The deadline for submission is 18 January, 2019. Your e-mail must have the subject heading indicating DEG Project Evaluation. Only selected evaluator(s) will be contacted about the outcome of their applications.