Concordis International
Consultance en évaluation de la consolidation de la paix pour la République Centrafricaine
Honoraires maximum : 20 000 €
Date limite : 23h59 le 4 août 2024
Date de début optimale : mi-août à fin août
Transformer le conflit autour de la transhumance saisonnière du bétail dans le nord de la RCA Évaluation indépendante d’un programme de deux ansFinancé par l’Union européenne (NDICI CRISIS FPI/2022/432-570) Les documents du programme sont en français. Le rapport doit être produit en français ou en anglais.
Aperçu
Le programme nécessitant une évaluation indépendante a duré 27 mois et avait pour objectif global de transformer le conflit autour de la transhumance saisonnière du bétail dans le nord de la RCA en atteignant les objectifs spécifiques suivants :
- Augmenter la résilience locale aux conflits et aux effets du changement climatique ;
- Permettre aux parties prenantes d’identifier et de traiter les causes profondes du conflit ;
- Mettre en œuvre des recommandations qui apportent durabilité et confiance dans la consolidation de la paix ;
- Surveiller, impacter, maintenir la responsabilité et permettre l’évolutivité du programme ;
- Soutenir les décideurs avec des politiques qui transforment le conflit.
Peacebuilding Evaluation Consultancy for Central African Republic
Maximum fee: €20,000
Deadline: 23.59 on 4th August 2024. Optimum Start Date: Mid to late August
Transforming conflict around seasonal cattle transhumance in northern CAR
Independent evaluation a two-year programme
funded by the European Union (NDICI CRISIS FPI/2022/432-570)
Programme documents are in French. Report must be produced in either French or English
Overview
The programme requiring independent evaluation lasted 27-months and had the Overall Objective of transforming the conflict around seasonal cattle transhumance in Northern CAR by achieving the following Specific Objectives:
- Increased local resilience to conflict and the effect of climate change;
- Enable stakeholders to identify and address root causes of the conflict;
- Implement recommendations that bring sustainability and confidence in peacebuilding;
- Monitor, impact, maintain accountability and enable scalability of the programme;
- Support decision makers with policies that transform conflict.
To meet these objectives, the team worked impartially and inclusively with a wide range of local, regional and transnational actors.
They worked alongside Advisory Groups made up of over 300 local peacebuilders and 140 Community Mediators from across the zone, who supported the design and delivery of programme activities, provided an early warning of conflicts arising, and were the first responders to prevent community tensions escalating into violence. Over 660 conflicts were resolved by this group, and they referred over 90 more dangerous conflicts to the lawful authorities.
The team facilitated 19 workshops / peace conferences to address root causes of conflicts arising. These included two cross-border peace conferences, which involved prefects from CAR and Chad.
The team sought to build confidence in and sustainability of the peace process through a number of tangible inputs, including extensive livestock vaccination programmes, infrastructure projects and income generating activities to improve the sustainability of the Advisory Groups.
To ensure (and measure) local accountability and breadth of impact, the team consulted over 3,000 people from across the zone, analysing the nuanced and fast-evolving conflict dynamics and generating a report of their findings. These findings also measure attitudinal and behavioural change against baselines taken in similar consultations in 2019 and 2021.
The team then sought to improve governance and to enhance communication between decision makers and those affected by their decisions with a series of advocacy meetings and participation in high-level conferences. These disseminated recommendations arising from workshops and the findings of the consultation.
Background
Concordis works alongside those involved in or affected by armed conflict, helping them find workable solutions that address the root causes of conflict and contribute to lasting peace and economic development. We’re committed to finding solutions that benefit women as well as men, those who choose not to take up arms and those who choose to do so, national governments as well as civil society.
Since 2018, Concordis has worked in CAR’s northern prefectures of Ouham-Pendé, (including Lim Pendé and the sub-prefecture of Markounda), Bamingui-Bangoran and Vakaga, in the north of the Central African Republic. These include important corridors for seasonal livestock migration to and from Chad, Cameroon, and Sudan’s Darfur. This area is a crucial node for regional trade, but transhumance can also create tensions, where herders and farmers find themselves on opposite sides of armed conflict, as well as in conflict over natural resources.
The maximum fee is €20,000, to include all expenses incurred, and it’s anticipated the lead evaluation would engage three sub-consultants to undertake evaluations in the three northern prefectures. More competitive bids will be considered.
The overarching Theory of Change is that:
IF populations are willing and able to manage conflict and trade to mutual benefit at a local level
THEN this increases their resilience to shocks caused by national and international stresses, whether political, violent or due to the effects of climate change.
The aim of the programme is to create pockets of peaceful coexistence, in which the authorities can govern, herders, farmers and others can coexist peacefully, livelihoods can be pursued and conflict can be transformed.
Purpose of the evaluation
The independent evaluation consultant is expected to:
- Use the indicators and sources of verification detailed in the logframe to assess the extent to which the programme met its Overall Objective and five Specific Objectives.
- Test and comment on the theories of change.
- Measure the extent to which activities have contributed to positive changes in the conflict dynamics, good governance, sustainable peace and good practices in peaceful conflict resolution linked to migrant pastoralism in CAR, documenting specific examples.
- Identify unintended impacts, both positive and negative, and generate lessons learned opportunities for improvement in future programming.
- Produce a report that will demonstrate accountability of Concordis’ work, both to the donor and to the wider population in the region.
- Comment on the sustainability of the programme beyond the implementing period.
In fulfilling this purpose, the evaluator might seek to answer six specific evaluation questions:
- Was the programme successfully designed and implemented?
- How has the project in Northern CAR changed the perception of different groups of herders and farmers towards one another? To what extent do these actors now recognise the legitimate interests of each other?
- To what extent did the projects strengthen the capacity of local actors (Advisory Group members, Community Mediators, Traditional leaders, local authorities, technical services, security services etc.) to respond, prevent, manage, and transform conflict, as well as promote peace in North CAR?
- What was the impact of the vaccination campaigns and infrastructure projects in Ouham Pendé and Bamingui Bangoran?
- How responsive was the project action to the evolving conflict dynamics, i.e., did they adapt to emerging socio-economic, security and developments in Northern CAR during the project implementation period?
- Did the project succeed to deliver this programme in a fair and inclusive way, having regard to the views, needs and aspirations of women as well as men, young and old, herder and farmer, and people from different ethnic groups?
Evaluation Methodology
The Evaluation Consultant will conduct the following activities:
- Desk Review: Documents to be reviewed include:
- Project Proposal and logical framework
- Donor reports including a draft final report
- Activity reports on each activity
- Feedback evaluations of key activities
- Action plans prepared by the three Advisory Groups
- Recommendations of Workshops and the Cross-border agreements / Engagement Acts
- The Consultation reports for 2021 and 2024, with accompanying datasets from 2019, 2021 and 2023 (analysed summaries are available)
- Reports on the Livestock Vaccination Programme and Infrastructure projects
- Photos and radio broadcasts
- Training materials
- Interviews with project staff team members
- Key Informant Interviews and Focus Groups with:
- Advisory Group members and community mediators
- Civil society organisations including women’s organisations and youth groups
- The local authorities
- Traditional leaders of both settled communities and herder groups
- Technical service agents (FNEC, ANDE, ACDA)
- At least one day of interviews in each prefecture with people from the villages and cattle corridors outside the prefectural capital.
- Protagonists from conflicts flagged up by the Early Warning System and managed / resolved by Advisory Group members or Community Mediators
The Evaluation Consultant will have regard to their findings in the Desk Review in selecting appropriate interviewees, and the Concordis staff will be able to support and advice in this and in getting access to those selected.
Deliverables and timeframes
The optimum start date would be mid to late August 2024.
The number of working days to complete the evaluation will is anticipated to be around 30-40 working days over approximately six to seven weeks, including a week of data collection undertaken concurrently by three sub-consultants.
Briefing with the Concordis Staff Team Managers: Introductions, verbal briefings, discussion of the scope of work and other emerging issues that may affect the evaluation
1 day
Desk review of the project documents
10 days
Evaluation plan submitted to Concordis
Day 11
Interviews with members of the Concordis Staff Team
It is anticipated that these will be concurrent with KII and focus groups discussions. Some of these staff will be in Bangui, some in the prefectural capitals and the Programme Director is in London and reachable online)
Concurrent with the below
Key Informant Interviews and focus group discussions in each of the three prefectures.
It is anticipated that these will be undertaken by three sub-consultants and will be undertaken concurrently.
Depending on local flight availability, they would fly from Bangui to the prefectural capital and return a week later
8 days
Final interviews with members of the Concordis Staff Team
1 day
Draft report submitted to Concordis
8 days after the final staff interviews
Reception of Concordis’ comments (written or verbal)
7 days after submission of the draft report
Submission of final report
5 days after receipt of comments from Concordis
Presentation of the key findings of the final report, with slides, to the European Union and Concordis staff
1 day
Logistics
The quoted fee will be a maximum of EUR 20,000 and must include provision for all international travel, visa costs, in-country travel, accommodation international medical and evacuation insurance. Concordis can offer logistical support in booking accommodation and internal transport.
Required Skills and Experience
The evaluation team will be comprised of one or two lead experts and at least three sub-consultants.
Qualifications of the lead evaluation consultant:
- Experience evaluating conflict transformation projects worth and more than 1 million EUR for major international donors, including the European Union.
- Demonstrated knowledge of the theory and practice of evaluating peacebuilding programmes, including desired evaluation approaches.
- Strong working knowledge of conflict dynamics in the Central African Republic.
- Robust understanding of grassroots mediation and peacebuilding.
- Professional level French language skills are essential. Programme reports are in French, interviews will be in French, Sango, Fulfulde and Arabic (Concordis’ staff team can provide translation into French).
- English skills are desirable.
- The report must be produced in either English or French.
How to apply
Application process
Send the following documents to [email protected] before 23.59 hrs on 4th August 2024:
- CV of proposed expert(s)
- Covering letter (max 2 pages) outlining relevant experience
- Proposed budget for the evaluation
- Excerpt or full evaluation report of a comparable project