South Sudan: Final Evaluation Strengthening Systems of Peace in South and West Kordofan

1. Context

About Search for Common Ground

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international conflict transformation NGO that aims to transform the way individuals, groups, governments and companies deal with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative solutions. Headquartered in Washington DC, USA, and Brussels, Belgium, with field offices in 35 countries, SFCG designs and implements multifaceted, culturally appropriate and conflict-sensitive programs using a diverse range of tools, including media and training, to promote dialogue, increase knowledge and determine a positive shift in behaviors. In Sudan, SFCG provides technical assistance to local partners in peacebuilding programming.

About the project

Since 2009, SFCG has supported our local partner the Badya Centre for Integrated Development (Badya Centre) to strengthen non-violent conflict transformation in South and West Kordofan with a focus on documenting and reinforcing local level peace treaties.

Our experience has shown that even amid macro-level conflict that spans across regions and borders, local relationships and institutions are key in preventing violence, saving lives and promoting stability. Recognizing the far-reaching consequences of armed violence, numerous communities have crafted creative, contextually appropriate conflict resolution mechanisms that address the structural causes of conflict at the local-level. In South Kordofan, peace treaties have regulated interaction between the Dinka and Misseriya, and the Hawazma and Nuba for decades, for example, while similar agreements have appeared across the region to manage disputes over land, water use, and trade. Yet, despite their significant contributions to defusing local tensions, there had been no attempt to comprehensively document such mechanisms.

Situated alongside one of Africa’s most volatile borders and home to a growing and pervasive conflict, SFCG and the Badya Centre’s 24-month project sought to raise awareness and understanding – and thus strengthen support – of trusted peace systems in two states critical to the stability of Sudan. The Ministry of Culture and Information was a key partner in the project. Specifically, the project aimed at strengthening reliance on trusted peace systems in South and West Kordofan. This overall objective was achieved through three mutually enforcing specific objectives:

1. Collect and catalogue traditional and customary peace agreements in South and West Kordofan;
2. Disseminate findings to key stakeholders at the County, Provincial, and State levels;
3. Engage local actors in the enforcement of traditional and customary peace agreements.

As the project is due to conclude in February 2017, SFCG and Badya Centre are now seeking an evaluator to carry out the final evaluation of the work undertaken. Please note that the selected evaluator must be authorized to work in Sudan.

2. Objectives of the evaluation

Objectives of the evaluation

This evaluation will assess the project’s relevance, effectiveness, impact (both expected and unexpected) and sustainability. This evaluation will be independently led by an external consultant (an individual or a team).

The evaluation will address the following objectives:

1. Assess activity progress and measure the state of the project’s indicators after implementation of the activities;
2. Analyse the following evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability;
3. Extract critical lessons learned and make recommendations.

Audience

The primary users of the evaluation will be SFCG, the Badya Centre for Integrated Development and the European Union. Secondary users of the evaluation include other programme partners, peace actors in Sudan, and the government of Sudan. In line with SFCG and EU Evaluation Policy, the evaluation report will be made publically available on the SFCG website for public consumption. The report may also be shared on the EU website if the Delegation chooses to do so.

Evaluation questions

The evaluation questions will be developed by the external consultant on the basis of the main evaluation questions below, and will specifically seek to identify what approaches/activities have brought good results, and what has been less efficient, relevant or sustainable. The evaluation criteria (drawn from the OECD-DAC criteria)include: Relevance, Effectiveness, and Sustainability.

Relevance:

1. Did the project identify target populations appropriately, given the aim of the project?
2. Were the project activities relevant to the needs of the target populations?

Effectiveness:

1. How effective was the project at building upon previous and/or other ongoing initiatives to strengthen peace in South and West Kordofan?
2. To what extent have the intended results been achieved? Measure the state of the project’s indicators (seelogframe in Annex 1).
3. What challenges arose during implementation? How did SFCG and Badya respond to these challenges, and to what effect?
4. What could have been done differently?
5. What changes, intended and unintended, have occurred in the target population?
6. Where there any missed opportunities by any partners for more effective program implementation?

Sustainability:

1. To what extent are the achieved results likely to be sustained absent engagement by SFCG and Badya?

2. a. Did the project build on previous and/or other ongoing initiatives to strengthen peace in South Kordofan?

3. b. What are the characteristics of the project or context dynamics that enable or impede the sustainability of results?

4. Assess what activities can be sustained and outline modalities in detail.

Methodology

The evaluation methodology will be proposed by the external consultant, and finalized with the SFCG’s support. The methodology should take into consideration the current security situation in all locations and other constraints to data collection like the need for government approval. The external consultant will be responsible to develop the methodology and tools for the final evaluation, specifying:

• The approach
• The data collection tools
• The data collection sites
• The methodology to select participants

Deliverables

SFCG expects the following deliverables from the external consultant:

• An evaluation plan (inception report) detailing a proposed methodology, calendar and written evaluation tools for a final evaluation;
• Training of enumerators;
• Supervision and participation in data collection;
• Oversight of the data coding process;
• Analysis of the data collected and production of a draft evaluation report in English, for review by SFCG staff and other stakeholders;

• A Final Report in English (40 pages max in length, excluding appendices) that consists of:

• Table of contents

• Abbreviations

• Executive summary of methodology, limitations, key findings and recommendations

• Background information (project specifics)

• Methodology: Objectives, data collection and analysis and limitations of the study

• Research findings, analysis, with associated data presented (should be structured around the main objectives/evaluation criteria and should cover all indicators)

• Indicator table showing project outcomes by indicator

• Conclusions and recommendations for future action (clearly based on presented findings

• Appendices, which include detailed research instruments, list of interviewees, terms of references and evaluator(s) brief biography

• Submission of the data bases and all collected qualitative data to SFCG.

Logistical Support

The Badya Centre and the Sudanese Ministry of Culture and Information will provide logistical support for the data collection (vehicles, fuel, and drivers).

In addition, SFCG and the Badya Centre and the Ministry of Culture and Information will share the following elements with the external consultant:

• Background materials including the project proposal and logframe, the M&E plan, quarterly reports, and other materials as requested by the external consultant;
• The methodology, tools and report of the baseline;
• Other quantitative and qualitative data collected by project staff during the project.

Timeframe

The evaluation should be conducted in January 2016. The table below provides details with regard to the calendar.

Activities

Dates

Signature of contract with the consultant - 12 December 2016

Inception report submitted by the consultant with methodology and tools - 18 December 2016

Review of methodology and tools by SFCG - 06 January 2017

Training of enumerators and data collection - 16-26 January 2017

First draft of the evaluation report submitted by the consultant to SFCG - 10 February 2017

SFCG shares its comments on the first draft with the consultant - 17 February 2017

Final evaluation report submitted by the consultant to SFCG - 24 February 2017

Budget The budget will not to exceed 6,000 EUR.

Requirements of consultant

• The following skills and experience are expected by SFCG for our evaluator for this project:
• Proficiency in English and Arabic (written and spoken);
• More than 5 years of experience in project evaluation or the equivalent in DM&E expertise, including collecting data in interviews, surveys and focus groups;
• Experience working with international organizations;
• Experience conducting quantitative surveys and analysis;
• Evaluation methods and data collection skills;
• Permission/access to work in Sudan.

In addition, the consultant is required to respect the following Ethical Principles[1]:

• Comprehensive and systematic inquiry: Consultant should make the most of the existing information and full range of stakeholders available at the time of the review. Consultant should conduct systematic, data-based inquiries. He or she should communicate his or her methods and approaches accurately and in sufficient detail to allow others to understand, interpret and critique his or her work. He or she should make clear the limitations of the review and its results.
• Competence: Consultant should possess the abilities and skills and experience appropriate to undertake the tasks proposed and should practice within the limits of his or her professional training and competence.
• Honesty and integrity: Consultant should be transparent with the contractor/constituent about: any conflict of interest, any change made in the negotiated project plan and the reasons why those changes were made, any risk that certain procedures or activities produce misleading review information.
• Respect for people: Consultant respect the security, dignity and self-worth of respondents, programmeparticipants. Consultant has the responsibility to be sensitive to and respect differences amongst participants in culture, religion, gender, disability, age and ethnicity.

In addition, the consultant will respect SFCG’s evaluations standards, to be found in SFCG’s evaluation guidelines: http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/ilt/dme_guidelines.html

Applications

To apply, interested candidates (individuals or teams) are requested to submit the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae;
• Short biography/ies of the candidate(s);
• A technical proposal proposing a methodology for the evaluation;
• A financial proposal for the completion of the aforementioned deliverables;
• A copy of one evaluation conducted by the candidate(s) in English.

Applications must be submitted by email before December,22 2016 to gsolanet@sfcg.organdeabdelsadig@sfcg.org with alemon@sfcg.org in copy, indicating the following email subject title “Consultancy: Final Evaluation Strengthening Systems of Peace in South and West Kordofan”.

[1]Adapted from the American Evaluation Association Guiding Principles for Evaluators, July 2004