Feminist Nexus Research consultancy for Humanitarian programme in Lebanon

Consultancy Information Overview

Consultancy Title

Feminist Nexus Research consultancy for Humanitarian programme in Lebanon

Length

30 days

Proposed Date

February – March 2022

Rationale for the Research

Background:

The Humanitarian – Development – Peace ‘Nexus’ has been an ongoing and long debate, referring to the interlinkages between humanitarian, development and peace actors. This approach is not new - it has been proposed many times as a framework that takes in account both the immediate and long-term needs of affected populations and is a continuation of long-running efforts in the humanitarian and development fields, such as disaster risk reduction and linking relief rehabilitation and development.

Nevertheless, since the concept’s proposal, the international community has been struggling with how to operationalize it. Unlike previous efforts, however, the nexus dialogue has now progressed beyond a programmatic or conceptual approach – with greater recognition on the key role of a ‘survivor led’ and localised approach. Ongoing conversations call out the sector on its struggles to align, predict, prevent, prepare for, respond, and recover from shocks and stressors. Humanitarian action must be completement with development investments, with the current system not being fit for purpose – and we need to take a step further towards recognising the importance of local women-led interventions, bringing a feminist lens to the nexus.

Why this research?

The current context of the Covid-19 pandemic brings to focus the critical role of local women actors in humanitarian operations at all stages of humanitarian action. It has highlighted the need for rapid, local response, as well as harnessing the global will to “Bounce Back Better” and support communities to be more resilient.

This alongside climate and conflict as key drivers of risk, have shown the need of women leaders building the bridge. Yet, the WPS ‘relief and recovery’ pillar is narrowly focused on short term post-conflict efforts, with women’s distinctive roles being forgotten or not recognised.

The new global world context of Covid-19 and the disproportionate impact it has had on women and girls highlights the need to understand how local, women-led interventions can support ongoing sector-wide challenge – taking on learning from our women leaders.

The research will deep-dive in the lived experiences of our WROs/WLOs partners in Haiti, Lebanon, Somaliland and Myanmar, to argue that:

1. Local, women led interventions have the potential to bridge the gap between humanitarian, development and conflict interventions and tackle the root causes of shocks and stressors.
2. The aid sector needs to invest in local women led interventions and shift power, - decision making and funds to WRO for higher quality interventions. 

The Consultancy assignment will include coordination with relevant Actioanid Arab region staff and local partners. The proposed assignment will utilize a variety of methods to collect and analyses data – using participatory methods in the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data.

Overview of consultancy

This consultancy will involve working with ActionAid staff and women right organizations (WRO) partners in country, providing a process for them to lead on and shape research and analysis on women’s leadership role in responding to crisis in their community/region.

They will document the experiences of local and national WROs throughout their support in humanitarian, development and peacebuilding activities - exploring the synergies, as well as the fact that often this work is done without labels.

The consultant will support in co-designing the research study approach and tools, supporting the interview and data collection findings findings, and support in the development of a short summary brief of key emerging themes in the context.

This consultancy will be managed by ActionAid Arab region, and it is expected that it will be done over the months of February and March.

Deliverables

The key deliverables related to this consultancy consist of the following deliverables to be shared and discussed with AAAR before approval:

1. A quality review of literature of the nexus debate and key trends to date in Lebanon.

1. Quantitative and qualitative primary research conducted by the consultant including developing the questions using ActionAid’s feminist research guidelines, main interviews are:

- Key Informant Interviews with 4 Women-led Organization representatives.

- Key Informant Interviews with 2 Municipalities representatives.

- Focus Group Discussion with 280 women and young women (AAAR Protection Action Groups and Women Circles).

1. Provide English transcription of the interviews. 

1. Success stories of women leadership demonstrating the impact of local women led intervention in Lebanon (4).

1. Analysis report of findings and key emerging themes to connect interlinkages and synergies of women-led approaches across the nexus (humanitarian, peace and development work) within the different country contexts.