Project Evaluator

Assignment Description: Evaluator to conduct the final evaluation of the project: “Independent Voices: Supporting Innovative & Citizen-centric Content Creation in Lebanese Media”

Assignment Location: Beirut and project areas of intervention, Lebanon

Employment Type: Short-term consultancy 

Assignment Period: September – December 2024

Level of Effort: 6 expert days

How to apply: Please send the application documents to [email protected], cc’ing [email protected], by Monday, 19 August 2024, 11:59 PM local time. 

DRI is looking for an Evaluator to conduct a final evaluation of a one-year project funded by the Porticus Foundation, entitled “Independent Voices: Supporting Innovative & Citizen-centric Content Creation in Lebanese Media”.

Background

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting political participation and democratic governance worldwide. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, DRI operates across Western Asia and North Africa (WANA), Sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe. It maintains country offices in Tunisia, Lebanon, Libya (operating remotely from Tunisia), the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ukraine, collaborating with various international and local partners across several countries. In addition to its physical presence, DRI is actively engaged in promoting Digital Democracy in many other areas.  

Since 2016 DRI has been raising awareness and advocating for evidence-based policies and public debates that foster democratic and accountable governance, the rule of law, and political participation in Lebanon, in cooperation with civil society organisations and public officials. Particularly, DRI is working to expand the democratic space for a civil society-led debate on systemic change in Lebanon, encouraging citizens to actively participate in the governing of their own country in an inclusive and participatory manner. 

In the framework of its project: “Independent Voices: Supporting Innovative & Citizen-centric Content Creation in Lebanese Media”, DRI is facilitating collaboration between a network of independent media outlets, media makers, and digital content creators following a rights-based approach to shed light on political reform issues and the expansion of civic space. The project aims at countering mis- and disinformation and the spread of fake news in mainstream media. To do so, we envision a young media community that works together to deliver high-quality media content about topics that are typically overlooked by mainstream media.

Ahead of the project closure, DRI is recruiting an expert to develop an evaluation methodology and to conduct a final evaluation. The objective of the assignment is to review the implementation and achievements against proposed objectives and planned measures. The report should communicate concisely the findings of the evaluation and take stock of the collected information in the form of recommendations for improved programming and implementation while demonstrating accountability to donors and beneficiaries. Key observations on cooperation with local stakeholders, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, good practices, and lessons learnt as well as cross-cutting topics such as Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion shall be considered. In addition, the final evaluation shall focus on additional OECD- DAC criteria, namely impact and sustainability.

Your duties and responsibilities

Under the supervision of DRI’s Programme Manager, the expert is responsible for:

• Submitting an inception report of maximum 4 pages detailing the evaluation methodology, the methods, and tools of data collection in addition to the timeline.
• Collect data from the DRI project team, project partners, and beneficiaries, using a variety of sources.
• Submit a final evaluation report of no more than 10 pages that addresses the following evaluation questions:

1. To which extent did the implemented intervention contribute to expanding the civic space and promoting independent and new media narratives in Lebanon, and how? (Contribution to social change)
2. The proposed intervention, which aims at creating new, independent, and fact-checked media narratives by young media makers and local correspondents: to which extent was it relevant to the stated problems: the spreading of false narratives by mainstream media and the influence of political parties and wealthy businessmen on the media discourse because of the economic crisis? (relevance)
3. Did the adopted approaches prove to be effective in achieving the intended results? How was the creation of a skilled community of young media makers and local correspondents and feeding alternative media outlets with new narratives, used effectively to create an independent and fact checked media discourse? What were the main challenges? How did DRI mitigate them to reach the intended results? (Effectiveness)
4. Were there any changes in the context or original assumptions that undermined or supported the project’s interventions? Were the alternative media outlets cooperative all along the project? Were they willing to publish the new narratives created by the young media makers and local correspondents? Were the young media makers and local correspondents willing to follow a rights-based approach to shed light on political reform issues and the expansion of civic space? How well were the project activities designed and logically connected to reach the intended results? (Coherence)
5. Are the project results sustainable beyond the life of the project? How will the alternatives media outlets sustain their commitment to original and fact checked narratives? How will the alternative media outlets rely further on the trained young media makers and local correspondents while funding the created content? (Sustainability)
6. How well the allocated resources for the intervention were used to reach the intended outputs and outcomes? Was the intervention well designed based on the allocated resources? (Efficiency)

• Conduct an inception and validation meetings with DRI and its partners and integrate the feedback collected into the final version of both reports

 Your skills and experience  

• An advanced university degree in social studies, political science, statistics, or other relevant fields;
• At least 7 years of experience as Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) consultant in the international development sector and/or public policy field, with a strong track record in evaluating similar programmes in a volatile context;
• Superior analytical abilities;
• Outstanding writing skills;
• Sense of accuracy, thoroughness, and attention to detail;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Cultural and gender sensitivity;
• Working proficiency in English and Arabic