Project Evaluator

Assignment Description: Evaluator to conduct the final evaluation of the project: “Localising political reform in Lebanon: Supporting local governments and civil society to effect change in their communities”

Assignment Location: Beirut and project areas of intervention, Lebanon

Employment Type: Short-term consultancy 

Assignment Period: July–December 2024

Level of Effort: 20 days

How to apply: Please send the application documents to [email protected] cc’ing [email protected], by Sunday, 26 May 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 German Federal Foreign office, entitled “Localising political reform in Lebanon: Supporting local governments and civil society to effect change in their communities”.

Background

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a non-partisan, independent, not-for-profit organisation registered in Berlin. It has been established in Lebanon since 2016. DRI promotes political participation of citizens, accountability of state bodies and the development of democratic institutions worldwide. Democratic discourse is the basis of our mission and vision. In our work, we facilitate discussion and exchange about democratic government and the need for a continuous discourse adhering to democratic rules.   

In the framework of the project “Localising political reform in Lebanon: Supporting local governments and civil society to effect change in their communities”, DRI is contributing to setting the political reform agenda through building a community of change makers at the national and local levels. The project aims at equipping reform-minded public officials and civil society actors with the right tools and resources to fulfil their mission and vision in an inclusive and accountable way. Thus, they will be able to better implement and advocate for the change they want to see and gain greater leverage to impact the institutions and the communities they serve.

Ahead of the project closure, DRI is recruiting an expert to develop an evaluation methodology and to conduct a final evaluation. The main 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 no more than 7 pages (excluding annexes) that includes:  

1. An evaluation methodology introducing survey questionnaires and guiding questions for the key informant interviews and/or focus group discussions, list of stakeholders to be consulted, proposed sampling approach, based on the inception meeting with DRI team and partners;
2. A list of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and tools.

• Submitting a final evaluation report of no more than 15 pages that includes:

1. Key findings linked to evidence and data collected during the evaluation research phase.
2. Assessment of whether the project has met its expected results as per the project’s logical framework;
3. Assessment of the findings in relation to the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria.
4. Identification of success stories and Most Significant Change;
5. Formulation of lessons learned from the project’s implementation and providing recommendations to improve design and delivery of similar projects.
6. Identification of opportunities for the sustainability and localisation of the project achieved results;
7. Assessment of the Gender and Diversity mainstreaming in project design and implementation with recommendations to improve outcomes.

• Conducting 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