Save The Children Lebanon: Call For Research – Shelter, Livelihoods, Wash – Refugees And Host Communities

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#000000;"> Term of Reference

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#000000;">Research Agenda: Integrated Response to Meeting the Needs of Children and their Communities

#000000;">Role

#000000;">The identified a research institution will conduct a research to the project of “Integrated Response to Meeting the Needs of Children and their Communities”.

#000000;">Management of the research agenda

#000000;">The research is managed in country office by the MEAL Director who assigns a steering committee for this research.

#000000;">The MEAL Director can draw on a reference group consisting of:

#000000;">Lebanon NFI & Shelter Advisor

#000000;">Lebanon Livelihood Adviser

#000000;">Lebanon WASH Adviser

#000000;">Lebanon MEAL Manager (focal point)

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#000000;">The researcher(s) will travel throughout Lebanon including Akkar and Bekaa. Save the Children Lebanon will provide transportation from Beirut office to Zahle field office and Akkar field office based on SCI shuttle transportation system. Also the researcher(s) can use the guest houses of Save the Children in Zahle and Qoubayat when needed. The researcher will budget only the daily rate versus the days required to complete the assignment.

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#000000;">The Steering committee in country will oversee administration and overall coordination, including monitoring progress. The main functions of the Steering committee will be:

#000000;">• To establish the Terms of Reference of the research agenda;

#000000;">• Select external researcher(s) or research institution

#000000;">• Review and comment on the inception report and approve the proposed research strategy

#000000;">• Review and comment on the draft research report;

#000000;">Time Frame of Assignment

#000000;">30 working days

#000000;">Location

#000000;">Bekaa and Akkar

#000000;">Application deadline

#000000;">22nd February 2016

#000000;">Start date of the research

#000000;">1st March 2016

#000000;">End date of the research

#000000;">30th March 2016

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#000000;">A- Conflict Background

#000000;"> As the conflict in Syria enters its fifth year, political insecurity and instability continues to force Syrians to flee their homes to neighboring countries. The increase in the refugee population in Lebanon has slowed since the last quarter of 2014, partly due to the new border policy implemented by the government. By mid-April 2015, over one million Syrian refugees were registered or pending registration with UNHCR in Lebanon, about 200,000 more than the same time in 2014. Syrian refugees now make up approximately one quarter of the population, and outnumber locals 2:1 in some areas. These are significant numbers for Lebanon, a small country with a population of just over 4 million people, which already hosts the highest refugee population per capita in the world. There are also approximately 300,000 unregistered refugees living in Lebanon and 270,000 Palestinian refugees from Lebanon (PRL) and 44,283 Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS) living in the country. The high number of refugees in Lebanon is threatening to de-stabilize the country and is putting a huge strain on basic services. Furthermore restrictions on refugees’ access to employment reduce households’ ability to cover their basic needs without engaging in coping strategies that, with time and the exhaustion of savings and assets, become more severe and irreversible. Households’ powerlessness to meet their basic needs, including food, shelter, health and education, combined with the poor security situation in the region constitute an instable environment at risk of significant deterioration. According to the recent UNHCR Shelter pool Survey, over 78% of Syrian refugees live within the host neighborhoods across Lebanon (e.g. unfinished buildings, garages, finished buildings, etc.), while 18% are living in Informal Settlements, and fewer still living in Collective Centers and Semi Formal Tented Settlements (SFTS).

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#000000;">B- Save the Children International (SCI) Project Background

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#000000;">SCI is implementing through DFID funding interventions that are designed to improve protection and resilience of Syrian refugees and host communities through integrated Shelter/WASH/Livelihood programs. Approximate 6500 households will benefit from this integrated approach at the end of January 2016 and additional 13000 households will be benefitting at the end of December 2016. The focus is to ensure that the crisis-affected population has improved access to safe living conditions and livelihoods opportunities, is not forced to rely on negative coping strategies, and benefits from improved social cohesion and stability. This project started in April 2015, across three sectors (shelter, FSL, and WASH) with a view to maximizing integration across the programme cycle. The programme also builds on SCI existing operational platform in Akkar and Bekaa where there remains the highest concentration of refugees and commensurate strains on host communities.

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#000000;">The integrated programme is delivering the following three elements:

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#000000;">Shelter Rehabilitation: Living conditions for the most vulnerable crisis affected population are durably improved through the provision of cash for shelter and WASH rehabilitation. The focus of this element is upgrading occupied sub-standard housing in order to reduce health and protection vulnerabilities, whilst also providing a sustainable increase in adequate safe housing. The investment will be coupled with a rental agreement negotiated with the landlord, outlining a 1-year period of secure tenure and a rental reduction equivalent to the value of the rehabilitation. SC will deliver this element through the distribution of conditional cash grants for rehabilitation in exchange for a period of reduced rent and security of tenure. This modality has been selected following a careful analysis of available options, as it provides the greatest flexibility and cost-effectiveness. It addresses the needs of the most vulnerable whilst providing a sustainable, permanent investment in Lebanese Infrastructure. Protection risks are reduced through improved physical security, privacy and security of tenure (thereby reducing the risk of forced eviction). For vulnerable families, this arrangement reduces the threat or experience of physical harm, violence and abuse as a result of not having a secure place to live. Health risks are also reduced through creating a drier, warmer living space with improved hygiene conditions.
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#000000;"> WASH CSP’s: Improved community capacity to serve community needs and reduced competition for resources through Community Support Projects (CSPs). CSPs are carried out by the most vulnerable from host and refugee communities to carry out CSPs, they are focused on infrastructural enhancements targeting water access and facilitating livelihoods outcomes. The CSPs will enable vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugees to work together for a period of time extended to twenty days, as per the recommendations of the Social Cohesion Study. They will also seek to include and benefit the community at large; by collaborating with local authorities and organizations (where possible) to ensure both the optimum results of the projects themselves and the perception of equality and inclusion among all individuals of the community. Potential interventions include: municipal water infrastructures upgrades, rehabilitation works such as Pump Station Infrastructure Rehabilitation or Chlorination Feeding Units, augmentation/rehabilitation of wastewater/rainwater collection, surface water drainage channel improvement and waste management.
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#000000;"> Livelihood: Target groups are empowered to improve self-reliance and employability through skills based livelihoods programming, increased skills base, job opportunities and unconditional cash assistance. This focuses on activities targeting women and youth (aged 18-24), through an integrated approach tackling enhanced employability and group enterprise creation linked to critical value chains. The approach will be based on building essential skills relating to the different levels within a value chain, and will build significantly on the lessons learned from SC’s existing Home-Based Skills Development (HBSD) programme, already funded by DFID. Both refugee and host community beneficiaries will be targeted.
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#000000;">C- Research objective

#000000;">The objective of this research is to provide evidence on the health, protection and economic direct and indirect impacts of the integrated approach that targeted the Syrian refugees and host communities. This research will study the short and long-term, direct and indirect outcomes and outputs of the integrated interventions; more specifically on health and protection vulnerabilities particularly those of children, social stability, livelihood opportunities, local economy, rental market, security of tenure. The research will result in findings and recommendations about the integration process and its effects on the holistic programming approach.

#000000;">D- Specific Objectives

#000000;">The specific research question is:

#000000;">How can positive outcomes for refugees and host community with emphasis on their children be maximized and negative outcomes/risks minimized through the integrated approach or alternative or complementary viable approaches?

#000000;">This would involve identifying, defining and measuring the positive and negative outcomes of integrated Shelter/WASH/Livelihood/Cash programming for Syrian refugees and host communities, and examining the sometimes complex dynamics between outcomes and how they relate to different roles.

#000000;">Sub- Questions:

#000000;">1- The researcher(s) will analyze how Shelter programming affects health and protection vulnerabilities of the targeted population particularly those of children and provide comparative analysis of socio-economic vulnerability vs. shelter condition and security of tenure.

#000000;">2- The researcher(s) will analyze how the shelter programming impacted directly and indirectly the local economy, created livelihood opportunities, rental market, and acquired social stability through the municipality’s / local authorities engagement.

#000000;">3- The researcher(s) will analyze how the WASH community support projects including hygiene promotion impacted directly and indirectly on the health and protection vulnerability of the targeted population particularly those of children and its effects on social stability and local economy.

#000000;">4- The researcher(s) will analyze how the Livelihood programming impacted directly and indirectly on creating livelihood opportunities to access essential goods and services by the targeted population and its effects on social stability and local economy.

#000000;">5- This research will study the short to long-term, direct and indirect outcomes and impact of the integrated Shelter/WASH/Livelihood/Cash interventions

#000000;">E- Methodology

#000000;">The researcher will propose a methodology which will answer the questions outlined in the specific objectives. The methodology should address desk review the key documents, structured interviews, focus group discussions with programs beneficiaries, community mapping, Local authorities, Local suppliers, in depth questionnaire/case studies, typical case line of enquiries, and other.

#000000;">The methodology should include:

#000000;">Reviews of project documents, reports, and assessments, narrative proposal, revised amendment, shelter database, RAIS database, quarterly reports, interim reports, and various related assessments. #000000;">Review of existing data provided by sectors and basic assistance working groups #000000;">Data analysis #000000;">Development and implementation of supplementary tools
#000000;">The researcher will also develop a work plan with clear milestone deliverables and timelines in consistency with the set timeframe of this assignment.

#000000;">The proposed methodology and work plan should be included in the researcher proposal to be approved by SCI.

#000000;">F- Deliverables

#000000;">Inception report (work plan, visit schedule, research tools and instruments, data base etc.) #000000;">Research paper to be outlined as
#000000;"> i. Executive summary

#000000;"> ii. Introduction

#000000;"> iii. Methodology Description

#000000;"> iv. Problem Statement

#000000;"> v. Description and Analysis of the Program

#000000;"> vi. Findings

#000000;"> vii. Conclusion

#000000;"> viii. Recommendations

#000000;">Annexes to include:

#000000;"> i. ToR
#000000;"> ii. Inception Report
#000000;"> iii. Guides for Data Collection
#000000;"> iv. Preliminary Findings
#000000;"> v. Collection of comments
#000000;"> vi. Bibliography
#000000;"> vii. List of Persons Met

#000000;">Lessons learned report#000000;">[1]

#000000;">G- Children’s participation
#000000;">As a child rights organization we need to make sure children’s participation in the research process as one of the respondent groups to ensure their inputs in evaluation design process and methodology. This can be done through for example: involving them and seeking their inputs in developing research tools (children can provide inputs to the development of the questionnaires that will be used for children etc.).

#000000;">H- Essential competencies required

#000000;">Proven experience in Shelter, humanitarian programming, programme design, implementation and monitoring in Lebanon and in the rest of the MENA region #000000;">Excellent written and spoken English language skills #000000;">Evidence of experience in leading participative research and designing evaluation tools #000000;">Previous experience in assessment studies #000000;">Understanding of Lebanon social and political context
#000000;">I- Follow up and learning

#000000;">The outcome of this research will be used to inform the upcoming design of SCI sectors integration strategy for 2016-2018. The research paper should satisfy the minimum standards to get accepted by a reputable publisher and be used as a valid reference. Additionally, the research will be shared with the Shelter/WASH/FSL/BA Working Groups

#000000;">#000000;">[1] The researcher will need to report the process of the research from research proposal to research paper and list what were the successful factors and obstacles. The researcher feedback on the research will help in developing similar exercises and improve the quality of future researches.

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