Baseline Study Support to the Civic Space Initiative (September 2024)

Search for Common Ground (Search) is conducting a baseline evaluation for one of its projects. As a learning organization, Search is committed to fostering a culture of learning across all projects and is investing in developing and supporting its programmatic learning opportunities. To do this well, Search is seeking a consultant/expert to lead the study externally as per the details below.

1. Context

About the Project

The “Support to the Civic Space” project is a 24-months project with an overall goal: Empowering diverse civil society actors to contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of their communities.

The overall goal is supported by three Specific Objectives with their corresponding expected outcomes listed below:

Specific Objective 1: To foster meaningful collaboration between diverse civil society actors to engage with communities and key stakeholders effectively.

Outcome 1.1: Targeted CSOs have increased organisational and programmatic skills and capacities to develop and implement sensitive and sustainable collaborative actions.

Outcome 1.2: Targeted CSOs, peace club members, and community stakeholders strategically interact to contribute to sustainable and equitable development.

Specific Objective 2: To foster a safe and inclusive space for civil society actors, led by women, which contributes to the process of peacebuilding and democratic transformation.

Outcome 2.1: The civic space initiative (CSI) has increased internal and institutional capacities to operate a secure and safe virtual platform.

Outcome 2.2: To foster women-led, local, and cross-geographic community dialogue.

Outcome 2.3: To connect civil society and other donors.

Specific Objective 3: To Monitor the progress of the work of the civil society toward its priorities, including the Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society.

Outcome 3.1: Generation of knowledge contributing to empowering civil society and building consensus among community members.

Outcome 3.2: Civil society actors gain deeper understanding of the Roadmap and regularly engage in its participatory monitoring process.

Planned activity streams are listed below:

Structured Capacity Building:

Capacity assessments will be conducted for 24 CSOs to ensure they possess the knowledge and skills needed for effective community-based interventions. Search will implement a tailored mentoring and coaching program based on these assessments. This program will include institutional coaching sessions to assist CSOs in developing and implementing new operational policies and procedures. Programmatic support will cover areas such as conflict transformation, dialogue facilitation, stakeholder mapping, and gender transformation. Online training sessions will be provided to 60 Peace Club members on conducting conflict assessments, with knowledge transfer to other members. Six conflict analyses will be updated accordingly. Capacity-building sessions for CSI members will cover topics such as member engagement, digital safety, non-violent communication, and digital peacebuilding, alongside management and reporting skills development.

Fostering dialogue:

• Community dialogue sessions within target area communities will foster communication and collaboration between CSOs and community stakeholders, enabling them to discuss emerging needs and strategic priorities. These sessions will provide an opportunity for participants to collaboratively identify community needs and entry points for sustainable development, with a focus on women, youth, PWD, and marginalized groups.
• Cross-geography dialogues through the virtual platform CSI will transcend geographical barriers, promoting cross-learning and collaborative problem-solving among diverse communities. This interconnectedness will build confidence among civil society members.
• Cross-track dialogues will enhance vertical and horizontal cohesion among civil society members and civic actors. The platform aims to facilitate dialogues across different tracks, including Track II and III, to progressively shift towards more inclusive dialogue and priority alignment spaces.

Small Grant Scheme:

To address community needs and enhance stability and social cohesion in their respective areas, target CSOs will be invited to submit programmatic ideas that respond to priorities identified during peace club meetings. These ideas should also integrate outcomes from community dialogue processes. The initiatives proposed should align with project objectives, address identified community needs, demonstrate conflict and gender sensitivity, be relevant to community needs, feasible, promote collaboration among CSO partners, have a significant impact, and be sustainable, inclusive, and innovative. The funding process will be competitive and incentivize collaboration between CSOs. Ultimately, up to 24 CSO-led interventions will receive financial and technical support.

Policy Briefs Development:

The facilitators and advisors will lead the writing of the briefs as well as the design of their dissemination strategy. Search will provide technical support in the review of the policy briefs, and will lead the copy editing and graphic design. The papers will notably respond to priorities identified in the Roadmap, and feed into discussions by the project participants. The policy briefs will also seek to document a shared understanding of selected issues and propose sustainable, conflict- and gender-sensitive responses that take into consideration the needs and positions of all groups, including vulnerable groups, such as youth, women, and girls, and people with disabilities (PWD).

Monitoring  the Roadmap:

Search, the advisors and facilitators will lead an inclusive design exercise to define the overall process, priorities, research questions, and assumptions to conduct a joint baseline and monitoring of the implementation of the Roadmap. The Roadmap tackles the roles civic actors could play in the future, the necessity to build their capacities and ensure their sustainability, ways to overcome the major challenges they face, and sets out what the donor can do to support these processes. In alignment with the validated process, the advisors will lead a participatory baseline study, with the support of Search and the facilitators.

2. Goal and Objectives of Study

The Terms of Reference for conducting the baseline study for the "Support to the Civic Space" led by Search for Common Ground (Search). The study aims to collect initial metrics which can be later used to measure the initiative's impact against its objectives in a final evaluation, focusing on empowering civil society amidst the country's complex challenges for the 24-month-long initiative. The baseline study will employ strict and well-informed conflict sensitivity.  This baseline study will establish data-informed practices that will be integral to programmatic decision-making and later assess the program’s relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability.

Specific priorities of the study may be subject to change following changes in the context, in discussion with the chosen consultant/expert.

The key findings of the baseline study will:

To set this project up for maximal success, this baseline study will:

Validate the relevance of existing project indicators and set baseline values for the project’s monitoring and evaluation expectations.

• Assess the relevance and inform necessary adaptations to the project's objectives and overall ToC.
• Identify and assess the selected project stakeholders, including CSOs’, committee members, and platform facilitators’ capacities.
• Establish a reference to measure the impact of the project and track its progress over time by collecting data for project indicators and providing benchmark information for measuring project outcomes based on the project log frame. More specifically, it will:

4.1 Assess the collaboration, organizational, and programmatic skills of targeted CSOs, including their strategies for community and stakeholder engagement. This entails mapping partnerships, evaluating their quality and effectiveness, and pinpointing areas for organizational improvement.

4.2 Assess the initial capabilities of the CSI platform in creating a secure and inclusive virtual space for dialogue and collaboration. This includes evaluating its operational security, inclusivity measures, and ability to facilitate cross-community dialogues.

4.3 Assess civil society actors' current understanding and engagement with the Roadmap, including their involvement in its monitoring process. Evaluate the initial capabilities of CSI in using participatory monitoring tools and techniques.

3. Key Questions of the Studies

The baseline study is anticipated to reveal a comprehensive understanding of current strengths and weaknesses in CSOs' collaboration, organizational, and programmatic skills, shedding light on their strategies for community and stakeholder engagement. This assessment will encompass mapping existing partnerships, evaluating their quality and effectiveness, and pinpointing areas for organizational improvement. Recommendations will be synthesized to address identified challenges, optimize partnership dynamics, and enhance CSOs' capacities for sustainable community impact.

Guiding questions for the baseline study:

Guiding questions for the baseline:

Criteria: Relevance

Baseline Assessment:

How well-aligned are the project's objectives with the current needs and context of civil society?

To what extent do the project stakeholders (CSOs, community committee members, community members, CSI members..) perceive the intervention's theory of change as aligned with the existing socio-economic and political context of the target communities? To what extent do the project activities and strategies complement each other and contribute to the overall goal of empowering civil society?

Criteria: Impact/ Effectiveness

Baseline Assessment:

What is the current programmatic, organizational, and technical capacity of the different target groups in advancing the sustainable and equitable development of communities?

What is the current level of community engagement within the CSOs’ interventions to advance sustainable and equitable development of communities? What are the current subsequent challenges in their engagement?

Criteria: Sustainability

Baseline Assessment:

What measures should be put in place to ensure the sustainability of the project's outcomes beyond its duration?

Criteria: Inclusion/ Safeguarding

Baseline Assessment:

How inclusive are the project's outreach, processes, and activities in ensuring the participation and representation of marginalized groups, including women and youth?

4. Geographic Locations

5. Methodology and Data Collection Tools

Launguage

Data collection should be done in the local language(s) that are most appropriate for each context, but the report and all annexes should be submitted to Search in English. The final report from the baseline process should be provided in Arabic as well.

Logistical Support

Search will provide support to the consultant for data collection. The costs of data collection will be covered by Search, however, the consultant will be overseeing the process and following up with the team. The methodology, tools, and coaching on data collection will be the consultant’s responsibility.

The translation, design, etc. of any tools, documents, or reports related to this study will be the consultant’s responsibility and need to be included in the financial proposal.

In addition, Search and partners will share different elements with the external consultant:

• Connection to Search’s team on the ground who will be the data collectors.
• Lists of potential participants in the project prior to the data collection stage for the baseline assessment.
• Background materials including the project proposal and monitoring data, M&E plan, research reports, etc.

6. Data Quality Assurance and Management

The consultant will be responsible for developing a data quality assurance and management plan in conformity with Search’s Accountability to Affected Population Operational Framework and OECD-DAC Ethics principles and Quality Standards. All documents including reports and raw data will be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Learning Team prior to acceptance of the final product.

7. Key Deliverables and Timeline

Key Deliverables per study

General:

• An inception report (draft and final) that will propose a detailed step-by-step methodology and work plan including a list of stakeholders to be met, initial analysis based on desk review, and tools.
• The raw datasets in excel/ word format from the Baseline study.
• Indicators table, in line with Search’s template, from the Baseline study.
• A Draft Baseline Report for review by Search staff.
• A Final Baseline report (35 pages max in length, excluding appendices) using Serach’s template that consists of -amongst other things- the following elements;
  • Executive summary
  • Table of contents
  • Research findings and conclusions with associated data presented in line with the agreed tools and questions
  • Recommendation for decision making
  • Appendices which include detailed research instruments, list of interviewees, evaluator biography
• A short summary of the baseline report (4-5 pages, template to be provided by Search) meant to be shared with audiences outside Search (in both English and Arabic).
• A PowerPoint presentation (in both English and Arabic) will be used by the consultancy team to present the findings to Search and/or the donor after the final report is approved.

Special Requirements

1. Induction Time for the Consultancy Team

The consultancy team must be provided with adequate time for a thorough induction into the project and the study approach. The induction should include:

• Detailed briefings on the project scope, goals, and expected outcomes.
• An overview of the study framework and specific methodologies to be used.
• Contextual background information, including any cultural, social, and political considerations relevant to the project.
• Introductions to key stakeholders and partners involved in the project.
• Access to all necessary documentation and resources required to perform the study effectively.

Timeline

The duration of the consultancy is around 10 weeks between September 23, 2024 and November 30th, 2024.

The baseline study should be completed by November 30th, 2024.

8. Budget

The total budget available for this consultancy is 15,000 USD. A detailed budget should be provided for the work, including daily rates for personnel, and a breakdown of all costs related to support to transcription, data cleaning, translation, design, analysis, and production of deliverables.

9. Requirements of Consultant

• Proficiency in English and Arabic;
• More than 5 years of experience in project studies, evaluation or the equivalent in DM&E expertise, including collecting data in interviews, surveys, and focus groups;
• Experience in working with international organizations;
• ُExperience working with peacebuilding or social cohesion programs;
• Experience conducting large-scale quantitative surveys;
• Experience in evaluation methods and data collection skills;
• Solid communication skills, cultural awareness, and sensitivity;
• Demonstrated ability to write high-quality, methodologically sound, and analytical papers in English;
• Experience doing similar work in MENA countries that include Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq etc;
• Ability to work with people from various social and professional backgrounds and at all levels, (high-level officials to community leaders…);
• Knowledgeable of local governance (municipalities) context;
• Experience in social development and peace-building in rural areas would be an asset.

Selection Criteria:

Consultant proposals will be selected for:

1. Relevance of methodology to the goal, objectives, and research questions for the project
2. Quality of methods, conflict sensitivity approaches, and quality control measures
3. Qualifications of the candidate(s).
4. Proposed budget in relation to proposed methodology, deliverables and team.
5. Timeline for proposed activities and deliverables.
6. A well-established senior team.