Terms of Reference - Impact Evaluation - Aswat Faeela (Active Voices)

Terms of Reference - Impact Evaluation - Aswat Faeela (Active Voices) Context British Council Syria, as the lead partner of Aswat Faeela (Active Voices), is seeking the services of an evaluation consultancy firm to undertake an external evaluation of this 30-month multi-country youth development project, funded by the European Commission (EC) and implemented through consortium partners (including International Alert and Search for Common Ground.) The project will be completed by 30 June 2018 and the evaluation consultancy is expected to take place from January to July 2018. The aim of Aswat Faeela is to develop young Syrians social leadership skills and capacity through practical action both inside Syria, as well as in countries affected by the Syrian crisis (Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey), and to give them a voice in national and international discourse about peace-building and community resilience as an anti-dote to the dominant narrative around the impact of conflict. It adopts a two-fold approach: firstly to support emerging social leaders to work within their communities to find local solutions to issues that challenge them on a daily basis; and secondly, to build coalitions and advocate around common themes so that they are able to relate their experiences at the community level to wider political and policy priorities at the national and international level. About British Council The British Council manages international development projects worldwide, helping to create opportunities for people and societies to achieve positive change. As trusted international development partners, we work in a range of development sectors, including civil society, justice and security, education, skills and employability, and public sector reform. Working closely with governments, donor organisations, the private sector and civil society, we deliver value for money international development solutions that are both effective and sustainable. In Syria, the British Council closed and suspended its operations in its Damascus office in 2012, having been present on the ground since 1943. Nonetheless, we have continued to deliver cultural relations programming in support of displaced Syrians through our neighbouring country offices and also remotely through local partners still operating inside Syria. The current Syria Directorate is dispersed across four locations, with a primary hub in Beirut. It has a mandate to support host country offices to develop multi-country responses to the Syrian crisis, for overall coordination of the regional response to the crisis, and to develop viable long-term models and programmes for delivering impact back inside Syria. Our vision for Syria is a peaceful and inclusive Syria - where conflict and change is managed in nonviolent ways, the displaced feel safe to return, and all citizens have the opportunity to participate in the political, social and economic development of their country. Project Summary The overall objective is to build the capacity of young Syrian social leaders in order to contribute to positive social actions that benefit Syrian communities in the short-term and in preparation for the longer term transition to a peaceful and democratic Syria. The specific objectives are to: SO 1- Increase the ability of young Syrian social leaders to analyse the context, and understand and recognise how they each experience the effect of and can contribute to change in relation to the Syrian context. SO 2- Develop young Syrian social leaders capacity to initiate collective social actions to strengthen peace building, community cohesion, inclusion and economic 1

recovery. SO 3- Better equip young Syrian social leaders and diaspora to use research and share evidence, to advocate and influence opinion formers/ decision makers. We are working with three groups of young Syrian participants, namely those living inside Syria, Syrians living in host communities outside Syria, and Syrian diaspora living in Europe in particular in Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Young social leaders are participating in one of two ways: As master facilitators who contribute to the design of the project s core learning journey and are part of it, participate in master facilitator development workshops, engage in youth group formation and building, and cascade the core training, community action and further learning components to community builders. They also provide mentoring support and expertise, and participate in the network and in national and international platforms. As community builders who take part in cascade action learning, action research and advocacy workshops and who are involved in collective action in the communities in which they are based as part of the community building activities. Project Results Aswat Faeela aimed at six complementary results to reach its specific objectives: Result 1: Participating young Syrian social leaders have increased knowledge in research and evidence gathering and in taking part in advocacy and communications actions Result 2: A sustainable multi-country network of young Syrian social leaders who can relate their experiences to wider national and European agendas to promote stability and resilience is developed Result 3: Young social leaders have access to and are in contact with institutions, think tanks and experts in the EU member states via the platform and diaspora network Result 4: Master facilitators have the knowledge and skills needed to train others on core peace building themes as well as economic recovery, resilience, inclusion and equal opportunities, peace building and social cohesion Result 5: Participating Syrian social leaders gain and apply knowledge and skills in core peace building themes, as well as economic recovery, resilience, inclusiveness, equal opportunities, peace building and social cohesion Result 6: Increase in community actions to support improvements in communities for the lives of Syrians in the areas of economic recovery, cohesion, inclusion and equal opportunities, and peace-building Project components The project has four components: Core Learning Journey for master facilitators cascaded to community builders based on principles of peace building and active citizenship Tailored thematic further learning on the themes of Peace building and Reconciliation, Social Cohesion, Economic Recovery, and Inclusion and vulnerable groups 2

Community Actions through seed financed pilot actions and scaling up where possible in participating communities Advocacy and Communications through networking and a range of interventions targeted at policy makers and diaspora at a national and international (European) level. The project has targeted the following geographic areas in Syria and neighbouring host countries: Syria: Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and Tartous Turkey: Gaziantep, Urfa, Rihanieh, Osmanieh and Mersin Lebanon: Saida, Tripoli, Akkar district and the Beqaa Jordan: Irbid and Zarqa Evaluation Stakeholders The results of this evaluation are primarily intended for internal use by the British Council Syria and consortium partners to inform future improvements to the project and to transfer learning for other youth programming with a Syria emphasis. Results and findings will also be shared with the European Commission our funder. Other relevant results and lessons learned will be shared with other stakeholders, including international organisations and donors with a youth capacity development remit. Moreover, one of our principal stakeholders are those who have been engaged in the project at the different levels, in light of the impact evaluation being a key process to consolidate and make explicit the learning that the actors have gained throughout the lifetime of the project. Objectives of the Evaluation The objectives of this evaluation are two-fold: 1. Undertake an evaluation to assess the project s: a) Relevance the extent to which the objectives were consistent with youth beneficiaries needs and priorities in getting involved in community development in the countries of implementation i.e. What were the most significant changes achieved by the project? How did the project contribute to those changes? In light of those significant changes as determined by participants how might one reframe the project objectives and goals so that in the future we can maximise the chance of achieving more such changes? To what extent has the achievement of the changes/outcomes been influenced by external or any other factors? Were the social action projects developed and implemented in a manner aligned with local leadership working with existing (or planned) peace building efforts? If not, what could these community-based projects have done differently? The latter is in light of the various local peace building efforts either existing or planned - by civil society organisations (CSOs) and the tensions that exist in undermining or de-railing these efforts with local communities engaged in externally funded initiatives supported by CSOs that do not take into account these existing micro socio-political environments and relationships. b) Effectiveness the extent to which the targeted project objectives were achieved (or are expected to be achieved) i.e. in the rapidly changing operating context, which project results did participants find most useful to them? Which results would they want to target towards in future versions of this project? How were the project overall capacity building frameworks (core learning journey, values-based approaches, thematic learning) effective for youth s involvement in community development? How were capacity building exercises in facilitation and peer mobilisation skills, community mapping tools, action research and advocacy being performed? What seemed to be the most effective and enjoyable ways in which it was cascaded and implemented and how might we help more of those ways happen in the future? 3

c) Efficiency how resources/inputs were converted into results i.e. In light of the learning accumulated by youth participants in this project, what are the alternative approaches they would suggest to achieve the same outcomes? Do they think that the right sequencing of approaches and activities have been implemented? What were the most effective approaches adopted by the project? What worked, what did not and why? Where were the gaps, how should it be adapted and improved for the future? Are there any key areas for improvement? d) Sustainability the extent to which the benefits are likely to continue after the project i.e. To what extent has the project contributed to the capacity building of participating youth so they are active in their communities? Will the benefits of the project continue after donor funding ceases? What is the sustainability we have achieved at both individual and community levels? e) Impact the long-term effects produced by the project (directly, indirectly, intended and unintended) i.e. What are the main impacts and effects resulting from the project on local community development fronts in relation to the thematic areas youth have worked on i.e. social cohesion, economic recovery, peace building and working with vulnerable groups? What has happened as a result of the project? What was the impact of the youth-led advocacy at the individual, community and policy levels? Have any changes been achieved in relation to policy, practice, attitudes of decision makers/policy makers, etc. in the countries where the project is working? 2. Undertake an evaluation to support those engaged in the project to consolidate the Learning associated with the project: Key questions for this evaluation aspect should focus on the following: a) In light of the diverse project consortia, what is the organisational learning that has been accumulated as a result of this project for a) international partners and b) our local partner? What are the lessons learnt that can be drawn from project design and implementation? What is the acquired learning in a) how to effectively support young social leaders in terms of tools, processes, etc. b) how change happens at individual and community level. b) What are the key recommendations for a) overall youth programming in Syria and neighbouring host countries; b) working with youth in conflict and divided countries that we can draw from the project and consortium partners work? Were there specific characteristics of profiles of youth i.e. backgrounds, experience, geographic areas, etc. who had more impact/contribution through their engagement? What were the best practices/lessons learnt we have put in place when creating youth networks locally, regionally and internationally? c) Has the project contributed to UN Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security and ways to give youth a greater voice in decision-making at the local, national, regional and international levels? If so, how did this happen and what could be done in the future to align our activities for a better outreach at policy level. To what extent did it contribute to translating policy into practice? Similarly, did the project have an effect on any of the higher level related peace talks? d) What are the examples of where relationships between partners really helped the delivery of changes/ outcomes? How did this come about and how could we foster more of this in the future? e) How readily is project learning transferable to international knowledge development? f) Based on the participants feedback, what are key programmatic recommendations for continued project interventions and scale-up? Learning from this evaluation aspect should feed into plans for expansion and scale-up of this project and will also be applied to inform other projects and programmes across the network. The evaluation should be strongly focused on recommendations for improvement relating to the central questions 4

outlined above, and in particular if and how activities could be adapted to better meet the needs of the target youth beneficiaries. Execution of the Evaluation/ Methodology The evaluation mission is expected to start from January to June/July 2018. It will be closely designed and delivered with the Team Leader, British Council Syria senior management and consortium partners programmes teams. The consultant(s) is/are also expected to conduct the evaluation in three targeted countries (Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan), as well as selected countries in Europe They should, therefore, have mobility across such identified geographies. Phase 1: Preparation 1. Kick off meeting with the Aswat Faeela consortium partners teams to redefine the scope of the evaluation: reminder of the objectives and deliverables of the mission, sharing of the internal documents and tools 2. Document review: the consultant(s) will have access to the internal project documents (logical framework, monitoring tools, activity reports and other relevant documents) 3. Elaboration of the precise methodology and timeline to be followed 4. Selection of the sample of youth (master facilitators, community builders, community leaders, etc.) to undergo this process in the various countries of implementation 5. Redaction of survey templates, focus group questions (and the content of other relevant tools) 6. Validation meeting on the methodology, tools and planning and agreeing a detailed SMART work plan. Deliverables: Kick-off meeting report Inception report including methodology and tools designed by the Consultant(s) Phase 2: Data collection (secondary and primary sources) The Consultant(s) might implement the following activities but not limited to: 1. Conduct in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries 2. Conduct field visits where relevant 3. Conduct focus group discussions with beneficiaries 4. Conduct quantitative survey with representative sample of beneficiaries Deliverables: 1:1 interviews Focus group discussions synthesis (main findings and quotations) Collected data in a format agreed with the British Council (i.e. semi-structured interviews, field/observation notes, case studies, images, charts, reports, etc.) Phase 3: Data Analysis and Redaction of the deliverables The Consultant(s) is/are expected to provide the final Evaluation Report by 30 June, 2018. This report will consist of (but not limited to) an Executive Summary, main findings related to the evaluation questions, youth beneficiary testimonies for each country, case studies for communication and capitalisation, as well as any other relevant information that will be agreed upon validation of the methodology and tools i.e. data analysis, lessons learnt, recommendations for future action, etc. In addition, the report should consist of list of meetings attended/interviewees, evaluation methodology, summary of field visits and focus groups and any other relevant material, including data collection tools. The final deliverables will, therefore, consist of. 5

Deliverables: A draft evaluation report to be submitted to the Team Leader A final evaluation report incorporating any relevant feedback Applications Consultancy Firm Profile The profile of the applicant(s) must meet the following requirements all are Essential: A minimum of 7 years of experience on monitoring and evaluation activities with at least 4 years of international experience in external impact evaluations for European Union funded projects, preferably in conflict-sensitive countries (Essential) High command of English and Arabic (spoken and written) (Essential) Ability to work in a multi-partner/multi-country consortium project and multi-cultural environment (Essential) A track record in external project evaluations (Essential) Proven experience in youth development/capacity building projects (Essential) Proven experience in working on the Syria Response (in Syria and neighbouring host countries) (Essential) Evaluation of the Bids The evaluation of the technical will observe the following marking grid: Criteria Mark out of Qualifications 45 CVs of the consultant(s) meeting the requirements above 30 Experience and references of the Consultant 15 Methodology 50 Strategy of implementation of the objectives of the mission 25 Overall methodology and tools proposed 25 Quality of the bid 5 Clarity and relevance of the bid 5 TOTAL 100 The Consultant(s) should submit a technical offer by 9 January, 2018 to Fatme Masri, Aswat Faeela Team Leader, Fatme.Masri@lb.britishcouncil.org comprising of: Updated CVs of the consultant(s) Short overview of how the applicant meets the qualifications, experience, and skills requirements (no more than one page) Description of proposed methodology Detailed budget including projected travel and in-country accommodation and subsistence costs. 6