FINAL EVALUATION FOR THE PROJECT “Action for Interreligious and Intercultural Pluralism in Niger and Nigeria” 198 views0 applications

1. Context:

While the economic, religious and linguistic make up of Nigeria and Niger differ significantly, both share similarities in the root causes and effects of cultural and religious intolerance. Rivalries amongst leaders and internal political tensions are based on ethnic, religious and regional differences, reinforced through political patronage systems and zero-sum politics. Strong ethnic and tribal identity and a widespread ignorance about the ‘other’ perpetuate cultural prejudice and conflict. Economic spaces and access to resources are perceived to be divided along ethnic and religious lines. With growing youth unemployment, limited access to information and a prevalence of propaganda appearing on social media, young people are increasingly vulnerable to religious extremism, perceiving opportunities for economic and social mobility. Fundamentalist groups such as Boko Haram are active in both countries, resulting in violence, displacement and further division along ethnic, religious and cultural lines.

2. PROJECT SUMMARY:

The action postulates that human behaviour is influenced by four drivers (Academic discourse, the normative/regulatory environment, religious discourse and the socio-cultural / dominant logic). It, thus, follows a fourfold approach by 1) developing and disseminating academic and cultural material, 2) strengthening networks and platforms, 3) promoting public discourse and 4) advocating for changes at government level. Academic institutions will conduct research into the barriers and enablers of cultural and religious pluralism, establishing a baseline and midline for the action as well as informing activities. To counter divisive narratives in academic, cultural and media spaces, post-graduate students will be supported to write theses on the action’s core themes, artists will be commissioned to develop and exhibit work that promotes pluralism and journalists will be trained in impartiality and neutrality. Regular multi-stakeholder platforms including conferences and exchanges will be held for target groups to come together including CSOs, religious and community leaders, government actors, representatives from the target community including youth and women, academia and artists. School personnel will receive training on cultural and religious tolerance and prevention of violent extremism in school, artwork such as murals will be installed in schools and cartoons/story books promoting multiculturalism and inclusion will be disseminated to children. Training will be delivered to CSOs on advocacy, while community and religious leaders will participate in workshops on legal instruments, including national law and human rights, and advocacy meetings will be held with government stakeholders.

3. SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY

We are looking for a consultant to evaluate the Action for Interreligious and Intercultural pluralism in Nigeria and Niger Project (Zaman Tare project), and to capture the key learning generated from the project, covering the period of the project February 2018 to January 2022. The learning paper would also focus on the effectiveness of CAFOD’s use of multi-media approaches to engage youths and women. This are target groups that the project equally intended to strengthen their engagement in Peace building and social cohesion mechanisms within the targeted communities.

4. EVALUATION PURPOSE AND TARGET AUDIENCE

The overall purpose of the consultancy is to:

a) Understand the outcomes of the Zaman Tare project

b) Guide the design of future peacebuilding actions in CAFOD

c) Share learning and good practice in relation to the following subthemes

There will be 2 distinct parts to this consultancy:

1. Final project evaluation

The consultant will conduct a final evaluation of the Action for Interreligious and Intercultural Pluralism in Nigeria and Nigeria project, evaluating to what extent the project’s objectives were met, how effective the project management and implementation processes were, and making recommendations as to how to improve in future similar projects.

This is an evaluation of the overall project, not an evaluation of individual partner organisations’ capacity. Information on individual partners will be analysed to build a picture of the overall programme, but any partner-specific recommendations will be captured separately.

2. Learning paper

This will capture learning from the main report. The learning is a summarized evaluation report which illustrates the main lessons from the intervention and are targeted to technical audiences amongst European Union, CAFOD and partners. This learning paper will assist to improve future peacebuilding actions and feed into implementation of CAFOD’s organisational wide strategic framework. The learning paper will document some of the successes, challenges and lessons learned.

The target of this evaluation would focus mainly on the men, women and youths as community members, religious leaders, government actors and project staff.

5. EVALUATION QUESTIONS AND TASKS:

a) Understand the outcomes of the Zaman Tare project

· Ascertain to what extend project Outcomes were met?

· Establish if the outputs/ targets were met?

· Study and highlight the impact of project on targeted communities?

· Establish, if any, whether all the project indicators were achieved?

b) Guide the design of future peacebuilding actions in CAFOD

· Ascertain the effectiveness of Project’s Theory of Change?

· Determine the suitability and adaptability of project’s Theory of Change to future interventions?

c) Share learning and good practice in relation to the following subthemes

· What were the most notable achievements of the projects, and what were the conditions making these achievements possible? To what extent do these achievements match with the expectations of the projects’ design? N.B; You can present achievements both from the project level and the sub-grants level.

· How was sustainability taken into account (e.g. which provisions have been taken to ensure that increase the likelihood of a longer-term impact; etc)?

· To what extent the modality of subgranting has helped achieve the objectives of the project? What were the main advantages and disadvantages? N.B; Elements on which you can focus include:

o Why the approach was chosen and what has been achieved through this method that could not be achieved otherwise, especially since the subgranting was an option, not an obligation in the call?

o Administrative workload, capacities of beneficiaries and of partners

o Ensuring EU visibility

· To what extent a multi-country / regional approach contributed to attain the project’s achievements? What were the pros and cons? N.B. Elements on which you can focus include:

o Tailoring approaches/activities to local needs vs having a shared approach

o Ensuring knowledge sharing and cooperation across the various partners / countries

o Cross-border activities (if any)

· What are the key lessons learnt from using intercultural and interfaith dialogues and related activities to achieve the project’ objectives, in particular social inclusion and cohesion, promote tolerance, pluralism and mutual understanding, in particular fragile and post-conflict countries?

6. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The consultant will include an initial suggestion of the preferred criteria and methodology in the proposal. The evaluation criteria, learning questions, a more detailed methodology and a work plan will be agreed between the consultant and CAFOD during the inception phase. The quality of the evaluation will be assessed using the BOND Evidence of Effectiveness Principles[1]

The methodology should:

• Be specifically tailored to the evaluation of peacebuilding work.

• Involve consultation with the 2 partners and CAFOD staff in the Zaman Tare team.

• Consider including field visits within Nigeria and Niger and face to face meetings/workshops with

Community members, scholars, and artists.

• Involve active participation by CAFOD staff and partners to promote ownership and peer learning.

7. TIMING AND DELIVARABLES.

The outputs will be in English and French languages. The expected outputs are:

· An inception plan (maximum 5 pages)

· A draft report of findings and recommendations

· Workshops to share findings from country visits with partners and staff

· A consultation session to present initial evaluation findings and recommendations and gather feedback on the draft at the final project workshop

• A final evaluation report (maximum 30 pages) comprising:

o Table of contents

o Executive summary including highest priority recommendations (maximum 4 pages)

o Evaluation methodology

o Findings addressing the evaluation criteria

o Conclusions

o Prioritised recommendations (maximum 4 pages)

o Annexes (including evaluation terms of reference, partner feedback and bibliography, list

of people interviewed).

o A separate supplementary note for any partner specific issues which will not be published.

• A final learning paper (maximum 20 pages)

• A workshop to present the learning paper

All materials collected during the evaluation process should be submitted to CAFOD prior to termination of the contract. The report and all background documentation will be the property of CAFOD.

8. Evaluation team composition and required competencies

The evaluation will be conducted by one professional (or a team with specific roles) with the following experience and skills:

Ø Significant experience of conducting evaluations, with demonstrated evaluation data gathering,

analysis and report writing skills;

Ø Experience of learning reviews;

Ø Experience of evaluating capacity strengthening projects or activities;

Ø Proven ability to work respectfully with national and international NGO partners;

Ø Proven ability to effectively manage workload and work to tight deadlines;

Ø Fluency in English and French, with clear verbal communication and excellent writing skills;

Ø Able to travel to Zaman Tare Project countries to conduct data gathering;

Ø Experience with Caritas, faith-based organisations, national/local NGOs and/or organisations that

work in partnership is an advantage.

Ø Experience or knowledge of peacebuilding programming is an advantage

9. Management arrangements

The consultant will report to the Zaman Tare Programme Manager based in Abuja office with support from Fund/ Contract Manager based in CAFOD’s London office. The Programme Manager will be the main point of contact and will provide day to day support, relevant documentation, contact information and support the logistical and contractual arrangements. The Fund/ Contract Manager will coordinate feedback on the draft version of the reports from the Zaman Tare Steering Committee and other relevant stakeholders, approve the final versions and coordinate the evaluation management response.

For the field visits the consultant will have direct contact with the Programme Officers in Nigeria and Niger, who will liaise with the Country Representative, partner organisations and staff to organise in-country logistics, security and feedback at country level.

10. Budget and Payment

Fees for consultancy days (to be agreed by negotiation), including preparation, programme visits, and reporting.

Trip expenses (flights, travel in country, accommodation and subsistence) will be reimbursed separately in line with CAFOD’s travel expenses policy and project compliance requirements, and up to an agreed upper limit.