Call for external evaluator

Expression of interest to conduct an external evaluation of a project implemented in Afghanistan ‚De-Sule-Hujra/Hujra-e-Sulh. Sociocultural dialogues towards peace and reconciliation’

Funded by the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe. Exceptional Assistance Measure regarding Afghanistan

   1    About the project

The project ‚De-Sule-Hujra/Hujra-e-Sulh. Sociocultural dialogues towards peace and reconciliation’ is a crisis response action funded by the ‘Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe. Exceptional Assistance Measure regarding Afghanistan’. The project is implemented by Ipso and pilots an innovate bottom-up approach to conflict transformation in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Kunar, Kunduz, Paktia and Parwan. This approach focusses on the need of many Afghans to overcome traumata and to improve their psychosocial competence to negotiate positive peace at family and community level.

Such a bottom-up approach to peacebuilding requires a process which creates mutual understanding of different paths that were taken in the past, of social values linked to them, of challenges that were faced, and on a recognition of suffering on all sides. Acknowledgement of individual and collective suffering and traumatic experiences allows for the integration of past experiences into the reality of personal and communal life and based on this, for the renegotiation of social values and the development of common goals. This process needs to take particular care of vulnerable members of local communities who have been affected by individual or collective trauma resulting from armed violence or cultural and structural violence in the past 40 years.

Lessons learnt from the implementation of the pilot in local communities in five provinces form the basis on which Ipso develops a strategy for secondary pilots as part of an overall scaling-up strategy that available for reference after the project end.

Project duration: 30.3.2022 – 29.9.2023

Expected impact: Social change is peacefully negotiated by individual members of selected local communities who have overcome individual and collective traumas and are enabled to promote peace and reconciliation though psychosocial competence.

Expected outcome: Beneficiaries take social responsibility for the implementation of a shared vision of their future.

Expected outputs:

• Commitment of beneficiaries to the three steps of the piloted peacebuilding approach,
• Commitment of beneficiaries to reducing their mental health burden in psychosocial counselling sessions,
• A learning tool consisting of a strategy for secondary pilots as part of an overall scaling-up strategy made available for reference.

   2    Purpose of the external evaluation

As a pilot project, funded by an external donor, there is a need to show the donor that the pilot project was implemented well and that the project objectives have been achieved. Although project implementation is monitored through regular project progress reports submitted to the donor, an evaluation by an external consultant is deemed necessary to validate results reported and to gain support for envisaged secondary pilots. The evaluation will focus on the design and implementation of the proposed action based on the OECD DAC criteria relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability taking into account recommendations of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Network on Conflict, Peace and Development Co-operation and the DAC Network on Development Evaluation on the evaluation of interventions in the field of peacebuilding. As the psychosocial counseling approach used in the project has been evaluated in Afghanistan and Germany, the evaluation will focus on the piloted approach to peacebuilding.

Relevance

• To what extent did the design of the intervention address the problems identified in the needs assessment phase?
• Was the action adequately designed to respond to the needs of the direct beneficiaries?
• Were the project methodologies and activities relevant to achieve the project objectives?

Coherence

• Were coherence and co-ordination factored into inputs and outputs?
• How was co-ordination achieved? What were the main constraints and challenges?
• Did co-ordination and coherence result in improved effectiveness, efficiency or impacts?

Effectiveness

• Were the expected results realized?
• What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the expected results?

Efficiency

• Was the project managed in a cost-efficient manner (in terms of human, financial and other resources versus the results)?

Impact

• What evidence is there that the project contributed to the achievement of its overall objective?
• What, if any, were the unintended impacts of the project intervention, both positive and
• negative?

Sustainability

• What evidence is there to suggest the project’s interventions and/or results will be sustained after the project end?
• What are the possibilities for replication and extension of the project’s outcomes?

   3    Evaluation Methods and Scope of Work

It is expected that the evaluator will conduct a post-implementation evaluation which starts towards the project end and is based on a desk review of the project documentation and online interviews with project staff and beneficiaries. The Consultant will prepare an evaluation report that describes the evaluation and puts forward the evaluator’s findings, recommendations and lessons learned.

   4    Evaluation schedule

Ipso has applied to the donor for a no-cost extension which may shift the project end to 31.12.2023. In this case, the following dates will shift accordingly by three months.

Desk research and interview period 25.9. – 13.10.2023 (consultant)
Completion of draft report by 20.10.2023 (consultant)
Review of draft report by 3.11.2023 (implementing organization and donor)
Finalization of the report by 10.11.2023 (consultant)

   5    Deliverables

The consultant shall deliver a draft report and a final report including the following elements:

• Executive summary (max. 2 pages)
• Project synopsis (max. 1 page)
• Methodology (max 1 page)
• Findings (max. 2 pages per DAC criterion)
• Conclusions, Lessons Learned, Best Practices, and Recommendations (max.3 pages)
• Annexes including Terms of Reference of the evaluation, Assessment tools used (questionnaires, checklists, scoring grids, etc.); List of persons (job titles only, no names)/organizations consulted; List of literature and documentation consulted.

   6    Consultant’s Fees and Other Costs

As the external evaluator for the project, the consultant will be entitled to the following compensation:
The maximum amount of entitlement directly payable to the consultant is EUR 10.000 plus VAT
to be paid as follows:
a) 20% upon signing of the contract
b) 50% upon submission of draft report
c) 30% upon submission of final report acceptable to the donor
If translation services will be required in interviews held with project staff or beneficiaries, these will be provided at no cost to the consultant.

   7    Criteria for Evaluators

The evaluator must have their residence in a member state of the European Union.
The evaluator should have:

• An advanced university degree or equivalent background in relevant disciplines, preferably psychology and/or peace studies
• Country experience in Afghanistan
• Relevant professional experience in the design and management of evaluation processes, project planning, monitoring and management
• Demonstrated methodological knowledge of end-of-cycle project evaluations
• Working languages (written and spoken proficiency): English. Additional proficiency in Pashto and Dari is an asset.
• Has worked on bottom-up peacebuilding approaches and is knowledgeable about innovative approaches to addressing conflict
• Is curious, creative and has a self-motivated work approach, including being comfortable working remotely with a diverse organization
• Is value-aligned with a non-violent approach to positive change in society

   8    Submission of bids

One electronic copy/scanned copy in English to be sent to b.brugmann@ipsocontext.org at Ipso gGmbH – International Psychosocial Organisation.
Deadline: 8.9.2023
Applicants shall submit the following documents:

• A cover letter with a brief description of relevant previous experiences in evaluation and monitoring of projects;
• Contact details of two referees expected to support claims of knowledge, skills and experience;
• A Curriculum vitae (CV), including references to licences, certifications, accreditations, etc.

   9    Award criteria

Relevant qualifications and experience of the evaluator including consistency of their experience with eligibility criteria:

• An advanced university degree or equivalent background in relevant disciplines, preferably psychology and/or peace studies (10%)
• Country experience in Afghanistan (30%)
• Relevant professional experience in the design and management of projects (20%)
• Demonstrated methodological knowledge of end-of-cycle project evaluations (20%)
• Has worked on bottom-up peacebuilding approaches and is knowledgeable about innovative approaches to addressing conflict (20%);

About us

Ipso (https://ipsocontext.org/) is a humanitarian not-for-profit organization specializing in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) and in sociocultural empowerment at the community level to promote peace and social cohesion. At the individual level, Psychosocial Counselors trained by Ipso provide culturally sensitive Value Based Counseling (VBC). The service is currently available in more than 20 languages in face-to-face sessions as well as online.