Introduction
The Societal Healing and
Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda programme,
jointly implemented by Never Again Rwanda (NAR) and Interpeace, seeks a team of
consultants (international and local) to conduct a formative mid-term
evaluation. The evaluation is expected to measure progress of the programme and
to assess the effectiveness of the programm
e strategies for achieving programme
outcomes, identify strengths and weaknesses, gather lessons learned and provide
recommendations for improvement. The programme has been designed using the
outcome mapping approach which is also expected to guide the methodology of the
evaluation. Interpeace anticipates that the evaluation will commence in January
2017, for a period of 30 working days, including a minimum of 15 days in
Rwanda.
Background
The Societal Healing and
Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda programme
is a four-year programme funded by the Government of Sweden and implemented by
Never Again Rwanda and Interpeace. The programme commenced implementation on 1
January 2015 and aims to contribute to Rwanda’s continued pursuit of
sustainable peace and stability. Never Again Rwanda and Interpeace designed the
Societal Healing
and Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda
programme using the outcome mapping approach, focusing its efforts on
contributing to behavioural change among key stakeholders in order to promote
sustainable in the Great Lakes. In keeping with the outcome mapping approach,
the programme has identified the following:
Vision: To contribute to the
consolidation of a peaceful and inclusive Rwandan society, enabled to overcome
the wounds of the past and to peacefully manage conflicts and diversity as well
as empowered to influence programmes and policies responsive to citizen
priorities.
Mission: To facilitate dialogue,
within new and existing spaces where citizens as well as youth convene,
enabling community members to openly discuss sensitive topics; to initiate a
healing process; to identify and reach consensus on priorities and solutions;
to effectively engage decision makers through the media; to use new and
existing mechanisms for citizen participation; and to jointly implement
activities in support of their shared vision of the future. To accomplish this
mission, the program works through two axes of intervention:
Through
the societal
healing and reconciliation axis, NAR and Interpeace aim to
enable diverse groups of community members, and youth in particular, to openly
discuss sensitive past, current or emerging issues, to settle differences through
dialogue, and cooperate to implement activities towards a shared vision of the
future. The healing process will be facilitated by peace agents empowered
through participation in the programme after being selected by community
members in participating dialogue spaces based on their personal background and
positive disposition towards peace. Societal dialogue, combined with joint
action, aims at increasing social cohesion and promoting critical thinking –
both key ingredients to sustainable peace in Rwanda.
The
participatory
governance axis aims to strengthen the link between citizens
and policy makers, as well as to minimize the vertical space between the
beneficiaries of public policies and decision-makers, strengthening government
accountability. By facilitating citizen participation in the development,
implementation and evaluation of public policies and programmes, Interpeace and
NAR seek to contribute to the government’s efforts of aligning decisions with
citizen needs and priorities. Responsive and participatory governance can
provide the space for citizens of all backgrounds to engage in an open debate
and peacefully pursue a shared vision of the future.
Theory
of Change:
If Rwandans, young and old engage in processes of healing and inclusive dialogue
to overcome social divisions and wounds of the past, to work collaboratively
across divides, and to utilize spaces for informing decision-making responsive
to their needs and priorities, then they will deepen their resilience to
violent conflict and be empowered to manage and transform conflict through
greater collective participation as well as the use of strengthened Rwandan
institutions.
Boundary
Partners:
To achieve this mission, the proposed programme has as direct target groups:
community members and youth under the societal healing access and citizens,
decision makers and media in the participatory governance axis.
These elements have
been complemented by outcome
statements and progress
markers for each boundary partner.
NAR and Interpeace
commenced the programme with two Participatory Action Research (PAR) processes:
one to map existing healing and reconciliation initiatives and one to examine
perceptions of Rwandans on citizen participation in governance. In keeping with
the PAR approach, the implementation of the programme has built on the
learnings that emerged from the two research. The programme has established
dialogue spaces focused on the two main processes of the programme: spaces for
peace to foster trauma healing and citizen fora that gather citizens to
identify priorities and solutions that can inform governance policies and
processes. The programme will run until the end of 2018. This mid-term
evaluation will inform the next two years of programming as well as any
potential future programming.
Objectives
and key questions of the evaluation
The main objective
of the evaluation is to assess the progress, achievements, strengths,
weaknesses, lessons learned, best practices and challenges of the Societal Healing and
Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwandaprogramme.
As the programme has been designed using Outcome Mapping, the evaluation is
expected to have a significant focus on how the programme has and can influence
behaviour change among those targeted by the programme. The evaluation is
expected to analyse the effectiveness of programme strategies in achieving the
intended outcomes, to gather lessons learned during programme implementation
and to provide recommendations for maximising impact and achievement of
progress markers and outcomes. The evaluation will be of interest to Never
Again Rwanda, Interpeace and international donors.
The evaluation will
assess and analyse progress and challenges under each programme outcomes by responding
to the following questions:
Relevance:
- To what
extent is the overall strategy of the programme relevant for the context
of sustainable peace in Rwanda? - To what
extent is the overall strategy of the programme relevant for the
programme’s boundary partners? - To what
extent is the intervention logic/overall strategy relevant in pursuing the
programme’s vision?
Effectiveness
and Impact
- What
have been the major accomplishments of the programme to date? - To what
extent has the programme met intended progress markers and expected
outcomes? - To what
extent has the programme contributed to changes in behaviour among
boundary partners? - How has
the programme contributed to changes in behaviour among boundary partners? - Has the
project responded to the changing environment? - What
were the main factors that influenced the programme’s progress in towards
expected outcomes/changes in behaviour to date?
Efficiency
- To what
extent are the programme’s strategies and activities sufficient for
meeting expected outcomes? - How has
the project adapted to changes in the context and emerging challenges
during programme implementation thus far? - Are the
appropriate implementation methodologies applied in the different contexts
and circumstances of the programme?
Cross cutting
issues:
- To what
extent has the programme integrated gender equality into the programme’s
strategy? - How
effective are the programme’s efforts to integrate gender equality into
the programme strategy? - How are
the programme baselines being used for programme management and M&E? - To what
extent does the programme adhere to the principles of Do No Harm and
employ conflict sensitivity while implementing and adapting the programme
strategies? - Are
there foundations for sustainability of impact following withdrawal of
external support?
Recommendations
for improvement
- How
likely are boundary partners to sustain these behaviour changes beyond the
support of the programme? - To what
extent are the programme’s established processes and systems likely to
support the continued implementation of the programme? - How can
the best practices and lessons learnt from the programme be utilised to
enhance programme effectiveness? - How
could the programme strategies be maximized/improved to enhance impact? - What
additional strategies could the programme employ to ensure attainment of
programme outcomes, sustainability and enhanced impact? - How can
the programme improve its integration of and support for gender equality? - What
indicators in the programme’s logical framework are most pertinent for
demonstrating, measuring and communicating effectiveness and impact? - How can
the programme better utilise baseline data for programme management and
implementation?
Interpeace
anticipates that these key evaluation questions will be further refined with
the selected evaluation consultants.
Timeframe
and Methodology
The anticipated
duration of the evaluation is 30 working days with a minimum of 15 days spent
Rwanda. The anticipated start date is early January with submission of the
final draft by the beginning of March. The final timeframe will be agreed upon
with the selected consultants.
Outcome mapping will
be used as the primary method of assessment, applying the conceptual framework
of assessing outcomes and changes in behaviour and relationships among boundary
partners as a result of engagement in programme activities and actions. The
evaluation will be both an objective and a consultative/participatory exercise,
and is expected to involve the following elements:
Initial planning
process: in
conjunction with Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda, finalize the methodology,
guiding questions and indicators, and workplan.
Documentary
review: a
review of relevant documentation, including the original and revised programme
document; programme logical framework; programme reports and updates; baseline
reports; reports of workshop proceedings; research outputs; and relevant audio
visual material produced for the programme.
Stakeholder
interviews, focus group discussions and Most Significant Change exercise: including with employees of
Interpeace; Never Again Rwanda staff; authorities in Rwanda as possible;
institutions engaged by the programme; donor representatives; civil society
organizations engaged by the programme and community members/youth/citizens/decision
makers/media participating in programme activities. Indicators to assess the
progress and impact of the programme, complementing existing progress markers
and outcome statements, will be developed in consultation with Interpeace and
Never Again Rwanda. The evaluation is expected to apply the Most Significant
Change approach to enable programme participants to play a significant part in
the assessment of the programme and to facilitate learning.
While Interpeace
anticipates the use of the elements listed above, the list is not exhaustive.
The evaluation may include additional elements and approaches as appropriate
for responding to the mid-term evaluation questions, including but not limited
to outcome harvesting, theories of change, contribution mapping/contribution
analysis, etc. The applicant is encouraged to suggest a comprehensive
methodology that includes these elements and others that the evaluators deems
fit for meeting the evaluation objectives. The methodology for data collection
should be described in the proposals. The final list of elements will be
discussed with selected consultant or team.
Deliverables,
Reporting and feedback
The evaluators will
provide:
- A brief
inception report
(no more than 5 pages) at the end of the initial planning phase, setting
out a timetable for the evaluation, an overview of the final agreed upon
methodology, the names of people and groups to be interviewed, a detailed
workplan and a list of documents to be reviewed. Data collection tools are
expected to be reviewed by and finalized together with Interpeace and NAR. - The
evaluators will provide a brief mid-term
progress report and presentation
for Interpeace and NAR management and relevant staff at the end of the
fieldwork phase (no more than 10 pages) summarising the progress of the
evaluation, highlighting any changes to the evaluation schedule, and
providing tentative findings. - The
evaluators will submit a draft
report within 15 days after completing the fieldwork. - The
evaluators will provide a final
report taking into account comments on the draft report
within 5 days of receiving such comments.
The evaluators will
hold a feedback meeting (or meetings) for the Interpeace East and Central
Africa office and Never Again Rwanda. This will be an opportunity to debrief on
the evaluation, and to exchange views on preliminary findings and
recommendations.
The evaluation
report will include a main text of no more than 40 pages with findings and
recommendations. The report will be expected to be structured in the following
manner:
Acronyms
Executive Summary
- Introduction
and brief background - Methodology
- Major
findings - Relevance
- Effectiveness
and Impact (including major accomplishments to date) - Efficiency
- Cross-cutting
issues - Overall
Assessment - Challenges
- Best
Practices and lessons learned - Recommendations
for improvement
Annexes:
- Terms
of Reference - List of
documents assessed - List of
persons interviewed - Evaluation
Matrix - Presentation
of Most Significant Change stories as related to programme outcomes and progress
markers - Proposed
revised logical framework
Qualifications
The evaluation will
be undertaken by a team composed of an international consultant and a local
consultant.
The consultants will
be expected to have the following skills and experience at a minimum:
- Experience
conducting evaluations/assessments - Experience
in conducting gender sensitive evaluations - Strong
analytical skills and experience working with the Outcome Mapping approach - Strong
knowledge of and experience with conflict resolution, peacebuilding and
reconciliation programmes - Experience
working in the Rwanda, the Great Lakes region or other conflict or
post-conflict environments, with preference given to Rwanda-specific experience - Proven
record of delivering professional outputs - A
willingness to travel to Rwanda - Excellent
French and English speaking and writing skills. The local consultant will
be expected to speak Kinyarwanda. - An
ability to work within tight deadlines
Interpeace and Never
Again Rwanda will be responsible for:
- Providing
a focal point for the evaluation, who may travel with the consultants
(time and funds permitting) - Providing
a focal point at each partner organization - Providing
logistical support inside and outside the Rwanda - Providing
standard Interpeace security support for the evaluators (responsibility
rests with the consultants) - Arranging
meetings with stakeholders - Providing
relevant programme reports and documentation in advance.
For consideration
for this opportunity, please submit an expression of interest (no longer than 5
pages and inclusive of the proposed methodology for the evaluation, including
the framework for gender analysis) and a CV for both the international and
local consultants proposed by December
10, 2016 (midnight) via email to: recruitment@interpeace.org.
Only applications indicating “Societal Healing Mid-Term Evaluation” in the
subject line will be considered.
Applicants, if
shortlisted, will be required to subsequently submit work samples in English,
references and a preliminary evaluation methodology.
Interpeace
values diversity among its staff and aims at achieving greater gender parity in
all levels of its work. We welcome applications from women and men, including
those with disabilities.