Evaluation of Mines Advisory Group’s project Physical Security and Stockpile Management Support to Strengthen the Ecuadorian National Capacity, Remote At Mines Advisory Group

PHYSICAL SECURITY AND STOCKPILE MANAGEMENT (PSSM) SUPPORT TO STRENGTHEN THE ECUADORIAN NATIONAL CAPACITY EVALUATION IMPACT TEAM REQUIRED, REMOTE WORKING

About Mines Advisory Group (MAG)

Founded in 1989, MAG is a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for our work towards banning landmines under the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. We remove mines and unexploded ordnance to help communities recover from recent and long-past conflicts, and work to reduce and prevent armed conflict by supporting government and communities to safely manage weapons and ammunition. We have helped more than 20 million people in 70 countries rebuild their lives and livelihoods after war.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is seeking technical proposals from independent experts and external evaluators to undertake an evaluation of the “Physical Security and Stockpile Management Support to Strengthen the Ecuadorian National Capacity project”, funded by the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs/Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) of the United States Department of State as one of their conventional weapons destruction projects[1]. This will broadly cover the project’s performance in contributing directly to the project’s objectives, outcomes, impacts and goal, but also contributions (direct and indirect) towards supporting the civil security in Ecuador, considering several evaluation tools, such as MAG’s Armed Violence Reduction (AVR) Theory of Change (ToC), developed during the program period of performance.

The evaluation would broadly answer the following three core questions:

1. To what extent has the project contributed to the sustainable enhancement of Ecuadorian national capacity in managing state-held weapons stockpiles since the project’s start?

2. How do stakeholders perceive the effectiveness and sustainability of project activities in improving Ecuador’s capacity to manage state-held weapons stockpiles?

3. In what ways has the project impacted civil security, including armed violence reduction?

Methodology:

• Initial desk study
• Research of secondary data and sources
• Primary data collection

The evaluation is to be undertaken before April 15, 2025, with the final report to be submitted to MAG no later than May 15, 2025.

PERSON/TEAM SPECIFICATION:

Essential

• Experience of successfully undertaking similar evaluations for international NGOs in conflict/post conflict countries
• Experience of assessing outcomes
• Research skills and knowledge of good practice in evaluation
• Interpersonal skills that evoke trust and are gender and culturally sensitive
• Strong verbal and written English language skills
• A knowledge of the humanitarian disarmament sector and how it links with humanitarian action and socio-economic development

Desirable

• Professional experience in the mine action sector
• Experience of carrying out evaluations of multi-year, multi-country grants
• Experience of using different methodologies to assess outcomes, such as Outcome Harvesting, Stories of Change or similar