Final external evaluation of the Synergies for Peace III project, including an endline survey At Interpeace

Background

Interpeace is an international peacebuilding organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. It aims to strengthen the capacities of societies to manage conflict non-violently and non-coercively, by assisting national actors in their efforts to develop social and political cohesion. Interpeace also strives to help the international community (and in particular the United Nations) play a more effective role in supporting peacebuilding efforts around the world, through a better understanding and ability to address the challenges of building local capacities that strengthen social and political cohesion. For more information on Interpeace, please visit www.interpeace.org .

Context

Interpeace has been active in Burundi since 2007. In line with Burundi’s National Development Plan and National Peacebuilding Plan, Interpeace’s programme aims to support the sustainable and equitable development of Burundi through the entrenchment of peace and stability. It contributes to a united and prosperous Burundi by improving governance, consolidating democracy, supporting reconciliation and strengthening the resilience of the population, particularly the most vulnerable.

About the project:

Synergies for Peace: phase III (SfP III) is a 3-year (January 2022-December 2024) project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and Switzerland’s Peace and Human Rights Division (PHRD). The initiative is coordinated by Interpeace and implemented by a consortium of five Burundian civil society organizations: Burundi Leadership Training Project (BLTP), Centre d’Alerte et de Prévention des Conflits (CENAP), Initiatives et Changement Burundi (ICB), Association des Éditeurs du Magazine Jimbere (Jimbere Magazine) and Association des Jeunes Burundais pour le Développement Inclusif (AJEBUDI-YAGA).

Project objectives

Primary objective: To contribute to reconciliation and to more accountable and inclusive governance that addresses local and national priorities for peace and development in Burundi.

The specific objectives to be achieved by 2024 include:

1. Political actors and the population recognize the importance of trauma healing and initiate measures to put in place a national framework for trauma healing.
2. Political actors, police forces and citizens (including women and youth) develop inclusive plans and implement joint activities to establish and address priorities for peace and democracy.
3. Targeted young leaders from different political affiliations are engaged in inclusive and collaborative livelihood and social cohesion projects that respond to youth priorities for peace, reconciliation, and development.
4. The capacities of women who participate in project activities to actively engage in political and public positions and to promote women’s interests and needs are strengthened.

To achieve these objectives, the project supports 978 participants who are members of the following platforms in the project implementation areas[1]:

1. 8 Community Platforms comprising of 255 members
2. 14 Youth Platforms for Social Cohesion and Development comprising of 409 members
3. 12 Women’s Leadership Platforms comprising of 314 members

In addition to these participants, the project reached the following categories of people through various project activities (see the table).

Purpose of the final evaluation

The purpose of this final evaluation is to assess the overall performance of the project against the planned project objectives, key performance indicators as well as assess the impact of the overall project to the intended beneficiaries. To this end, Interpeace and its partners are looking for a consultant or a team of consultants to carry out a final external evaluation for the SfP III project. The specific objectives of this evaluation include:

• To assess the extent to which the project achieved its objectives.
• To identify major external factors that influenced or impacted the implementation of the project and the effectiveness of project adaptations to respond to these factors.
• To assess the sustainability of the project results and satisfaction of the project participants in line with the key project deliverables and impact.
• To assess the effectiveness of project’s consortium management approach.
• To assess the extent to which the project has adopted a gender transformative approach and integrated gender into programming.
• To identify and document challenges, best practices and lessons learned from the project implementation, with a specific focus on consortium collaboration and training approaches (for community, decision-makers, women and youth), providing recommendations for future programming and/or adaptation to contextual changes.

The evaluation is expected to utilise and respond to the OECD-DAC criteria. The evaluation is of interest to and will inform the project’s key stakeholders including, direct and indirect participants, donors, project implementing staff, authorities and the community at large.

Timeframe, Methodology and Deliverables

The anticipated start date is early September 2024 with submission of the final draft early November 2024. The final timeframe will be agreed upon with the selected consultants. The consultant will work closely with the SfP III project team and regularly share progress and results.

The evaluator/evaluators is/are expected to use participatory methodologies of evaluation which may include but are not limited to, outcome harvesting, most significant change with involvement of project’s partners, participants and other relevant actors. Primary and secondary data is expected to be gathered using a mixed method to evaluate project’s implementation processes and outcomes. The consultant/consultants are also encouraged to use methodologies that are gender sensitive, conflict sensitive and respect the principles of Do No Harm approach. The final methodologies will be agreed upon at the inception phase.

To note, a baseline survey was conducted with the project platform members (978 participants) to represent their opinions and feelings in order to better understand them, better adapt the project to their needs and expectations, and enable us to follow their evolution and establish adaptation process throughout the project. Thus, this final evaluation will also include an endline survey and the consultant will be expected to:

• replicate the same sample size consulted (921 people consulted) during the baseline survey, comparing baseline and endline findings and utilizing the content for analysis in response to the evaluation questions.
• capture both expected and unexpected results and evolutions using narrative and storytelling approaches.

The evaluation will be both an objective and a consultative/participatory exercise thus the assessment will involve collecting the following data.

While Interpeace and consortium partners anticipate 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 final evaluation questions. The applicant/s is/are encouraged to suggest a comprehensive methodology that includes these elements and others that the evaluators deem 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 the selected team of consultants.

Key evaluation questions

Relevance:

• To what extent was the overall goal of the intervention relevant for the context of peacebuilding, governance and economic empowermentin Burundi?
• To what extent was the overall strategy of the programme relevant for achieving the projects objectives or outcomes?
• To what extent was the overall goal of the project relevant for the consortium partners and project participants?

Effectiveness and Impact:

• What progress has the project made towards its expected outcomes?
• How has the achievement (or not) of these outcomes influenced the broader context of reconciliation and governance in the areas of programming?
• What were the main factors that influenced whether the intervention reached its expected outcomes/changes or not?

Sustainability:

• How likely are the project results and outcomes to be sustained after the project?
• How effective are the project’s sustainability strategies?

Efficiency:

• To what extent have the project’s strategies, plans (training, communication, advocacy, psychoeducation, awareness-raising) and activities been sufficient for meeting expected outcomes?
• How did the project adapt to changes in the context and emerging challenges during implementation? Were the appropriate implementation methodologies applied in the specific context and different circumstances of the project?
• To what extent do the implementing partners have sufficient capacities to achieve the project’s outcomes?
• To what extent were the project resources used efficiently?

Coherence:

• To what extent did the project work with and complement the efforts of other humanitarian development and peace actors and relevant government institutions?
• To what extent did the project activities and results complement and contribute to other consortium members’ peacebuilding projects in Burundi?

Cross cutting issues:

• To what extent did the project integrate gender equality into the project’s strategy?
• How effective are the project’s efforts to integrate gender equality into the project strategy?
• To what extent did the project adhere to the principles of Do No Harm and employ conflict sensitivity while implementing and adapting the project strategies?

Partnership and localization:

• How effective was the consortium approach in meeting the project’s expected outcomes?
• How effective was the overall quality of partnership both in terms of the relationship between Interpeace and partners and among partners, including adherence to the partnership principles set out by the consortium?
• To what extent did the consortium approach enable local actors to be meaningfully engaged in the process of designing, implementing, monitoring and reviewing the project?

Project Design Improvement:

• What lessons learned and best practices can be replicated in the future by donors and other major stakeholders?
• What should project partners take into consideration to improve the overall design of the project’s next phase?
• What areas/themes would be most relevant for the project (and any spin-off projects) to focus on in future programming?
• What do the outcomes of the project imply for initiatives for sustainable peace in Burundi?

Interpeace and the consortium members anticipate that these key evaluation questions will be further refined with the selected evaluation consultants and adaptations made be included in the inception report.

Reporting and Feedback

The evaluators will hold a feedback meeting (or meetings) for the SfP III consortium members (dates and venue to be agreed upon later). This will be an opportunity to debrief on the evaluation, and to exchange views on preliminary findings and recommendations.

The evaluation report (English version) will include a main text of no more than 30 pages with findings and recommendations. The report will be expected to be structured in the following manner:

Acronyms

Executive Summary

1. Introduction and brief background
2. Methodology
3. Major findings
   1. Relevance
   2. Effectiveness and Impact (including major accomplishments to date)
   3. Sustainability
   4. Efficiency
   5. Coherence
   6. Cross-cutting issues
   7. Partnership and localization
4. Overall Assessment
5. Challenges
6. Best Practices and lessons learned
7. Recommendations for improvement

Annexes:

• Terms of Reference
• List of documents assessed
• List of persons interviewed
• Evaluation Matrix
• Transcripts of KIIS and FGDS
• Clean and final data sets of surveys
• Powerpoint presentation of key findings

Qualifications

The consultant(s) should have the following skills and experience:

• At least a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, peacebuilding management, evaluation, social research, or related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in the design and implementation of evaluations, assessments, or baseline and endline surveys including qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.
• Proven experience in conducting gender-sensitive evaluations.
• Connaissance et expérience avérées en matière d’élaboration, dispense et évaluation de parcours de formation utilisant des approches innovantes et adaptées aux adultes tels que l’apprentissage expérientiel.
• In-depth knowledge and experience of conflict resolution, reconciliation, Mental health and psychological support (MHPSS), inclusive governance, gender inclusion, and livelihoods.
• Strong data collection, analytical and writing skills.
• Experience of working in Burundi, the Great Lakes region or other conflict or post-conflict environments.
• Experience managing a diverse team and providing capacity-building and training support.
• Proven ability to manage highly confidential and sensitive information.
• Excellent English and French speaking and writing skills.
• Ability to collect data in Kirundi.
• An ability to work within tight deadlines

Applications from gender balanced teams of multidisciplinary consultants with relevant thematic and geographical expertise are highly desired and will be considered favorably in selecting the successful proposal.

[1] Implementation areas: Bujumbura Mairie, Bujumbura Rural, Cibitoke, Gitega, Muyinga, Ngozi and Rumonge.