Mid-Term Evaluation of the Project – Consultancy At International Organization for Migration

Title of the Consultancy: Mid-Term Evaluation of the Project “Local Solutions to Build Climate Resilience and Advance Peace and Stability in Bor, Pibor and Malakal”

Duty Station of the Consultancy: Homebased assignment with travel for data collection toJonglei, Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) and Upper Nile states of South Sudan.

Duration of Consultancy: 40—working days

Nature of the consultancy: Conduct a mid term review of the project by developing appropriate methodologies, tools and the techniques for collecting data and presenting recommendations and lessons learnt for the review of the project strategy, objectives, outputs and activities for the remainder of the project duration.

Evaluation Context and Scope

South Sudan is one of the highly vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. Both long-term climate change, such as the gradual increase in temperatures, and sudden extreme climate events such as flooding[1], have indirect and interlinked implications for peace and security in the country. This is especially true in areas impacted by fragility, conflict and violence where climate-related crises exacerbate existing tensions and where community resilience to these shocks is at their lowest. Jonglei, Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) and Upper Nile are emblematic examples of contexts where conflict and climate-related risks collide.

In 2023, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) was awarded a 36-month grant titled ““Local Solutions to Build Climate Resilience and Advance Peace and Stability in Bor, Pibor and Malakal” by UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The project is being jointly implemented by IOM, FAO and UNW in Jonglei State, Upper Nile State and Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) South Sudan.

The overall objective of the project is to advance peace and stability in Jonglei, GPAA and Upper Nile by reducing the negative impact of climate shocks on existing conflict dynamics as well as gender and age-based discrimination. In Greater Jonglei and Upper Nile, particularly in fragility-affected areas with active conflict dynamics, the impact of climate shocks on people’s livelihoods is significant and exacerbates existing conflict dynamics, instability, gender and age-based discrimination, poverty and governance challenges. This contributes to the rise of new tensions, often triggered by competition over scarce resources, thus creating a vicious cycle of climate shocks and instability. As a peacebuilding response, the project is designed to bolster community resilience in these areas to ensure that have local communities have access to a set of distinct capacities and resources that are critical for communities to cope with, withstand or bounce back from the confluence of conflict and climate-related risks. More specifically, the project is designed to bolster three ‘resilience capacities’[1]in the targeted areas; (1) absorptive capacities in order for communities to take protective action to anticipate, plan and recover from shocks such as climate shocks; (2) adaptive capacities in order for communities to make ‘incremental adjustments, modifications to adapt to climate shocks without major change in their lifestyle; (3) transformative capacities in order to create sustainable structures that systematically respond to stressors and shocks. IOM, FAO and UN Women seek to advance these three resilience capacities in Bor, Pibor and Malakal through integrated and joint programming that also involves stakeholders at multiple levels including local women and youth representatives, community leaders, local government and national government. The climate-informed peacebuilding approach explores how prevention, adaptation and/or mitigation measures can be mainstreamed into interventions that seek to address conflict before, during and after conflict as a mechanism to sustain and build peace in pilot programming. In doing so, these climate-informed peacebuilding processes can incentivize collaboration between conflict parties (or their constituents) for a common purpose to overcome the impacts of climate change, using climate-related challenges as entry points to build confidence and for technical cooperation and dialogue that lead to joint planning and peacebuilding between conflict parties. The project is at a mid-point currently and this review aims to measure progress toward the objectives and aims to generate lessons and recommendation for the reminder of the project.

The purpose of this midterm evaluation is to review the progress, achievements, challenges, lessons learned and propose recommendations to inform IOM, project partners and the donor for any improvement or adjustment for the remaining project implementation period. As of July 2024, the project is at the midpoint juncture and this mid-term evaluation will focus on the following aspects: 1) Evaluate the project using criteria’s such as relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, sustainability, impact, and cross-cutting issues to inform the implementing partners, the project management team and the donor. 2) Document lessons learned during the first half of the project implementation to inform of the project’s second half and beyond. 3) Draw key findings and lessons learned and propose improvement and adjustment needed to ensure that the project remains relevant to the needs of the target groups in the remaining period of implementation.

The evaluation will be conducted in Jonglei, Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) and Upper Nile states of South Sudan where the project is being implemented. The evaluation will cover the implementation timeframe of the project from January 2023 up to the mid-point of the project July 2024. The evaluation will cover the activities such as dialogues and reconciliation inteventions, development of climate-informed Peacebuilding Roadmaps and Action Plans, integrating climate-related considerations in customary laws and practices, customary law review process for peacebuilding, dispute resolution and conflict prevention.

This mid-term evaluation is expected to mainly use the OECD-DAC criteria framework as it is deems appropriate to the developmental nature of the initiative and its focus on climate security, livelihoods and peacebuilding. In addition, PBF evaluation criteria such as catalytic, conflict sensitivity, time-sensitivity, risk tolerance and localization will also be used. The evaluator will elaborate in the Inception Report on the limitations and constraints of the planned assessment with respect to each criterion, identifying also the ones on which the analysis will focus more intensively. Moreover, cross-cutting issues (rights-based approach, gender and non-discrimination, climate change, and visibility) shall be evaluated throughout the different evaluation criteria as relevant.

The evaluator is expected to define the evaluation questions based on the desk analysis and their own understanding of the project. The revised list of evaluation questions will be included in the Inception Report, alongside an elaboration on how the list was improved and why. The Inception Report will also include a detailed evaluation matrix,. The Evaluation report will also include succinct answers to each evaluation questions in a dedicated section of the document. For each short answer, the evaluator will provide references to the related findings discussed in the main body of the report.

The evaluator is expected to define a detailed methodology for this mid-term evaluation in the Inception Report, including the data collection instruments to be used, sample quotas and sampling guidelines, and analytical approaches. It is required that appropriate methods are used in the context of this mid-term evaluation, including Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus group Discussion (FGD), in addition to review and analysis of secondary sources. The evaluator is expected to provide a detailed sampling plan for KIIs and FGDs.

Organizational Department / Unit to which the Consultant is contributing:

This consultancy is commissioned by IOM’s Transition and Recovery Unit funded by the PBF. Under Peacebuilding, Transition and Development, IOM South Sudan implements programming on Housing, Land and Property issues, Transition and Recovery, Transhumance conflict prevention, Community-based violence reduction, livelihoods & resilience programming, and Community development and Migration Management.

Tangible and measurable outputs of the work assignment

Under the supervision of the Transition and Recovery Unit (TRU) M&E Officer, the consultant is expected to complete the deliverables as described below. The assignment is anticipated to happen between August and September 2024; the actual timeline will be provided in due course before the finalization of the consultancy contract agreement.

First deliverable—Inception Report. Review the project result framework, baseline reports, mid-term evaluation ToR and develop inception report in IOM template. The inception report should provide clear methodology to be used including the research methods to use, evaluation matrix, sampling strategy, detailed workplan and the tools to use for the data collection.

Second deliverable—Prepare and share power point presentation based on data collected and conduct validation and dissemination of the findings of the mid-term evaluation. This meeting will be conducted with staff from IOM, FAO, UN Women and implementing partners. The meeting will provide additional inputs and an opportunity to validate the findings captured during the field exercise. The consultant will prepare a presentation, discuss the findings and receive feedback.

Third Deliverable—Share the final mid-term evaluation report in IOM template. The consultant will analyze both the qualitative and quantitative data and write a detailed mid-term evaluation report covering the evaluation criteria. In addition, the report shall provide a table summary of evaluation questions and answers, as well as an evaluation scorecard. The final report will reflect feedback received during the validation and dissemination meeting.

Fourth deliverable—Share the mid-term evaluation learning brief and management response with recommendations from the final report. The consultant shall use the appropriate IOM templates that will be shared by the M&E.

Performance indicators for the evaluation of results

The consultant contracted to undertale this activity will be evaluated based on the below indicators:

• Quality of the inception report: Inception report submitted clearly describes the objectives, purpose, matrix, workplan and tools.
• Thorough validation and dissemination of the mid-term evaluation findings and Share a comprehensive Powere Point Presentation
• Comprehensive and clear final mid-term evaluation report with indepth analysis of data.
• Succinct and clear evaluation brief report in IOM template.
• Management response document populated with the final recommendations from the evaluation.

Education, Experience and/or skills required

Travel required (Yes/No)

Education and Experience

• Post-graduate qualifications in peacebuilding, migration, social sciences, law or related disciplines.
• At least five years of professional experience in leading mid-term or final evaluation of similar or related projects, programmes, and policies in international and regional organizations. Previous experience in undertaking PBF project evaluations/mid-term reviews will be advantageous.
• Previous experience of delivering similar assignments in South Sudan or other similar contexts is advantageous.

Required skills

• Demonstrable technical experience and/or knowledge of resilience and peacebuilding programmes.
• Experience and/or knowledge of the organizations of the UN Common System
• Knowledge of the rule of law, peacebuilding, education, livelihoods and gender mainstreaming.
• Knowledge of various evaluation approaches and designs relevant for this evaluation, including especially Theory of change-based evaluation
• Excellent data analysis capacity, survey design, facilitation, interviewing, and report writing skills.
• Ability to prepare and present evaluation results in a manner that increases the likelihood that they will be used and accepted by a diverse group of stakeholders
• Experience with synthesizing information generated through an evaluation to produce findings that are linked to the data collected.
• Ability to engage stakeholders in an evaluation process based on shared priorities, including meeting facilitation, presentation, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills.
• Ability to understand the context of a program and how it affects program planning, implementation, outcomes, and even the evaluation.
• Fluency in English required and knowledge of Arabic prefered.
• Yes, travel to the project including Jonglei, GPAA, and Upper Nile is required.

Competencies

Values

Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences;

• encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.
• Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.
• Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

• Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.
• Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action-oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.
• Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.
• Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.
• Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.