Job Vacancy at Search for Common Ground (SFCG) [2 positions]

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organization that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington DC and in Brussels, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict – away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions.
SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 800 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects in 49 countries, with permanent offices in over 35, including Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the US.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant for a Baseline Study
Location: Maiduguri

Goals and Objectives
The baseline study covers two projects, “Expanding Initiatives to Reduce HR Abuse by Security Forces in Northern Nigeria” and “Early Warning/ Early Response (EW/ER) Mechanisms in Northern Nigeria”. While they have individual goals and objectives, the two projects have a number of interlinked activities and they are implemented in the same geographic areas, Borno and Adamawa States in Northern Nigeria.

The overall objective for “Expanding Initiatives to Reduce HR Abuse by Security Forces in Northern Nigeria” is “Expanding engagement and advocacy processes and enabling local CSOs to effectively address human rights abuses perpetrated by security forces”. It is supported by three specific objectives:

• Obj. 1: Strengthen the capacity of CSOs and the NHRC in human rights monitoring, reporting, and advocacy;


• Obj. 2: Establish a platform between the NHRC, CSOs, and judicial actors for effective action on issues related to human rights;


• Obj. 3: Improve communication and understanding between affected communities, key stakeholders, and security actors on issues related to human rights.

The project aims to bolster the established CSO platforms, and leverage investments in state actors, CSOs and community leaders through targeted trainings to build their capacity to own and address human rights gaps. In parallel it draws relevant regional actors into a growing network of human rights actors. It further aims to bring displaced populations into the spheres of the networks by supporting partner organizations to extend their programming across the border of difficult-to-reach areas such as Diffa, Niger.

“EW/ER Response Mechanisms in Northern Nigeria” has the overall objective of “Expanding and strengthening EW/ER processes to enhance community and state actors’ ability to protect citizens”, and it has three specific objectives:

• Obj. 1: Reinforce and expand a community-based early warning and early response system;


• Obj. 2: Strengthen engagement between state and local actors to secure communities;


• Obj. 3: Strengthen Partners’ Capacity to Support and Monitor Early Warning Systems.

It is constructed on existing initiatives of supporting an overarching community-owned peace architecture in North Eastern Nigeria. The project builds on a process of convening and training influential local leaders for community dialogue-to-action processes in order to promote increased collaboration and confidence in insecure areas, supported through a suite of media and community activities, and strengthening structures to work with the state and linking them to civil society groups. A core component is an early warning/ early response system to identify emerging conflict threats and appropriate solutions. The project also develops strategies to increase learning and building capacity of partners engaged in the project.

Baseline Questions
The purpose is to collect, analyse, and present information related to the two projects that currently is not known, or only partly known, to SFCG. It shall provide a complete picture of the situation in Borno and Adamawa States with regards to the following questions:

• Security Actors: Who are the current formal and informal security actors? Where are they present? How do security forces and communities relate to one another: (both perspectives); What is the level of trust of security agents by community members, and vice-versa?  What is the current level of collaboration between security and target communities?


• Human Rights Abuses: What kind of human rights abuses are taking place? Where? To what extent? Where can reliable information be found? What is the trends of gender with regards to perpetrators and victims?


• EW/ER systems: Which current EW/ER systems are in place? Who are the actors involved? Which geographic areas do they cover? What types of cases do they report? To what extent are they functional? Since when have they been in place?


• EW/ER and communities: What is the communities’ relation and involvement in current EW/ER? What type and level of interaction of communities with EW/ER?  Are there any trends with regards to involvement and gender?


• Communication and decision makers: What are the traditional and formal channels of communication about security and human rights abuses? Who are the decision-makers? Which government agencies exist with a peacebuilding or security mandate that are present in communities? How effectively do these peacebuilding or security agencies work with communities?


• Traditional Systems: Are there traditional ways of dealing with human rights abuses as well as early warning and early response? Which? How do these mechanisms work? Are there any trends with regards to involvement and gender?


• Partners: Who are the most adequate potential implementing partners as per SFCG identified criteria?


• Intervention zones: Which additional LGAs and communities are most relevant to expand to? (Ranking according to SFCG criteria) Who are the key local (community) actors of influence?

Methodology

• The baseline shall be based on secondary data (to the extent that reliable data is available) and primary data. Primary data collection methods are primary qualitative such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions and surveys. Other methods can be used as considered relevant.


• The baseline will be conducted in Adamawa and Borno State. For certain baseline questions, data collection is done in intervention LGAs and Communities, and for other questions data collection will take place in areas where SFCG is not present. Exact locations will be agreed between the consultant and SFCG project team.


• Recommended interviewees at state level are e.g. i. West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Agencies, relevant International NGOs, CSOs, EW/ER Networks, State Government Actors, State Police, other State Security Agents, Nigerian Military, Judicial actors, and the National Human Rights Commission.


• Recommended interviewees at community level are e.g. Local Government Actors, CSOs working on Human Rights, Community Leaders, Representatives of IDPs, Religious Leaders, Peace Committee members, Women Leaders, Local Security Agents, Informal Security agents, Community Members involved in EW/ER, and community members including marginalized groups such as the people living with disabilities, IDPs and women.

Deliverables
The baseline study deliverables are:

• An inception report detailing the proposed method, baseline matrix, data collection tools and work plan. It is to be approved by SFCG before starting data collection.


• Draft report for review by SFCG staff and other stakeholders.


• Final Report (maximum 40 pages, excluding appendices), consisting of but not excluded to: Executive Summary, Methodology, Analysis, Conclusions and Recommendations. The report should be structured according to the baseline questions.


• Appendices, including data collection tools and list of interviewees.


• A power point presentation of the report.

Requirements
The ideal candidate and/ or team will have the following:

• More than 4 years of experience in baselines and evaluations with international organizations;


• Graduate degree in Conflict Studies, Human Rights, Social Work or other relevant degree;


• Experience in peacebuilding, conflict resolution and human rights;


• Experience in international development, prior work experience in North Eastern Nigeria;


• Experience with qualitative methods;


• Strong analytical skills;


• Excellent written communication and report writing skills in English;


• Speaker of Hausa and ideally also Kanuri;


• Ability to be flexible with time and work schedule

Logistical Support:

• SFCG will provide the following logistical support to the consultant;


• Transmission of background materials (project proposal, meeting notes, etc.);


• Availability of meeting room in Maiduguri;


• Use of SFCG printers;


• Meeting arrangements with stakeholders and beneficiaries if requested by the consultant;


• Support of a SFCG Field Officer for introductions to key stakeholders and equivalent.

Timeframe:

• The baseline study will take place during November, 2016 – January, 2017, and the final deliverables are due end of January, 2017.

 

Application Deadline
14th November,2016

 

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should
Click here to apply online  

 

 

 

 

Job Title: Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Early Warning/ Early Response Mechanisms in Northern Nigeria
Location: Borno

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the project is: Expanding and strengthening early warning and early response processes to enhance community and state actors’ ability to protect citizens in Borno and Adamawa States. It is supported by three specific objectives

Obj. 1: Reinforce and expand a community-based early warning and early response system;

Obj. 2: Strengthen engagement between state and local actors to secure communities;

Obj. 3: Strengthen Partners’ Capacity to Support and Monitor Early Warning Systems.

It is constructed on existing initiatives of supporting an overarching community-owned peace architecture in North Eastern Nigeria. The project builds on a process of convening and training influential local leaders for community dialogue-to-action processes in order to promote increased collaboration and confidence in insecure areas, supported through a suite of media and community activities, and strengthening structures to work with the state and linking them to civil society groups. A core component is an early warning/ early response system to identify emerging conflict threats and appropriate solutions. The project also develops strategies to increase learning and building capacity of partners engaged in the project.

 

2. Evaluation 

Quasi-Experimental Evaluation

A quasi-experimental evaluation will be designed during the first phase of the project, and shall ensure that there is an in-depth understanding of the project’s attribution of results, and if there are any unintended impacts due to the intervention. At least two times during the course of the project, the evaluation will seek to collect field data aimed at answering evaluative questions related to the theory of change, and test causal hypotheses between intervention and outcome.

The final evaluation questions shall be developed in discussion with SFCG staff, the US Department of State, implementing partners and other key stakeholders. Tentative evaluation questions:

• Does SFCG´s civilian-led security intervention, including EW/ ER systems, lead to improved security environments in Borno and Adamawa States? What mechanisms delivered the impact?


• Does enhanced collaboration between community, state and security actors lead to increased trust and better solutions to fight violence?


• Does increased capacity to dialogue and to identify early warning signs result in reduced violence?


• Are there unintended impacts, and if so, what are they? What context, and what mechanisms, led to these unintended impacts?

The data and analysis from the quasi-experimental evaluation will be presented in at least two stages to the US Department of State, and will inform the final evaluation report. Sampling of communities, including comparison groups, will be determined through rigorous criteria, while on the same time taking into account access and security. Evaluation strategy and tools will be discussed and validated by SFCG and the US Department of State. The final evaluation report shall be disseminated to a broad audience in Nigeria, in the US, and via the DM&E for Peace webinar series Thursday Talks.

Location, Budget and Timeframe  

The evaluator will work closely with the project team as well as SFCG’s Institutional Learning Team. The evaluator is home-based and travels to Nigeria during phases of data collection and presentation of results. The indicative budget is $120.000-150.000. It is intended that the evaluator starts in January 2017.

3. Deliverables and Requirements 

Deliverables

SFCG is hiring an individual evaluator or researcher, or a team of evaluators/researchers, who will have responsibility for the design and implementation of the quasi-experimental evaluation and ensuring its quality. She/ he/ they will be responsible for the following:

1)The design should include at least the following: 

• Research objectives and questions to be answered (identified in collaboration with other actors);


• Strategies to be employed to deal with: a) selection bias; b) spill-over effects; c) attrition of study subjects and d) contamination of comparison groups;


• Detailed research design and description of methodological approach, including study sites (treatment and comparison); methodologies to be employed; sample frame and strategy, design, and size (with supporting power calculations – preferably in SPSS or STATA accompanied by a narrative explaining choice of parameter values); approach to data analysis; and data collection and existing or secondary data sources;


• Description of approach to and procedures for ensuring data quality;


• Description of approach to change in security context, accessibility and context over the duration of the evaluation project;


• Research and implementation team – identification and qualifications;


• Implementation timeline including deadlines for completing the field work, for presentation of preliminary findings, and for providing the data set and the draft and final report.

2)Evaluation elements

• Inception report including a detailed description of the methodology, proposed source of information, data collection procedure, work plan, roles and responsibilities of each member of the evaluation team, and evaluation matrix including indicators;


• Draft outline of the report;


• Draft and final data collections tools and research guide;


• Anonymized data set including all data.

 

3)Draft and Final Reports, including at a minimum: 

• Executive summary;


• Intervention description and context;


• Evaluation methodology and sampling strategy;


• Descriptive statistics and status of key variables of interest in the treatment group and counterfactual;


• Findings: answers to the evaluation questions;


• Conclusions;


• Recommendations.


• Annexes (list of people interviewed, list of key documents consulted, data collection tools)


• The final report should be maximum 40 pages excluding annexes.

 

4)Workshop to present preliminary findings and discuss findings with Search, donor, and key partners(Tentatively it shall take place in Maiduguri, Nigeria)

 

5)Participation in at least two follow-up meetings with project stakeholders including community members to discuss the report(s) (Tentatively it shall take place in Maiduguri, Nigeria)

Requirements 

The ideal candidate/ team leader will have the following experience, skills and competence:

• An advanced university degree, PhD preferred, in a social sciences field or economics;


• Knowledge and understanding of international development or affairs, social work, law, human rights, or similar field;


• Minimum of 10 years of research and/ or impact evaluation experience;


• Experience designing, conducting, and leading experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations;


• Demonstrated experience leading research studies concerning sensitive subject matter and good evaluation ethics;


• Experience in international development, preferably with prior experience in Nigeria or West Africa;


• Extensive technical knowledge, skills and expertise in evaluation design, concepts, and approaches;


• Experience of quantitative analysis (SPSS, STATA or equivalent);


• Excellent written and oral communication in English required.

The consultant is required to respect the following Ethical Principles: 

• Comprehensive and systematic inquiry: Consultant should make the most of the existing information and full range of stakeholders available at the time of the review. Consultant should conduct systematic, data-based inquiries. He or she should communicate his or her methods and approaches accurately and in sufficient detail to allow others to understand, interpret and critique his or her work. He or she should make clear the limitations of the review and its results.


• Competence: Consultant should possess the abilities and skills and experience appropriate to undertake the tasks proposed and should practice within the limits of his or her professional training and competence.


• Honesty and integrity: Consultant should be transparent with the contractor/constituent about: any conflict of interest, any change made in the negotiated project plan and the reasons why those changes were made, any risk that certain procedures or activities produce misleading review information.


• Respect for people: Consultant respect the security, dignity and self-worth of respondents, program participants. Consultant has the responsibility to be sensitive to and respect differences amongst participants in culture, religion, gender, disability, age and ethnicity.

In addition, the consultant will respect American Evaluation Association and SFCG’s evaluations standards, to be found in SFCG’s evaluation guidelines.

4. Proposal Submission 

 

Applications

Interested candidates are invited to submit through our Application System no  later than 24 Nov, 2016 including:

• technical offer detailing the precise combination of methods, timeframe and size of the evaluation team proposed (max 10 pages);


• biography of the evaluator/ evaluation team demonstrating relevant experience/ expertise/ knowledge (max 10 pages);


• financial offer (Excel) detailing all costs, including travel and time costs plus all field expenses and expenses associated with production of the deliverables (SFCG will provide access to internet and office while in Maiduguri/ Yola, driver, and vehicle);


• references of organizations who could testify the quality of the Consultant’s work.

Please include start date and mention where you found this posting. Preference will be given to applicants who include at least an executive summary or abstract of a similar work conducted.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should
Click here to apply online 

 

 

Applicants are invited to send an application through our Application System . The title of the application should be the job you are applying for and the application should hold four attachments:

• 1 technical offer detailing the methodology, timeframe and size of the evaluation team proposed (max 4 pages);


• 1 biography of the evaluator/ evaluation team demonstrating relevant experience/ knowledge (max 10 pages);


• 1 financial offer (Excel) detailing the costs of the budget;


• 2 references of organizations who can verify the quality of the consultant’s work.

Note: Preference will be given to applicants who include at least an executive summary from a past baselines or evaluations conducted.