Stakeholders Mapping Trainer and ِExpert - Support to the Civil Society

1. Context

• The Project


Support for the Civic Society program, led by Search, aims to enhance the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) through a series of strategic activities. The first activity involves engaging 24 CSOs in a process to assess their capacities and identify gaps. Following this, a structured mentoring and coaching scheme will be implemented to build institutional and programmatic capacities tailored to the needs identified in the assessments. This includes training on various methodologies such as the Common Ground Approach, conflict scanning, and stakeholder mapping, with a focus on gender equality and community engagement. The project will implement community dialogue processes that facilitate discussions among CSOs, local leaders, and marginalised groups to collaboratively identify community needs. Furthermore, a competitive small grant scheme will invite CSOs to propose projects addressing these needs. Finally, cross-regional networking events will be organised to promote shared learning among CSOs and Peace Clubs, enhancing collaboration. Overall, these initiatives aim to strengthen civil society's role in promoting stability and social cohesion in conflict-affected areas.

2. Goal and Objectives of the Consultancy

• Search is seeking to hire a consultant to train and support 24 selected local CSOs and CBOs in conducting a Community Stakeholders Mapping. The objectives of this consultancy include:


• Capacity Building: Equip 24 selected CSOs and CBOs with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively conduct stakeholder mapping.


• Stakeholders Mapping: Utilize qualitative and quantitative methods to gather relevant data to identify key stakeholders within the community, understanding their interests, influence, and potential impact on project outcomes.


• Reporting: Produce a concise report(s) summarising findings, insights, and recommendations, ensuring effective communication back to the communities involved. Reporting must focus on actionable recommendations for programmatic interventions that are sensitive to the identified conflicts and stakeholder dynamics.


• Given the specific nature of the methodology of this mission, the consultant will be also required to develop and provide training and coaching sessions that specifically aim at increasing the capacity and the skills of the CSOs. The training is also expected to strengthen leadership skills of the participants by building stronger relationships with members of their communities, and analysing the local conflict dynamics by integrating a strong gender lens to capture needs and opportunities for equal participation and inform gender-sensitive programming approaches. 


The trainer is expected to work in close collaboration with Search’s team to ensure that the training and coaching are participatory and the resulting reports are relevant to the context, gender-sensitive, clear, concise and ready to use in the following project activities.

3. Geographic Locations

• The Community Stakeholder Mapping is expected to provide quantitative and qualitative information, gender-age disaggregated data in the MENA Region.

4. Methodology and Data Collection Tools

• The participatory methodology can give the participants an opportunity to put their newly acquired knowledge and skills into practice all the while building initial trust with community stakeholders. 


Community Stakeholder Mapping: The 24 CSOs (2 representatives from each CSO) will be trained to use the agreed upon methodology with the expert to conduct qualitative and quantitative research and data collection in the selected areas of this project to provide data for the mapping. The stakeholders mapping will involve Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with civil society, religious, governance, tribal leaders, and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with community representatives including vulnerable groups in the target areas, as well as other data sources and methodologies as identified by the expert/trainer.
Under the supervision of the consultant, the trained CSOs will collect primary data from their respective communities. The consultant should closely follow-up on the data collection process through daily/weekly debriefs with which will be followed by data analysis and reporting in a participatory manner.
The mapping for each of the three areas will be conducted, analysed, and reported on separately. 


The Stakeholders Mapping report(s) must answer the below questions:
• Identification of Leaders:
• Who are the influential community leaders (both men and women) in the targeted areas? 
• Which of these individuals are likely to act as facilitators or spoilers of peace?


• Stakeholder Dynamics: What is the power, influence, and relationship dynamics among stakeholders?
•  How do these relationships impact conflict and peacebuilding efforts?


• Roles and Interventions: What roles do these leaders play within their communities?
• What specific interventions have they made in peacebuilding and in reshaping gender norms regarding men’s and women’s roles in society?
• Can you provide examples of successful interventions, and what challenges remain in promoting social cohesion and peace security?


• Engagement Potential: What is the current and potential engagement level of key stakeholders in conflict transformation initiatives?


• Harnessing Peacebuilding Potential: How can peacebuilding initiatives effectively leverage the strengths of peace facilitators while addressing the negative influences of spoilers?


• Networks of Influence: What existing networks of relationships can project stakeholders utilise to enhance their influence?


• Gender Norms Assessment: What common gender norms exist across the targeted areas?
• How do community members understand gender roles and gender equality?
• What do they know about gender equality, MenEngage and Masculinities?
•  Are they aware of initiatives (that were implemented in the previous 2 years) aimed at changing the traditional roles of men and boys, supporting gender equality or reshaping understanding around gender either directly or indirectly?
• Have these efforts trickled down to influence a positive shift of social and gender norms?
• Or have they had an opposite effect?What are their needs and grievances?


• Stakeholder Engagement Strategy: How will the project engage identified stakeholders (both facilitators and spoilers) to foster beneficial outcomes for the project and promote enduring peace in the community?

5. Deliverables

• Search expects the following deliverables from the external consultant(s):


• Key Deliverable: Del. 1: 
• Training Material for Stakeholders’ Mapping for CSOs
•  Stakeholders mapping tool(s)
• Deadline: November 2024


• Key Deliverable: Del 2: Online Training for the 24 CSOs on Stakeholders Mapping
• Deadline: November - December 2024


• Key Deliverable: Del 3: Coaching Sessions for CSOs during data collection (number of sessions to be agreed upon)
• Deadline: November - December 2024


• Key Deliverable: Del 4: Stakeholders Mapping Matrix (Completed by CSOs and validated)
• Deadline: December 2024 - January 2025


• Key Deliverable: Del 5: Stakeholders Mapping Report (Full version in Arabic and must be validated with CSOs, executive summary of the reports must be available in English)
• Deadline: February 2025

6. Ethical Considerations

• In line with the ethical codes and guidelines of research, the consultancy should take into consideration the Do No Harm, Conflict sensitivity, and inclusion principles throughout the processes of designing, implementing, and finalising the proposed assignment. The consultant is required to respect the following ethical principles: 


• Comprehensive and systematic inquiry: The consultant should make the most of the existing information and a full range of stakeholders available at the time of the review. The consultant should conduct systematic, data-based inquiries. They should communicate their methods and approaches accurately and in sufficient detail to allow others to understand, interpret, and critique their work. They should make clear the limitations of the review and its results. 
• Competence: The consultant should possess the abilities and skills and experience appropriate to undertake the tasks proposed and should practice within the limits of their professional training and competence. 
• Honesty and integrity: The 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 should respect the security, dignity, and self-worth of the respondents, program participants. The consultant has the responsibility to be sensitive to and respect differences amongst participants in culture, religion, gender, disability, age, and ethnicity. 
• Safeguarding:Remain alert and responsive to any child safeguarding risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills which will enable promoting strong safeguarding practices, understanding the child safeguarding policy and procedures.

7. Data Quality Assurance and Management

• The consultant is expected to enhance and implement international ethical standards and principles for research, as well as ethical principles of working with youth, including considering all risks, protection and accountability issues related to this exercise. 


The consultant will be responsible for ensuring data quality and to define all the measures taken into account to ensure that ethics is ensured in data management and storage. The consultant shall observe ‘’Do No Harm’’ principles and protocol while carrying out the youth led research and ensure protection of respondents and youth researchers.


The consultant shall supervise the youth researchers all along the data collection. The consultant shall oversee data quality issues during data collection, management and report writing.


 All deliverables will be reviewed and approved by the Project Manager and the MEAL Manager prior to the acceptance of the final product. 

8. Timeline

• This assignment will be launched in the first week of November 2024 until the end of February 2025.  

9. Budget

• The budget available for this consultancy is between 12,000 and 15,000 EUR.

10. Requirements of Consultant

• The following skills and experience are expected by Search for the consultant:Bachelor degree in social sciences, peace building studies, public health, international relations, gender and development, social sciences, peace building studies or other relevant fields;
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in research community dialogue, community capacity building, conflict transformation, conflict/gender sensitivity, negotiation and/or mediation approaches;
• Minimum 5 years’ experience as a trainer;Experience doing remote data collection and stakeholder engagement in volatile and conflict affected parts of  Greater Levant countries such as Iraq and Syria;
• Has benefitted from a previously held Common Ground Approach ToT;
• Knowledge of Common Ground Approach’s tools and materials;
• Previous experience in delivering remote/online trainings;
• Solid understanding of the project cycle phases and tools;
• Proven experience in the design, development, and delivery of similar trainings and developing evaluation forms and pre and post-tests;
• Ability to tailor training modules to the specific needs of trainees;
• Experience in raising awareness and mobilising disadvantaged communities;Flexibility in terms of working hours based on the needs of the selected trainees CSOs;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Previous experience in working with international organisations;
• and Training will be conducted in Arabic - Reporting will be conducted in English.

Applications

• To apply, interested consultants are requested to submit the following:


• A clear and brief description of the proposed training methodology and the components of the sessions and the methodological approach the consultant intends to use to work with the participants and implement this action research based on Search’s toolkit
• Cover letter and a detailed CV.
• A financial proposal including the consultants’ rate per session.
• A brief description of the proposed training methodology.