Civil society expert and Programme design consultant

Job Title: Civil society expert and Programme design consultant

Duty station: Baghdad – Iraq

Duration of assignment: 30 days; from October 2022 to January 2023

Contract type: Short-term contract

Starting date: 1st of october 2022

Deadline for applications: 20th of September 2022

1. Introduction

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1st January 2015 and merging 6 French public agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. Besides, EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes.

1. Mission description

Position’s Overall Objective

Expertise France is seeking a short-term Consultant to develop a high-quality proposal for a Civil society programme in Iraq, funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France. This programme aims at strengthening the Iraqi Civil Society in its capacity to understand, participate and influence domestic policies in Iraq.

The civil society expert and programme design consultant will be in charge of designing the programme’s content, drafting the main orientation documents, ensuring that activities and indicators proposed are reachable and that mechanisms in place are efficient.

Description of the tasks to be assigned and deliverables (but not limited to)

• Review key documents and relevant sectoral guidelines to be building on and referring to into the proposal;
• Organize meetings with all stakeholders foreseen for the programme to properly design the project and its activities in details. This task will encompass several meetings with the European Union Delegation in Baghdad, the French Embassy in Baghdad, Prime Minister’s Office, representatives of the Iraqi Parliament, representatives of line ministries such as the Ministry of Planning, the Directorate of NGOs and others. These meetings will need to explore in detail the objectives and activities of the project, and ensure understanding, acceptance and ownership from Iraqi authorities.
• Develop partnerships modalities with the foreseen implementing partners for each component of the project, draft coordination related documents and MoU guidelines; this part might encompass several meetings with proposed implementing partners, reception and review of concept notes submitted by potential candidates, and discussion on overall management mechanisms, synergies and coordination between each component.
• Develop and draft the full project proposal and its annexes

The final deliverables should include:

• Narrative description of the action (including context analysis, description of the action, theory of change, risk matrix, organigram and workplan).
• A detailed logical framework,
• A detailed budget. A reference document detailing the coordination and management guidelines of the programme

Methodology:

Prior to the mission, the consultant will receive a briefing by the EF implementation team to review the context of the mission. The consultant will receive notes and reports relevant to the programme. The consultant will also receive recommendations and key contact points to start the mission.

The tasks will include:

• Review internal and external documents to ensure the proposal is developed in full alignment with the needs as well as donor guidelines.
• Develop the full proposal of the programme and annexes.

A specific calendar will be developed once the consultant is contracted. The calendar will specify deadlines for intermediary reports, drafts and final drafts with sufficient time for review.

1. Programme background

Iraq has experienced decades of conflict and wars that have challenged the domestic security and development landscape. Internal and external political developments have led to high levels of violence, weak institutions, corruption, high dependency on natural resources, all resulting in increased poverty and instability. Today’s fragmented political landscape undermines effective Government action, security, and transparent governance. The Iraqi population and in particular vulnerable groups such as women, children and displaced populations, are severely affected by significant rises in poverty, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance, and in un- and underemployment. Distrust in state institutions leading to mass protests, poor service delivery in education and other basic service sectors, lack of jobs, and continued displacement remain key drivers of conflict and a threat to Iraq’s social cohesion

Restoring the link between the Iraqi society and the Iraqi decisions makers has become a major challenge to guarantee return to peace and stability in the country towards sustainable development. To reach this objective, all parts of the Iraqi society must engage in a constructive dialogue with the Iraqi governmental and federal institutions, including the civil society at large, the youth and the media.

The European Union in Iraq supports Civil Society through its different instruments. In order to foster a coordinated approach between the EU Delegation and its Member States, a specific Roadmap for EU Engagement with civil society has been designed for Iraq. The three priorities identified in this roadmap are i) to promote an enabling environment for Civil Society allowing CSOs working in Iraq to better contribute to the development of the country ; ii) To promote a structured, gender-mainstreamed participation of CSOs in domestic policies as key development players and iii) To increase local CSOs’ capacity including new technical areas to perform their roles as independent development actors more effectively.

The EUD in Iraq mandated Expertise France to develop a programme based on the roadmap priorities, it aims at strengthening the Iraqi Civil Society in its capacity to understand, participate and influence domestic policies in Iraq. The overall objective of the programme is to create the conditions for a reinforced civic space for civil society in Iraq, promoting civil society participation in public policy while fostering freedom of expression, also developing innovative and effective modalities of engagement with traditional/structured and new/informal civil society actors, through four components.

The four components of the programme will be implemented by four implementing partners at the national level and as follow:

• to promote an enabling environment for Civil Society allowing CSOs working in Iraq to better contribute to the development of the country
• to promote a structured participation of specialized CSOs in selected domestic policies as key development players
• to support the engagement of youth in policy discussion at national, regional and local levels, through supporting new forms of citizens engagement in Iraq
• to support freedom of expression in Iraq through the reinforcement of local media platforms and contents

These four components will be implemented through several types of actions including support to political dialogue, support to policy dialogue, technical assistance, Capacity development sub granting, etc.

1. Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

• Relevant university degree (eg. Political or social science, international development, community development);
• A minimum of 10 years proven experience in operational management of projects fostering dialogue, or supporting civil society actors to promote a better environment for non-state actors in fragile settings;
• Demonstrated experience in the formulation of complex and multi-stakeholder programmes in the field of civil society empowerment and governance
• Proven experience in engaging with national authorities and donors, including knowledge transfer and capacity building projects;
• A good knowledge of the local context (political, socio-political, socio-economic); and the Iraqi Civil Society sector would be a plus;
• Capacity to advocate, liaise and coordinate with various actors.
• Good command of programme and project management life cycle including strategic planning, development, management, monitoring and evaluation. Experience in the management of integrated multisector projects would be an asset.
• Good working knowledge of European Commission procedures required. Good knowledge of other donors’ procedures is an asset (French MoFA, DFID, JICA, etc)
• Excellent communication skills ability to adapt to a diverse multicultural environment;
• Excellent command of English (oral and written). Knowledge of Arabic would be a definite asset