Durable Peace Programme (DPP) Final Evaluation

Position: Research team to conduct DPP Phase 2 final evaluation

Type of Contract: Consultancy

Location: Kachin State and Northern Shan State

Length of assignment: May-July 2022 (total days to be determined by the consultant)

Application deadline: March 25^th, 2022

Background Information

Oxfam manages a consortium of seven national and international NGOs, plus a further 25 CSOs, delivering the Durable Peace Program (DPP) in Kachin and northern Shan State. The DPP’s overall objective is to support local civil society’s contribution to creating the conditions for lasting peace, security, stability and sustainable development across 18 townships of Kachin and 6 townships of northern Shan State. The DPP delivers a broad range of activities under five main objectives, as follows:

1. Durable solution and community resilience

2. Livelihoods and income

3. Peacebuilding and social cohesion

4. Gender equality and prevention of GBV

5. Deepening expertise of Civil Society

Key themes underpinning the program include a priority focus on supporting women and youth, mainstreaming advocacy throughout program activities, and extensive capacity development for civil society and to a lesser extent, authorities. Indicative activities include return and resettlement, peace and civic education, peace seminars and consultations, trauma healing, personal and community-level reconciliation initiatives, mine risk education, small-scale livelihood activities, early childhood education, research to support conflict-affected communities, and advocacy towards authorities. Over the course of three and a half years, DPP aims to reach a total of 105,000 conflict-affected people, primarily displaced people living in IDP camps, but also some villages, with 85,000 people in Kachin State and 20,000 in northern Shan State, both in SAC-controlled areas and Kachin Independent Organization (KIO)-controlled areas.

Funded by the European Union, the second phase of DPP launched in August 2018 and will finish in August 2022. As the DPP end date nears, a final evaluation is required. For more information on the DPP, please visit: https://durablepeaceprogramme.com/

Objectives and Deliverables of the consultancy

This consultancy is to deliver a final evaluation of the DPP, as part of our accountability processes, to support consortium reflection, build upon the mid-term review and contribute to learning as part of the project cycle process. The evaluation will require analysis of existing documentation and available data, in addition to further qualitative data collection. It is expected from the consultancy to provide an overall critical analysis of the programme, and facilitation of consortium learning/reflection, including tangible recommendations for future programming.

Due to the spreading of COVID-19 omicron variant, many field visits may not be possible but visiting the main towns of Lashio and Myitkyina might be possible for meetings with the staff of DPP Consortium. This will depend on travel restrictions and the ability of partners and beneficiaries to meet in person. The same counts for meetings in Yangon, which might also be affected. The interested candidates must assume in their work plans and budgets that travel to the field outside Yangon, Myitkyina and Lashio will not be possible. However, if they have local team members based in these locations, they also must assume the possibility of small travel by their local team members.

• The consultancy team will be expected to complete the following: Literature review of program and external documents, including but not limited to the Description of Action (DoA), the (Semi) Annual reports, briefing notes, publications, etc.
• Review of baseline survey report and endline survey report
• Inception report, which must explain the evaluation objectives, evaluation and learning questions, methodology, sampling design and workplan. The qualitative data collection should include at least (online/or in person) Key Informant Interview (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and observations, ideally with staff, partners and beneficiaries in both SAC controlled areas and KIO controlled areas.
• Meetings with all consortium members and some CSOs involved in the program.
• Write up of a draft review, not exceeding 30 pages (excluding annexes)
• Facilitation of learning/reflection workshop, including a presentation and participatory discussion of key findings; and
• Incorporating consortium feedback, write up of a final draft, not exceeding 30 pages, in addition to annexes. Single spaced, size 11 Arial font.

Key Evaluation Themes

The evaluation should employ a critical analysis approach, delivering informed insights with practical recommendations that can inform future program design and implementation. At a minimum, the final evaluation should address the following areas:

Relevance

• whether the objectives and outcomes are ultimately contributing to the realization of DPP’s mission.
• the extent to which the intervention is suited to the priorities of the people and communities it is intended to benefit, with specific reference to the experiences and opinions of women and other marginalized groups. What was the quality of the intervention design/content?

• the extent to which the DPP reacts to the context in which it is being implemented.

  Impact and effectiveness

• progress towards DPP’s outcomes and/or impact

• the reasons behind the achievement (or not) of objectives (e.g. if the DPP is not achieving objectives, whether the problem rests in the logical framework / theory of change, or with difficulties in implementation [including the institutional and external contexts], and whether these are leading to unintended [positive or negative] consequences)

• DPP’s contribution and value-added to the wider community in which the programme is being implemented

• How well was the intervention implemented and adapted as needed?

  Efficiency

• the degree to which the financial resources of DPP have been used economically and efficiently

  Sustainability

• A reflection over the full programme period (2015-2022), including phase 1 of the DPP, and what the transition between phases has meant for the overall programme.

• Are any positive results likely to be sustained? In what circumstances?

• Conditions and choices for exiting, scaling up, handover or other types of transitions

The evaluator will develop learning and evaluation questions addressing the above areas. These questions should be co-created with the DPP consortium, so the questions will address the main evaluation and learning objectives of the consortium.,
Furthermore, the program recommends and will look favorably upon innovative review methodologies, genuinely participatory review approaches and processes that also deliver capacity development for consortium members.

Requirements and Selection Criteria for the Evaluation Team:

The following are minimum requirements that must be collectively met by the evaluation team:

• Bachelor’s degree in development or conflict studies, social science or related field;
• Proven experience conducting evaluation (an example of relevant previous work preferred and would be kept confidential).
• Experience in Myanmar essential, experience in Kachin and northern Shan State and understanding the local context preferable.
• Proven advanced understanding of conflict dynamics/sensitivity in Kachin and northern Shan State and at least some of the thematic areas of the program, such as peace, gender, youth, livelihoods and advocacy.
• Proven gender analysis skills and demonstrated gender sensitivity; and
• Advanced English and Burmese essential, advanced Jinghpaw and Shan dialects preferable. If English is not a native language of any team member, budgeting for and involving an English copy editor is strongly encouraged.

The following are the key selection criteria that the review team will be assessed against:

• The team’s capacity against the minimum requirements outlined above.
• Demonstrated understanding of the TOR and quality of the proposal to meet the needs of the final evaluation.
• Willingness and capacity for innovation, genuinely participatory approaches and capacity development for the consortium.
• Experience and ability to do online/remote KIIs and FGD if needed
• Gender balance in proposed team is valued
• Ability to work autonomously; and
• Value for money.

To view the full Terms of Reference, please click here

Our values and commitment to safeguarding:

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom Oxfam GB engages. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. Oxfam GB also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Note to candidates: Shortlisted candidates will be assessed on our organisational values and attributes at the interview stage. The successful candidate(s) will be expected to adhere to our code of conduct. We encourage candidates to read and understand our code of conduct here.

About Us

Oxfam is a global community who believe poverty isn’t inevitable. It’s an injustice that can be overcome. We are shop volunteers, women’s right activists, marathon runners, aid workers, coffee farmers, street fundraisers, goat herders, policy experts, campaigners, water engineers and more. And we won’t stop until everyone can live life without poverty for good.

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Only short-listed candidates will be notified.