Final Technical Evaluation – A2JRSRL

1. INTRODUCTION:

These Terms of Reference (ToR) specify the details for the Final Evaluation of the “Access to Justice and Rehabilitation of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon” project implemented by the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) and funded by the Swiss Confederation, represented by the Federal Department of Justice and Police and acting through the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).

The evaluation will focus on the assessment of the implemented activities and whether the activities led to the achievement of the planned Overall Goal, Objectives, Theory of Change, and results. As a result of this evaluation, actionable recommendations from the evaluator are expected in order to improve the quality of future similar projects.

2. BACKGROUND:

The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization based in Beirut. CLDH was created in 2006 by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily), which has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human rights violations. CLDH’s programs include rehabilitation for victims of torture and families of enforced disappearances and legal aid for vulnerable groups.

In 2007, CLDH opened “Nassim Center”, a rehabilitation center for the victims of torture and families of the forcibly disappeared, which provides multi-disciplinary support and case management for victims of torture or families as per the Istanbul Protocol. Services include psychotherapy, physiotherapy, legal, social, and financial assistance to over 100 victims of torture every year.

In 2009, CLDH launched its legal aid program by which, currently, a team of 16 lawyers provides legal assistance and consultations to vulnerable groups; the team handles walk-in and in-prison cases all over 35 detention centers in Lebanon on a daily basis.

In February 2019, CLDH established a second office in Baalbek where CLDH social workers conduct weekly visits to Syrian refugees in ITSs to identify legal needs and refer them to lawyers for in-house legal consultations.

In September 2020, CLDH expanded the Nassim center services in Beirut to provide victims of the Beirut Blast with medical and psychosocial assistance. Due to the increase in needs, this project was extended until August 30 2022.

In 2021, CLDH and the Tripoli Bar Association (TBA) implemented their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in December 2020. This coordination agreement aims to foster pro bono legal aid amongst junior lawyers. CLDH provided financial and technical support to TBA’s Legal Aid Center. In return, lawyers are assigned by the Legal Aid Center to defend poor and vulnerable detainees unable to hire and pay for a private legal counsel.

3. PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

Under both the legal and rehabilitation programs, and since November, 2022, CLDH is implementing a 22 months (November 1, 2020 to August 30, 2022) project called “Access to Justice and Rehabilitation of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon”, funded by the Swiss Confederation, represented by the Federal Department of Justice and Police, acting through the SEM. The project has been implemented nationwide with the Overall Goal of empowering Syrian refugees in Lebanon by improving their access to justice and having their rights protected. However, since the project was launched in the aftermath of the Beirut Port blast, CLDH and SEM agreed to integrate an Emergency Response into this project and thus expanded the service provision to the host community as well as all vulnerable groups. Through this project, CLDH focused on three main components:

• Emergency Response services for the aftermath of the Beirut blast
• Legal aid support
• Expansion of the legal aid program at the Tripoli Bar Association.

The project includes three main Outcomes:

• (Outcome 1:) 70% of the rehabilitated beneficiaries affected by the Beirut blast are able to be reintegrated into the society;
• (Outcome 2:) 60% of the Syrian refugees reaching CLDH for legal assistance are empowered to address their legal needs;
• (Outcome 3:) 70% of the lawyers targeted by CLDH showed their willingness to support the rights of Syrian refugees to have better access to justice.

To achieve the above, the project implemented the below activities:

• Legal assistance to families of Victims and Survivors of the Beirut blast;
• Holistic rehabilitation for Victims and Survivors of the Beirut blast;
• Legal assistance to Syrian refugees;
• MoU renewed with the TBA stating that CLDH covers legal fees in exchange of TBA’s lawyers providing pro bono legal aid services to detainees;
• Capacity building training to lawyers at the TBA.

4.THE FINAL EVALUATION:

Objective:

The objective of this mandate is the establishment of an evaluation, as systematic as possible, of the project, its design, implementation and results. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfillment of objectives, developmental efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, impact and sustainability. The evaluation should be based on the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, investigating the below set of questions, and addressing the performance indicators described in the project documents. The evaluation will be investigating the 22 months project implemented by CLDH and supported by the Swiss Confederation, represented by the Federal Department of Justice and Police, acting through SEM from November 1, 2020 until August 30, 2022.

Principles underpinning the approach to the evaluation:

• Impartiality and independence of the evaluation process from the programming and implementation functions;
• Credibility of the evaluation, through use of appropriately skilled and independent experts and the transparency of the evaluation process, including wide dissemination of results;
• Participation of stakeholders in the evaluation process, to ensure different perspectives and views are considered;
• Usefulness of the evaluation findings and recommendations, through timely presentation of relevant, clear and concise information to decision makers.

Relevance:

• Are the program design and implementation relevant to the context of Lebanon and to the new contextual updates?
• Did the project/activities meet relevant needs of the beneficiaries?
• Were the strategy and activities designed in a way that is relevant to reach the goal and objectives set?
• Are the rehabilitation services and the legal areas covered through services relevant to beneficiaries?

Effectiveness:

• To which extent did the project contribute towards creating a positive change according to the beneficiaries?
• To which extent did the project implement the Do-no-harm principle with the beneficiaries?
• To which extent did the project achieve its Goal, Objectives, Theory of Change, and results?
• What were the internal or external factors that facilitated or hindered the objectives’ achievements?
• What are the major best practices and lessons learned stemming from the project’s implementation?
• What are the main results from the project, intended and unintended, positive and negative?
• Is the project able to collect, analyze and use data to measure effectiveness and make needed changes during project implementation?

Efficiency:

• Have all available resources been leveraged in the implementation of the project, including in the provision of in-house legal aid, rehabilitation services and the development of pro bono services within TBA?
• How efficient was the project in achieving its objectives compared to alternatives modalities?
• Did the project manage to conclude the project activities in an efficient manner?

Coherence:

• How effective was the coordination between CLDH and TBA and were their actions complementary?
• How did the project articulate with other related projects/programs implemented by other actors?
• Were the actors involved complementary or in competition?

Impact:

• What are the intended and unintended results of the project on the project’s internal and external stakeholders, both positive and negative? To what extent are these changes desirable?
• What tangible difference did the activity make to beneficiaries? Did these changes contribute to empowering beneficiaries by increasing their access to justice and protecting their rights?

Sustainability:

• What sustainability measures have been put in place to ensure sustainability of the interventions?
• To what extent are the project’s achievements sustainable in the short, middle and long term?
• To what extent will the benefits of the project continue after donor funding ceased?
• To what extent the intervention is integrated with the existing national system and governmental services?
• Have new mechanisms been designed to continue any work initiated by this project beyond the end of the funding?
• What could have been done differently so that similar projects could become more sustainable in the future.

5**. METHODOLOGY:**

A mixed method approach should be applied. The evaluation should also draw a comparative conclusion towards the project data and reports. It will use the following sources:

• Desk study review of primary and secondary sources;
• Key informant interviews, including but not limited to key project stakeholders;
• Focus group discussions, including but not limited to team members at implementing level;
• Any other relevant evaluation tools.

At least 3 weeks of fieldwork is required to collect adequate data.

In addition, the evaluator/s will have access to the following information:

• Agreement documents and annexes;
• Minutes of the meetings and other events relevant to the project implementation;
• Interim narrative and financial reports;
• Legal and rehabilitation databases data;
• Project Journal and Activity Reports;
• Other documents produced during the implementation of the project.

6.DELIVERABLES:

Within 10 days of the kick off meeting, the consultant should submit an Inception Report, which clearly defines the evaluation methodology, timeline and detailed work plan. The methodology section should include the target groups and the clear set of data collection tools that will be used, along with the analysis plan.

The evaluation findings will have to be presented to CLDH’s team members during an interpretation workshop, the outcomes of which will be incorporated in the Final Report. A draft of the report is to be submitted within 10 days of completion of the data collection for review and comments from CLDH. The review and feedback of the report could be more than one round depending on the quality of the report and the extent to which the comments and suggestions from the first round have been incorporated.

The Final Report is to be submitted after incorporating the comments of CLDH. The report should be written in English, and consist of 20-25 pages excluding annexes, consisting of:

• Cover page;
• Table of contents, list of acronyms, abbreviations and list of tables and charts, and references used;
• Executive summary of key findings and recommendations (3-4 pages);
• Introduction, Background information and context analysis;
• Methodology with clear explanation of sampling, participants’ selection, and data analysis approach;
• Limitations;
• Research findings, analysis, with associated data presented, where appropriate in clear graphs or charts – the findings can include subsections for each research criteria;
• Conclusion and Recommendations;
• Appendices including data collection tools;
• A PPT summary of the findings and recommendation;
• A two pages summary Factsheet in both English and Arabic.

The report should be submitted electronically in a Word document and google doc. The consultant is responsible for English editing and formatting of the final report. The report will be credited to the evaluator and potentially placed in the public domain at the decision of CLDH.

All printed and electronic transcripts of interviews and surveys taken during the assessment and any equipment received from CLDH for the purpose of the study should be submitted back to CLDH. Furthermore, all information generated during the study will be the sole property of CLDH and is subject to submission to CLDH along with the final report, prior to the end of the contract.

7. AUDIENCE:

The primary audience of the evaluation is CLDH and the SEM acting for the Federal Department of Justice and Police representing the Swiss Confederation, who will use the evaluation to shape their future programming. The secondary audience are human rights NGOs, and the Lebanese and international community at large.

8. BUDGET & DURATION:

The duration of the assignment is from August 2022 to October 2022.

9. LOCATION:

The selected consultant will work remotely on the field and should attend meetings at CLDH office in Dora, Lebanon.