Vacancy

External Evaluation of the Dialogue360 Project (2020-2025)

Consultancy

Location: Home Based 

The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) is seeking a Consultant to evaluate the Dialogue360 Project (2020–2025), assessing results and implementation and delivering evidence-based recommendations to strengthen future grant-based dialogue initiatives in the Arab region.

An Introduction to KAICIID

KAICIID aims to create a more peaceful world by promoting dialogue and supporting religious leaders and communities in tackling our most pressing problems. We do this through education and training, convening religious leaders and policymakers, and carrying out research to encourage and enhance interreligious and intercultural dialogue. We work with our partners to build their capacities, connections, and confidence.

Our work focuses on four pressing and linked issues that challenge humanity: violent conflict; migration; the climate emergency, and social cohesion. We bring together religious leaders with policymakers to find constructive ways to address these issues through dialogue. Our work respects and values the differences between faiths and cultures but promotes the idea that we share a common humanity and a collective need to address these problems. Through all our work run three threads: youth engagement, gender, and policy development.

The primary objective of the Programme Division (PROD) is to create the conditions, platforms and environment through which religious leaders and other actors, in particular policy makers and dialogue practitioners, can engage in constructive dialogue, thus strengthening mutual understanding and respect with the ultimate aim to encourage them to initiate action to bring about change in the policies of religious institutions and governments, at various levels, build mechanisms to facilitate on-going dialogue and action as well as strengthen networks of committed and experienced religious leaders, and other actors in the use of (IRD/ICD) for peace and reconciliation in conflict situations in particular.

KAICIID works towards its two strategic outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Effective environment for intercultural and interreligious dialogue, and 

• Outcome 2: Individuals and communities empowered to transcend conflict through dialogue through its global and regional  dialogue initiatives and capacity development

One of KAICIID’s key approaches to reaching grassroots communities is through local partnership initiatives implemented via granting schemes. Dialogue360 Project is a flagship KAICIID initiative in the Arab region that provides financial and technical support to locally owned dialogue initiatives. Since 2020, Dialogue360 has supported 190 initiatives implemented in 14 countries in the Arab region, including national and regional initiatives led by individuals and organizations. Grants range up to EUR 4,500 for individuals and EUR 7,000 for organizations, with implementation periods of four to six months.

Dialogue360 initiatives address one or more of the following four thematic scopes:

1. Countering and preventing hate speech in the name of religion at national and/or regional levels.

2. Enhancing the role of interreligious and intrareligious dialogue in responding to crises, with particular attention to vulnerable groups (e.g. women, youth, children, refugees, elderly persons, and persons with special health conditions).

3. Incorporating principles of interreligious education and common citizenship to promote social cohesion and peaceful coexistence.

4. Promoting the protection of cultural heritage and sacred sites.

The project combines grant-making with close technical accompaniment, capacity-building, and monitoring and evaluation support. It also seeks to strengthen KAICIID’s regional dialogue platforms and partnerships while increasing the visibility and impact of local peacebuilding actors.

Purpose:

The purpose of this external evaluation is to assess the achievements of the Dialogue 360 Project, identify lessons learned, and provide operational recommendations to inform the future development of this and other partnership initiatives implemented through grant mechanisms. The evaluation will also assess the added value of Dialogue360 in contributing to peacebuilding, social cohesion, and resilience in the supported communities in the Arab region, as well as its contribution to KAICIID’s broader mission and strategic priorities.

Scope and Objectives:

The evaluation will cover the period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2025 and all geographic contexts where Dialogue360 initiatives were implemented. It will encompass the full project cycle, including:

• Calls for Proposals and selection processes

• Grant management and administrative procedures

• Technical accompaniment and capacity-building support

• Implementation of funded initiatives

• Monitoring, reporting, and learning processes

• Engagement with policymakers and policy-oriented outputs

• Engagement with religious leaders

• Cross-cutting dimensions, including gender equality, youth participation, human rights, and inclusion of vulnerable groups

Diversity dimensions, gender, youth, religion, ethnicity and nationality, will be considered as a cross-cutting concern throughout the methodology, deliverables, and final report of the evaluation.

The evaluation will assess the extent to which the Dialogue360 Project has achieved its intended outcomes and outputs, as reflected in its programme design, implementation modalities, and monitoring framework. It is expected to elucidate: (i) key lessons learned to strengthen the Dialogue360 Project and similar grant-based dialogue initiatives; (ii) how implementation, management, and administrative challenges, including responsiveness to evolving regional contexts and crises, can be addressed to enhance the project’s contribution to peacebuilding and social cohesion at national and regional levels; and (iii) the main strategic priorities for the Dialogue360 Project in the immediate and longer term, including the institutional, programmatic, and operational steps required to achieve them. These issues shall be adequately reflected in the inception report and the final evaluation report. The primary audience for the evaluation includes KAICIID’s senior management and staff, Dialogue360 partners and beneficiaries, and the Centre’s donor and wider network of stakeholders and partners.

3.2 Evaluation Objectives

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:

• Assess the relevance and appropriateness of the Dialogue360 Project in terms of: alignment with KAICIID’s mandate and strategy; addressing priority contextual developments  in the Arab region, including peacebuilding, common citizenship, social cohesion, crisis response, and countering hate speech; alignment with national and regional contexts; responsiveness and adaptability to evolving regional challenges and events; and the extent to which Dialogue360 addresses cross-cutting issues such as human rights, gender equality, youth participation, and inclusion of vulnerable groups. The assessment will also review the relevance of the Calls for Proposals and selection processes and how they influence the achievement of project objectives.

• Assess the effectiveness of Dialogue360 in achieving its intended results (outputs and outcomes), distinguishing changes achieved at the level of individual grantees and partners, as well as at organizational, community, and policy levels. The assessment will examine the extent to which supported initiatives contributed to peacebuilding and social cohesion, identify enabling and constraining factors affecting implementation and results, and assess the quality and types of partnerships and the effectiveness of the implementation strategies, including attention to gender equality and youth participation.

• Assess the internal coherence of Dialogue360’s components and implementation modalities, including grant management, technical accompaniment, capacity-building support, and monitoring and learning processes. At programme level, the evaluation will examine how these components collectively contribute to Dialogue360’s intended outcomes. Within the Arab Region Programme, the evaluation will assess the extent to which Dialogue360 complements, reinforces, and creates synergies with other regional projects, and how such complementarities contribute to achieving shared regional objectives and results. At the organizational level, it will assess the extent to which the approach aligns with the organization's broader framework for managing partnerships through grants.

• Assess the external coherence of the Dialogue360 Project by examining its positioning in relation to similar initiatives and actors operating at national and regional levels, with a view to increasing awareness of comparable approaches, identifying complementarities, and drawing lessons and good practices that can inform and strengthen future Dialogue360 programming.

• Review the efficiency of the Dialogue360 Project, including its implementation strategy, institutional and administrative arrangements, management and decision-making mechanisms, operational systems, and use of resources. This will include an assessment of the adequacy of administrative and management support provided to the project and of its contribution to timely and effective implementation and value for money.

• Assess the sustainability of Dialogue360 results and capacities, including the extent to which supported initiatives and partnerships are likely to continue beyond project funding, the contextual and institutional factors that enable or constrain sustainability, and the types of support required to strengthen longer-term impact and scalability.

• Document good practices and lessons learned from the implementation and follow-up of Dialogue360 initiatives, with a view to strengthening the project’s theory of change and informing concrete, actionable, and forward-looking recommendations for future programming.

• Assess the extent to which the Dialogue360 Project has contributed to strengthening KAICIID’s visibility, positioning, and institutional credibility in the Arab region, including through its partnerships, engagement with local actors and religious leaders, policy-oriented and public-facing activities, and its responsiveness to regional and national priorities and contexts and evaluate how the project has also enhanced the visibility and positioning of its partner organizations.

Evaluation Methodology: 

The evaluation will apply a theory-based approach, using Dialogue360’s implicit and explicit theories of change to assess causal links between supported initiatives, contextual factors, and observed results. Evidence will be triangulated from multiple sources to ensure validity and credibility.

The evaluation will apply selected OECD/DAC evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, and sustainability.

A mixed-methods approach will be used, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, including:

Desk review of Dialogue360 programme documentation, including Calls for Proposals, selection criteria, selection process, grant agreements, workplans, monitoring and narrative reports, capacity-building materials, policy and knowledge outputs, and relevant internal reviews and assessments.

• Semi-structured interviews with KAICIID staff, Dialogue360 partners and grantees, selected religious leaders who supported or contributed to the implementation of initiatives, selected policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders.

• Focus group discussions with selected beneficiaries, partners, and community-level actors, including religious leaders where relevant, to capture collective perspectives on implementation processes, results, and contextual factors.

• Online surveys targeting a sample of Dialogue360 beneficiaries and partners to complement the findings.

• Case studies of selected Dialogue360 initiatives to illustrate pathways of change, responsiveness to context, partnership dynamics, and factors influencing results and sustainability.

A human rights-based and gender-sensitive approach will be integrated throughout the evaluation, paying attention to intersectionality, power dynamics, and inclusion.

Since 2024, KAICIID has been conducting an internal review of the Dialogue360 Project through organizational field missions, in close coordination with KAICIID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Unit. Field missions have already been conducted to Morocco and Jordan, and two additional missions are planned for 2026.

The external evaluator(s) is expected to undertake one or two field missions in the Arab region, subject to relevance, feasibility, and security considerations. Participation in a field mission is intended to strengthen the evaluator(s)’s contextual understanding and evaluation evidence. Modalities, timing, and travel-related arrangements will be agreed during the inception phase. Logistical costs related to the missions (including travel, accommodation, meals, and visa expenses) will be covered separately and should therefore not be included in the financial offer.

The evaluation will adhere to UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) norms and standards and KAICIID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Policy.

Key Evaluation Questions: 

Relevance

• To what extent is Dialogue360 aligned with KAICIID’s mission, strategy, and regional peacebuilding priorities?

• How relevant are the supported initiatives to local peacebuilding needs, crisis contexts, and evolving national and regional challenges?

• To what extent did the Dialogue360 Project demonstrate responsiveness and adaptability to changing regional contexts, crises, and socio-political developments?

• How appropriate and transparent are the Calls for Proposals and selection criteria?

Effectiveness

• To what extent has Dialogue360 achieved its intended outputs and outcomes? What changes have occurred at individual, community, organizational, and policy levels, including through the engagement of partners and religious leaders?

• What enabling and constraining factors influenced implementation processes and results?

• What were the most effective implementation approaches?

• To what extent and how has the Dialogue360 Project contributed to strengthening KAICIID’s visibility, positioning, and institutional credibility in the communities and the Arab region in general? How has the Project affected visibility and positioning of the local partners?

Coherence

• How coherent are Dialogue360’s design, implementation modalities, and support mechanisms?

• To what extent is KAICIID's approach to partnerships through grants coherent and how does Dialogue360 complement and learn from other KAICIID programmes and relevant national and regional initiatives?

Efficiency

• How efficient are grant management, monitoring, and technical support processes?

• Were financial and human resources used strategically and cost-effectively?

• To what extent did the KAICIID's organizational system and senior management provide adequate administrative support, decision-making mechanisms, and institutional processes to enable the effective and timely implementation of the Dialogue360 Project?

Sustainability

• To what extent are Dialogue360 results and capacities likely to be sustained beyond the funding period?

• What contextual, institutional, and partnership factors support or hinder sustainability and scalability of initiatives?

• What additional strategies or approaches could enhance the long-term sustainability and impact of the Dialogue360 Project?

The evaluation will result in a synthesis evaluation report and four short thematic case studies illustrating key dimensions of the Dialogue360 Project (will be identified and decided in the inception phase).

The evaluation process will be conducted through the following three phases:

1. Inception phase: including the review and analysis of relevant Dialogue360 programme documentation, consultations with KAICIID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Unit and Arab Region Programme Team, stakeholder mapping, and refinement of the evaluation approach, questions, and data collection tools. The inception phase will also confirm the selection and focus of the four thematic case studies.

2. Data collection and analysis: including in-depth desk review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and an online survey, analysis and triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data, and synthesis of preliminary findings and lessons learned. Preliminary findings and lessons learned will be discussed with KAICIID for validation, consultation, and identification of any remaining information gaps, as needed.

3. Preparation of the evaluation report, including an executive summary, background and purpose of the evaluation, methodology applied, a strengthened or reconstructed theory of change, presentation and analysis of findings supported by evidence, lessons learned and actionable recommendations, and annexes (including the list of sources consulted, survey results, data collection tools, and other relevant materials). In addition to the main report, four short thematic case studies (up to four pages each) will be delivered.

Following the completion of the evaluation, KAICIID will:

• Prepare a management response to the evaluation recommendations, outlining follow-up actions related to the Dialogue360 Project and informing future design and implementation of grant-based dialogue initiatives; and

• Disseminate and present the evaluation findings and recommendations through relevant internal forums, regional programme meetings, and selected Dialogue360-related events and consultations with partners and stakeholders.

Expected Deliverables and Timelines

Management Arrangement

The evaluation will be jointly managed by KAICIID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, the Arab Region programme Senior Manager and the Arab region Programme Officer who oversees Dialogue360 project. The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will ensure that the evaluation process is conducted as planned, will review the evaluation methodology and deliverables, and will ensure that professional evaluation standards and norms are applied throughout the process. Day-to-day management of the evaluation, including provision of documentation to the evaluation consultant, facilitation of access to key informants, coordination with partners, and logistical arrangements, will be managed by the Arab Region programme Team. The evaluation consultant will report to both KAICIID teams, who will provide feedback on and approve the deliverables. The evaluator(s) will operate independently and report to the designated KAICIID focal points.

An Evaluation Advisory Group will be established, comprising representatives from the Arab Region programme Team, the Monitoring and Evaluation unit, and relevant programme regional units as appropriate. The Advisory Group will also include selected external members, such as representatives of the Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation (IPDC) and key KAICIID partners, to provide independent perspectives and strengthen learning and accountability.

The Advisory Group will provide substantive comments and feedback on key evaluation deliverables, including the inception report and proposed methodology, preliminary findings and lessons learned, and the draft final evaluation report. Every effort will be made to provide consolidated feedback to the evaluator(s) within an agreed timeframe, in line with the quality criteria outlined in these Terms of Reference.

The evaluation consultant will be responsible for designing the evaluation, including the conceptual and methodological approach, collecting and analysing data in line with the agreed methodology, ensuring the quality, rigor, and objectivity of findings, and producing all expected deliverables as specified in these Terms of Reference.

Our Ideal Candidate:

• Advanced degree in social sciences, development studies, law, monitoring and evaluation, or a related field;

• At least 7 years of proven experience in conducting and managing evaluations (evaluating peacebuilding, dialogue, or grant-making programmes) with a strong experience working in the Arab region;

• Strong knowledge of interreligious and intercultural dialogue in the Arab region;

• Excellent knowledge of results-based management and programme management;

• Demonstrated application of standard evaluation approaches, qualitative as well as quantitative methods of data collection, results-based frameworks, theory-based approaches to evaluation methodologies, knowledge of UN, OECD/DAC and other internationally agreed guidance and standards;

• Experience and understanding of the contexts and stakeholders where the KAICIID operates specifically in the Arab region, knowledge of UN and bilateral development agencies priorities, global and/or regional nongovernmental and faith-based organizations in the region. 

• Excellent facilitation and communications skills; 

• Strong inter-personal skills and ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders including international organizations, governments, civil society organizations; 

• Strong analytical, synthesis and writing, reporting and presentation skills in English and Arabic; 

• Efficiency in fulfilling commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; 

• The evaluator(s) shall adhere to principles of independence, impartiality, confidentiality, informed consent, and cultural sensitivity throughout the evaluation process.

Languages

• English proficiency (written and spoken);

• Arabic proficiency (written and spoken);

• Knowledge of French will be considered as an asset. 

Terms of Appointment

Duration: The consultancy should be concluded by 30 November 2026, with the maximum of 35 working days,where 8 hours of work constitute one working day.

Location: Remote

For any travel associated with the assignment, if applicable and upon prior approval the Centre shall cover a flight in economy class, the meals and terminal expenses if and whenever applicable.

The consultancy fee will be offered in accordance with KAICIID consultancy rates, depending on the experience and expertise of the selected candidate.

The exact timeline for the assignment will be established based on the completion of the recruitment process.

How to Apply:    

Interested candidates should submit:

1. CV and Cover Letter (Weight: 40%) - The CV will be assessed based on the applicant’s qualifications; relevant experience; and skills relevant to the evaluation. Please kindly include your daily fee in the Cover Letter. Financial offer excluding travel-related expenses (weight 20%).

2. Two writing samples of evaluation report in English, preferably including one in Arabic (weight: 40%) - The samples of work will be assessed based on the methodological rigor, analytical ability, clarity of the content findings, conclusions and recommendations. Please merge the documents in one file and upload as additional document or include hyperlink to the relevant reports in your Cover Letter.

Individuals who are employed by KAICIID or any of its partners, were or are directly involved in the evaluation, management or implementation of Dialogue360 project with KAICIID are not eligible to apply for the position. This is to prevent any conflict of interest and to maintain the integrity of the evaluation process.

KAICIID is committed to diversity and inclusion and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds to apply.

Deadline for applications

Tuesday, 24 March 2026, 23:59 (Lisbon Time)