National Consultant (Data Collection Benghazi)

The Local Peacebuilding and Resilience Programme (LPRP) represents our clientLibya's flagship area-based peacebuilding, resilience, and recovery portfolio implemented across the West, East, and South regions of Libya through three interconnected regional projects: Local Peace and Resilience Programme – West Libya (00129870), Local Peace and Resilience Programme – South Libya (00132427), and Local Peace and Resilience Programme – East Libya (00132428). The programme is financed through a combination of donor contributions. (See Project Information table below).

The programme adopts a geographically targeted and conflict-sensitive approach tailored to the specific needs and conflict dynamics of different regions of Libya. Interventions are implemented across multiple municipalities in Western, Eastern, and Southern Libya, including, but not limited to, Tripoli, Tarhouna, Benghazi, Derna, Al Bayda, Sousa, Shahat, Sebha, Ubari, Murzuq, Ghat, Brak Al Shati, Tawergha, Bint Baya, Gurda, and Sharguiya, as well as region-wide and nationwide interventions under the programme.

The programme was designed in response to persistent governance, social cohesion, service delivery, and economic development challenges affecting communities across Libya. While conflict dynamics vary across regions, common challenges include weak institutional capacities, limited economic opportunities for youth and women, social fragmentation, insufficient access to quality basic services, exclusion of vulnerable groups from decision-making processes, and limited capacities for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. These challenges are often compounded by displacement, climate-related pressures, economic shocks, and the continued effects of political fragmentation.

Particular attention is given to youth, women, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, persons with disabilities, migrants, refugees, and other vulnerable and marginalized populations. The programme recognizes that these groups often face disproportionate barriers to participation in governance processes, access to livelihoods, service delivery, and peacebuilding initiatives. Through targeted interventions, the programme seeks to strengthen their inclusion, participation, leadership, and access to opportunities while promoting the principles of Leave No One Behind (LNOB), gender equality, and human rights.

Across the three regions, the programme pursues a common peacebuilding and resilience framework centered around four mutually reinforcing pillars: (i) strengthening local governance and institutional capacities; (ii) enhancing social cohesion, dialogue, and conflict management mechanisms; (iii) promoting inclusive economic recovery, livelihoods, entrepreneurship, and private sector development, particularly for youth and women; and (iv) improving access to basic services and supporting local recovery and reconstruction fund efforts.

The programme's theory of change is based on the premise that if local institutions are strengthened to analyse conflict, manage tensions, and deliver inclusive and conflict-sensitive services; if sustainable mechanisms for dialogue, participation, and conflict management are established and institutionalized; and if economic opportunities are expanded through livelihoods, entrepreneurship, private sector development, and local economic recovery initiatives, particularly for women, youth, and vulnerable groups, then public trust in institutions will increase, social cohesion will be strengthened, local conflict drivers will be reduced, and communities will become more resilient to conflict, shocks, and future crises.

The programme further seeks to strengthen linkages and cooperation between local authorities, civil society organizations, community leaders, women and youth groups, private sector actors, and national institutions. Through this integrated approach, the programme contributes to building more responsive institutions, strengthening local peace infrastructures, promoting inclusive development, and advancing sustainable peace and resilience outcomes across Libya.

The Programme contributes to the following results and outputs ofour client Strategic Plan and CPD:

our client Strategic Plan 2026–2029

Outcome 3: By 2029, institutions and people are better prepared to prevent, respond to, and recover from crises while sustaining long-term development.

Output 3.2: Stabilization, recovery, and reconstruction efforts resulted in improved access to essential services and infrastructure, revitalized local economies, successful reintegration of ex-combatants, and reduced social tensions among crisis-affected populations.

Output A 1.1: Economic opportunities expanded for people and enterprises to access decent jobs, trade and productive assets, including human capital, human mobility, and sustainable energy.

Output B 1.1: Institutions and individuals’ capacities strengthened to access and use digital technologies for efficient and accessible public services and the advancement of social, environmental, and economic objectives.

Output C.1: Local governance systems and communities strengthened to manage natural resources, deliver basic services, enhance socio-economic opportunities, and foster peaceful conditions.

UNDP Libya CPD 2023–2026

Outcome 2: By 2025, all people in Libya participate in and benefit from a more peaceful, safe, and secure society, free from armed conflict and underpinned by unified and strengthened security, justice, rule of law, and human rights institutions that promote and protect human rights based on the principles of inclusivity, non-discrimination, and equality in accordance with international norms and standards.

Output 2.2: Local administrations capacities to deliver better basic social services in a participatory, equitable, gender-responsive, and conflict-sensitive manner are strengthened.

Output 2.3: Private sector capacity to contribute to growth, livelihoods generation, and participation of women, youth, and marginalized groups in economic life are boosted.

Output 2.4: Capacities of local stakeholders to enhance social cohesion and sustain peace are strengthened.

The programme also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and contributes to Outcome 1.2: By 2025, people in Libya participate in and benefit from a more peaceful, safe, and secure society, free from armed conflict and underpinned by unified and strengthened security, justice, rule of law, and human rights institutions that promote and protect human rights based on the principles of inclusivity, non-discrimination, and equality in accordance with international norms and standards.

In addition, the programme contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 16.

2. OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The thematic evaluation of the Local Peacebuilding and Resilience Programme (LPRP) presents an opportunity to assess the collective contribution of UNDP-supported interventions to peacebuilding, social cohesion, local governance, service delivery, economic recovery, and resilience outcomes across Libya. The evaluation will cover the Local Peace and Resilience Programme – West Libya (00129870), Local Peace and Resilience Programme – South Libya (00132427), and Local Peace and Resilience Programme – East Libya (00132428).

To support the evaluation, our clientseeks to recruit three National Consultants, one for each region (West, East, and South Libya), to support field data collection, stakeholder consultations, coordination of key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs), beneficiary engagement, data validation, and logistical support under the technical supervision of the International Evaluation Team Leader.

Each National Consultant will be assigned responsibility for a specific geographical area corresponding to the duty station and region indicated in the summary table on the first page of this Terms of Reference. The Consultant will serve as the primary field focal point for the assigned region and will be responsible for supporting evaluation activities within the assigned municipalities and surrounding areas.

The evaluation aims to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability, and contribution of the programme to strengthening peacebuilding and resilience outcomes across the target municipalities and regions. It will also identify lessons learned, good practices, innovations, and recommendations to inform future programming, policy development, and strategic investments in peacebuilding and resilience in Libya.

The evaluation will examine the programme’s contribution to:

• Strengthening local governance, institutional capacities, and conflict-sensitive service delivery.

• Enhancing social cohesion, dialogue, reconciliation, and local conflict management mechanisms.

• Supporting inclusive economic recovery, entrepreneurship, livelihoods, and private sector engagement, particularly for youth and women.

• Promoting the meaningful participation of women, youth, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable and marginalized groups in local development and peacebuilding processes.

• Strengthening resilience and recovery capacities in conflict-affected, vulnerable, and disaster-affected communities.

Under the overall guidance of the International Evaluation Team Leader, the National Consultant will contribute to the successful implementation of the evaluation by ensuring the timely collection, verification, and submission of high-quality field evidence from the assigned region. The Consultant will support the generation of reliable findings and conclusions through effective engagement with stakeholders, beneficiaries, institutions, and local communities.

The assignment will contribute to ensuring that the evaluation findings are informed by diverse stakeholder perspectives, grounded in field evidence, and reflective of the experiences and priorities of local communities, institutions, and programme beneficiaries.

The National Consultant may be required to undertake travel within the assigned region, subject to operational requirements, security clearances, and approval by UNDP. The exact municipalities and geographical coverage assigned to the Consultant will correspond to the region specified under the Duty Station section of this Terms of Reference.

Note:

The assignment will also support the collection of evidence and stakeholder perspectives required for the preparation of the AfDB Project Completion Report (PCR) for the Enhancing Economic Opportunities for Youth and Entrepreneurs in Libya (EEYES) Project, which forms part of the overall thematic evaluation exercise.

Methodology

Based on our clientguidelines for evaluations, and in consultation with our client in ibya CO, the evaluation will be inclusive and participatory, involving all principal stakeholders into the analysis. The evaluator is expected to ensure close engagement with the evaluation manager and project staff throughout the process. The evaluation will consider the social, political, security and economic context which affects the overall performance of the programme.  All evaluation products are expected to address gender, conflict sensitivity, disability and human right issues.

The programme thematic evaluation will be carried out by an external evaluator and will engage a wide array of stakeholders and beneficiaries, including regional bodies, governments where interventions or advisory support were provided.

Evidence obtained and used to assess the results of the support should be triangulated from a variety of sources, including verifiable data on indicator achievement, existing reports, and technical papers, stakeholder interviews, and other means as far as the current situation allows. During this exercise, the evaluator is expected to apply the following approaches for data collection and analysis, which include a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods:

• Document review. (including project documents, donor reports with project amendments made, project quality assurance reports, annual workplans, financial reports etc.)

• Interviews and meetings with current and former (men and women) our client in Libya Country Office (CO) project staff and key stakeholders such as representatives of involved ministries, representatives of key civil society organizations, and partners:

o Field missions for data collection by national consultant

o Semi-structured key informant interviews designed for different categories of stakeholders (UNDP Libya staff, government and civil society partners, beneficiaries) (men and women) based on the key guiding evaluation questions around relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact.

o Focus group discussions with male and female beneficiaries and stakeholders.

• Surveys and questionnaires including participants in development programmes, partners, and other stakeholders.  

• Data review and analysis of monitoring, financial data and other data sources and methods. Evidence will be provided for every claim generated by the evaluation and data will be triangulated to ensure validity. An evaluation matrix or other methods can be used to map the data and triangulate the available evidence.

• Gender and human rights lens. All evaluation products need to address gender, disability, and human right issues.

The evaluation methodology needs to employ a gender sensitive approach and inclusion principle and this needs to be elaborated in the evaluation report including how data-collection and analysis methods integrated gender considerations, use of disaggregated data and outreach to diverse stakeholders’ groups.

The findings of the evaluation should lead to the elaboration of specific, practical, achievable recommendations that should be directed to the intended users.

Under the overall supervision of our clientEvaluation Manager and the technical guidance of the International Evaluation Team Leader, the National Consultant will support the implementation of the Local Peacebuilding and Resilience Programme (LPRP) thematic evaluation within the assigned area of responsibility.

The National Consultant will be responsible for supporting field data collection activities and facilitating engagement with relevant stakeholders, beneficiaries, institutions, and communities to ensure the collection of high-quality evidence required for the evaluation.

In consultations with the International Consultant and the Evaluation Manager, the consultant will undertake the following steps:

1) Review relevant project documentation, reports, assessments, monitoring data, and other reference materials to support the evaluation process and facilitate access to additional information sources where required.

2) Support the international consultant to define the scope of the analysis and evaluation questions specific to the assigned project final evaluation. Propose feasible and cost-effective solution to narrow down the scope of analysis and focus on the most relevant information.

3) Support stakeholder mapping and identification of key informants, beneficiaries, institutions, and target groups relevant to the evaluation within the assigned region.

4) Liaise with local authorities, government institutions, civil society organizations, community representatives, private sector actors, and programme beneficiaries to facilitate access and participation in the evaluation process.

5) Support the international consultant to collect qualitative, quantitative and contextual information regarding the current state in supported communities, regional and national levels. Identify sources of information, including the results of studies or prior reports that are relevant to the current project environment, data and identifying key informant and target groups for surveys in the supported communities.

6) Support the international consultant in developing an inception report (IR). The IR should refine the evaluation questions and detail the methodological approach, including data collection instruments. The Inception Report must be approved by the evaluation manager prior to commencement of data collection in the field. The support of the local consultant in the IR will be in proposing sample size, sampling plan, questions, technical tools to conduct surveys and other data collection. Other tools may include in-depth interviews with key local partners and beneficiaries. Suggested key informants will be identified and questions will be presented in the IR. The IR will include a plan for fieldwork and data analysis. All approaches will follow the conflict sensitivity principle by ensuring that the methodologies used do not result in increased risk for respondents, the Project team and the consultants.

7) Translate the approved IR data collection tools into Arabic.

8) Ensure that all field data collection activities are conducted in accordance with conflict sensitivity principles, ethical standards, human rights-based approaches, gender equality considerations, and the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principle.

9) Prepare and submit interview notes, focus group discussion summaries, survey datasets, attendance records, field mission notes, photographs (where appropriate and authorized), and other supporting evidence collected during fieldwork.

10) Support the collection, verification, and validation of data, evidence, stakeholder inputs, and documentation required for the preparation of the (AfDB) Project Completion Report for EEYES Project, as requested by the International Evaluation Team Leader.

11) Review and verify collected data for completeness, consistency, accuracy, and quality before submission to the International Evaluation Team Leader.

12) Based on the approved IR, participate in data collection under the guidance and with involvement of the international consultant. The local consultant will administer surveys and organize focus groups and interviews. Following the fieldwork, the consultancy team (international and national consultant) will prepare and deliver a short presentation to the relevant in-country stakeholders and Peacebuilding Support Office on the initial findings and recommendations.

13) Building on the debrief and initial feedback received, the consultancy team will produce a draft evaluation report that will be shared with the evaluation reference group for review and feedback.

14) Participate in regular coordination meetings with the International Evaluation Team Leader, the Evaluation Manager, and other National Consultants, and support follow-up data collection and validation exercises as required.

Evaluation Manager and the technical guidance of the International Evaluation Team Leader, 

• This assignment requires the services of a consultant that can demonstrate skills relating to analytical capacity, relevant gender analysis (especially collection and analysis of gender disaggregated data in the areas of livelihoods and peacebuilding, adequate reporting and English editing, and the ability to use RBM language.
  

• Prior experience of conducting baseline and impact studies in the developmentsector;
  

• Experience of data collection in conflictsituations;
  

• Working experience with the United Nations or similar organization in Libya would be an asset.
  

• Demonstrable access to the Municipalitiesmentioned in theToR

This role dose not require team management skills.

The Consultant should bebased inBenghazi,east ofLibya, with access toMarj, Derna, Al Bayda, Sousa, andShahatmunicipalities.