Consultant - Conflict Analysis Study - Iraq

Project Location: Iraq-Nienwa in 5 locations:: Wana, Rabe'a, Zummar, Sinuni, and Tel Kaif City Project Duration: 26 working days

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. Background: Mercy Corps works in places of transition, where conflict, disaster, political upheaval, or economic collapse present opportunities to build more secure, productive, and just communities. Providing emergency relief in times of crisis, we move quickly to help communities recover and build resilience to future shocks, and promote sustainable change by supporting community-led and market-driven initiatives. Recognizing both the great potential and the complex challenges faced by the Middle East, since 1989 Mercy Corps has been implementing a range of humanitarian assistance and development programs tailored to the specific needs of the region and of those communities where we work. Mercy Corps has worked across Iraq's 18 governorates since 2003, implementing relief and development programming, more than a third of which has focused on the specific needs of refugees and displaced persons. Mercy Corps Iraq works with civil society, and public- and private-sector partners to meet the immediate needs and reduce longer-term vulnerabilities of communities within Iraq. Mercy Corps Iraq aims to accomplish this by (1) building a relief-to-resilience pathway to meet the needs of conflict-affected communities, leveraging the organization's expertise in conflict management and civil society development, (2) empowering conflict-affected populations to meet their own needs through implementation of WASH, Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA), and other humanitarian response mechanisms while producing contingency plans to address potential future emergencies, (3) partnering with conflict-affected adolescents to address their diverse needs, promoting leadership and linkages with civil society and advancing access to educational, psychosocial support, and economic opportunities, and (4) promoting conflict management and social cohesion programming that seeks to build bridges across ethnic, religious, and community divides, while strengthening local capacity to resolve and de-escalate conflict. Mercy Corps is currently implementing the “Better Future through Reconciliation and Conflict Prevention in Ninewa” program. The program aims to reduce and prevent violence through conflict management and prevention mechanisms in the Ninewa governorate. Efforts to advance social cohesion and tolerance between different sectors of society are crucial to promoting an inclusive and sustainable peace for all Iraqi people. Mercy Corps Iraq's community-driven approach to conflict management and prevention will strengthen the ability of province and community leaders to manage and prevent conflict, promote reconciliation and trust between communities, and amplify the role of women and youth in decision-making Project Description: The project's overall goal is to reduce and prevent violence through conflict monitoring, management and prevention mechanisms in Ninewa. Mercy Corps' community-driven approach to conflict monitoring, management and prevention will strengthen the ability of community leaders and local authorities at sub-district, district and province levels to manage and prevent conflict, promote reconciliation and trust between communities, and amplify the role of women and youth in decision-making. The project will work to achieve the following two intermediate outcomes: Intermediate Outcome 1: Strengthened capacity of communities to monitor, manage and prevent disputes peacefully in Ninewa. Developing the capacity of community leaders at the grassroots level to respond successfully to the prospect or reality of conflict is critical, as conflict is often tied to existing tribal, ethnic, religious, and returnee/displacement fault lines. During a first consultation session with community leaders on August 22, 2017, held by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbait (GIZ) “Stabilizing Livelihoods in Ninewa” project in Erbil, representatives from the local government and civil society in Ninewa (Wana, Rabe'a, Zummar, Sinuni, and Tel Kaif city) all pointed specifically to conflicts in land administration, housing/ property, and dealing with people formerly engaged with ISIL as main priorities for the program. All agreed that the aforementioned issues should be raised on a community level. The Iraqi Centre for Negotiation Skills and Conflict Management (IQCM) will train community leaders to address these issues through an Interest-Based Negotiation approach (IBN), which is adapted to the local context, as well as community outreach mechanisms, project management skills, and leadership skills. Community leaders, supported by mentors, will also monitor conflicts and conflict trends documented through the projects' dispute tracker, Early Warning and Early Response mechanism, and data from the conflict analysis and conflict drivers research study. This analysis will be fed back into programming to allow for a better response to disputes and conflicts. In addition, community-driven advocacy initiatives will be developed and implemented to influence stakeholders and decision-makers to respond to current and emerging conflicts and policy change. The core purpose of the Advocacy Group is to bring a more strategic and sustained lobbying presence on larger, longer-term issues. Intermediate Outcome 2: To promote peaceful co-existence between community members within communities in Ninewa. Over the past few months, Iraq's stability and security have further deteriorated due to the destructiveness of ISIL's presence. Increased divisions and polarization between tribal, ethnic, and religious groups makes reconciliation in this context delicate and pressing. Therefore, the project seeks to encourage reconciliation in order to break down divisions within and between communities. One way that the project will solve divisions is through the establishment of Community Action Groups (CAGs) consisting of the selected community leaders under Intermediate Outcome 1. Community leaders will identify issues of concern within the community and build social cohesion initiatives and projects to address these issues in a consultative and participatory way. In addition, the project will establish youth groups and train members on project management skills, community outreach and mobilisation, peace-building, and leadership. As a result of these trainings, youth groups will implement projects designed to build social cohesion in their communities. The initiatives and projects are intended to promote peaceful co-existence between all members of the community. Consultant Objectives: This study seeks to identify and detail the key conflict dynamics and underlying root causes of conflict in the five Ninewa locations described. It will examine peace and conflict drivers through stakeholder analysis, political, governance, institutional, historical grievance, ethnic, tribal, resource, and social (power) lenses. In order for people in these locations to create a peaceful future, rebuilding from the violence and division sowed by historical tensions as well as recent conflict, it is imperative the local and international community better understand the drivers of conflict. As Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) continue to retake territory from ISIL, local communities, government bodies, and security forces must constructively prevent and manage disputes and conflict. This prevention is critical as hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals and families begin to return to their areas of origin. Without understanding the underlying grievances and points of tension between groups, sustainable peace is not possible. This analysis will directly inform programming, allowing for a better response to disputes and conflicts. In addition, community-driven targeted advocacy initiatives will be developed and implemented to influence stakeholders and decision-makers. The conflict analysis is intended to collect information on causes of conflict in each sub-district that would help determine locations for activities and particular methods and approaches tailored to each area. The conflict analysis will be shared with key program stakeholders and used to facilitate meaningful discussions around the findings and recommendations presented. The final methodology will be agreed upon between the successful consultant/consultant group and the Mercy Corps Program and MEL Managers. Minimally, the anticipated methodology will include a comprehensive desk review and qualitative methods. Consultant Activities: Day 1 Inception, including reviewing project documents Day 1-5 Literature Review Day 1-2 Draft Conflict Analysis Plan, including draft methodology and sampling frame, draft data collection tools and analysis plan Day 3 Mercy Corps provides feedback on draft methodology, tools and analysis plan Day 4 Finalize Conflict analysis methodology and tools Day 1-5 Prepare logistical arrangement for data collection Day 6-7 Train enumerators if needed on tools/methodologies Day 7-15 Collect Data Day 8-19 Clean and analyze data Day 20 Data Validation Workshop Day 21 Draft conflict analysis report Day 22 -23 Mercy Corps to provide feedback on report Day 25 Submit final conflict analysis report Consultant Deliverables: The Consultant will: • Work plan, including daily documentation and progress updates to the Mercy Corps MEL Manager and Conflict Management Program Manager. • Conflict Analysis Methodology, including • Sampling frame • Data collection tools • Data verification and analysis plan • Data validation workshop • Draft report • Final report which contain: The final report will be between 20 and 30 pages, not including annexes. The report will be structured according to the following guidelines: • Cover Page • List of Acronyms • Table of Contents • Executive Summary (2 to 3 pages) • Methodology • Findings • Recommendations • Annexes • Recommended methodology for a second phase local level conflict analysis with program beneficiaries • All data collected in hard and soft copies Timeframe / Schedule: The all activities above included the final report should be completed within 26 working days. The consultancy should start early of December or in early January 2017. The Consultant will report to: Conflict Management Program Manager and MEL Program Manager

The Consultant will work closely with: All conflict team member, MEL team and Conflict Management Program Manger

Required Experience & Skills: The ideal consultant will have the following experience and skills: • Advanced degree in Development Studies, Social Studies, Peace and Conflict or relevant field. • At least 5 years as a practitioner and/or research experience of conflict management or peacebuilding programs. • Solid experience of leading conflict analysis of large-scale programs implemented by international NGOs, preferably in conflict-affected countries. • Experience working in the Middle East required and experience of Iraq preferred, with understanding of multi-layered dimensions of the Iraqi conflict. • Fluent written and spoken English. Arabic is a significant advantage. • Experience in designing qualitative and quantitative data tools and designing research methodologies. • Experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative analysis.

To Apply: Interested consultants should send a technical and financial proposal to Mercy Corps (not more than 20 pages including CVs) containing the following sections: • Understanding of the objectives of the study; • Proposed methodology; • Team structure and CVs of team members; • At least 3 references for similar works completed • Writing sample • Full financial proposal including full budget to include all expenses associated with completing the conflict analysis. • Evaluation Criteria all applications will be scored by a review committee and will be scored against the following weighted criteria. Only the highest scoring applicants will be invited for an interview. Criteria Weight Understanding of the Objectives of the Study 15% Methodology 40% Team Structure and CVs 20% References and Writing Sample 10% Financial Proposal 15% Applications are due January 4, 2018. Tentative starting date: February 1, 2018.

Apply Here: http://www.Click2Apply.net/jytv7pwzjm3fn744 PI100644408

Apply Here: http://www.Click2Apply.net/jytv7pwzjm3fn744