Consultancy - Real-time Evaluation of Communication and community engagement of the Rohingya Refugee Crisis

UNICEF is seeking an individual consultant to carry out a Real-time evaluation of Communication and community engagement of the Rohingya Refugee Crisis

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Background

 Violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar, which began on 25 August 2017 has driven an estimated 620,000 Rohingya across the border into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Reports on the Cox’s Bazar information Ecosystem by Internews (October 2017) and Translators without Borders (November 2017) indicate that new arrivals have little knowledge of what services are available and how to access them. Oxfam, in its rapid protection, food security and market assessment (November 2017) cite lack of information as one of the 5 major risks to the population.          

To best respond to the affected population’s information and communications needs, and to enable effective accountability, the Communication with Communities (CwC) Working Group in Cox’s Bazar provides coordination and technical support to sectors and organizations working on communications and community engagement as part of the response to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis. It complements, but does not replace individual agencies’ commitments to accountability, through coordination of activities and, where appropriate, facilitation of common analysis or support. In line with the Grand Bargain, the Working Group intends to work closely with Bangladeshi NGOs, by proactively reaching out to local actors to attend meetings and collaborate with members; also by identifying a local co-chair for the Working Group.

The key functions of the Working Group are:

• Coordinate efforts by WG members to engage the affected community: through the mapping of partner activities, the development of common tools, strategies and approaches to ensure consistency, relevancy, effectiveness and appropriateness of the information disseminated. Where applicable, support the development of information products on community feedback and perceptions and relevant activities.
• Use appropriately focused sociological and behavioural research to support production of accessible and relevant information, guide sector community engagement, and ensure affected population participation for an effective and efficient humanitarian response.
• Promote accountability to the affected people, and liaison across the humanitarian sectors and working groups in Cox’s Bazar to ensure that community concerns and perceptions are shared and addressed and then communicated back with the respective communities in their native language. Support the establishment of a common service feedback mechanism (which draws on the collective efforts of individual agencies, in combination with a response-wide common feedback mechanism, to create a product to inform decision-making) to address the concerns of the affected population, manage their expectations and fill-in information gaps to inform decision-making. Through this process, ensure that common accountability issues are systematically communicated to humanitarian leadership and that course correction is encouraged.
• Provide technical advice and support on the issues of communications and community engagement to the ISCG, sectors and organizations.
• Coordinate capacity building initiatives and identify gaps in staff capacity related to community engagement to strengthen the program interventions.
• Support the mainstreaming of community engagement within the overall emergency and early recovery response, and provide technical support to policy and strategy development across sectors.

This real-time evaluation is commissioned through the Communication and Community Engagement Initiative, a partnership between OCHA, the IFRC, UNICEF, CDAC Network and several other partners. This initiative seeks to establish a timely, systematic and predictable collective service for communication and community engagement with affected communities throughout all phases of the humanitarian program cycle. It is a direct contribution to the Grand Bargain “participation revolution” commitments and represents one of its main deliverables. It will be providing the necessary set of support to country programs such as the dissemination of the appropriate tools and guidance, the establishment of standby arrangements, the provision of technical support, sharing lessons and good practices across countries, as well as triggering policy and system-level change at global level. This real-time evaluation will contribute to the overall learning conducted through the CCEI, which will ultimately benefit the humanitarian sector for future responses in other contexts.

Purpose of the consultancy

This real-time evaluation will provide an opportunity to take stock of the work done through the CwC Working Group, examining how efficient coordination has been and whether the need for technical support to other sectors have been met. This will enable to identify key lessons and recommendations relevant for the ongoing coordination of communication and community engagement activities through the CwC Working Group in the Rohingya response, as well as for future collective approaches in other countries.

Methodology

The consultant will use multiple methods to triangulate his/her findings, and ensure that these are based on a good understanding of the current context:

• Review of documents: relevant documents produced by the CwC Working Group as well as broader literature on collective approaches
• Key informant interviews: the consultant will conduct interviews with members of the CwC WG, programme staff from sectors, ISCG, government officials involved in the response, interpreters and translators who are supporting the response, and a selected number of heads of programmes/heads of sub offices.
• Observations: the consultant will prioritise field visits to observe the work of partners involved in CwC Working Group directly and will participate as an observer in relevant coordination meetings.
• Refugee and host population participation: the consultant will conduct as much as possible a number of interviews with refugees and members of the host population as part of the direct observation, with support from local interpreters. 

Key questions

The following questions will guide the real time evaluation:

• How do agencies define what CEA / CWC is and the role of the working group?
• What is the added-value of a collective approach as conceptualized by the CDAC Policy and the Communication and Community Engagement Initiative, compared to what partners are doing individually? How could this be improved?
• How can such an approach become more predictable and integrated in existing response mechanisms (notably through the sectors)?
• How can this approach be better resourced and integrated earlier in planning and appeal mechanisms?
• What is the level of support from the leadership of operational partners and from emergency coordinators regarding the role and approach promoted by the CwC WG?
• Does the working group have the right skill-set to support these efforts in technical and coordination terms?
• Was there sufficient/any preparedness measure in place for communication and community engagement which helped the CwC Working Group and to what extent did national-level preparedness measures contribute to the effectiveness of the CwC Working Group?"
• To what degree does the work of the CwC Working Group work contribute to influencing strategic (i.e. HRP process) and operational decision-making? Are there examples of this? Where information reaches key decision makers, what barriers are there to action being taken?
• To what degree has the work of the CwC Working Group contributed to improving the quality and effectiveness of the response and has influenced people’s perception of the humanitarian assistance?
• What are the key functions of the approach promoted by the CwC WG (in terms of participation, communication/information sharing and feedback/complaint mechanisms) and to what extent can they contribute to the effectiveness of the response? (more details on key functions available in CCEI and CDAC materials)
• Have the existing tools, guidance and good practice examples which have been developed in recent years been useful for the work of the CwC WG members and are there any gaps?

Output

A short report with findings and recommendations will be shared and discussed with the stakeholders involved in the RTE, particularly the CwC Working Group and the ISCG. It will also be shared and discuss with members of the Communication and Community Engagement Initiative as well as the CDAC Community of Practice.

Timeframe and Duty station

Start date: 1^st March 2018

End date: 15^th April 2018

The consultant will be based in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh. This assignment will be for a total of 20 days to be agreed within the above period (14 days in Cox’s Bazar and 6 days home-based for preparation & final report writing)  

Key competencies, technical background and experience required

Education:

Advanced University Degree (Master’s) in Social Sciences, Anthropology, International Development, Humanitarian assistance or a related field.

Work Experience:

A minimum of 10 year of experience in the humanitarian sector, with NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement or the United Nations.

Proven track record in leading evaluations and reviews in the humanitarian sector

Practical experience with community engagement and accountability

Strong understanding of coordination mechanisms in the humanitarian sector and of the role of national and international actors

Language:

Proficiency in written and verbal English language

Demonstrate UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

Competencies

• Proven capacity to work with and lead collaborative teams across different locations and with different managerial and technical skills.
• Excellent analytical skills
• Strong drive for results
• Excellent communicator of verbal and written concepts to a government and international audience
• Works independently and problem-solving oriented

Travel:

Air travel will be in economy class. DSA, Terminal, etc, will be as per UNICEF travel policy for consultants.

Fee: Please quote a lump-sum fee for this consultancy as part of the application. Application without a budget will not be considered.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.