CONSULTANCY, EVALUATION OF NETWORK FOR DIALOGUE

Vacancy

ConSultancy, Evaluation of Network for Dialogue

Programme Department

ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING AND BACKGROUND

The King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (hereinafter “KAICIID”) is an intergovernmental organization with a mission to enhance individual and institutional capacity in interreligious and intercultural dialogue at global, regional and country levels, to bring together cultural and religious communities, and to facilitate their engagement with policy makers in order to address local to global challenges. Since its establishment in 2012, through its programmes in Europe, Africa, Arab Region and Asia, the Centre has worked tirelessly to deepen understanding and awareness of dialogue and support development and strengthening of interreligious and intercultural networks and platforms for dialogue as a critical tool for peacebuilding, strengthening social cohesion and the idea of common citizenship.

In 2019, KAICIID supported the establishment of the Network for Dialogue in Europe as a platform which gathers faith-based and civil society organizations around the social inclusion of refugees and migrants in Europe and supported them in using interreligious and intercultural dialogue in their work. By 2022, the Network for Dialogue grew to 25 full members and observers from 15 European countries. The Network gathers mostly faith-based and secular organizations working at the grassroot level with refugees and migrants, as well as a few representatives of international organizations and experts on migration policy. The Network meets twice a year, to share achievements, build their capacities in interreligious and intercultural dialogue, social cohesion, organizational management and policy advocacy, discuss priorities for future joint activities and to plan expansion. In between these KAICIID supported meetings, some members further exchange on challenges and best practices on their own.

Since 2021, with KAICIID’s support, the Network has engaged in development of policy briefs and recommendations on integration of refugees and migrants in formal education, policy development, volunteering activities and on countering hate speech and affirming positive narratives. Policy briefs were further discussed with the European Commission, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Network aims to raise further interest in policy dialogue with national and local governments. Additionally, members were supported with micro-grants (seven grants of up to EUR 6.000 for partnership actions) to follow-up on policy briefs. While the policy work is at early development stages, the Network aims to strengthen it in the coming years.

The Network for Dialogue has not been registered yet as the legal entity and therefore has no other financial resources available.  

PURPOSE

This independent evaluation is commissioned at a time when the Network is considering the development of its Strategic Plan with potential focus on strengthening policy advocacy on social cohesion towards EU and national level decisionmakers, as well as further capacity development, growth and organizational registration and strengthening.

While KAICIID aims to support the Network on its sustainability path at least until the end of 2026, at this stage it has limited understanding and anecdotal information on the level of internal connectedness and dynamics of the Network, and its engagement and potential beyond the activities KAICIID has directly supported.

Therefore, KAICIID commissions this independent evaluation with a twofold forward-looking purpose:

• To recalibrate KAICIID’s future support to the Network for Dialogue, but potentially other similar networks across KAICIID’s portfolio, based on evidence on its strengths, weaknesses, needs and potentials.
• To support the Network’s strategic planning process by providing inputs to its leadership and members about its vitality and potential priority areas of its programmatic and organizational development by the end of 2027.

The final evaluation report will be presented at the meeting of the Network for Dialogue planned for the 1^st quarter of 2024 where its future strategic orientation will be discussed and agreed upon.

OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives of this evaluation are to:

• Map the major stakeholders in Europe relevant for dialogue on social inclusion policies for migrants and refugees, assess strategic position and relevance of the Network and its mission in that space. This will also include identification of areas in which the Network has already built or potentially can build comparative advantage and added value in comparison to other stakeholders identified;
• Assess the effectiveness of the Network’s work since its establishment, including effectiveness of KAICIID’s modality of support. This should include effects on the Network and its members through capacity development (individual and organisational changes, application of knowledge), effects of small grants and effects of Network’s external relations and policy work with decision-makers at different levels. Good practices, internal and external enablers and challenges to effectiveness should be analysed as well;
• Identify the level of internal connectedness of the Network’s members including the range and scope of their mutual engagements, identifying what the connecting ‘tissues’ and motives are among them;
• Assess efficiency, including strengths and weaknesses of the Network’s internal structure and processes;
• Assess the level of sustainability of the Network and the extent to which its results [i.e. outputs and potential outcome(s)] are aligned with KAICIID’s current strategic priorities, and potential for sharpening its programmatic focus, innovation and scaling-up;
• Identify and validate lessons learned, including propose the elements of the Theory of Change, relevant for future strategic orientation of the KAICIID’s support to networks and the European Network for Dialogue itself;
• Provide action-oriented strategic recommendations to KAICIID and the Network’s members for strengthening the Networks’ programmatic development and organizational sustainability, and on strategic entry points to be effective contributor to migration and social cohesion policies at national, regional and international level.

SCOPE OF TASKS

The geographic scope is regional (including EU and its neighbourhood), but also the migration dynamics from other parts of the world should be taken into account. The evaluation will observe the entire evolution of the Network, including period since preparation for its establishment until today.

It will cover both internal and external perspective. Internal aspects to be analysed are the networks’ connectedness, capacities and infrastructure. External aspects cover the relevance of the Network in the current European socio-economic context as well as its external relations and effectiveness. Both KAICIID supported programmes as well as any other intervention of the Network would be observed by the evaluation.

The evaluator is expected to review KAICIID’s project documentation related to the Network for Dialogue, the Networks internal documents, its membership profiles, policy briefs and small grants reports and collect information from KAICIID’s programme staff, the Networks’ leadership and selected partners through interviews and/or focus groups and a survey. The evaluator should also identify and review major EU policies relevant for the Networks strategic development and identify entry points for the Networks’ future strategy. S/he should also identify global good practices related to mobilizing and sustaining networks focused on refugees and migrants and related policy work.

METHODOLOGY

The approach to the evaluation will be mostly formative as KAICIID aligns its support to its overall Strategic Plan 2023-2027, and needs to identify specific theory of change to provide relevant support to the networks and their role in policy work. On the other hand, the evaluation will be partly summative to capture trends, results and learnings from the initial couple of years of the Network for Dialogue functioning and KAICIID’s support in its initial steps.

Selected evaluation criteria of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/DAC) will be applied (including relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability) combined with the Centre for Social Innovation’s criteria for evaluating networks for social change (including its internal and external ecosystem, outcomes and processes).

The evaluation methodology will employ mixed methods, both qualitative and quantitative, combining stakeholder’s mapping, review of the Networks documentation and additional documentary evidence and consultations with main stakeholders survey around prioritised evaluation criteria. Data collection techniques to be used are:

• Desk review of secondary documentation sources (KAICIID’s Strategic Plan, Network for Dialog project idea, Network reports, publications, activity reports and evaluations);
• Semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups with Network members;
• Semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups with external partners/stakeholders;
• On-line survey.
• Observation of key events (either virtually or in person to be determined after the submission of the inception report)

The evaluator should make all necessary efforts to ensure data quality and reliability, including triangulation of sources to ensure objective results.

Human rights and gender sensitive approach should be integrated in the evaluation looking into the underlying barriers and social norms that challenge social cohesion and inclusion of migrants and refugees in Europe, taking into account intersectionality with gender, age and various vulnerabilities of the population.

Overall, the evaluation will adhere to United Nations Evaluation Groups Standards (use of internationally agreed principles, goals and targets; utility; credibility; independence; impartiality; ethics; transparency; human rights and gender equality; professionalism) and KAICIID Monitoring and Evaluation Policy.

The evaluation will focus on the following questions (the list is not exhaustive and the evaluator can further elaborate and fine-tune them during the inception phase):

Relevance:

• Who are the major relevant stakeholders in Europe with which KAICIID and the Network cooperate and should cooperate; to what extent are they strategically chosen and able to shape dialogue on social inclusion of migrants and refugees?
• What is the Network’s comparative advantage or added value on such a stakeholders map?

Effectiveness:

• What were the key effects of the Network’s work since its establishment on its members; on interreligious and intercultural dialogue and on social cohesion on migrants and refugees? What are the mechanisms the Network uses and to what extent they are effective?
• How effective are the Network’s external relations and policy work with decision-makers at different levels?
• To what extent is KAICIID’s modality of support to the Network effective in helping it achieve its goals?
• What are the internal and external enablers and challenges to effectiveness?

Connectedness:

• What are the key connecting factors/motives that bring the Network members together?
• What is the interaction dynamics / mutual engagement among the Network members?

Efficiency:

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Network’s internal structure and processes and how they contribute or challenge Network’s performance?
• How relevant is KAICIID’s support to address those?

Sustainability:

• How sustainable are achieved results?
• What are the members ambitions and expectations of the Network in future and what is their level of commitment to support that?
• How can KACICIID further support the Network on its path to sustainability?

Lessons learnt and recommendations:

• What lessons can be learnt to strengthen overall KAICIID’s support to dialogue networks?
• How can the challenges identified be addressed so the Network is a strong contributor to migration and social cohesion policies at national, regional and international levels?
• What should be the strategic priorities for the Network in future and with whom should the network engage to achieve that?

The evaluation process will be conducted virtually (no field visits are expected) and have the following three phases:

1. Inception phase that includes gathering and analysing relevant KAICIID’s and Network’s documentation; consultation with the KAICIID’s monitoring and evaluation and project team and selected Network members; stakeholders mapping; conceptualizing the evaluation approach. The result of the inception phase will be an inception report, outlining methodological approach and evaluation questions, timeline and presenting data collection tools to be used (e.g. interview protocols, surveys). The report will be reviewed and approved by the KAICIID’s Evaluation Advisory Group, indicated below.
2. Data collection and analysis that includes in-depth desk review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and a survey; processing of the data and synthesis of preliminary findings and lessons learnt. Preliminary findings and lessons learnt will be presented to the Evaluation Advisory Group in an online session for consultation and information-gap filling if necessary;
3. Preparation of the evaluation report that will include executive summary, brief background on the evaluation and methodology applied, overview of findings supported by evidence collected, lessons learnt and recommendations. The report should include both recommendations to KACIID and to the Network for Dialogue. List of sources consulted, survey results, tools used and other relevant content should be annexed to the report. Final evaluation report will be reviewed by the KAICIIDs Evaluation Advisory Group and feedback may be provided including further explanations or correction of factual errors. The evaluation consultant is independent and free in his/her work and can accept or reject further revisions of the report.

Following the completion of the evaluator’s tasks, KAICIID’s will:

• Prepare the management response related to the recommendations to KAICIID and its future support to networks; and
• Present the evaluation findings and recommendations at the major the European Policy Dialogue Forum, event the Network for Dialogue is co-organising with KAICIID and where strategic directions of the Network will be discussed

The findings and recommendations will be further used in development of the Network for Dialogue strategy.

MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT

The Evaluation will be managed by KAICIID’s Monitoring & Evaluation Unit, who will ensure that the evaluation process is conducted as planned and that professional standards and norms on evaluation are followed.

The Coordinator of the Network for Dialogue will introduce the proposed evaluation to the Network for Dialogue, collect and provide relevant documentation to the evaluator, ensure the stakeholders identified through the stakeholder analysis are being reached and included and provide logistical support as necessary by contacting stakeholders.

An Evaluation Advisory Group will be set up comprising the KAICIID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, the Network for Dialogue Coordinator, the KAICIID Senior Programme Manager for Europe and selected members of the Network.  The Advisory Group will provide substantive comments and feedback to evaluation deliverables, specifically including to the inception report and proposed methodology and sample, preliminary findings and lessons learnt and to the draft final report.

Evaluation consultant will develop the design of the evaluation, including conceptual and methodological approach, collect and analyse the data in line with the agreed approach, assure their quality and objectivity and produce the expected deliverables including the inception report and final evaluation report.

Evaluation Ethics

The evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the principles outlined in the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation as well as the KAICIID Monitoring and Evaluation Policy FrameworK. In particular, the evaluator must be free and clear of any real or perceived conflicts of interest and respect diversity, personality and beliefs of all involved in evaluation process. The evaluator shall inform the key informants on the process and how data collected will be used, including the respect of anonymity and confidentiality. The report shall not disclose names of the key informants nor link the individual interviewees with any statements, findings or conclusion, but rather present them as aggregate. Key informants are to be informed and give consent if any quotes are to be used in the report, making sure that the quote does not disclose in any way the source person.

Applicants will not be considered if they were directly and substantively involved, as an employee or consultant, in the formulation of KAICIID strategies and implementation of the project under review or if they are members of the Network for Dialogue.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINES

The overall consultant’s effort is estimated to 30 days in the period April – November 2023. The deliverables shall include an inception report, presentation of preliminary findings and lessons learnt and a draft and final evaluation report in accordance with the following requirements and timeline:

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• At least a Masters level University degree in social sciences, development studies, law, monitoring and evaluation or a related field;
• At least 5 years of relevant working experience in programme management, preferably in the area of peacebuilding, interreligious and intercultural dialogue or social inclusion policy;
• At least 7 years of relevant working experience in conducting evaluation for UN agencies, bilateral donors and/or international non-governmental organizations;
• Experience in engagement with European Union or country level stakeholders in member states or EU neighbourhood on policies and processes related to social inclusion and/or integration of migrants and refugees;
• Proven experience with results-based frameworks, theory-based approaches to evaluation, evaluation methodologies;
• Experience in management, strategic planning and/or evaluation of networks will be considered an asset;
• Proficiency in English.

NECESSARY COMPETENCES

• Awareness on European stakeholders, policies and processes related to social inclusion, integration of migrants and refugees;
• Excellent knowledge of Results-based Management (RBM), programme management and in particular evaluation;
• Strong inter-personal skills and ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders including international organizations, governments, civil society organizations;
• Excellent facilitation and communications skills;
• Strong analytical, synthesis and writing, reporting and presentation skills;
• Efficiency in fulfilling commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.