CONSULTANCY FOR PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN 16 WARDS OF MICHIKA LGA, ADAMAWA STATE

Consultancy Terms of Reference to Conduct Baseline for Michika LGA Community Development Plan

Background:

Human migration within and outside countries has been a cause for concern globally, especially migration that results from conflicts. The rising number of internally displaced (IDP) and refugees in Nigeria, especially in the North-East region of the country, due to prolonged insurgency has significantly altered the sociocultural milieu of the region. The displacement has been observed to have negative effects on both the displaced people and their host communities thereby negatively impacting the social cohesion of the people. The poor adaptation of the displaced to the unfamiliar environment due to the lack of basic support needed and the host community’s perception of IDP as a threat due to limited resources to accommodate the new entrants often snowballs into subtle crises. Additionally, gender differential effects of displacements and lack of social cohesion have been observed as putting women, children, and people with disabilities at more disadvantage thereby increasing their vulnerability.

In view of these challenges, Oxfam, CEPAD, CRUDAN and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will be implementing an eight (8) months project. The project is aimed at establishing a local but comprehensive integrational approach to bring all members of the community on the path of sustainable growth with the active involvement of the communities concerned and relevant government and non- governmental structures in Michika LGA. The main objective of this project is to increase citizen’s participation and strengthen social cohesion through the delivery of community driven development interventions in 16 wards of Michika LGA in Adamawa State. Specifically, the Community Development Planning (CDP) in Michika Local Government will focus on bringing together various community actors, vulnerable groups, women and men of different ages and socio-economic background at the ward level to plan for their communities’ development through a participatory bottom-up planning process. It is through this process that a community addresses its problems, reacts to change, determines its future, and creates the quality-of-life citizen’s desire.

The specific objectives of the project are:

1. to improve participatory engagement and planning between local communities and government stakeholders towards improved socio-economic outcomes of communities
2. to strengthen social cohesion through capacity building of stakeholders on inclusive planning, implementation, and monitoring of community development plans.

The project seeks to empower local communities to identify and address key development challenges while fostering unity, cooperation, and resilience through the delivery of community driven development interventions in 16 wards of Michika LGA in Adamawa State.

Justification/Rationale

With funding from BMZ and in partnership with GiZ, CEPAD and CRUDAN, Oxfam has launched a project to improve social cohesion and citizen participation through a Community Development Planning approach in Michika LGA leveraging on the CEPP policy of Adamawa State and the policy implementation framework.

The project has successfully developed a Local Government Community Development Plan through inclusive and participatory approaches implemented during the CDP Sessions as well as strategic capacity building programs both for the LGA officials, strategic stakeholders and community members (WDSCs). This program has contributed to the strengthening of social cohesion among community members from different socio-economic backgrounds.

Similarly, the project has developed a strategic Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to support inclusive monitoring, tracking and evaluation of the implementation of the LGA Community Development Plan for the next 5 year.

With the development of Monitoring and Evaluation framework the LGA Community Development Plan, there is need to conduct a baseline assessment to establish the foundation to measure in the implementation of the LGA community Development Plan across established outcome and output areas.

Justification/Rationale

With funding from BMZ and in partnership with GiZ, CEPAD and CRUDAN, Oxfam has launched a project to improve social cohesion and citizen participation through a Community Development Planning approach in Michika LGA leveraging on the CEPP policy of Adamawa State and the policy implementation framework.

The project has successfully developed a Local Government Community Development Plan through inclusive and participatory approaches implemented during the CDP Sessions as well as strategic capacity building programs both for the LGA officials, strategic stakeholders and community members (WDSCs). This program has contributed to the strengthening of social cohesion among community members from different socio-economic backgrounds.

Similarly, the project has developed a strategic Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to support inclusive monitoring, tracking and evaluation of the implementation of the LGA Community Development Plan for the next 5 year.

With the development of Monitoring and Evaluation framework the LGA Community Development Plan, there is need to conduct a baseline assessment to establish the foundation to measure in the implementation of the LGA community Development Plan across established outcome and output areas.

Objectives and Scope of the Assignment

The overall objective of the assessment is to establish the foundation to measure progress across sectors during the implementation of the Community Development Plan. The Specific Objectives includes:

• To conduct rapid assessments to collect relevant data that would support the establishment of baseline data for each outcome and output areas across the 10 priority sectors.
• To conduct desk review of relevant documents including project documents, state and local policies and frameworks for the establishment of relevant baseline data that would support the tracking of progress during the implementation of the CDP in the LGA.

Expected Deliverables

The service provider is expected to deploy professional expertise and freely deploy relevant approaches in conducting the assessment within 2 weeks. Through this process, the service provider will be expected to work with the project team to interact with a wide range of state and non-state actors across all wards in the LGA.

Deliverables from this exercise will include and are not limited to.

A. A detailed non-ambiguous and easy-to-read inception report capturing methods, approaches, and assessment tools to be used for the assessment,

B. A detailed non-ambiguous and easy-to-read assessment report at the end of the assessment, which should include:

• Quantitative and qualitative baseline data as captured on the Michika CDP M and E framework.
• Pictures of field activities.
• Tables, graphs etc. where necessary.

C. A brief PowerPoint presentation summarizing the findings of the assessment.

Click to view table for deliverables -> View Table

Qualification of Service Provider

Interested candidates should have the following qualifications, functional skills, and competencies:

• Advanced degree/MSc degree in Social Science, Development Studies, Policy and strategic studies, Local Government administrative systems, public policy

management and other related fields. Previous proven experience in related research work is of importance.

• Ability and proven experience in handling similar research related to citizen participation in governance intervention with a technical understanding of the participatory budget technique using the Community development plan/charter or Demand Charter approach.
• Ability to communicate feedback in an easy-to-read and understand narrative format.
• Sound understanding of the northern governance structures and local context; community budget engagement processes at the Local, State and National levels.
• Technical knowledge of community development plan institutionalization by the government; State – Citizen’s interface and community engagements framework.
• Knowledge of good governance, statutory public budget process and other related policies at the State and Local government levels, as well as government policies on fiscal transparency
• Sound understanding of the Open Government Partnership system in Nigeria, as well as other related multilateral networks.
• Extensive experience in community development, social cohesion, and participatory planning processes.
• Strong knowledge of the local context and cultural dynamics in Adamawa State, particularly in Michika LGA.
• Expertise and experience in conducting political economic analysis at the National and sub-national level in Nigeria
• Good understanding of the socio-economic and socio-political context in Adamawa State, Nigeria.
• Ability to interact with the host government, partners and/or others as requested by Oxfam
• Ability to comply with Oxfam safeguarding policy and other related guidelines during the period of work.

Timeline

The consultancy work is expected to commence on 17th February 2024 and completed on/or before 7th March 2024.

Application

Interested and qualified consultants are expected to;

1. Submit a two-page expression of interest, including a technical and financial, proposal specifying the approach and methodologies to be adopted;
2. Filled Request for quotation form with proper withholding tax deduction.
3. Recent professional CV highlighting previous experiences about the application;
4. 2 weeks detail start to finish workplan.