Consultant – Conflict Sensitivity Assessment

Requisition ID: req49763

Job Title: Consultant – Conflict Sensitivity Assessment

Sector: Education

Employment Category: Consultant

Employment Type: Part-Time

Open to Expatriates: Yes

Location: Nigeria

Work Arrangement:

Job Description

Background of the project 

The Opportunities to Learn (OTL) activity is a USAID five-year funded project implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in partnership with Plan International, the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Inclusive Development Partners (IDP), and Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI). USAID-funded Opportunities to Learn (OTL) project aims to address the immediate educationneedofout-of-schoolchildren(OOSC)andyouthinupto17LocalGovernmentAreas(LGAs) in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states through safer new and existing non-formal-education whilelaying the groundwork for sustainable improvement of education systems at the community andgovernmentlevels. OTL aims to ensure out-of-school children and youth in Northeastern Nigeria are safely able to gain foundational skills, including literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional skills, toprogress to higher levels of education, training, and/or engagement in the workforce.

The crisis in northeast Nigeria remains among the most severe in the world. Over 8.3 million people need humanitarian aid. 1.38M needs education services across the BAY states. As a result of the crises, children in northeast Nigeria have been deprived of a normal childhood due to the conflict, high poverty rates, inflation, the impact of COVID-19, and the breakdown of the social protection safety net. Over the years, children have been exposed to persistent violence, insecurity, abuse, neglect, exploitation, and conscription into NSAGs.

The objectives of the education sector include ensuring increased access for conflict-affected boys and girls to inclusive, quality, basic education, and vocational skills opportunities within a safe learning environment, and ensuring students receive quality and conflict-sensitive educational services to enhance their learning and resilience. The education sector also aims to increase and maintain the capacity of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and communities to plan and deliver timely, appropriate, and evidence-based education in emergency responses.

Girls and boys are exposed to grave violations of children’s rights, such as limited access to education, child marriage, sexual and gender-based violence,

emotional/physical violence, and trafficking. Boys face the risk of forceful recruitment/re-recruitment by NSAGs, trafficking, and child labor. Parents and caretakers have been exposed to stress/violence, and need child protection services, ranging from mental health psychosocial support to livelihood interventions.

Humanitarian programmes operating in conflict contexts can have both positive and negative impacts on conflict dynamics. As a result, they must take a conflict-sensitive approach to ensure they cause no harm to communities impacted by the conflict. The goal of OTL is to ensure OOSC and youth in Northeastern Nigeria are safely able to gain foundational skills, including literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional skills, to progress to higher levels of education, training, and/or engagement in the workforce.

To ensure systems are strengthened and can sustain the provision of quality education, OTL is working closely with MoE, SUBEB, SAME LGEA as well as community structures to deliver education services across the BAY states. This is done through planning, implementation, and monitoring of all activities. This further ensured ownership and sustainability, especially in preparation for handing over 65% of NFLCs to the government at the end of the project.

Given the above, the OTL will use the USAID Checklist for Conflict Sensitivity in Education Programs to analyze the operational and technical aspects of government (SAME, SUBE, MoE, and LEAs) education programs. This is to ensure the reduction of conflict and tensions, which promotes equity and social cohesion and builds peace when taking over 65% of NFLCs to the government at the end of the project.

Scope of work

1. Identify and analyze the causes, dynamics, and trends of the conflict specific to geographic and sectoral areas of OTL’s project interventions.
2. Identify opportunities within government agencies to promote peace and stability at household, community, LGA, and State levels.
3. Assess how government agencies education programming is informed by and interacts with the conflict context.
4. Develop a strategy to:

• Mitigate against unintentional exacerbation of conflict drivers.
• Identify areas where the program can promote peace at household, community, LGA, and state levels.
• Identify entry points for addressing key driver(s) of conflict.
• Assess SAME, SUBEB, MoE, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and LEA capacity for delivery of conflict sensitivity components; provide recommendations for improvements.
• Identify best practices and relevant tools for analyzing conflict and present a plan for partner inclusion of these plans in their programming.

Deliverables:

All deliverables will be agreed upon with the IRC Child Protection and Education Technical Advisors, the OTL Chief of Party, the OTL Safety Lead, and Programs Lead. Outputs to include:

• An inception report containing a detailed work plan, budget, and methodology.
• A mid – mid-assignment report or document that highlights progress against the agreed deliverables.
• A final report to include:

1. An analysis of the existing and emerging conflicts that affect education programming delivery, including, an understanding of which groups are primarily impacted and how. The analysis should include a capacity assessment of SAME, SUBEB, MoE, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and LEA and activities.
2. A strategy and framework for integrating conflict sensitivity and building stability – in each category outlined in the USAID checklist.

• Facilitation of a partner workshop in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states with implementing key government stakeholders, partners, program management staff, and representatives of various groups within the community on opportunities for promoting conflict sensitivity.
• Deliver a full debrief to the USAID and OTL team using the most convenient platform so that the learning informs a wider programming approach.

Activity	Deadline	Responsibility
Recruitment of the consultant	25 March 2024	IRC
Inception	1 – 5 April 2024	Consultant
Desk Review of key documents	8 – 12 April 2024	Consultant
Stakeholder workshop	15 – 26 April 2024	Consultant/OTL/ Government partners
Data Collection	29 April – 3 May 2024	Consultant/OTL/ Government partners
Analysis	6 – 10 May 2024	Consultant
Workshop+ validation with Partners in Maiduguri	13 – 17 May 2024	Consultant
Debrief – lessons learned	20 May 2024	Consultant/Chief of Party/CP AT/PL/PMs/Safety lead/
Final Report	24 May 2024	Consultant

Consultancy Fee:

Payment amount should be inclusive of all costs including travel, hotel fees, vehicle hire, training/workshop fees, and all other logistics needed by the consultancy.

Qualifications

• Consultant MUST have conducted similar assessments within the country preferably Northeast Nigeria and can show verifiable report(s) of previous assessments conducted.
• A minimum of two verifiable reports and the tools used MUST be submitted for review.
• Consultant must be familiar with education and Child protection programming. Knowledge of Non-formal learning programming will be an added advantage.
• Consultant must be a Nigerian or non-Nigeria citizen.
• Consultant should be familiar with the USAID Conflict sensitivity tool.

All applications should be submitted through the email: NGHR.ConsultantsApplications@rescue.org

The closing date for applications is 15^th March 2024

Note: Applications lacking any of the above requirements will not be considered.

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