Lebanon: Consultant - Review of focused PSS Interventions

I-Background to IRC

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

In July 2012, IRC conducted an emergency GBV assessment in Lebanon that revealed increased risks of violence among women and girls due to the Syrian conflict. Since November 2012, the IRC Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE) program has established several static Women and Girls Community Centres (WGCCs) and mobile safe spaces in the North and Bekaa Valley. Within the safe spaces and community centres, the WPE Program aims at increasing access of women and girls to psychosocial and case management services and enable communities to identify and mitigate safety and security risks faced by women and girls. All programming is implemented using survivor-centred approaches that prioritize confidentiality, dignity, safety, and respect.

II-Consultancy Overview

Since 2012, IRC has provided a broad range of group psychosocial activities in the form of skills training, information sessions, non-formal education, and life-skills activities that are designed, informed, and led by women and girls in the WGCCs and mobile safe spaces. All activities conducted focus on strengthening informal support networks among women and girls to promote coping, resilience and community-based protection mechanisms. The WGCC and mobile safe spaces offer a variety of structured PSS activities through life-skills curricula that are conducted with women and girls in closed groups.

These curricula consist of sessions that were created through evidence-based assessments to respond to the needs and GBV risks that women and girls face in their communities. The curricula have undergone a series of adaptations since 2012, through continuous reflections and ongoing assessments with community members. However, eight years after the Syrian Crisis, IRC recognizes that the context of women and girls might have changed and hence it is important to conduct a thorough review to revisit the existing PSS curricula in order to ensure they still respond to the current needs of women and girls.

III-Purpose of the consultancy

In this frame, the purpose of this consultancy is to better understand how to respond to the changing needs of women and girls through tailored life-skills PSS interventions. Accordingly, the IRC is seeking a Consultant with a strong background in research, design and implementation of PSS interventions for GBV prevention and response. The consultant will conduct a thorough reviewof WPE’s existing focused Psychosocial Support (PSS) curricula for women and girls which are being used in static and mobile settings. More specifically, the consultant will identify areas for adaptations, recommendations and lessons learned to ensure the curricula still respond to the needs of women and girls after seven years of conflict and displacement. This consultancy will inform the adaptive strategies that future projects will adopt when faced with similar challenges or opportunities.

IV-Scope of Work:

This consultancy will directly contribute to generating evidence and recommendation to better target, reach and engage women and girls in GBV prevention and response programming through focused PSS provision.

The main curricula that will be reviewed within the framework of this consultancy are highlighted in the below table:

Arab Women Speak Out

Arab Women Speak Out is a focused psychosocial support curriculum that consists of 12 sessions and aims to support self-empowerment of women and their involvement in social development.

My Safety My Wellbeing (MSMW)

MSMW is a life skills curriculum for adolescent girls which consists of 26 sessions and that aims to equip them with key knowledge and skills to prevent, mitigate and respond to Gender Based Violence and promote their psycho-social well-being. The target group is adolescent girls from 11-14 and 14-18. The curriculum is delivered in static centers.

Life Skills through Drama

Life Skills through Drama is a life skills curriculum for adolescent girls which consists of 12 sessions and that aims to equip adolescent girls with knowledge and skills to prevent, mitigate and respond to Gender Based Violence and promote their psycho-social well-being. The target group is adolescent girls from 11-14 and 14-18. The curriculum is delivered in mobile settings.

Parenting skills

The Parenting Skills Curriculum is a collection of learning sessions designed to empower caregivers to address key issues around parent’s stress, empathy and positive behavior, communication with children, understanding children’s psychosocial needs and providing support to children’s psychosocial needs.

The curriculum is a 10-session, group based parenting skills intervention for children ages 0 to 5 and their caregivers

Responsibilities:

Consultant:

• Review the ToR and provide input, propose any refinements to the methodological approach.

• Conduct preparatory consultations with relevant IRC staff prior to the review of relevant material.

• Review project background materials; WPE’s previous research assessments and evaluations and WPE PSS life-skills curricula.

• Prepare an inception report with review of project background documents, detailed methodology and plan including KII and FGD guides.

• Develop and implement the proposed methodology (i.e., conduct interviews, FGDs, observations, review documents, etc.) to answer key questions as follows:

o Do the current PSS curricula still respond to the needs of women and girls after 8 years of crisis? What are the changing needs, priorities, risks and preferred approaches? Are there new needs that are not being addressed by the PSS curricula?

• Document and analyze preliminary findings to IRC in an initial draft report.

• Develop recommendations and guidance on the adaptations needed in approach, content, topics, length, setting, frequency and M&E tools of the PSS life-skills curricula.

• Prepare the final report based on feedback from IRC

• Ensure that lessons learned over the course of the project period are well documented and that recommendations for future projects are clear.

IRC WPE Team:

The IRC WPE team will support the consultant through and in:

• Providing project background materials, including studies, analytical papers, progress reports, curricula, M&E tools, publications produced, etc.

• Reviewing and providing comments on the inception report

• Organizing field visits, planning FGDs and KIIs with women and girls.

• Ensuring necessary logistical arrangements

• Reviewing and providing comments on the initial evaluation draft report

• Making sure appropriate follow-up action is taken

Deliverables:

• Deliverable one: Inception Report including review of project background documents, detailed methodology and plan including KII and FGD guides

• Deliverable two: Draft report including findings, analysis of findings and recommendations and guidance on the adaptations needed.

• Deliverable three: PowerPoint presentation summarizing study findings and highlighting final recommendations.

• Deliverable four: Final report with executive summary

V-Timeframe:

25 working days from time of confirmation

Responsible Person

Tasks

Number of Working days

Consultant

Desk review of project documents

4

Consultant

Inception report

2

IRC WPE team

Send consolidated comments on inception report

2

Consultant with the logistical support of WPE staff

On site visits to project sites including meetings, interviews, FGDs, etc.

10

Consultant with the logistical support of WPE staff

Interpretation meeting and presenting preliminary findings in a PPT

1

Consultant

First draft report

5

IRC WPE team

Send consolidated comments on report

5

Consultant

Second draft report based on feedback

3

IRC WPE team

Circulate and review evaluation draft report

2

IRC WPE team

Evaluation sign off and approval

1

VI-Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: WPE Coordinator

• Position works with: WPE Senior Manager, Adolescent Girls Manager, M&E Manager, Program Managers, Senior Officers, and frontline workers

VII-Requirements:

· Graduate degree in Gender or Women Studies, Social Work, Public Health, International Affairs or other relevant field

· Minimum three years of relevant work experience in the area of GBV prevention and response

· In-depth understanding of the root causes of GBV, related international standards, and GBV prevention and response strategies

· Strong research skills and knowledge of participatory research methods.

· Experience in program evaluation/reviews, producing lessons learned and best practices.

· Fluency in English and Arabic

· Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills.

· Ability to multi-task, handle pressure, work with limited supervision and be a good team player.

VIII-Working Environment*:*

The position will be based in Beirut with travel to sites of implementation in the Bekaa and Akkar.

IX-Application:

Interested applicants can send their CV and a technical proposal including evaluation methodology, timeframe and daily rate.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Please submit your application before December 17, 2018 on https://rescue.csod.com/ats/careersite/jobdetails.aspx?site=1&c=rescue&id=3153

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Applications by email will NOT be considered.