Terms of Reference (ToR) for Hiwar Local Partner

Summary

  • Purpose: To co-develop and implement participatory action research (PAR) to gain a better understanding of young people’s ideas on the issues related to faith to aid in the development and inform the content and process of a debating/dialogue programme.
  • Commissioner: British Council (EU-funded project).
  • Duration of the Project: January-May 2018.
  • Locations: 3 locales in Iraq to be decided upon discussion with local partner.

Project Background

The British Council has been awarded a €4.85m EU-funded project focused on establishing a safeenvironment for marginalised groups to debate faith and then create dialoguepathways to national and international decision and policy makers engaged in peace building anddevelopment for their views to be heard.

The project’s overall objective is to enhance understanding of faith and local custom’s relationshipto peace building with and between community groups (including marginalised groups) in Iraq, andinform provincial, national, regional and European key policy and decision makers.

The specific objectives are:

 To facilitate better understanding and appreciation of perspectives between community

groups, on religion’s relationship to peace building

 To increase evidence and knowledge sharing to inform policy development and decision

making.

The project is a 36-month action learning project with a nine-month inception period designed andstructured under four components:

1. Component 1: To conduct comprehensive analysis and research into understanding religion’srelationship to peace building from the perspective of the project’s target groups and ensureproposed interventions are conflict sensitive to ensure a ‘Do No Harm’ approach and that men,women, boys and girls benefit.

2. Component 2: Design, develop and implement a debates programme creating safe spaces

for our target group to discuss issues on faith and development to encourage critical thinkingon held beliefs and support dialogue with those who may hold oppositional views.

3. Component 3: To promote the constructive role of faith in peace processes through a highprofile dialogue event on regional education and religious teachings sharing mutual values.

4. Component 4: To raise the voice of our target group on their issues on faith and developmentwith national and international policy and decision makers to influence policy and strategy inpeace building and development initiatives in Iraq.

Scope of Work

The local partner will work in collaboration with the British Council’s PAR team in developing a PAR methodology to be implemented during the inception phase of the project to gather perspectives, knowledge and attitudes of young people on the content of debates, the debate style or formats, and desired impacts of a debate/dialogue program. This is a key piece of work as the PAR provides the opportunity to engage young people in helping to shape and design a debating programme. Responsibilities will include:

  • Co-development of PAR methodology (January-February 2018)
  • Participation in ToT (February 2018)
  • Implementation of PAR in three locales (TBD) (March-April 2018)
  • Compilation and transcription of data collected (April 2018)

Tasks and guidelines

  • Co-development of PAR with British Council PAR team
  • The local partner will work in collaboration with researchers from the Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security, and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) to develop PAR framework, and overseen by the British Council.
  • PAR framework to be informed by research conducted by BC team on conflict sensitivity (CS) and gender analysis (GA) in Iraq.
  • Recruitment of researchers
  • The local partner will be responsible for identification and recruiting researchers to carry out PAR in three locations (TBD). Researchers will be recruited based on selection criteria developed between local partner and BC PAR team.
  • Participation in ToT with BC PAR team
  • 1-2 week training tentatively scheduled for late February.
  • Recruitment of participants

Demographic indicators will be identified in cooperation with the BC team to ensure the fullest research possible. The composition of the focus groups / workshops should reflect these indicators, including:

1)Age (focus on young people)

2)Genders (approximate balance between males and females)

3)Diversity of origins and outlooks in urban and rural settings

Further details on recruitment and numbers of focus groups to be developed.

  • Testing the model:

1)It is vital that the chosen researcherswill pilot the focus group with neutral participants so that they can understand the dynamics of the questions and activities.

2)Also due to the significant amount of materials that will be used to run the focus groups / workshops it is important to allow for the practice and integration of information and communications technology (ICT) to ensure smooth delivery of PAR.

  • Preparation & Selection of Specific Locales

It is important to scope a location for each focus group prior to meeting the group.

1)Pick a location that has functional Audio Visual (ideally), allows for all participants to engage without struggle to see materials and is comfortable.

2)The room should have water, tea and coffee along with some snack for the participants.

3)All materials should be ready to record the demographic material along with any other print outs.

4)Ensure you pack spare pens, paper and batteries.

  • Ethical considerations:

The central ethical principleof ‘do no harm’ should be respected at all times. The PAR should be conducted through open and transparent means, and the dignity, rights, safety, and well-being of participants must be a primary consideration at all times.

1)Participants must give their free consent, and participants must be given the option to not participate in the research following a briefing, and to withdraw their participation at any time during the process. The briefing should clarify to participants exactly what the project is about and also how the data will be collected.

2) Participant identity should remain anonymous. Particular sensitivity to safeguarding and consent should be applied when working with young people and in schools and working with sensitive groups with a diversity of origins and outlooks. Reporting should be sensitive to any risk involved to participant identity in quoting interviews, and there should be no use of photographs or visual identification such as film. It must be known that the focus groups will be recorded, transcribed but all the data will be anonymised. The only details that will appear is the age, location, employment, religion, and gender of the participant.

  • Facilitation of focus groups

Focus groups should be conducted based on the discussion and activity guide to be developed in partnership with the PAR team. The focus groups should be interactive rather than extractive, using a variety of approaches to work with young people to discuss their ideas, reflect on their experiences, and contribute to the development of meaningful action plans.

  • Observation during focus groups:

Just as importantly as what people say is how they say it. Observing and noting how participants respond in the room, whether they express tension, frustration, anger or any other emotions can help paint a full picture of the social and political dynamics, which deepens the data and aids the creation of model that is designed to create good pathways into dialogue.

1)Try to ascribe key points to particular people to understand the rationale of those people.

2)Try to notice the dynamic between participants, is someone particularly quiet/angry etc on a topic?

By writing up as detailed notes as possible the data and understanding of the perspectives of the participants is enriched.

  • Transcription and Data Compilation:

1)Focus groups/workshops should be recorded via digital recording device. After the conclusion of the focus group the facilitators should debrief immediately to discuss and agree on what the emergent themes were.

2)It is vital this happens directly after while memory is fresh and the facilitators can consent to the key themes of the focus group.

3)After the debrief, a transcription of the focus group should be completed. This transcription need not be verbatim and may include only direct quotes that relate to the key topics of the research and the surrounding themes. If the participants bring up any important points that show a good consensus in the focus group that does not directly relate to the themes of the research they also should be included.

4)Facilitators should also complete a ‘focus group report’ detailing: Where, when, how many took part and the demographic details of each person involved in the focus group. The transcription should also include common observed notes and further discussion to add context to the transcript.

Qualifications

  • Essential:

a)Experienced in research, including focus group methodologies.

b)Organisation must be registered with the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.

c)Demonstrated competence in managing data collection and analysis.

d)Excellent analytical, writing and presentation skills.

e)Ability to conduct field research in safe locations.

f)National coverage including Kurdistan.

g)Expertise/credibility in gender-equality programming.

h)Commitment to inclusivity (variety of backgrounds that are from a diverse outlooks and orgins).

i)Researchers engaged in the project will need to cover fluency in Arabic and English and/or Kurdish and English.

  • Desirable

a)experience in participatory action research (PAR).

b)experience in arts/media/storytelling methodology.

c)experience in collaborating with local and international partners.

Application Process

Tenders should provide the following information:

  • Name, address, telephone number and email address of tenderer, and website if any.

•The name and contact details of the person who will be responsible for the contract.

•Brief CV(s) for the person(s) to be engaged with the management and implementation of the contract.

•A brief description and history of the tendering institution/ organization consultant including evidence of previous projects undertaken, specifically on youth, religion, peacebuilding, development, dialogue, or other themes that are relevant to the proposal.

•A statement of how the organization has approached inclusivity in the past, and how they will ensure inclusivity in this project, in accordance with the British Council’s statement of values and principles.

•A brief outline of the proposed approach to the project, including methodology and a brief work plan.

•Proposed timeframe for the project and measures in place to ensure project is completed within the agreed timeframe.

•Proposed fee for the project, inclusive of expenses, costs, taxes or duties that may be incurred.

•Any other issues or information considered relevant.

•Details of two relevant referees for contracts undertaken within the last three years in areas related to the subject matter of this research project, or a brief description of research in comparable areas with peer reviewed publications.

•Confirmation of acceptance by the tenderer of the conditions of tender set out below.

Budget

Tenders must include an estimate budget.