Consultant, Evaluation of the Joint Civic Defense Fund at Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)

Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), established in 2000, is a grantmaking and advocacy organization focused on equality, justice, democratic governance, human rights and knowledge generation.  It is part of the global network of Open Society Foundations spread across 37 countries around the world.

OSIWA fosters citizen participation in building a region that is freer, more vibrant and more tolerant using various tools including grants, advocacy, litigation, partnership building, dialogue, strategic communication, research and technical assistance. We believe in the agency of people and that citizen participation is the cornerstone of democracy. We work across ten countries in the sub-region from Dakar (Regional office), Abuja (Country Office), and Freetown (Mano River Office).

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant, Evaluation of the Joint Civic Defense Fund

Location: Nigeria

The Organization
The Joint Civic Defense Fund (JCDF) is a joint funding mechanism established by Ford Foundation, Luminate Group, MacArthur Foundation, and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in response to Nigeria’s shrinking civic space. The Fund commenced operation in August 2020 with an initial endowment of $650,000. JCDF offers a structured system of support to media and human rights defenders in Nigeria considering the increasing state-led affronts on press and civil freedom in the country. JCDF is managed by a Fund Advisory Committee that determines individuals or organizations eligible for support. The Fund is administered by Yar’Adua Foundation.

Background Information

• We seek to engage an independent consultant to conduct an independent evaluation of the Joint Civic Defense Fund in its 22 months of operation.
• JCDF was set up in response to Nigeria’s shrinking civic space alongside the manifest deterioration of civil rights and press freedom in the country. In outlook, the Fund proposed a structured system of support to media and human rights defenders while supporting CSO resilience in Nigeria. This evaluation thus aims at determining the extent of effectiveness of the Fund in realizing its objectives.

The JCDF was set up with the Following Specific Objectives

• Providing legal assistance, trial observation and support to media and civil society activists who are detained or facing harassment by state actors.
• Providing resources for security and risk management, livelihood and medical support, and extraction, if necessary, to regional and international safe havens, for activists and their families.
• Strengthening the physical and digital security of frontline organizations and human rights defenders.
• Providing psycho-social support and well-being for at-risk defenders.
• Providing support for organizational resilience and the development of community protection strategies for frontline groups under attack.
• Supporting Civil Society Organization’s (CSO’s) compliance with extant statutory and regulatory frameworks.
• Facilitating other needed support to NGOs and activists to function in a repressive environment.
• Providing resources for research, report writing, and strategic litigation.

Beneficiaries of the Fund include:

• Civil Society Organizations
• Media groups
• Individual human rights defenders and accountability activists.
• Citizens prosecuted by the state on false charges.
• Creatives.

The selected evaluator will be provided with specific details about the beneficiaries.

The Evaluation
Activities to be evaluated:

This evaluation will appraise the implementation of the following activities of the JCDF:

• Strengthening processes and building frameworks for providing legal, medical, and psycho-social services to human rights defenders and activists.
• Strengthening community protection mechanisms and partnerships in the civic space.
• Supporting research-driven advocacy, locally and internationally, to protect the civic space.
• Supporting CSO resilience and compliance with extant statutory and regulatory frameworks.
• Providing legal aid to activists and human rights defenders that are detained or facing harassment by state actors.

Objectives of the Evaluation

• The overall objective of this evaluation is to appraise the effectiveness of the JCDF Fund in supporting media and human rights defenders as well as strengthening CSO resilience in Nigeria.
• The evaluation would appraise the administration of the Fund, evaluate the utilization of the Fund by the beneficiaries, and compare the impact vis-à-vis the objectives.

The specific objectives of the evaluation include the following:

• To access the relevance of the activities of the JCDF in addressing Nigeria’s shrinking civic space.
• To assess the extent of effectiveness of JCDF in offering real protection to endangered human rights defenders and activists.
• To appraise the uptake and utilization process of funds and identify challenges in the administration and utilization of funds.
• To identify expected and unexpected outcomes or impacts of the JCDF.
• To identify lessons learned from the administration and utilization of the Fund and recommend improvements that would further strengthen the protection of at-risk human rights defenders, media, and activists in Nigeria.

Scope and Methodology of the Evaluation

• This evaluation should involve a review of literature and documents produced by the administrator of the JCDF as well as by the beneficiaries of the Fund. Publications and other outputs by the beneficiaries are also to be reviewed.
• The evaluator will be provided with these documents. The evaluator will also be provided with the contact details for relevant beneficiaries of the Fund.

Additionally, the evaluator will be required to:

• Discuss with key relevant programmatic and operational staff of JCDF.
• Organize interviews with key beneficiaries of the Fund (including CSOs, media organizations, and individuals that have been supported through JCDF). The evaluator will also be expected to interview key project staff in organizations that have benefitted from the Fund.
• Interview key stakeholders that have been involved in various aspects of the intervention including members of the Advisory Committee.

Timeframe and Budget:

• This evaluation is expected to be conducted between July and August 2022. It should be completed by the end of August 2022.
• The estimated budget for this evaluation should not exceed $10,000 and should specify daily or hourly rates, other costs and include a total cost.

Governance and Accountability:

• The evaluator will report to the Nigeria Country Officer of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
• The Country Officer for OSIWA may exercise his discretion in delegating the reporting. The evaluator may also seek support from OSIWA through the Country Officer to get introduced to relevant stakeholders, although they are expected to work independently.

Deliverables and Schedule:
The evaluator is expected to conduct the review between June and July 2022. The expected reporting schedule for the evaluation will include:

• Inception report of the planned evaluation from the evaluator (June 30).
• Debriefing/presentation of the results (prior to the submission of the draft report).
• Draft evaluation report (by mid-July 2022)
• Final evaluation report (by end of July 2022)

The Report should include at least the following sections:

• Background and introduction
• Methodology
• Main findings with regards to the evaluation criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability
• Lessons learned.
• Implementation plan including recommendations to JCDF based on evaluation’s findings.
• Relevant annexes, including questionnaires, persons and institutions interviewed, relevant documents related to JCDF activities, etc.

Qualifications

• Significant technical expertise in monitoring and evaluation of projects related (but not limited to) issues such as development, civil participation, human rights, and social inclusion.
• Significant technical expertise in the design and implementation of performance monitoring tools and mechanisms (performance output and impact indicators), information/data gathering, results reporting, design and implementation of impact assessments and evaluations, and surveys and analysis.
• A minimum of five years’ experience in programming and/or monitoring and evaluation.
• Demonstrated success in providing technical and programmatic guidance to diverse stakeholders on optimal mechanisms and methodologies for quality performance monitoring, data validations, planning, quality controls, accountability mechanisms, assessments, and evaluations.
• Excellent report writing and verbal communication skills.

Application Closing Date
20th June, 2022.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send a current Resume and Cover Letter and writing sample to buduak@osiwa.org and copy tmbuh@osiwa.org using "JCDF Evaluation Specialist" as the subject of the email.

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