A. Introduction

The Societal Healing and Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda programme, jointly implemented by Never Again Rwanda (NAR) and Interpeace, are seeking services of a consultant(s) to conduct a final programme evaluation. The evaluation is expected to assess the programme achievements against the intended outcomes- namely contributing to the consolidation of a peaceful and inclusive Rwandan society, and behavioural change among boundary partners. It also aims to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, impact and sustainability of the programme strategies and programme outcomes. The programme was designed using the outcome mapping approach which is also expected to guide the methodology of the evaluation. Interpeace anticipates that the evaluation will commence in February 2021, for a period of 30 working days, including a minimum of 10 days in Rwanda for the international consultant(s). This final evaluation is commissioned by Interpeace.

B. Background

The Societal Healing and Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda programme commenced on 1^st January 2015 as a four-year programme funded by Government of Sweden and implemented by Never Again Rwanda and Interpeace. It was first implemented in all 4 provinces of Rwanda and the City of Kigali, in a total of 15 districts and aimed to contribute to Rwanda’s continued pursuit of sustainable peace and stability. After the programme evaluation conducted in 2018, a cost-extension period was agreed with the scope of implementation focusing only on 5 districts (Huye, Musanze, Nyagatare, Rutsiro and Gasabo) in order to ensure that profound change can take place through concentration of efforts in a smaller number of districts.

The programme was designed using the outcome mapping approach, focusing its efforts on contributing to behavioural change among key stakeholders in order to promote sustainable peace in Rwanda, with the following vision and mission:

• Vision: To contribute to the consolidation of a peaceful and inclusive Rwandan society, enabled to overcome the wounds of the past and to peacefully manage conflicts and diversity as well as empowered to influence programmes and policies responsive to citizen priorities.
• Mission: To facilitate dialogue, within new and existing spaces where citizens as well as youth convene, enabling community members to openly discuss sensitive topics; to initiate a healing process; to identify and reach consensus on priorities and solutions; to effectively engage decision makers through the media; to use new and existing mechanisms for citizen participation; and to jointly implement activities in support of their shared vision of the future.

To accomplish this mission, the program works through two axes of intervention:

• Through the societal healing and reconciliation axis, the programme aims to enable diverse groups of community members, and youth in particular, to openly discuss sensitive past, current and/or stemming from historical events, to address tensions and settle differences through Community members, men, women, and youth, also use the appropriate dialogue to overcome wounds of the past, create a shared vision of a joint future, and work together to implement activities towards this vision. The healing process is facilitated by trained peace agents empowered through participation in the programme, and supported by Clinical Psychologists allocated to their respective districts, providing counselling services for members Spaces for Peace, as well as supervision, accompany and continued capacity building of Peace Agents. The program also supports members of Spaces for Peace to share their experience with the rest of the communities through community dialogues. Societal healing, combined with joint action, aims at increasing social cohesion and promoting critical thinking – both key ingredients to sustainable peace in Rwanda.
• The participatory governance axis aims to strengthen the link between citizens and policy makers, as well as to minimize the vertical space between the beneficiaries of public policies and decision-makers, strengthening government accountability. By facilitating citizen participation in the development, implementation and evaluation of public policies and programmes, Interpeace and NAR seek to contribute to the government’s efforts of aligning decisions with citizen needs and priorities. Citizens’ forums were established and supported to enable citizens of all backgrounds to structure their priorities, communicate them to decision makers and ask for feedback. Citizen Forums are facilitated by facilitators trained and accompanied by Governance Advisors allocated to all 5 districts, following the 2018 programme evaluation. During the cost-extension period, the programme also developed partnerships with public institutions to reinforce capacities of local leaders in participatory approaches and to create opportunities for the latter to express their challenges and needs to the central government. The programme also supported collaboration between citizen forums and their respective communities through community dialogues.
• Linking societal healing and participatory governance: The programme believes that a healed communitymembers increasingly participate in community affairs. Hence, influencing governance practices and systems. The program seeks to increase not just an internal collaboration between the societal healing and participatory axes of the program but also allow them to learn from and influence each other, and jointly influence the governance practices at both central and community levels.
• Expected outcomes:
  • Community members, men and women, of diverse backgrounds are committed to dialogue openly and peacefully discuss sensitive issues, stemming from historical events, address tensions and settle differences. Community members, men as well as women, use the appropriate dialogue to overcome wounds of the past, create a shared vision of a joint future, and work together to implement activities towards this vision.
  • Youth, include both girls and boys of diverse backgrounds, can resist manipulation through critical thinking about past, current and emergent events and societal challenges. They are empowered to peacefully express their emotions and are increasingly tolerant of differences. They are able to manage diversity and work together for a shared vision of the future of Rwanda. Youth of both sexes and of diverse backgrounds serve as a catalyst for peace, healing and reconciliation in their communities.
  • Citizens – both men and women – are empowered at the community level to discuss their rights and responsibilities in policy and programme making. Male and female citizens are aware of the policies being developed by the government and the potential impacts of these policies on their lives. Male and female citizens collectively prioritize their concerns and needs and increasingly more effectively communicate these priorities to government officials using existing and new mechanisms to facilitate citizen participation in planning, decision making and evaluation and hold government accountable.
  • Decision-makers effectively use existing and new mechanisms to engage citizens to better understand their priorities and assist them to design responsive policies and programmes. They provide citizens with updates on priorities and the implementation of policies and programmes. Decision-makers solicit citizens’ feedback on priorities selected and engage them in assessing the effectiveness of programmes and policies.
  • The Media increasingly recognize their role in promoting and facilitating the participation of citizens in governance. They report professionally and, in a conflict-sensitive manner on opinions, decisions and events related to governance. Media uses its role to provide the space and facilitate dialogue between citizens and the government on local priorities and progress.
• Theory of Change: If Rwandans, young and old engage in processes of healing and inclusive dialogue to overcome social divisions and wounds of the past, to work collaboratively across divides, and to utilize spaces for informing decision-making responsive to their needs and priorities, then they will deepen their resilience to violent conflict and be empowered to manage and transform conflict through greater collective participation as well as the use of strengthened Rwandan institutions.
• Boundary Partners: To achieve this mission, the proposed programme has as direct target groups: community members and youth under the societal healing access and citizens, decision makers and media in the participatory governance axis.

During the initial phase (2015-2018), NAR and Interpeace conducted three Participatory Action Research (PAR): one to map existing healing and reconciliation initiatives, another entitled “Governing with and for Citizens: Lessons from a Post-Genocide Rwanda” to examine perceptions of Rwandans on citizen participation in governance and another research on “the Role of Civil Society in Enhancing Citizen Participation in the Governance and Development Processes of Post-Genocide Rwanda”.

In keeping with the PAR approach, the implementation of the programme has built on the lessons learnt that emerged from the three studies. During the cost-extension phase, another Participatory Action Research is being conducted on the implications of historical wounds on intra-family conflicts in post-genocide Rwanda. The programme has established dialogue spaces focused on the two main processes of the programme: spaces for peace to foster trauma healing and citizen fora that gather citizens to identify priorities and solutions that can inform governance policies and processes.

The programme implementation ended in December 2020. The final evaluation is intended to not only assess the implementation of the programme against key evaluation criteria, to harvest the outcomes of the programme, but also to document its success stories and challenges, and evaluate the sustainability of the achieved outcomes.

C. Objectives and key questions of the evaluation

The main objectives of the evaluation are to assess the intended and unintended results achievements (outcome harvesting of Societal Healing and Participatory Governance for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda programme, to measure the contribution (impact) of the programme to behaviour change among boundary partners, and to assess the sustainability of achieved outcomes. The evaluation is expected to analyse the effectiveness of programme strategies in achieving the intended outcomes, to gather lessons learned during programme implementation and to provide recommendations for maximising impact and sustainability of achieved outcomes. The evaluation will be of interest to Interpeace, NAR, and the embassy of the Government of Sweden in Kigali as well as to international donors and policy makers engaged in Rwanda.

Key evaluation Questions:

Relevance:

• To what extent was the overall strategy of the programme relevant for the context of trauma healing, governance and peacebuilding in Rwanda?
• To what extent was the overall strategy of the programme relevant for the programme’s boundary partners?
• To what extent was the intervention logic/overall strategy relevant in pursuing the programme’s vision?

Effectiveness and Impact

• To what extent did the programme meet its revised progress markers and expected outcomes?
• To what extent has the programme contributed to changes in behaviour among boundary partners?
• How has the programme contributed to changes in behaviour among boundary partners?
• What were the main factors that influenced whether the programme reached its expected outcomes/changes in behaviour or not?
• To what extent did the programme integrate gender into the programme’s strategy?
• How effective were the programme’s efforts to integrate gender into the programme strategy?

Sustainability

• How likely are boundary partners to sustain these behaviour changes beyond the support of the programme?
• To what extent are the programme’s established processes and systems likely to inform policies and practices beyond the programme’s implementation period?

Efficiency

• To what extent were the programme’s strategies and activities sufficient for meeting expected outcomes?
• How did the project adapt to changes in the context and emerging challenges during programme implementation?
• Were the appropriate implementation methodologies applied in the different contexts and circumstances of the programme?
• To what extent was the programme cost-efficient, considering the budget in relation to, for example, the number of beneficiaries reached and other results?

Cross cutting issues:

• To what extent has the programme integrated gender equality into the programme’s strategy?
• How effective are the programme’s efforts to integrate gender equality into the programme strategy?
• To what extent does the programme adhere to the principles of Do No Harm and employ conflict sensitivity while implementing and adapting the programme strategies?
• How effective are the strategies for sustainability of impact following withdrawal of external support?

Project’s possible scale up

• What best practices and lessons learnt from the programme that should be recommended for scale up or replication? How could Interpeace and NAR take this forward in their respective programming?
• How can NAR’s and Interpeace’s future programming in the areas of trauma healing, participatory governance and peacebuilding in Rwanda complement each other and what are potential areas of cooperation?
• What areas/themes would be most relevant for Interpeace and NAR (and any spin-off programmes) to focus on when approaching replication or scale-up?
• Who are the other key actors in the area of community-based reconciliation and what can their role be in the scale up?
• What do the outcomes of the programme imply for initiatives for sustainable peace in Rwanda?
• What do the outcomes of the programme inform other initiatives within participatory governance in Rwanda?

Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda anticipates that these key evaluation questions will be further refined with the selected evaluation consultants.

D. Timeframe and Methodology

The anticipated duration of the evaluation is 30 working days with a minimum of 10 days spent in Rwanda as possible. The anticipated start date is 8^th February 2021 with submission of the final draft on 12^th March 2021. The concrete timeframe will be agreed upon with the selected consultant(s).

The evaluators are expected to use evaluation methodologies consistent with the outcome mapping approach, which may include but are not limited to, outcome harvesting, theories of change, contribution mapping/contribution analysis, interviews, focus group discussions, etc. The methodology used should also be gender sensitive, conflict sensitive and respect the principles of Do No Harm. The evaluators are expected to apply the conceptual framework of assessing outcomes and changes in behaviour and relationships among boundary partners as a result of engagement in programme activities and actions. The evaluation will be both an objective and a consultative/participatory exercise, and is expected to involve the following elements:

Initial planning process: in conjunction with Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda, finalize the methodology, guiding questions and indicators, and workplan.

Documentary review: a review of relevant documentation, including the original and revised programme document; cost-extension programme documents, programme logical framework; programme reports and updates; reports of workshop proceedings; research outputs; previous mid-term and phase one final evaluation reports, and relevant audio-visual materials produced for the programme.

Stakeholder interviews and focus group discussions: including with employees of Interpeace; Never Again Rwanda staff; authorities in Rwanda as appropriate/possible; institutions engaged by the programme; donor representatives; civil society organizations engaged in the programme and community members/youth/citizens/decision makers/media participating in programme activities. Indicators to assess the progress and impact of the programme, complementing existing progress markers and outcome statements, will be developed in consultation with Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda.

While Interpeace anticipates the use of the elements listed above, the list is not exhaustive. The evaluation may include additional elements and approaches as appropriate for responding to the final evaluation questions. The applicant is encouraged to suggest a comprehensive methodology that includes these elements and others that the evaluators deem fit for meeting the evaluation objectives. The methodology for data collection should be described in the proposals. The final list of elements will be discussed with the selected team of consultants.

Interpeace and its partners will be responsible for:

• Providing a focal point for the evaluation, who may or may not travel with the consultants (time and funds permitting)
• Providing a focal point at each partner organization
• Providing logistical support inside and outside the Country
• Providing standard Interpeace security support for the evaluators (responsibility rests with the consultants)
• Arranging meetings with stakeholders
• Providing relevant programme reports and documentation in advance.

E. Deliverables, Reporting and feedback

The evaluators will provide:

• A brief inception report (no more than 5 pages) at the end of the initial planning phase, setting out a timetable for the evaluation, an overview of the final agreed upon methodology, the names of people and groups to be interviewed, a detailed workplan and a list of documents to be reviewed. Data collection tools are expected to be reviewed by and finalized together with Interpeace and NAR.
• The evaluators will provide a brief final evaluation report and presentation for Interpeace and NAR management and relevant staff at the end of the fieldwork phase (no more than 10 pages) summarising the progress of the evaluation, highlighting any changes to the evaluation schedule, and providing tentative findings.
• The evaluators will submit a draft report within 15 days after completing the fieldwork.
• The evaluators will provide a final report considering comments on the draft report within 5 days of receiving such comments.

The evaluators will hold a feedback meeting (or meetings) for the Interpeace Kigali office, East and Central Africa office (Nairobi) and Never Again Rwanda. This will be an opportunity to debrief on the evaluation, and to exchange views on preliminary findings and recommendations.

The evaluation report will include a main text of no more than 40 pages with findings and recommendations. The report will be expected to be structured in the following manner:

Acronyms

Executive Summary

1. Introduction and brief background
2. Methodology
3. Major findings
   • Relevance
   • Effectiveness and Impact (including major accomplishments to date)
   • Efficiency
   • Sustainability
   • Cross-cutting issues
4. Overall Assessment
5. Challenges and opportunities
6. Good Practices and lessons learned
7. Recommendations for scale up and or replication

Annexes:

• Terms of Reference
• List of documents assessed
• List of persons interviewed
• Evaluation Matrix
• Updated programme logical framework

F. Qualifications

The evaluation will be undertaken by a team composed of international and local consultants working in tandem. The consultants will be expected to have the following skills and experience at a minimum:

International consultant:

• Experience in conducting and leading evaluations/assessments
• Experience in conducting gender sensitive evaluations
• Strong analytical skills and experience working with the Outcome Mapping approach
• Strong knowledge of and experience with conflict resolution, governance, peacebuilding and reconciliation programmes
• Experience working in Rwanda, the Great Lakes region and other conflict or post-conflict environments
• Proven record of delivering professional outputs
• A willingness to travel to Rwanda
• Excellent French and English speaking and writing skills.
• The local consultant will be expected to speak Kinyarwanda and have a good understanding of the context of societal healing and participatory governance in Rwanda.
• An ability to work within tight deadlines
• Experience in data collection and analysis
• Experience and willing to use participatory approaches.

Local Consultant:

• Experience conducting and/or leading evaluations/assessments
• Experience in conducting gender sensitive evaluations
• Strong analytical skills and experience working with the Outcome Mapping approach
• Strong knowledge of and experience with conflict resolution, governance, peacebuilding and reconciliation programmes in Rwanda
• Strong understanding of the Rwandan context and public governance policies
• Demonstrate strong experience in conducting Mixed approaches researches in thematic areas of Peacebuilding, healing and reconciliation, governance and human rights
• Have strong experience in documentation of evidence-based case studies/evaluations especially in the governance and healing
• Proven record of delivering professional outputs
• Excellent English and Kinyarwanda speaking and writing skills.
• An ability to work within tight deadlines
• Experience in data collection and analysis