Consultant/Firm To conduct a Pre-election Assessment – Hargeisa, Somaliland

1. Background

Somaliland Non-State Actors forum SONSAF is a leading civil society platform that aims to engage all Somaliland Non-Stat actors by improving their capacity and position. Since its establishment in 2008, SONSAF’s mission and primary objective are to enhance non-state actor’s voice through better coordination and networking that contributes in helping Non-state actors to possess a vibrant space in policy dialogue arena especially, peace-building, security, democratisation, development sustainability and have concrete influence in formulating policies that address the needs of all citizens. Overall, civil society and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) can influence individual behaviour and the institutions involved in all development sectors.

SONSAF is awarded an eighteen-month project entitled ‘Support Peaceful Elections (PEACE) programme in Somaliland 2021’. The eighteen months project is funded by the European Union, which has two main objectives:

• Monitoring and reducing electoral tensions through Election Situation Room (ESR) across Somaliland and
• Increasing Women’s, youth and minorities participation in Somaliland’s electoral and governance processes in the pre-election, election and post-election periods

2. Objectives of the Consultancy

The consultancy’s overall objective is to produce an in-depth analysis of the current dynamics and the enabling environment that will allow for the elections to proceed, in addition to mapping stakeholders’ conflicts.

3. Scope of Work

The consulting firm/individual is expected to engage and coordinate with the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in completing the pre-election assessment. The output of pre-election review on the enabling environment and election stakeholders will be critical to the Election Situation Room (ESR) warning system. Covering all regions elections hotspot, the consultant will focus on the following key activities.

• The consultant will have to conduct a desk review on Somaliland electoral legal framework, elections code of conduct, political parties’ policies, previous election reports and relevant documents for the assignment.
• Developing robust plans/strategies with specific milestones and targets, that identifies key elections stakeholders.
• Map out election stakeholders such National Election Commission (NEC), Ministry of Interior (MoI), Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Political Parties, and develop a mechanism for reporting back to the ESR.
• Hold workshop/discussion with CSO and other election key stakeholders to understand current and potential election conflicts and recommend mitigating mechanism.
• Identify voters’ challenges such, the impact of droughts, polling stations distances, inter-clan conflicts, borders conflicts with neighbouring countries and any other relevant challenges.
• Through the validation workshop organised by SONSAF, the consultant will present the assessments’ findings/outcome.
• The consultant will incorporate comments and contributions from participants and develop the final report, including the recommendations.

4. Reporting

The consultant will directly report to SONSAF Project Coordinator.

5. Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in research, law, human rights, political science, international relations or closely related discipline or relevant fields.
• The consultant should possess working experience in Somaliland regions and experience working with regional and international organisations.
• Minimum of three (3) years of relevant experience, preferably in conducting assessments/research, workshop and capacity building, including participatory training approaches for Civil Society Organizations or NGOs.
• Excellent awareness of Somaliland political environment.
• Knowledge of connections to relevant stakeholders, especially in Somaliland.
• Proven experience in evaluating Pre-elections related projects is preferable.
• The Consultant should develop approaches, methodology and information collection tools.
• Ability to conduct in-depth analysis and reach relevant conclusions in the specific area of SONSAF project.
• Should have the ability to work with people of different cultural background irrespective of gender, religion, race, nationality and age.
• Good computer skills (Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet, etc.).
• Excellent facilitation skills
• The ability to produce excellent written reports demonstrating analytical and communication skills in both Somali and English.

6. Key Deliverables:

It is expected that the consultant will produce the following deliverables:

An Inception Report: The consultants will submit a synopsis of the assignment and the proposed methodology. A final version will be submitted to SONSAF Management no later than agreed timeline as prescribed in the schedule of work, following any additional inputs;

Provisional Report: SONSAF Management will expect a provisional Evaluation Report within one week after the end of the assessment either by e-mail or in a roundtable meeting. It will include a summary not more than 4 pages. The report will be submitted to relevant stakeholders earlier for review, comments and subsequent validation, no more than four days.

A final report should be prepared in word format (up to maximum 35 pages) within three weeks. The report must contain some visual aids (e.g. graphs, charts, photos, etc.) in PowerPoint format. The report should take into account comments from partners & stakeholders.

7. Time Frame

The project assessment is the bases for the upcoming election activities; therefore, the selected consultant must adhere to the assessment’s strict deadlines. He/she must conduct all the assessment activities and produce the final report within 21 days.

8. Working conditions:

The selected expert will work under his own accord and will be required to travel within all six regions of Somaliland and election districts.

If successful, the engagements or working days will be 21 days, and remunerations will be paid based on the tasks carried out. The consultant will not work or be reimbursed for days beyond the maximum approved working days without prior written approval from SONSAF.

Submission:

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested consultants/Firm must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

(Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF attachment as the system only allows upload of one document):

• Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references
• Cover Letter, outlining the main methodological approaches planned for the assignment.
• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the assignment
• Two (2) samples of previous work (in English/Somali) similar to the assignment (links can be shared as well)

To be submitted no later than 31^st January 2021,

At 4 pm, to Email address: sonsafhrm@gmail.com