Vacancy

 

Evaluation of the Fellows Programme (2019-2024)

 

Consultancy

 

 

An Introduction to KAICIID

The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) is a unique International Organization which brings together religious leaders, policymakers, and experts with the aim of finding common solutions to shared problems. Our vision is a world where there is respect, understanding, and cooperation among people, justice, peace and reconciliation, and an end to the abuse of religion to justify oppression, violence, and conflict.

 

The KAICIID Programme Division

The primary objective of the Programme Division is to create the conditions, platforms and environment through which religious leaders and other actors, in particular policy makers, can engage in constructive dialogue, thus strengthening mutual understanding and respect.

 

The KAICIID Fellows Programme

The International Fellows Programme is the Centre’s flagship initiative where capacity-building around interreligious and intercultural dialogue and networking are aimed to support leaders who are committed to fostering peace in their communities. The main distinct components of the Programme are: Building the capacity of current Fellows, ongoing alumni engagements, including a newly launched institutional network, and in 2025 a comprehensive programme evaluation and update of curriculum, content, and resources.

The “Fellows” under the programme are provided with dialogue skills to help them address tensions and conflicts in their own institutions and communities, primarily interreligious or intercultural. The Fellows Alumni Network connects new programme graduates to a growing community of dialogue champions and offers advanced opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration. To date the Fellows Programme has produced nearly 550 Fellows (i.e. educators, religious leaders, dialogue practitioners, and policymakers) who are actively promoting peacebuilding through dialogue.

Fellows originate from over 90 countries on all continents covering 17 religions and various denominations. Their average age is 40 years. Forty percent are women, with a commitment to increase gender parity, national and regional diversity, and religious diversity, each year.

In 2023, the Programme launched an Institutional Network that gathers 44 religious educational institutions with which Fellows are affiliated. Through the Network, high quality IRD education programmes will be made accessible to the people and parts of the world where it is most needed.

 

Purpose:

The purpose of the evaluation is to capture achievements of the Fellows Programme, provide lessons learnt and operational recommendations for future design of the Programme. The evaluation presents an excellent opportunity to assess the effects of the Programme in an inclusive way and its overall added value to peacebuilding through dialogue at different levels. The evaluation will also allow us to understand the Programme’s evolution over the last five years (since the first five-year evaluation conducted in 2019).

 

Scope & Objectives:

The evaluation should cover the programme period from 1 Jan 2019 to 31 Dec 2024 and all the geographic regions involved. It will cover all programme components:

i) Fellows Training and Capacity Development

ii) Alumni Engagement

iii) Institutional Partnerships

iv) Curriculum and content updating

v) Increased regionalization / inculturation of programme elements and resources, and coherence of Fellows and Regional Programmes.

Diversity dimensions – gender, youth, religion, and nationality - will be considered as a cross-cutting concern throughout the methodology, deliverables. and final report of the evaluation

 

The evaluation should consider the intended outcomes and outputs, as stated in the Fellows Programme’s Concept Note and Results Framework. It is expected to elucidate (i) what key lessons can be learnt to strengthen the Fellows Programme; (ii) how challenges identified can be addressed so that the programme  is a strong contributor to social cohesion policies at national, regional and international levels; and (iii) what the main strategic priorities for the Fellows Programme should be, in the immediate future as well as longer term, and what steps are needed to achieve that. All these issues should be adequately reflected in the inception report and the final evaluation report, whose main audience includes the Centre’s management and staff, all relevant programme beneficiaries/stakeholders and wider partners of the organization.

 

The specific evaluation objectives are to:

• Assess the relevance and appropriateness of the programme in terms of: alignment with KAICIID’s strategy, addressing the most relevant peacebuilding issues including SDG 16, alignment with national and regional contexts, addressing the relevant needs of the alumni, including in terms of responding to cross-cutting issues such as human rights and women’s participation; assess selection process of Fellows and how it affects success of the programmes.

• Assess the effectiveness of the Programme’s achievement against its intended results (i.e. outputs and outcomes), distinguishing the transformations achieved at individual level of Fellows, as well as those that may have happened as a result of application of their knowledge and skills in their respective communities (organizational, community and/or systemic level changes). Assessment of effectiveness should also cover the factors that enable or prevent alumni from applying the knowledge; Assess quality and types of partnerships forged under the programme enabling specific focus on young people’s access to decision making processes, and whether all the peacebuilding interventions supported by the programme factored in gender equality;

• Assess the internal coherence of the Programme’s components as well as of the Programme’s linkages and synergies with other KAICIID programmes. At the Programme level the evaluation will explore how the Fellows cohorts and capacity development, the efforts at alumni engagement, institutional networking and follow-up interventions contribute to the outcomes of the Programme. At the organizational level, the evaluation will look at collaborations between the Fellows’ Programme and other KAICIID’s programmes and how that contributes to wider KAICIID’s results.

• Assess external coherence with similar initiatives and how synergies are supported and overlaps avoided.

• Review the Programme’s efficiency, including its implementation strategy, institutional arrangements as well as its management, operational systems and value for money;

• Assess the sustainability of the Fellows alumni capacities and of the results achieved, contextual factors that support or prevent sustainability and the needs for support to strengthen it in the future.

• Document good practices and lessons learnt from the implementation and follow-up, that will contribute to strengthened theory of change and concrete and actionable recommendations for future programming.

 

Methodology:

The evaluation is expected to take a theory-based approach (theory of change) focused on causal links between the interventions that KAICIID has supported and observed progress. Evidence obtained and used to assess the results of Fellows’ support should be interpreted considering the context in which the Programme is implemented. They should be triangulated from a variety of sources, including verifiable data on indicator achievement, existing reports, and technical papers, stakeholder interviews, focus groups and surveys, as highlighted below.

The evaluation assignment is home-based, but travel to engage with Fellows and alumni during one training and regional meeting (together) may be included .

Selected evaluation criteria of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/DAC) will be applied (including relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency and sustainability). Other relevant approaches in evaluations of capacity development programmes and/or networks can be considered, for example the Centre for Social Innovation’s criteria for evaluating networks for social change (including its internal and external ecosystem, outcomes and processes).

The evaluation methodology will employ mixed methods, both qualitative and quantitative, combining review of the programme documentation and additional documentary evidence and consultations with main stakeholders’ survey around prioritized evaluation criteria. Data collection techniques to be used are:

• Desk review of secondary documentation sources - KAICIID’s Strategic Plan, Fellows Programme documents, including but not limited to annual work programmes, activity and periodic reports, publications and the recommendations of the previous evaluations.

• On-line semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups with KAICIID staff, experts engaged, partners, selected alumni and their institutions/organizations.

• On-line survey.

• To be defined: in person focus groups and observations during one of two regional events that include both training of new Fellows and a convening of regional Fellows alumni.

The evaluation consultant should make all necessary efforts to ensure data quality and reliability.

Human rights and gender sensitive approach should be integrated in the evaluation looking into the underlying barriers that challenge peacebuilding efforts, taking into account intersectionality with gender, age and various vulnerabilities of the population.

Overall, the evaluation will adhere to United Nations Evaluation Groups Standards (use of internationally agreed principles, goals and targets; utility; credibility; independence; impartiality; ethics; transparency; human rights and gender equality; professionalism) and KAICIID Monitoring and Evaluation Policy.

The evaluation will focus on the following questions (questions can be further adjusted by the evaluation consultant during the inception phase in dialogue with the evaluation managers):

Relevance:

• To what extent is the Programme aligned with the global and priorities of the regions it is implemented in?

• To what extent is the Programme aligned with the relational priorities and ongoing dialogues of the religions with which it is engaged?

• To what extent the Programme is aligned with KAICIID’s mission and strategy?

• To what extent is the Programme aligned with the global and regional peacebuilding agenda, including SDG 16, and women’s and youth participation principles?

• How targeted and relevant is the selection of the Fellows and their initiatives to the Programme objectives?

Effectiveness:

• To what extent has progress been made towards outcome achievement? What were the effective strategies to achieve the observed change, particular interest is on grants, support to initiatives and networking?

• What have the results been at the individual level of the Fellows involved, and what at the wider plan such as i.e., for their organizations, communities, or at a higher systemic level (e.g., policy work or contribution to peacebuilding)? How do the Fellows apply learnt knowledge and skills? Have there been any unexpected outcome-level results achieved beyond the planned outcome? (consider observing results and changes attained for men, women, children, and vulnerable groups)

• What have been the supporting and what impeding factors to application of knowledge and achievement of results?

Coherence

• What is the level of compatibility of interlinkages between the Programme interventions and how that contributes to Programme outcomes?

• To what extent does the Fellows Programme ensure synergies with other KAICIID programmes (for example regional programmes, e-learning)? How can the  work of Fellows alumni be better coordinated with the Regional Programme Teams?

• Has the Programme maximized synergies and improved collaboration with new or existing partners and other actors? Has there been a duplication of efforts/resources?

• How well does the Fellows Programme align with and complement other ongoing initiatives and what are the Programme’s added values and comparative advantages?

Efficiency:

• To what extent was the programme management structure efficient in delivering expected results?

• Were programme resources (funds, staff, time, expertise, etc.) used efficiently, and were they strategically allocated to achieve desired outcomes?

• To what extent did partnership modalities support the successful delivery of programme outputs and outcomes?

• Did the monitoring systems provide relevant data, including disaggregated data, to facilitate learning and adaptive management during implementation?

• How effectively did KAICIID's practices, policies, processes, and decision-making capabilities impact the achievement of programme results?

Sustainability:

• To what extent did the programme contribute to the broader strategic outcomes identified in the strategic plans and policies?

• How sustainable are the results achieved?

• What are the factors affecting sustainability and how can KAICIID’s strengthen sustainability perspectives?

The evaluation will result in a synthesis evaluation report and two short thematic case-studies (tentatively on grants and institutional networking, however during the inception phase other can be proposed by the consultant)

The evaluation process will be conducted through the following three phases:

1. Inception phase that includes gathering and analyzing relevant programme documentation; consultation with the KAICIID’s monitoring and evaluation and programme/project teams and selected Fellows; stakeholders mapping; conceptualizing the evaluation approach and data collection tools. The approach should take into account the need to develop 2 case studies.

2. Data collection and analysis that includes in-depth desk review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and a survey; processing of the data and synthesis of preliminary findings and lessons learnt. Preliminary findings and lessons learnt will be discussed with KAICIID for consultation and information-gap filling if necessary.

3. Preparation of the evaluation report that will include executive summary, brief background on the evaluation and methodology applied, strengthened/reconstructed theory of change, overview of findings supported by evidence collected, lessons learnt and recommendations, list of sources consulted, survey results, tools used, and other relevant content should be annexed to the report. In addition to the report, 2 short thematic cases studies (up to 4 pages each) should be delivered.

Following the completion of the evaluation, KAICIID will:

• Prepare the management response related to the recommendations to KAICIID and its future support to the Fellows Programme; and

• Present the evaluation findings and recommendations at major Fellows events and meetings and consultations within the Fellows Alumni Networks globally.

 

Management Agreement:

The evaluation will be managed jointly by KAICIID’s Monitoring & Evaluation Officer and Fellows Senior Programme Manager. The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will ensure that the evaluation process is conducted as planned, will review the deliverables and ensure that professional standards and norms on evaluation are followed. Day-to-day management of the evaluation process, for example supply of the evaluation consultant with documentation and connection with the key informants and organization of the logistics will be directly managed by the Fellows Senior Programme Manager. The consultant will report to these two focal points who will be providing feedback and approving the deliverables.

An Evaluation Advisory Group will be set up comprising the Programme Officers of the Fellows Programme, Chief Programme Officer, the Head of Capacity Building, and at least two representatives from Regional Programmes (head or SPMs), at least four Fellows Alumni from different regions as well as a representative from the steering committee of the Fellows Institutional Network, and representation from Relex and other offices to be determined. The Advisory Group will provide substantive comments and feedback to evaluation deliverables, specifically including to the inception report and proposed methodology and sample, preliminary findings and lessons learnt and to the draft final report. Every effort will be made by the Advisory Group to provide an amalgamated set of comments to the evaluator within an agreed period, addressing the content required and quality criteria as outlined in these Terms of Reference.

The evaluation consultant will develop the design of the evaluation, including conceptual and methodological approach, collect and analyse the data in line with the agreed approach, assure their quality and objectivity and produce the expected deliverables as described in the section below.

 

Deliverables and Timelines:

The overall effort is estimated to take 35 days in the period March – September 2025. The deliverables shall include an inception report, presentation of preliminary findings and lessons learnt and a draft and final evaluation report in accordance with the following requirements and timeline: 

Deliverable	Tasks	Workday allocation	Tentative Deadline
Inception Report	Review materials, conduct inception meeting with selected Fellows Programme and Monitoring and Evaluation staff, stakeholder mapping and work plan, draft inception report (up to 12 pages,  excluding annexes) outlining inter alia: the consultant’s understanding of the assignment, proposed methodological approach, outline of structure of the evaluation report, sources of information and timeline. Evaluation matrix and data collection tools are to be annexed to the report.	5	1 April 2025
Collection and validation of preliminary findings and lessons learnt	Data collection and analysis from different sources against the agreed evaluation criteria; continued documentation review; key informants interviews, surveys and/or focus groups; synthesis of preliminary findings and lessons learnt; 1.5 hour online session with the evaluation management and Evaluation Advisory Group to present and discuss preliminary findings and lessons learnt;	20	1 July 2025
Final evaluation report (with annexes) and PPT	Compilation of the draft evaluation report (up to 40 pages, excluding annexes), including: the executive summary, brief background on the evaluation and methodology applied, overview of findings supported by evidence collected, lessons learnt and recommendations. 2 thematic case studies (up to 4 pages each). Power point presentation on the key findings and lessons learned (up to 12 slides) Annexes (including list of sources consulted, survey results, tools used, and other relevant additional content)	10	1 September 2025
	Total	35

 

Our Ideal Candidate:

• Advanced degree in social sciences, development studies, law, monitoring and evaluation, or a related field;
• At least 7 years of proven experience in conducting and managing evaluations (preferably in capacity development, peacebuilding and/or interreligious/intercultural programmes);
• Demonstrated application of standard evaluation approaches, qualitative as well as quantitative methods of data collection, results-based frameworks, theory-based approaches to evaluation methodologies, knowledge of UN, OECD/DAC and other internationally agreed guidance and standards;
• Evaluation and/or programme management experience in conflict, peacebuilding contexts and/or multi-ethnic, multi-religious communities, as well as knowledge of the political, social and economic situation of at least two regions where the KAICIID Fellows Programme operates (Africa, Arab Region, Asia, Europe, Americas), including awareness of Global South and European stakeholders, policies and processes related to social cohesion and peacebuilding.

• Excellent knowledge of results-based management, programme management, and in particular evaluation;  
• Strong inter-personal skills and ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders including international organizations, governments, civil society organizations; 
• Excellent facilitation and communications skills;  
• Strong analytical, synthesis and writing, reporting and presentation skills in English; 
• Efficiency in fulfilling commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; 
• Working knowledge of Arabic, French, and/or Spanish is desirable, but not mandatory.

 

Terms and Conditions:

The exact timeline for the assignment will be established based on the completion of the recruitment process.

Costs for travelling accommodation and board for trainer for the in-person meeting/s will be covered by KAICIID.

 

Compensation:

The fee will be offered in accordance with KAICIID consultancy rates, depending on the experience and expertise of the selected candidate. Please kindly indicate your expected daily fee as indicated below.

 

Location:

Home based & duty travel. KAICIID will take care of the  travel arrangements and will cover costs related to respective travel. 

 

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should submit:

1. CV and Cover Letter (Weight: 50%) - The CV will be assessed based on the applicant’s qualifications; relevant experience; and skills relevant to the evaluation. Please kindly include your daily fee in the application.

2. Two samples of evaluation reports (preferably in thematic areas in focus of this evaluation) (Weight: 50%) - The samples of work will be assessed based on the methodological rigor, analytical ability, clarity of the content findings, conclusions and recommendations

KAICIID is committed to diversity and inclusion and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply.

To avoid any potential conflicts of interest, individuals who have been directly involved with the Fellows Programme—including Fellows alumni, former staff, trainers, or others who have worked with the Programme—are not eligible to serve as evaluators.

 

 

Deadline: 31 March 2025 (23:59; Lisbon Time)