African Development Bank

Request for Expression of Interest :

CONSULTANCY FOR A PEACE AND CONFLICT ANALYST

Transition States Coordination Office / Department

(RDTS)

African Development Bank (http://www.afdb.org)

Immeuble -CCIA – Avenue Jean Paul II

Abidjan Plateau 01 B.P. 1387, Abidjan 01 Côte d’Ivoire

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Transition States Coordination Office

E-mail : a.l.sanogo@afdb.org | d.ugwoke@afdb.org

Expression of interest required for a Peace and Conflict Analyst consultant

1. The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest for a Peace and Conflict Analyst consultancy to support the Bank’s engagement in Ethiopia through the production of high quality, in-depth and succinct analysis of conflicts in Ethiopia’s hot-spots and their impacts on the social cohesion, political stability and inclusive growth of the country ;

2. The consultant will conduct thorough analysis of the national and sub-regional political economy issues in order to deepen the understanding of the political, economic, social and environmental factors that are fueling or have the potential to fuel crisis, as well as the relative power, exclusion and vulnerability of different groups within the population, especially women and youth. The consultancy will further help inform both the Bank’s strategic positioning and its contribution to development partners’ policy dialogue with the Government of Ethiopia.

Issuing Department :

Place of assignment : Ethiopia

Duration of the assignment : 6 months

Deadline for applications :  September 28, 2021

Date of commencement : October 10, 2021

Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS)

Applications to be submitted to: a.l.sanogo@afdb.org | d.ugwoke@afdb.org | p.mpuga@afdb.org

Any questions and requests for clarifications may be sent to: e.kemayou@afdb.org and e.nyirinkwaya@afdb.org

How to Apply ;

Interested candidates are invited to send their updated Curriculum Vitae (based on the template in Annex I) and letter of interest in a single PDF file (in English or in French) to a.l.sanogo@afdb.org and d.ugwoke@afdb.org with copy to p.mpuga@afdb.org in the following email format.

File name: “[last name], [first name]” (e.g. Peterson, Anna)

Subject line: “RDTS Consultant – [Ethiopia] – Peace and Conflict Analyst

Candidates are encouraged to include comment(s) on the ToR in their motivation letter.

The annex II of this REOI should be filled and submitted along with the motivation letter and the full CV.

ANNEX I: TERMS OF REFERENCE

PEACE AND CONFLICT ANALYST

1. BACKGROUND :

State fragility and conflict situations manifest in several ways and pose major challenges and risks to Africa’s development. Addressing these situations is central to the strategic and operational priorities of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). Over a third of Africa’s 54 countries are categorized to be in Fragile Situations. Armed violence, political, economic, social and environmental challenges undermine development efforts and regional stability in the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes, Central Africa and the Sahel regions, and the Mano River Union.

To respond to these challenges, the AfDB has prioritized support for fragile situations in its Ten-Year Strategy (2013-2022) and created the Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS), whose overriding mandate is to support poverty alleviation and promote shared prosperity in transition states by implementing the Bank Group’s Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa (2014-2019). The Bank recognizes the need to thrive for more in-depth knowledge on the root causes and drivers of country fragility. The latter knowledge is essential in prescribing the appropriate policies, actions and measures that could be implemented to mitigate the identified risks at country level.

RDTS’s mission is to coordinate the Bank’s support to its Regional Member Countries (RMCs) affected by fragility to enable them to transit towards viable plans for achieving long-term, resilience, sustainable development, and inclusive economic growth. This requires to first understand specificities of fragility drivers, at country and regional level, and identify key entry points for an effective engagement in building resilience. Therefore, fragility assessments are mandatory inputs to all the AfDB’s strategic and programming documents.

It is in this context that the Bank is looking for a seasoned Peace and Conflict Analyst to carry out an assessment of the risks of crisis/conflicts in Ethiopia at national and local levels as well as the opportunities to build peace and strengthen resilience at all levels.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY :

Ethiopia is facing a security crisis, the consequences of which pose a threat to the strong economic growth trends and social progress seen in recent years. The conflict that started in November 2020 in the northern region of Tigray is spreading, with potential political, economic and humanitarian implications for Ethiopia and the entire region.

Beyond the conflict, the risk of political instability, the weakness of institutions and systems, the complex nature of the socio-political dynamics, and the increasing external pressures on livelihoods (climate change impact, commodity price shocks), put Ethiopia on the verge of fragility. The human cost of the war is rising, with more than two million people having fled and millions more in immediate need of humanitarian assistance, including food, water, shelter and health care. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that 100,000 children face life-threatening severe acute malnutrition over the next 12 months.

In this context, the proposed consultancy aims to identify and assess the economic, social, political and environmental drivers of conflict in the country, as well as the sources of resilience to these conflicts and to fragility in general, including the capacities of the institutions to adapt to shocks. The study will make a thorough analysis of the national and local political economy issues in order to deepen the understanding of the political, economic, social and environmental factors that can lead to a crisis, as well as the relative power, exclusion and vulnerability of different groups within the population, especially women and youth. The consultant will also produce periodic analysis and recommendations to help inform both the Bank’s country programming and its contribution to development partners’ policy dialogue with the Government of Ethiopia.

The purpose of the proposed consultancy is threefold :

• Establish a knowledge benchmark of available information along the dimensions of conflict and fragility in Ethiopia, including economic, social, political/governance, security and environmental situations of Ethiopia, at both national and local levels ;
• Provide periodic analysis of the conflict dynamics in the country as well as the sources of resilience to fragility and conflict, and the institutional capacity of the state systems to adapt to shocks ;
• Propose a framework for continued engagement on matters of conflict in the country and the Horn of Africa region as a whole. The response framework will be informed by the likely scenarios¹. The consultant’s analysis and recommendations will help inform the Banks’ strategic positioning and its contribution to partners’ advocacy and policy dialogue with national authorities.

3. SCOPE OF THE WORK :

• The study will focus on the ongoing conflict, its drivers and likely scenarios. The study will also analyze the capacity and efficiency of the state and institutions and therefore governance, but also the fragility of socio-economic cohesion and the impact of external factors such as political economy, environmental pressures and security in the country and its region, that fuel or have the potential to fuel conflicts ;
• The consultant will draw on existing work to articulate theories of change for potential peace contribution and identify programmatic entry points and considerations for the Bank and other Development Partners’ programs design that could incorporate peace outcomes ;
• The process will require extensive consultation with key stakeholders such as officials in government, relevant sector ministries and departments, civil society groups in the country, international development partners, private sector actors and local and international NGOs operating in the country. If movements are restricted on the ground, the consultant will use all means available, including virtual technology, to conduct stakeholder consultations in the performance of the services under this assignment ;
• Conflict ends in two-three months & remains in current regions [through negotiations or Federal military intervention]; (ii) Conflict continues for 6-9 months and spreads to other neighboring regions; (iii) conflict extends beyond 9 months and escalates widely

4. SPECIFIC TASKS OF THE ASSIGNMENT :

The consultant will assess existing conflict analyses, extracting relevant information from the Bank’s Country Resilience and Fragility Assessment tool and any other relevant database, identifying gaps and conducting additional research to fill critical gaps to inform the Bank’s engagement in the country. This will entail researching and analyzing the social, political, ethnic, regional, sectarian, gender etc. context, as well as the main actors in the conflict.

More specifically, the consultant will be expected to perform the following tasks :

1. Identify and analyze the factors, including political economy analysis, driving conflicts in the country with a view to identifying entry points for building sustained peace ;
2. Assess the crisis dynamics and identify conflict sensitivity risks and possible contributions to peace, including obstacles and challenges militating against the realization of the country’s full development potential ;
3. Carry-out conflict analysis to inform the design and implementation of projects in Ethiopia including both new and ongoing projects while ensuring that the “Do No Harm” principle is observed in the course of the implementation of Bank financed projects in the country ;
4. Identify likely scenarios and propose strategic recommendations to address the sources of fragility and build and embark on the pathway to resilience and stability. This should entail proposing strategic measures for strengthening state capacity to overcome situations of conflicts and crisis, maintain peace and security, and manage economic development and social cohesion. Identify and analyze policy issues that need to be addressed and recommend strategic responses to be taken by the government and how the African Development Bank Group could assist in that process ;
5. Identify key stakeholders in peacebuilding, propose interventions for strengthening local capacities to unblock institutional and technical shortcomings of the state to prevent relapses into crises and conflicts, and provide specific descriptions of opportunities for programming adjustments to make contributions to peace in line with the Bank’s commitment to the HDP Nexus. Identify the key actors and evaluate their respective roles in the achievement of the policy formulation, institutional restructuring, and other economic and social goals. Assess dynamics and relationships (political and economic) between key actors in the government and in the society with a view to understanding the impact of these factors on the successful implementation of the Bank’s support ;
6. Identify capacity development opportunities for empowering both the State and nonstate actors, civil society organizations to adequately mitigate and address identified country risks; and proposing options for full resilience building through institutional, organizational human capacity development and other critical sectors to build resilience. Identify critical policy, strategy and capacity gaps (institutional, financial and organizational), that may impede the achievement of the key policy formulation, institutional restructuring, and other economic and social goals envisaged by the government ;
7. Identify potential knowledge gaps to ensure a more holistic response and assistance program to the country and also those elements that are specific to the Bank’s mandate.

Identify conflict sensitivity risks and possible contributions to peace.

5. DURATION AND LOCATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT : 

The Consultant will collaborate closely with key stakeholders and will work on a full-time basis for a period of six (6) months, from October 10, 2021 to April 9, 2022. The consultant will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and require fulltime presence in the Bank’s offices, as soon as it is practical to do so and in line with the Bank Group’s guidance for return to the office.

6. DELIVERABLES: The Consultant will be responsible for providing monthly analysis and reports on the crisis situation in the country, including at national level and hotspots areas, considering external drivers at the border areas. This will include recommendations for a conflict sensitive engagement of the Bank and other Development partners, as well as options to support peacebuilding interventions to promote sustained and inclusive growth. Towards the end of the consultancy, the consultant will submit a comprehensive report highlighting the challenges on the ground, but also the source of resilience available and an Action Plan to strengthen peace and promote inclusive growth.

7. QUALIFICATIONS OF THE CONSULTANT :

The successful candidate should meet the following qualifications :

• Master’s degree (PhD preferred) in Conflict, Peace and Security Studies, economics, political economy, International Relations/Development/Affairs, or any other field that applies to the consultancy ;
• At least 15 years of professional experience in undertaking conflict analysis and conflict sensitivity assessments, with specific in-depth knowledge/work experience of/in Africa. Specific knowledge of and analysis of conflict in Ethiopia or the Horn of Africa will be an advantage ;
• Solid knowledge of peacebuilding program and project design, including the articulation of theories of change/causal pathways ;
• A demonstrated knowledge of relevant theories, standards, best practices and latest developments with the fields of both humanitarian action and peace contribution ;
• Experience providing technical support to integrate conflict sensitivity and better peacebuilding practice into programs and operations at field level ;
• Strong analytical and excellent presentation skills, with the ability to explain the purpose, impact and findings of the conflict analysis to relevant parties ;
• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to present complex ideas in an engaging and easily understood style ;
• Fluency in English is a must. Working knowledge of French and local languages will be considered an asset ;
• Knowledge of methods and procedures of international organizations/development partner institutions ;
• Be readily available for the full duration of the study.

8. REMUNERATION :

Contract Amount: The Bank shall pay the Consultant a competitive fee consistent with its remuneration policy.

Method of Payment: The consultant will receive a monthly fee and payment of the Contract amount shall be made upon satisfactory activity report. The Contract amount shall be payable to the Consultant in arrears payable within thirty (30) days of receipt by the Bank of the monthly activity report and an invoice issued.

MODEL CURRICULUM VITAE – AFDB BAD PDF