Near East Foundation is hiring a
Near East Foundation - Syria
Request for Applications for Project Technical Consultant
CONTRACT DATA
Period of Performance: Five Months
Location of Assignment: Syria – NE – Raqqah & DEZ
Background: For 100 years, the Near East Foundation (NEF) has worked to build more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive communities in the Middle East, Caucasus, and Africa through education, governance, and economic development initiatives. Working through a network of country offices and local partners, NEF currently has approximately 250 staff members – almost all nationals – and programs in ten countries: Armenia, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Mali, Morocco, Palestine, Senegal, Sudan, and Syria. Its programs are organized around three themes: peacebuilding and stabilization, Climate-resilient development, and inclusive economic development.
Assignment Overview:
NEF is promoting social cohesion among MSMEs in Syria NE (Raqqah and DEZ). The aim of this project is to improve shared understanding and dispute management skills among Syrian MSMEs through economic cooperation that offers mutual benefits and opportunities to build durable relationships to strengthen socioeconomic resilience. Activities will maximize skills related to constructive communication, collaboration, positive negotiation, and mediation, and problem-solving to break down stereotypes, increase socio conflict understanding and trust, and create durable relationships linked to economic cooperation. Stocktaking will be conducted to assess needs and identify the dispute mediation capacities of enterprises. MSMEs in target communities will be consulted through participatory small-group workshops and focus group discussions. These activities with be complemented with key informant interviews (KIIs) with local stakeholders, including, e.g., MSMEs, community leaders, women’s association leaders, civil society leaders, heads of cooperatives or unions, etc. The goal of consultations will be to identify the root causes, motivational factors, and triggers of MSME disputes and the current knowledge and skill level of MSMEs with respect to negotiation, dialogue, and mediation of disputes. Consultation results will inform training curricula, training approaches and methodologies.
The following activities are planned to be implemented under this project:
Many factors are important to the success of these activities, including the training materials and curriculum. Hence, NEF is looking to recruit an external consultant or consultancy firm to review and improve the content of the current curriculum to make sure that it meets challenges and demands, utilizes the new collected information and technologies, and aligns with the beneficiaries’ profiles and needs. The consultant/firm is also expected to support NEF in developing the revised curricula (from existing materials) around social cohesion, livelihood and conflict resolution.
Participants and use: The key participants of the study are the Near East Foundation, Master Trainers associated to the project, the entrepreneurs, and the local Community Based Organizations in the project areas.
Objectives and expected outputs: The assignment has three main key objectives and associated outputs:
NEF will be responsible for:
Payment Method:
The payment will be made monthly based on working days during the month. NEF will not be responsible for any further expenses incurred by the consultant during the consultancy visits.
Skills, experience, and selection criteria:
Submission requirements:
Interested applicants should submit the following in a unique PDF file (except any sample of previous evaluations which could be sent in separate files):
Documents should be submitted by Wednesday June 19, 2024.
Submissions received after the deadline will not be taken into consideration. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Near East Foundation by visiting the NEF website at www.neareast.org.