Tender Description

Terms of Reference (ToR): Documentation of Lessons Learned from GREDO’s Implementation Approaches, Strategies, and Community Uptake under the BRCiS III Project.

BRCiS III – GREDO Interventions in Baidoa and Diinsoor, Bay Region, Somalia.

Project: Building Resilient Communities in Somalia – BRCiS III.

Location: Baidoa and Diinsor, Southwest State, Somalia.

Position Type: Consultant/Firm.

Implementing Partner: GREDO, a member of BRCiS Consortium.

Assignment Type: Request for consultancy service.

Expected Assignment Starting Date: Last week, February 2026.

Application Deadline: 25th February 2026.

1. About GREDO:

Gargaar Relief and Development Organization (GREDO) is a Somali based national NGO established in 1992 by a group of Somali intellectuals and well-wishers to respond to emergencies and bridge partnership gaps. GREDO is a local non-profit, non-governmental, humanitarian, and development organization with its headquarters in Baidoa, another sub office in Mogadishu. The organization also has field offices and operational programs across south central Somalia in 18 districts.GREDO envisions achieving a prosperous, healthy, and happy society where peace presides, and people live with dignity.

GREDO has in depth experience operating in Somalia fragile context and first-hand experience working with local communities delivering a range of humanitarian, recovery, resilience and development interventions with a focus on addressing Food Security, Livelihoods, Nutrition, Health, WASH services, Education, protection, Peacebuilding, governance and advocacy funded by a wide range of donors and partners. Within this framework, GREDO as one of the BRCiS consortium partners, is implementing FCDO funded resilience-building interventions in Baidoa and Diinsoor districts of Bay Region.

1. Background of Project Interventions

GREDO, as a partner within the BRCiS Consortium, implements resilience-oriented interventions across Baidoa and Diinsoor. While traditional assessments focus primarily on performance indicators and outcome measurement, there is a growing need to better understand how interventions are implemented, why certain implementation approaches are effective, and how communities engage with, adopt, adapt, or sustain these approaches.

This assignment seeks to capture learning on GREDO’s implementation pathways, including:

• Community engagement approaches and facilitation modalities
• Functionality and sustainability of community governance structures (CRCs, SHGs, EWEA and NRM subcommittees).
• Community perceptions, behavioral uptake, and ownership dynamics of project interventions.

This assignment is a learning-focused documentation exercise, not an evaluation of project results or whether indicators were achieved.

1. Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to generate practical and actionable insights into GREDO’s implementation approaches, identifying what has been effective, what has been less successful, and the reasons behind these outcomes. The focus is specifically on the strategies, processes, and level of community engagement and uptake, rather than assessing performance against its indicators. The assessment will document observed behavioral changes and evidence of progress related to women’s empowerment through the SHG model, climate risk awareness and adaptation practices, as well as Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) outcomes across project activities.

1. Objectives of the Assignment

The specific objectives of this assignment are to:

1. Document and analyze how GREDO designed and implemented key strategies, including the SHG model, community mobilization processes, climate awareness strategies, and GESI mainstreaming.
2. Assess changes in women leadership roles, decision-making power, and collective action through the SHG model and community structures and specifically how participation in SHGs and community structures has influenced women participation, voice, and social standing.
3. Document outcomes related to inclusion, GESI mainstreaming across planning, implementation and participation of marginalized and vulnerable groups (PWDs) etc. among such as CRCs, SHGs, water committees, farmer cooperatives, and other sub committees.
4. Identify barriers to equitable participation and how the project enhanced inclusiveness.
5. To assess changes in women’s economic empowerment resulting from participation in the SHG model, including the extent to which savings group membership contributes to improved household capacity to meet essential needs such as food security, healthcare access, and education.
6. Assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to climate risks awareness and Identify climate adaptation measures practiced and learned from the project.
7. Determine the extent of ownership, sustainability behaviors and promoted practices within community and community structures.
8. Identify key factors influencing/enabling adoption, replication, and long-term sustainability of interventions.
9. Capture innovations, adaptive strategies, operational decisions, and tacit knowledge used by GREDO teams to address challenges and constraining factors.
10. Provide practical, evidence-based recommendations to strengthen future programming to Inform GREDO, the BRCiS Consortium, donors, and partners on strategies for scaling, sustainability, and inclusive impact.
11. Key Learning Questions

The consultant will focus on learning questions in three domains:

1. Implementation Approach

• What implementation strategies were used and why?
• How did GREDO adapt approaches to different community contexts?
• What internal processes and decisions shaped implementation?
• What innovations emerged from field teams?

1. Community Engagement Modalities and Inclusion

• How were communities mobilized and involved?
• How effective were engagement tools (CAPs, CRCs, SHGs, awareness sessions, CDRR processes, etc.) from the perspective of users?
• How inclusive were engagement processes (women, youth, PWDs, minorities)?
• What barriers or enablers influence community participation?

1. Community Uptake & Social Dynamics

• How do communities perceive GREDO’s methods and processes?
• Which approaches were most readily adopted, and why?
• What practices did communities sustain, adapt, or reject?
• How did gender, age, or social norms shape uptake?

1. Scope of Work

The consultancy will focus on the following thematic areas as implementation pathways, not outcomes:

1. Community Governance Structures and GESI outcomes

• Formation and functionality of CRCs
• Community action planning processes (CAPs, AAPs)
• Decision-making, representation of various community groups such as women and PWDs representation, inclusion and GESI outcomes. Document shift towards positive GESI outcomes.
• Local ownership of governance modalities.
• Document community contribution to project success led by community structures.

1. Community Engagement Modalities

• Sensitizations, training approaches, mobilization strategies
• Inclusion efforts (women, Disability, youth, minorities)
• Communication strategies and trust-building
• Role and added value of community mobilizers/extension workers

1. Livelihood & SHG Implementation Modalities

• SHG formation and support approaches.
• Financial literacy, savings behavior, monitoring coaching for SHGs.
• Cohesion dynamics within SHGs.
• Contribution of savings models to women’s empowerment and household resilience or how Self-help group model contribute to economic and social empowerment/asset especially for women e.g. employment etc. (document evidence how the model is pathway to self-reliance and economic wellbeing to improve HHs access to their needs).
• Small/perma-gardening models and climate adaptation-assessing how the model contributes to food security and climate adaptation.
• Assessing how matching grants/revolving loan funds provided to SHGs as alternatives to formal financial services/microfinancing due to system challenge, hard to reach or participant preferences. How were these funds used and managed by groups, is it sustainable.

1. NRM, CDRR & Water Governance Structures

• Community-led ecosystem and water resources management processes.
• Behavioral shifts in climate adaptation and risk management, e.g. management of soil and water, climate risk awareness, agro ecological practices and community owned actions to climate risk. 
• Document the effectiveness of EWEA system and community adoption to anticipatory action and community disaster risk preparedness- Document the role of community/EWEA committees to collect community EW data and dissemination (What have community learned and how will it be sustained).
• Document the effectiveness of community led and community implemented resilience fund(SGF)rolled out in some communities responding to drought.

1. Cross-Cutting Issues

• Adaptive programming
• GESI integration in implementation
• Local leadership and voluntary community participation.

1. Methodology

Assessment activities will be conducted primarily in Baidoa, except for data collection related to Self-Help Groups (SHGs) including revolving funds, which will take place exclusively in Dinsoor. All other thematic areas such as climate risk adaptation NRM, CDRR and community structures etc. will be assessed in Baidoa.

The consultant is expected to propose a comprehensive methodology that is appropriate for this multi-location assessment

Document Review

• Internal strategies, training materials, community engagement tools, reports etc.

Qualitative Field Inquiry

Key Informant Interviews with:

• GREDO field teams
• Community leaders 
• SHG groups Management Committee.
• CREWs or community facilitators/Mobilizers.
• EWEA committees' representatives.
• NRM committee representatives.
• Local authorities (Municipality and relevant line ministries).

Focus Group Discussions with:

• CRC members
• SHG members
• Community beneficiaries of governance and NRM structures
• Ecosystem service users e.g. farmers and water users

Observation of community structures (where possible)

Learning Analysis Framework

Use an adaptive learning approach based on:

• Process tracing
• Tacit knowledge capture
• Community narrative mapping
• Implementation bottleneck analysis

1. Expected Deliverables

The consultant will produce the following outputs:

1. Inception Report (methodology, tools, and detailed workplan)
2. Two Case Studies on:

• One from community resilient/small grant fund in one community in Baidoa.
• One strong community uptake/adaptation story from Community behavioral changes to climate adaptation.

1. PowerPoint presentation of findings for validation and further to be used for dissemination of findings to the audience.
2. Final Consolidated Learning Report with clear findings and recommendations.
3. Timeframe:

The assignment is expected to be conducted over a period of 2-3 weeks, commencing on 28th February 2026. A detailed work plan will be agreed upon during the inception phase.

1. Management & Coordination

The consultant will work closely with:

• MEAL Coordinator 
• Programme Manager
• GREDO field staff

1. Remuneration and Payments.

Based on the financial proposal, the consultancy fee will be negotiated if necessary and agreed before formal contract and payments will be based on successful completion of agreed deliverables (to be detailed in contract). 

The consultant/firm will be responsible for their own security; insurance while in the field and GREDO will not be responsible for any injuries or damages incurred during the assignment. How ever GREDO will provide adequate safety and security support during the field exercise (during participants engagement and field visit to project sites etc.).

1. Safeguarding and Ethical Standards

Child Protection/Safeguarding:

GREDO holds zero tolerance for safeguarding misconducts, and the consultant will be briefed on GREDO safeguarding protocol and will be responsible to observe GREDOs child protection and safeguarding policy and to protect children and project participants from all forms of abuse, exploitation, harassment, violence and discrimination and report any incident in relation to CP/safeguarding. GREDO is committed to safeguarding the rights of its program beneficiaries, children, girls and women and all GREDO staffs/consultants and contractors have the primary responsibility in protecting those most vulnerable and at risk.

Core Values:

• Integrity
• Commitment 
• Respect,
• Voluntarism
• Neutrality

1. Requirements (Qualification, Skills and Experience).

Assessment team should possess the following experiences and qualifications.

• Advanced degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Governance, or a related field.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of progressive experience in governance, community development, resilience, or related programming, preferably in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
• Demonstrated experience in documenting programme learning, including best practices, lessons learned, and adaptive learning processes.
• Proven track record in project management, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and high-quality report writing for donor-funded programmes.
• Strong analytical and research writing skills, with experience producing case studies, success stories, policy briefs, learning products, and multimedia content (e.g., videos), and the ability to present complex information in a clear and accessible manner.
• Excellent qualitative research and facilitation skills, including stakeholder engagement at community and governance levels.
• Familiarity with the Somalia context, particularly community-based programming, governance structures, and resilience interventions.
• Experience working with NGOs and donor-funded projects, including compliance with donor reporting requirements.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English; knowledge of the Somali language is a strong asset.

Skills Required

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