Consultancy Services for the External Midline Evaluation of the Syria Community Consortium (SCC) Programme RFP-SYR-006941

Organization: Danish Refugee Council Closing date: 26 Aug 2026 1.Introduction The Syria Community Consortium (SCC) consists of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the International Medical Corps (IMC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Oxfam, four leading INGOs present in Syria for over a decade. The SCC members have engaged in early recovery programming for a number of years in various capacities and have established the SCC to build on those capacities and leverage the complementary technical expertise of the different organizations. In its second year, the SCC Programme has made significant progress in operationalizing the area-based resilience model in both Aleppo and Rural Damascus. The programme brings together nexus early recovery efforts to strengthen the resilience of conflict-affected communities through coordinated, community-driven, and adaptive interventions. This tender requests proposals from consultants/firms to conduct a midline evaluation of the programme at year two of a four-year programme. Context: The SCC operates in Aleppo and Rural Damascus, where conflict‐related damage, weakened public services, economic decline, and repeated population movements continue to shape household vulnerability and community resilience. These dynamics directly inform SCC’s area‐based approach and the design of interventions across its resilience pathways. Across both locations, basic services remain severely overstretched, particularly in education, water and sanitation, shelter, and electricity. Years of damaged infrastructure, under‐resourced public institutions, and rising operational demands—driven by large numbers of returnees—limit communities’ ability to meet essential needs without external support. Water scarcity is especially acute in Rural Damascus, with prolonged drought, receding water sources, and collapsing distribution networks affecting household access and increasing dependence on costly alternatives. Similarly, widespread housing destruction and soaring prices of construction materials continue to prevent vulnerable families from rehabilitating damaged homes, reinforcing the need for SCC’s targeted shelter and WASH interventions. Health services face similar constraints, public health facilities in SCC areas remain damaged and under-resourced, with shortages of qualified health workers, essential supplies and equipment, and weakened referral and disease surveillance systems. Prolonged crisis, displacement, and return have also elevated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs among returnees and host communities alike, underscoring the relevance of SCC’s health facility rehabilitation, community health, and MHPSS capacity-building interventions under Pathway 4. Protection and legal challenges remain central constraints to community well‐being. In both Aleppo and Rural Damascus, fluid administrative procedures, partially functioning civil registry offices, and barriers to accessing courts impede individuals’ ability to secure civil documentation, resolve housing, land, and property (HLP) issues, and regularize life events occurring during displacement. Under SCC, ICLA teams have adapted by continuously updating legal awareness materials, strengthening coordination with authorities, and introducing legal representation services to support participants with complex cases. Livelihoods and food security remain highly volatile. Economic contraction, rising prices, and reduced access to agricultural inputs have strained production and household income. The ongoing drought significantly reduced grazing and crop residues, negatively impacting breeders and farmers. In Aleppo, the rapid arrival of returnee households has sharply increased demand for employment support, business recovery services, and agricultural and food production assistance. Many returnees bring professional skills but face structural obstacles to reintegration into local markets and existing social networks and safety nets, heightening the relevance of SCC’s economic recovery interventions. At the neighbourhood level, SCC operational areas (As‐Sukkari, Bustan al‐Qasr, Kallaseh, Hosh Nasri (Duma), and Nashabiyeh) continue to experience daily service deficits. These include intermittent water supply, degraded sewage networks, insufficient solid waste management, overcrowded classrooms, and unreliable electricity. Economic instability and the removal of key government subsidies—particularly for fuel and electricity—have further increased household expenditures and reduced coping capacity, especially among returnees and the most vulnerable. Within this environment, the SCC programme plays a critical role in stabilizing essential services, supporting early recovery, and strengthening resilience capacities. By integrating interventions across legal assistance, livelihoods, agriculture, education, shelter, and WASH, the consortium seeks to address interconnected drivers of vulnerability and promote more inclusive, functional, and self‐reliant communities in Aleppo and Rural Damascus. Relevant Sectors: Economic Recovery, Market Systems Development, Education, Protection, Legal Services, WASH, Shelter, Health, MHPSS. 2. Purpose of the Consultancy The Danish Refugee Council based in Syria seeks proposals from a consultant to conduct an external midline evaluation for the Syria Community Consortium, with the primary goal of gathering evidence to evaluate the programme and provide tangible recommendations for improvement. The evaluation’s overall objective is to ensure that the interventions implemented in the programme align with the context and have led to satisfactory programme performance while contributing to its main objective. The evaluation's scope will be determined based on the OECD-DAC criteria, which include Relevance, Effectiveness, Coherence, Impact, Efficiency, and Sustainability. In addition to assessing programme performance, the evaluation will also focus to capture two key aspects of the consortium, including: • An analysis of how returnee and host community populations have experienced reintegration in SCC programme areas, to what extent SCC has impacted this experience, and how reintegration has impacted the social, political, and economic statuses of these communities. • An analysis of the Area-Based Approach (ABA) integrated approach to humanitarian intervention and resilience programming. 3. Background The SCC (DRC, IMC, NRC, Oxfam) has engaged in early recovery programming for a number of years in various capacities and have established the SCC to build on those capacities and leverage the complementary technical expertise of the different organizations. DRC Syria SCC’s financial inclusion initiatives serve as an entry point for resilience-building within an area-based approach model. This model then layers on interventions and sequenced programming to reflect the diverse starting points of individuals and households and local institutions. This approach ensures that communities are first supported to stabilize their situation, before progressively enhancing their access to income, resources, and essential basic services, as well as advocating towards their duty bearers. Alongside this initial entry point, The SCC’s Community Engagement pathway strengthens the protection environment as a key resilience pillar. This builds social systems and community structures that help people manage risks, resolve issues, access services, and facilitate the peaceful and sustainable re-integration of returnees into community life. In its second year, the SCC Programme has made significant progress in operationalizing the area-based resilience model in both Aleppo and Rural Damascus. The programme brings together nexus early recovery efforts to strengthen the resilience of conflict-affected communities through coordinated, community-driven, and adaptive interventions. The SCC is organised around five interconnected pathways designed to improve household and community resilience through livelihoods, services, markets, and protection stabilisation efforts. Pathway Purpose Main Components Pathway 1: Food Security & Climate-Sensitive Production Improve food security, agricultural productivity, and climate resilience among farming households • Farmer Field Schools (FFS) • Climate-smart agriculture training • Agricultural inputs (tools, seeds, equipment) • Agricultural extension services • Food production and processing support • Farmer associations and governance strengthening • Climate resilience assessments • Rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure • Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) to return contaminated agricultural land to productive use • Community awareness on food and agricultural systems Pathway 2: Household Income & Financial Services Increase household income, employment, self-employment, and economic self-reliance • Business management training • Micro- and small-enterprise (MSE) support • In-kind business grants/support • Vocational and technical training • Employment placement and employment services • Private sector engagement and partnerships • Skills development • Financial and business development support services Pathway 3: Functioning Markets (Market Systems Strengthening) Address systemic constraints in market systems so that households and businesses have better access to goods, services, employment opportunities, and economic actors • Market systems assessments and analysis • Rehabilitation of productive and market infrastructure • Strengthening market actors and value chains • Technical support to market actors • Financial support mechanisms • Improving access to services, inputs, and employment • Linking Pathways 1 and 2 with wider market opportunities and systems-level change Pathway 4: Basic Services Improve access to and quality of essential services that support wellbeing and resilience Shelter • Rehabilitation of Partially Damaged Housing Units (PDHUs) • Solar streetlights and community safety infrastructure WASH • Water network rehabilitation • Sanitation network rehabilitation • Hygiene promotion and awareness • WASH facility rehabilitation in schools and health centres Education • School rehabilitation • Creating Welcoming Schools programming • Non-formal education • Safe and child-friendly learning environments Health & MHPSS • Health facility rehabilitation • Mobile and facility-based health services • Community health committees • Community-based disease surveillance systems • Health information systems • Capacity building of health and MHPSS responders Pathway 5: Enabling Community Environment (Protection & Social Cohesion) Strengthen protection systems, social cohesion, community participation, legal services, and self-protection capacities Community Governance & Participation • Local Community Committees (LCCs) and community governance structures • Community sensitisation and engagement • Community-led approaches and decision-making support Social Cohesion • Community-led initiatives • Social cohesion events and activities • Social enterprises promoting both economic gains and cohesion outcomes Protection Services • Service mapping • Referral pathways • Case management • Individual Protection Assistance (IPA) • Community protection programming Legal Assistance (ICLA) • Information sessions • Legal counselling • Housing, Land and Property (HLP) support • Civil documentation support • Community dispute resolution support Self-Protection & Resilience • Building community self-protection capacity • Supporting communities affected by displacement, return, and population movement • Improving knowledge of rights, services, and participation mechanisms In addition, please find below some publicly available documents providing more context for the SCC. • SCC Drought Assessment This was conducted with farmers within our area of intervention so it may help with contextual understanding of the area, but interviews were not necessarily conducted with participants of the SCC Farmer Field Schools. • Inclusive Economic Recovery in Aleppo • Education at the Heart of Syria’s Recovery 4. Objectives of the Consultancy The Danish Refugee Council, Syria seeks proposals from a consultant or consultancy firm for a midline evaluation of the Syria Community Consortium (SCC). The main purpose of the evaluation is to assess SCC's progress at the midpoint of the project, and to what extent the successes and challenges can be attributed to the area-based response methodology. The evaluation must generate actionable learning for program adaptation, donor engagement, and future resilience programming in Syria. The specific objectives of the evaluation include: • Midline programmatic evaluation and analysis using OECD-DAC criteria for evaluation. This may include conducting midline MEAL activities. The division of labour between the external evaluation and partner-led midline measurement of logical framework indicators will be agreed at inception; where indicators have defined partner measurement methods, the consultant is expected to triangulate and validate partner-collected data rather than re-collect it. The consultant will develop a detailed evaluation matrix, including evaluation questions, data sources, and analytical methods, as part of the Inception Report for approval by the Evaluation Committee Analyse the Area-Based Approach (ABA) methodology that the SCC currently implements and its impacts on the impacted population. • Understanding of Reintegration and Mixed Migration Dynamics in SCC areas: An analysis of how returnee and host community populations have experienced reintegration in SCC programme areas, to what extent SCC has impacted this experience, and how reintegration has impacted the social, political, and economic statuses of these communities? Late submissions will not be considered. 5. Scope of Work and Methodology The evaluation should adopt a comprehensive methodology to analyse the SCC and its ABA approaches in both locations (urban Aleppo and the rural Nashabiyeh and Hosh Nasri (in Rural Damascus), as well as answer the above question around reintegration. This should be achieved through a thorough literature review of both SCC internal documents and external sources, primary data collection (surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, participants, duty-bearers, and others as relevant), integrating displacement status and GEDSI (Gender, Age, Disability, and Social Inclusion) as a lens for analysis. Other data collection methods and innovative methodologies are welcome in the response to the RFP (Request for Proposal) but must stay within the scope of the objectives above. Consultants may propose quasi-experimental or contribution-analysis approaches where feasible. Existing data to which consultants will have access includes pathway-specific MEAL baseline and midline data. In the design, resilience composite scores have been defined using resilience literature as well as technical team input to contextualise indicators to Syria. In addition to the quantitative surveys, qualitative data includes: • Longitudinal Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), conducted across all programme locations, to monitor changes in community perceptions of resilience over the four-year programme cycle; • Photovoice data, a participatory methodology through which community members use photographs to document and reflect on their own experiences of change; • Financial and market studies, including a baseline analysis of financial services markets across Syria, which provides a foundation for assessing market systems change in Years 3–4. • Other assessments commissioned by the SCC. The evaluation should follow the principles and evaluation criteria of OECD-DAC. The methodology is subject to approval by the Evaluation Committee (delivered to the committee in the Inception Report) – and critically – should leverage the existing monitoring and evaluation data collected by the SCC programme. Primary data collection should take place in person, where the security context allows. DRC encourages creative and participatory data collection methods to gather and document the best possible evidence from the programme. The sampling should be inclusive and representative, reflecting diversity and inclusion. Key stakeholders and duty bearers may include (but may not be limited to): • Programme participants • Partner Organisations (DRC, NRC, Oxfam, IMC, SSSD) • Suppliers • Local authorities • Donor entities (particularly those who may have a potential to fund ABA or consortium activities) • Government officials • Governance bodies (DAWSSA, etc.) • Coordination bodies • Organisations conducting similar activities • Communities living in or near SCC intervention locations. All data collection must meet ethical research standards, including informed consent, confidentiality, and protection of personal and health-related data. Where patients or MHPSS service users are respondents, no clinical or identifiable patient information may be collected; enumerators must be briefed on psychological first aid, and a distress protocol with functioning referral pathways must be in place. The Inception Report should describe how these safeguards will be operationalized. 6. Deliverables The Consultant will submit the following deliverables as mentioned below. Expected deliverables Indicative description tasks Expected timeframe Inception Report/Methodology • The inception report will be submitted to DRC after signing the contract with a clear evaluation methodology, sampling strategy, timeline and data collection tools. The inception report will need to be endorsed by DRC before data collection starts. Inception report should include a data collection plan to ensure timeline and methodology can be facilitated and supported by SCC. 10 working days. Surveys for Data Collection • Submission of data collection tools for review and alignment for SCC logical framework. • Note that raw data should be delivered to the SCC at the end of the evaluation and will remain under the ownership of the SCC. • Note that data collection can drafting of the evaluation report may take place concurrently if necessary. 1 week (approximately) Evaluation Report Draft • Consultant/Firm will prepare the first draft of evaluation report in English and will share it with DRC after 4 weeks of inception report approval (between 30 to 35 pages excluding annexes, including executive summary). Feedback from DRC will be provided within one week after the submission of the draft report. Minimum guidelines on the evaluation report: • The report should systematically answer the key questions posed; • It should fairly and clearly represent the views of the different actors/stakeholders; • It should give the conclusions of the evaluator in a way that is clear and substantiated by the collected evidence. 4 weeks Debriefing Meeting • A remote or in-person debrief meeting/workshop will be conducted by the selected firm or consultant to present the draft findings to the Evaluation Committee. Within 2 weeks of draft evaluation report Final Midline Evaluation Report • A final draft of the evaluation report will be shared after the debriefing meeting with DRC and partner staff. It will include changes/modifications, agreed between DRC and the consultant/firm. 1 week after debriefing meeting Annexes to Final Midline Evaluation • Alongside the final Midline Evaluation Report, the firm/consultant will provide: A Lessons Learned Brief on key findings from the report. The topic will be chosen in collaboration between the Consultant and the SCC. Presentation slides from the final Midline Evaluation Presentation. Raw data that was collected by the Consultant. This raw data is to be owned by SCC. Submitted with the Final Midline Evaluation The Consultant will provide the documentation by email. 7. Duration, timeline and Payment The total expected duration to complete the assignment will be no more than 50 days. The consultant shall be prepared to complete the assignment no later than 15 December 2026. Estimated start date of consultancy: 28 September 2026 Payment Payments are subject to satisfactory quality validation by DRC teams, according to the following schedule: 30% at the validation of the inception report. 30% at the validation of the draft report. 40% at the validation of the final report. 8. Proposed composition of team The consultancy may propose their own team structure, however bids with existing personnel inside Syria as well as, critically, linkages to data collection teams within Syria will be prioritised. A structure is recommended but not limited to: • Team Lead • Research & Quality Lead • Field Coordinator (leading enumerators) • Data Collection Team/Enumerators 9. Eligibility, qualifications, and experience required Essential: • The consultancy is open to firms. The research team’s managers should have an advanced degree (Master's or Ph.D.) in development studies or similar schooling, with expertise in mixed-methods research. • At least five years of experience conducting primary data collection and managing research projects, with at least three years of these being within the field of development, quasi-experimental research design and implementation, or similar. • Proven experience in designing and leading research on social dynamics. • Proven understanding of the Syrian context and experience working in post-conflict contexts, as demonstrated through previous publications, or relevant research experience. • Proven access to relevant stakeholders for securing own data collection activities. • Quantitative research experience and statistical analysis. • Familiarity with humanitarian response and its main sectors of implementation in the region. • Excellent command of spoken and written English. Team composition must include individual(s) with good command of spoken and written Arabic. Desirable: • Previous experience working with the Danish Refugee Council or other members of the Consortium. • Experience working on regional dynamics post-December 2024. • Syria based consultants/research groups/organisations. 10. Technical Supervision The selected consultant will work under the supervision of the Consortium Management Unit (CMU) of the SCC, led by the Consortium MEAL Manager. 11. Location and Support The Evaluation will take place in-person, with visits to both Country Offices located in Damascus, field locations in Rural Damascus in Aleppo, and area offices in both Aleppo and Rural Damascus. SCC and partner organisations commit to support the consultant with access to communities, partner organisations, programme participants, local authorities, suppliers, and key stakeholders. The firm/consultant is responsible ultimately for connections to other organisations while the SCC will do its best to connect the firm/consultant through the appropriate channels. 12. Travel The consultant is expected to have a presence in the selected locations during the data collection phase in order to monitor data collection activities. The consultant will be, therefore, expected to arrange transportation, accommodation, insurance, and food and to make adequate provision for related expenses in the financial proposal. 13. Submission Process Proposals should be submitted to tender.syr@drc.ngo. In your application, please submit your proposal containing the following information: • A technical proposal proposed methodology and workplan • A detailed Financial Proposal. • CVs of proposed key team members. • (1) example of a previous evaluation report. • References (max 2) from previous assignments. Qualified bids are sought from bidders, with the following specific conditions: The proposed price must be all-inclusive, covering transportation, accommodation, taxes, and any other ancillary costs associated with the assignment. Communication and Questions: For queries on this RFP, please contact the Procurement Focal Point, syr-procurement@drc.ngo 14. Evaluation of Bids Please refer to the RFP Invitation Letter Section II. Selection And Award Criteria. How to apply For queries on this RFP, please contact the Procurement Focal Point, syr-procurement@drc.ngo • RFP Published August 12, 2026 • Closing Date and Time for Receipt of Bids/Proposals 26 August 2026, 10:00 AM, UTC 26 August 2026, 13:00 PM, Syria (UTC +3) • Tender Opening Date and time 26 August 2026, 12:00 AM, UTC 26 August 2026, 15:00 PM, Syria (UTC +3) • Tender Email Address tender.syr@drc.ngo