TERMS OF REFERENCE – NATIONAL YOUTH FORUM FOR PEACE
Closing
date: March 31, 2021
Background
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to shift the mindsets that prioritize militarized approaches over peaceful and people-centered solutions, promotes sustainable economic systems that benefit everyone, rather than those that favor the wealthy and exacerbate inequality and environmental crises and challenges forced displacement and champions the dignity and rights of all people on the move.
With a vision of A just, peaceful, and sustainable world free of violence, inequality, and oppression and a mission Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light of each person, AFSC works with communities and partners worldwide to challenge unjust systems and promote lasting peace. As such AFSC respects the equality, worth, and dignity of all people and regard no one as her enemy, seek right relationship with all life on a sustainable Earth, accepts that AFSC’s understanding of truth is incomplete and seek ever deeper insights from lived experiences, AFSC trusts the Spirit to guide discernment of her collective actions. AFSC asserts the transforming power of love and active nonviolence as a force for justice and reconciliation.Somali
Program
AFSC believes that
young people can positively transform the prevailing context of violent
conflicts in Somalia into a more secure, productive, and just places.
Consequently, AFSC is implementing a Peace-building program in Somalia
targeting the youth, with the approach of empowering them with peacebuilding,
leadership, advocacy, and livelihood skills. The livelihood skills are meant to
empower them to earn incomes and avoid the vulnerability of recruitment by
violent militia groups. The peacebuilding and leadership skills are to empower
them to take leading roles in peace-building activities in their localities. We
work with five (5) local partners in five areas of South-Central Somalia and in
Dadaab refugee camp across the border in Kenya. The Dadaab Refugee camp hosts
80% of Somalia refugees in addition to other nationalities. AFSC intends to
hold a youth forum which will give the youth an opportunity to share their
experiences in peace building initiatives’ come up with a structured way of
organizing themselves into youth platforms aimed at influencing change at the
community level, generate advocacy issues that need attention and come up with
four months workplans to execute their activities. AFSC considers Empowering youth
with group formation dynamics and advocacy skills as a key component in peace
program delivery.
The forum will be held
in Mogadishu and Dadaab refugee camps.
The
objectives of the consultancy are as follows:
i) To enhance youth
skills in group formation and generation of advocacy issues related to peace
and peaceful co-existence within the project target areas. The consultant is
expected to deliver a tailor-made program, coordinate, and facilitate a
four-day forum targeting 30 Somalia youth from four target project areas.
ii) Youth to share
experiences in enhancing peace and peaceful co-existence from their localities.
The consultant is expected to facilitate a safe process of youth sharing their
experiences in peace building and peaceful co-existence to enhance generation
of useful lessons learnt in the process and support replication by other youth.
iii) To explain and
discuss the current trends in youth involvement in peace building considering
the Somalia context.
iv) To evaluate
participants understanding of youth involvement in peace building and advocacy
for peaceful co-existence in Somalia. At the end of four days the consultant is
expected to use current tools of evaluation methods that would bring out the
participants understanding of this component and provide tools for conducting
advocacy at grassroot and regional state levels.
v) To support youth,
operationalize the plans developed; The consultant is also expected to develop
a package of reference materials (handouts) for future reference during
implementation.
The
following should be the deliverable.
a) Enable youth to
learn, be confident and competent to use the skills and knowledge acquired
during the forum.
b) Enable youth to
understand basic group dynamics and advocacy skills that can be applied in
their daily implementation of advocacy and peace building activities.
c) Engage youth on
practical generation of advocacy issues and strategies on how to implement the
issues as well as support them in identifying those issues that may need escalation
to a higher level including national and African regional level.
d) Engage the youth in
simulating relevant and realistic challenges for practicing and applying the
knowledge gained and possible solutions to the challenges.
e) Provide the youth
with set of relevant reference materials to serve as the youth “Resource
Package”.
The
consultant is expected to come up with the following:**
i) Appropriate
Methodology and program for the execution of the task.
ii) A list of advocacy
issues and the levels at which the advocacy work is supposed to be undertaken.
iii) A training report
that will include recommendations to AFSC
Participants
and forum dates
There will be a total
of 30 participants from the Four partners and four staff members one from each
organization supported by AFSC.
How
to Apply
All interested consultants or consultancy companies are asked to
submit their technical proposal, Assignment delivery plan, Methodology and
financial proposal showing how they wish to carry out the task, as well as the
3 references (one being on the most recent assignment) to below contacts by
close of business Wednesday 31st March 2021.
The Country Representative – Somalia
P.O. Box 66448 – 00800
Nairobi, Kenya
Or email: infoafrica@afsc.org
The AFSC is an Affirmative Action/Equal
Opportunity Employer.
