RFP #EAI- NG21-DC-2024-06
Background information
Equal Access International (EAI), a Washington, DC based non-profit invites qualified individuals or firms to submit a proposal to conduct an endline evaluation of the Securing Nigerian Communities (SNC) project to assess the final results and impacts of EAI’s interventions under the program and help determine if desired outcomes were achieved. The evaluation will document key intended and unintended outcomes that emerged as a result of program interventions and distill lessons learned that can inform future work in related program areas and use results to make decisions on scaling approaches in other areas funding permitting.
Nigeria continues to face persistent insecurity and unrest that affects everyone in the country, leading to tensions between ethnic, regional, and religious groups. As a result, people have lost faith in the ability of government security forces to provide adequate protection. Clashes in the country are often fueled by disinformation, resulting in further social fragmentation and mistrust.
In response to these challenges, Equal Access International (EAI) is implementing the SNC project since 2020 to contribute to reversing these trends by training and creating opportunities for women and youth to contribute to peace and security. EAI partnered with local stakeholders to create 12 tailored Local Action Plans (LAPs) under United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, addressing domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence, and promoting women's roles in peacebuilding and governance. EAI and local partner CLEEN Foundation strengthened community-level early warning and early response (EWER) mechanisms by training members of the Civilian Security Platforms (CSPs) and Community Accountability Forums (CAFs). The project trained a total of 1,229 community leaders (779 women and 450 youth) on EWER, trauma, non-violent conflict resolution, inclusive security practices, and social cohesion. EAI’s programs team also produced radio programming on EWER, trauma, non-violent conflict resolution, inclusive security practices, and social cohesion.
The project is currently working to strengthen women’s and youth’s skills to advocate for the implementation of the LAPs and institutionalize the CSPs and CAFs to generate more efficient EWER systems. The SNC project is also building on existing efforts to increase awareness of community-based trauma healing and response resources and destigmatize trauma in communities.
Finally, as part of our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning strategy, EAI works in partnership with the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding and Neem Foundation to use Most Significant Change (MSC) to gauge changes and impact of the project at the community level around non-violent conflict resolution, trust and relationship building, and trauma resilience.
