Consultancy – Addressing the Intersection of Climate, Conflict and Gender Equality in the Turkana-Omo Borderlands (Project Number: 2878-03/2023) Consultancy

International Alert (Kenya and Horn of Africa) in partnership with Turkana Pastoralists Development Organization (TUPADO) and the Ethiopian Institute of Peace in Ethiopia (EIP) is implementing the project “Addressing the intersection of climate, conflict and gender equality in the Turkana-Omo borderlands.” The project funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) began implementation in August 2024 and will end in March 2027.

The project seeks to strengthen gender-inclusive local institutions and governance mechanisms capable of effectively managing transboundary conflicts linked to climate risks. It does this through a combination of community engagement, institutional strengthening, women’s leadership promotion, cross-border dialogue, and policy influencing. These integrated approaches are designed to strengthen trust, foster collaboration across borders, enhance local ownership of conflict management processes, and support evidence-based policy influence at county, national, and regional levels.

Context and Background

General Background
In the Horn of Africa, protracted conflicts over natural resources, especially water and pasture
in the dryland borderlands are exacerbated by climate shocks disproportionately affecting the
politically and economically marginalised pastoralist communities. The Turkana-Omo
transboundary area between northwestern Kenya (Turkana County) and southern Ethiopia
(South Omo zone) are characterized by recurrent drought and floods, weak governance
systems, and deep-seated gender inequalities which drive escalating resource-based
tensions among the Turkana, Dassanech and Nyangatom communities.

Declining fish stocks, combined with rising lake levels that displace landing sites and
communities intensify competition for water and fisheries. Cross-border cattle raiding has
become increasingly commercialised and violent, and authorities are often unable to halt
attacks or recover stolen livestock. These overlapping pressures erode livelihoods, food
security and social cohesion in the borderlands.

Conflict and climate impacts are deeply gendered. Women face heightened vulnerability
during raids and displacement, bear the burden of rebuilding homesteads, and turn to diverse
income generating activities after livestock losses. Harmful masculinities link cattle raiding to
rites of passage, manhood and bride price obligations. Despite their frontline roles, women
are systematically excluded from male-dominated peacebuilding and climate adaptation
mechanisms. The project operates in two transboundary corridors linking these communities,
seeking to address the interconnected drivers of conflict, climate vulnerability and gender
inequality.

Background to the Project
International Alert in partnership with Turkana Pastoralists Development Organization (TUPADO) and the Ethiopian Institute of Peace in Ethiopia (EIP) is implementing the project “Addressing the intersection of climate, conflict and gender equality in the Turkana-Omo borderlands.” The project funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) began implementation in August 2024 and will end in March 2027.
The project seeks to strengthen gender-inclusive local institutions and governance mechanisms capable of effectively managing transboundary conflicts linked to climate risks. It does this through a combination of community engagement, institutional strengthening, women’s leadership promotion, cross-border dialogue, and policy influencing. These integrated approaches are designed to strengthen trust, foster collaboration across borders, enhance local ownership of conflict management processes, and support evidence-based policy influence at county, national, and regional levels.

The overall goal of the intervention is to reduce conflicts exacerbated by climate change and climatic shocks in the borderlands of the Horn of Africa through gender-responsive peacebuilding.
The intended outcome is “Strengthened gender-inclusive formal and non-formal structures and actions to effectively manage transboundary conflict linked to climate risks affecting communities in the Omo-Turkana border area of Kenya and Ethiopia”
To achieve this outcome, the intervention is structured around four output areas:

• Output 1 – Women, youth and other vulnerable groups are empowered to meaningfully participate in cross-border conflict management and climate adaptation formal and informal institutions
• Output 2 – Well coordinated Communities and local institutions structures established and capacities to manage conflict issues driven by climate change enhanced
• Output 3 – Local governance actors (formal and informal) empowered and coordinated to manage transboundary conflict and climatic shocks in a gender sensitive way
• Output 4 – Policymakers at the national and regional level (including government, multilaterals, and civil society) are integrating learning on the intersection of conflict, gender equality and climate action into policies and programmes.
Implementation is guided by several cross-cutting themes, namely gender equality and women’s empowerment, youth inclusion, conflict sensitivity, climate adaptation and resilience, social inclusion, and cross-border cooperation.

Evaluation Purpose and Objectives

Purpose of the Final Evaluation
The purpose of this Final Evaluation is to provide an independent and evidence-based assessment of the project’s achievements and contribution to strengthening climate-resilient and gender-responsive peacebuilding systems in the Kenya-Ethiopia borderlands. The evaluation will support accountability to stakeholders and document challenges and lessons learned during implementation. It will provide practical recommendations to inform future programming at the intersection of climate change, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and gender equality.

Objectives of the Final Evaluation
1.Assess the effectiveness of project interventions in achieving intended outcomes and contributing to immediate impacts at community, institutional, and policy levels.
2. Evaluate the coherence of project interventions with existing policies, institutions, and complementary initiatives operating at local, national, and regional levels.
3. Assess the sustainability of capacities, institutions, partnerships, and outcomes supported by the project.
4. Generate lessons learned, good practices, and provide actionable recommendations for future gender-responsive, climate-security and peacebuilding programming.

Intended Users and Use of the Evaluation
The primary users of the evaluation findings will be the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), International Alert, the Turkana Pastoralists Development Organization (TUPADO), and the Ethiopian Institute of Peace (EIP).

The evaluation findings will be used to assess project performance, support accountability requirements, strengthen organizational learning, and inform future programming on climate change, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and gender equality.
Secondary users of the evaluation findings will include county and regional government authorities in Kenya and Ethiopia, relevant national government institutions, IGAD and other regional actors, community peace and natural resource governance structures, climate adaptation actors, civil society organizations, development partners, and practitioners working on climate security, peacebuilding, governance, and gender equality. The findings will provide evidence and lessons learned to support policy dialogue, programme design, and future interventions in the Turkana-Omo borderlands and similar contexts.

Scope of the Evaluation
The evaluation will cover all project components and the entire project implementation period from August 2024 to end of data collection. The evaluation will be undertaken remotely and in Kenya and Ethiopia, covering selected project intervention sites within the Turkana-Dassanech and Nyangatom-Turkana corridors. The site selection criteria should be guided by the need to ensure balanced representation across the project intervention locations. The sample should include sites from both Kenya and Ethiopia; reflect a range of project interventions and strategic result areas; capture the perspectives of diverse stakeholder groups, including women, youth, community structures, government institutions and CSO partners; and consider contextual factors such as security, accessibility, logistical feasibility. The proposed site selection should be justified in the evaluator’s inception report.
The evaluation shall assess progress towards the project’s intended outcome and all outputs and examine the continued validity of the project’s Theory of Change and underlying assumptions. It will assess the project’s contribution to observed changes in institutions, relationships, capacities and practices related to climate-sensitive peacebuilding, natural resource governance and gender inclusion.

Particular attention will be paid to the integration of gender equality and social inclusion, climate adaptation, conflict sensitivity, governance strengthening and cross-border cooperation across all intervention areas.
The evaluation will assess the project against the OECD-DAC criteria of effectiveness, coherence and sustainability. It will also examine intended and unintended outcomes, identify factors that facilitated or hindered achievement of outcomes, and document lessons learned and good practices to inform future programming.
The evaluation must apply and meet standards outlined in:

ADA Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluations
International Alert conflict sensitive and gender sensitive data collection guidelines (pgs. 31-32)
Key Evaluation Questions
For all of the following questions, the evaluation should explicitly consider facilitating and hindering factors, and differentiate its analysis for gender, age group and vulnerability.

Effectiveness
1. To what extent, and how, did the project achieve its intended outputs and outcome, particularly in empowering women and youth to meaningfully participate in cross-border conflict management and in strengthening gender-inclusive local institutions to manage transboundary climate-related conflict?
2. To what extent, and how, have policymakers at local, national, and regional levels integrated learnings from the project on the conflict–gender–climate nexus into their policies, programmes, and cross-border coordination mechanisms?
3. What unintended changes occurred among women, youth, community structures and government actors and other stakeholders as a result of the intervention?
4. Which strategies and approaches were most effective in generating positive outcomes?

Coherence
5. How was the project aligned with relevant policies, strategies, and interventions related to peacebuilding (such as the Women, Peace and Security agenda), climate adaptation, natural resource management, and gender equality and women’s empowerment at local, national, and regional levels?
6. How did the project complement, coordinate with and add value to the work of governments, civil society organisations, local women’s organisations, development partners, and regional institutions operating in the target areas, and how were its different components mutually reinforcing in contributing to outcomes?
7. How effective were the coordination, collaboration and partnership arrangements among International Alert, TUPADO, EIP, government institutions, community structures, and other stakeholders, such as local women’s organisations, in supporting the achievement of project outcomes?

Sustainability
8. How are the capacities, ownership, and commitments among local institutions, governance structures, and community mechanisms to continue supporting climate-sensitive and gender-responsive peacebuilding initiatives likely to be sustained beyond the project period?
9. Which project approaches, structures or practices show the greatest potential for continuation, replication or scale-up, and why?
10. What financial, institutional, political, and socio-cultural factors are likely to support or undermine the sustainability of the project’s outputs and outcomes?
11. To what extent have religious leaders, elders and other traditional or community leaders developed sustained ownership of and commitment to gender equality and women’s meaningful participation, and demonstrated leadership in promoting these principles within community peacebuilding, natural resource governance and climate adaptation measures? What evidence is there that this commitment and leadership are likely to continue beyond project support?

Design and Approach / Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation shall be conducted in a gender-responsive, conflict-sensitive, and participatory manner and shall adhere to the principles of Do No Harm, human rights-based approaches, standards of inclusion, informed consent, and confidentiality. The evaluators shall ensure that all data collection and engagement processes respect the dignity, rights, safety, and privacy of participants, particularly women, youth, and other potentially vulnerable groups. Throughout the evaluation process, appropriate measures shall be taken to minimize risks to participants and to ensure that the evaluation does not inadvertently exacerbate existing tensions, inequalities, or vulnerabilities.

Required Data Collection Methods
• Document review of relevant project documents, including proposal, 3 annual progress reports, monitoring data (indicator performance tracking table – IPTT and outcome harvesting logbook), 1 baseline survey report, 2 learning papers, 1 policy brief, impact stories videos, context data and publicly available analyses on Turkana-Omo borderlands.
• Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with project staff, implementing partners, and other relevant stakeholders
• Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and interviews with project participants and community members.

Additional participatory methods such as Most Significant Change (MSC), Outcome Harvesting may be used.
An Evaluation Matrix shall be developed during the inception phase, including clear indicators for each evaluation question. A Results Assessment Form (RAF) (See Annex 9 in the ADA Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluations) shall also be completed and submitted together with the final evaluation report.

The evaluation must comply with the ADA Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluations and the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria. ADA’s cross-cutting issues (environment and climate change, and gender equality) shall be fully integrated into the evaluation design and methodology.
All evaluators must have a significant contribution in all phases of the assignment and be enrolled directly in data collection, analysis and report writing.

Process and Evaluation Phases
The evaluation consists of three phases:

Inception Phase
This phase shall begin with a briefing meeting (kick-off meeting) between the evaluators, International Alert, local implementing partners, and ADA. During this phase, the evaluators shall:
• Review all relevant project documentation
• Analyse the intervention logic and theory of change
• Conduct preliminary interviews with selected key stakeholders
• Refine the methodology and sampling approach
• Define the exact locations and project participants for data collection
• Prepare the Evaluation Matrix and data collection tools
• Submit the Inception report

The Inception report shall clearly describe the evaluation design, methodology, workplan, and approach to answering each evaluation question. It must follow the structure and content outlined in Annex 5 “Quality Checklist for Inception Report” in the ADA Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluations.
The methodology will be finalised only after written approval of the Inception report by International Alert and ADA.

Inquiry Phase
Following approval of the Inception Report by International Alert and ADA, the evaluators shall undertake field visits to project locations in Kibish and Todonyang (Turkana) and Nyangatom and Dassanech woredas (Ethiopia) to undertake data collection with project participants. Security situation permitting, at least 2 locations on either side of the border shall be visited. If the security situation or other factors do not allow field visits, an alternative data collection approach must be agreed upon, such as remote interviews via phone or online.
Key informant interviews shall be undertaken with relevant state and non-state actors in Lodwar, Turkana County and Nairobi in Kenya, and South Omo zone and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
Following the data collection, the evaluator shall present preliminary findings and discuss potential data gaps with International Alert and ADA.

Synthesis Phase
This phase includes:
• final data analysis and triangulation
• drafting the evaluation report
• formulation of findings, conclusions, and recommendations
• submission of the Results Assessment Form (RAF)
The findings must be clearly linked to evidence from the inception and inquiry phases and evaluation questions. Conclusions and recommendations must be practical, clearly formulated, and logically derived from the findings.
The final report must follow the structure and content outlined in the Quality Checklist for evaluation reports in the ADA Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluations (Annex 6 of the Guidelines). The synthesis phase concludes with International Alert’s and ADA’s written approval of the final evaluation report.

Please note that the above are just some of the requirements for this consultancy. For the full requirements, please click here to view the TOR

How to apply
If you are interested in the assignment, please submit a technical and financial offer (for the detailed requirements, see Terms of Reference (TOR) through the link provided above to [email protected]

Subject line: 2878-03/2023: Kenya-Ethiopia nexus project final evaluation.

Questions can be sent to [email protected] until 7 September 2026. The compiled Questions and Answers will be shared with all interested bidders.

International Alert prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from underrepresented people including women, people from the Global South, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, and other historically marginalised people.

While International Alert will endeavour to contact all applicants within a reasonable time, this may not always be possible due to limited resources. Therefore, if you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, you can assume that your application has, on this occasion, been unsuccessful.

All applicants must have the existing right to work in the regions where this role is advertised.

Tagged as: Ethiopia, International Alert, Kenya