Terms of Reference – Stakeholders’ Mapping
Women’s Access to Justice in MENA Region
- Background
In partnership with leading civil society organisations and with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Oxfam GB is implementing a three-year project aiming at enhancing women’s access to justice in the Middle East and North Africa region (May 2011 – April 2014). The project is currently implemented in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq.
Oxfam GB proposed a model of change based on building social movements for positive changes at individual, community, institutional and policy levels. In line with Oxfam GB’s corporate ‘one programme’ approach, apart from direct action and capacity building the national level advocacy will take place in all targeted countries together with direct implementation of community-level work. Programmatic approaches are focused on (1) direct work with women on the ground to develop innovative legal service provision models (2) community based work to gain support among different sectors of the society (religious scholars, Islamic NGOs, legislators, families and communities) through dialogue and awareness raising and (3) awareness raising and engagement with legal and judiciary institutions to influence attitudes, practices and polices (4) advocacy, learning, and linking at national and regional levels to influence the reform agenda in favour for women’s access to justice.
The Overall objective of the programme is: To contribute to just outcomes/verdicts for poor women which lead to reduced vulnerability and suffering in the Middle East and North Africa. Specifically, the project purpose is: Improvement in quality of legal services for poor and vulnerable women in the Middle East and North Africa.
The following outcomes are expected to be achieved by the end of the three-year programme:
Outcome 1: More women in target countries able to access legal services
Outcome 2: Community leaders advocate for women’s access to justice in public
Outcome 3: Lawyers syndicates and bar associations increase provision of free legal services for vulnerable women
Outcome 4: Improved attitudes and practices of police and judicial officials towards women’s access to justice in each target country
Outcome 5: CSOs influence policy reforms on women’s access to justice in the Middle East and North Africa
- Objective and scope of work
The principal objective of the assignment is to identify key stakeholders and conduct a stakeholder mapping focusing on regional, national and local stakeholders engaged in judiciary and legal reform in Lebanon, Jordan, and North Iraq (Kurdistan) with primary focus on women’s access to justice.
- Methodology:
The selected consultant is anticipated to be as independent as possible and will work with Oxfam team to refine and agree on the final methodology, but it is expected that the latter will include the below components:
– Literature review
– Field visits to Lebanon (Mount Lebanon), Jordan (Zarqa), and North Iraq – Kurdistan (Shamshamal) including:
o Meetings with partner organisation staff
o Interviews and/or focus group discussions with stakeholders
- Tasks to be performed
The stakeholder mapping will involve the following tasks.
Task 1: Examine relevant available secondary documentation about judiciary and legal reform in Lebanon, Jordan, and North Iraq (Kurdistan) with primary focus on women’s access to justice.
This documentation may include:
- Reports commissioned by the Government
- Press and newspaper articles
- Donor Policy and position papers, web sites or campaign materials
- Other socio-economic assessments and reports for example NGO reports, poverty reports prepared under Poverty Reduction Strategies, UN Human Development reports; studies and reports on reform prepared by international development and financing institutions.
Task 2: Design, plan, and gain agreement for a stakeholder mapping methodology with Oxfam GB Lebanon on:
- List of critical stakeholders related to judiciary and legal reform
- Key issues for stakeholder identification and analysis
- Current levels of engagement judiciary and legal reform
- The most vulnerable women among the poor and potential mechanisms to include their voices and perceptions are heard during the stakeholder analysis, and make sure they are not overlooked
- Civil society representation and participation.
Task 3: Undertake a stakeholder assessment which:
- Identifies primary, secondary and key stakeholders (should be identified significant individuals as well as organisations, institutions; international actors, donors, political actors, public sector agencies, interest groups, NGOs, civil society groups and the people affected by the issue; where:
o primary stakeholders are those ultimately affected by the legal reforms either positively or negatively
o secondary stakeholders are intermediaries in the reform process;
o key stakeholders are those who can significantly influence the judiciary and legal reform and women access to justice , or who are important to the success or failure of project
- Maps the stakeholders, showing their degree of importance and influence (see Illustrative Stakeholder Map below). An analysis identifying key concerns of each stakeholder group will also be highly relevant.
- Identify the current position of the various stakeholders in the reform process: are they champion, floater or blocker? Suggest you adapt the attached stakeholder/power analysis grid I have attached to do this piece of the analysis – also look at other tools in slides. Also important to make clear the need to identify who the key decision-makers are on the reform process and who is influential with them and what their positions are as this will then guide the influencing, negotiation and advocacy strategies (see attached Annex 1).
- Provides clear information on the concerns and interests of each of the key stakeholder/groups.
Task 4: Conduct interviews or focus group discussions with a wide range of potential key players including but not limited:
- Key officials/relevant policy makers involved the judiciary and legal reform and women access to justice
- Advisers to Government engaged in all aspects of the legal reform project
- Donor community involved in the legal reforms
- International and local NGOs with an active interest in the legal reform projects
- Media representatives and journalists as appropriate
- Project beneficiaries and target groups
Task 5: Advise Oxfam GB on:
- The key stakeholders’ mapping and power analysis
- Stakeholders’ concerns, paying particular attention to concerns that may risk the implementation of the project
- Deliverables
The outputs of this consultancy will be:
- Agreed evaluation plan and methodology
- Draft report of the stakeholders’ mapping
- Full final report of approximately 35 pages of publishable quality with a stand-alone executive summary of no more than 4 pages. It will include changes and modifications agreed between Oxfam and the consultant. The report shall systematically answer the key questions asked, fairly and clearly represent views of different actors/ stakeholders, and give the clear conclusions substantiated by the available evidence.
- Timeline
The consultancy is expected to take place between 16 June and 31 July 2014 as per the below timeline:
| Action | By when | Who |
| Submission of applications to Oxfam | 8 June 2014 | Oxfam |
| Review of applications; short-listing; appointment | 13 June 2014 | Oxfam |
| Agreement on methodology | 20 June 2014 | Oxfam and consultant |
| Conducting fieldwork | 20 June to 13 July 2014 | Consultant |
| Submission of first draft report | 21 July 2014 | Consultant |
| Comments on draft | 25 July 2014 | Oxfam and partners |
| Submission of final report | 31 July 2014 | Consultant |
- Governance and management of the evaluation:
- The Consultant will directly report to the Women’s Access to Justice in the MENA Region Programme Manager
- The Consultant will work closely and in consultation with partners’ project teams in each country.
- Skills and Competence:
The consultant undertaking the stakeholder mapping shall have the below skills and competences:
– Previous experience with stakeholder analysis, power mapping, and social analysis;
– Knowledge of issues related to gender equality and women’s rights in the region;
– Excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English; Arabic skills are an asset;
– Ability to write concise, readable and analytical reports and understanding of public communications
– Knowledge of issues related to legal protection and Personal Status and Family laws across the region is an asset.
- Budget
The budget for this task is 15,000 USD including all type of expenses (travel, per-diem, transportation, calls, etc.).
Payment will be done in two instalments: 25% upon contract signature and 75% upon approval of the final report by Oxfam.
- Applications:
Applicants with the experience and skills described above are invited to submit the below:
- A CV;
- A one-page cover letter introducing the applicant(s) experience and how the skills and competencies described above are met, with concrete examples. Please also use this cover letter to indicate applicant’s availability;
- A one-page budget covering all major anticipated costs;
- One example of a previous similar task.
Applications should be submitted to lebanonjobs@oxfam.org.uk by 8 June 2014 with Stakeholders’ Mapping – WAJ in the subject line.
Annex 1 – Stakeholders’ Analysis
This tool can help build a common understanding of stakeholder perspectives and a communications and influencing strategy. The following steps outline the process:
- Bring the project group together, agree any confidentiality required and who/how conversation will be recorded.
- Clarify what success of the project looks like and what your goal is.
- Identify who are the key stakeholders (someone/group who can affect or will be affected by the project).
- Populate the grid below based on their influence and appetite or enthusiasm for the project (there are examples included to demonstrate how this would look).
- Look at the grid and ask questions like “Who do we need to be a ‘champion’?” and “Who do we need to have a greater or lesser influence?”
- Draw arrows on the map to demonstrate where the desired position would be and then identify the priority stakeholders that you would need to influence or ‘move’.
- Taking each stakeholder in turn, identify opportunities to influence, engage and communicate both directly (e.g. management meetings, one to ones) and indirectly (e.g. through PAs, talking with their peers or colleagues). Then plan out how to use these opportunities. Your aim should be to understand what each priority stakeholder thinks about your project and the underlying reasons behind it. Useful questions to answer include “What do they want from the project?”, “What is their motivation?”, “What is the benefit for them?”, “What are their worries and concerns?”, “What do they believe are the key challenges/barriers blockages to the project”, “What would they need to see in order to back the project?”
- Write an action plan dividing up the responsibilities and how you will bring the intelligence together (this should be quick and regular)
Top tips:
- Use the Stakeholder Map as a framework to get new members of the project group up to speed on the different complex relationships.
- Get the whole team involved, it lessens the burden on the project manager and the extra perspectives add to the analysis, it can bring a sense of togetherness in the team.
Annex 2 – Illustrative Stakeholders’ map
| Influence of Stakeholder | Importance of Stakeholder | |||
| Unknown | Little/No Importance | Some Importance | Significant Importance | |
| Significant Influence | C | A | ||
| Somewhat Influential | ||||
| Little/No Influence | D | B | ||
| Unknown | ||||
Boxes A, B and C are the key stakeholders of the project. The implications of each Box are summarized here:
- Box A: Stakeholders appearing to have a high degree of influence judiciary and legal reform, who are also of high importance for its success. This implies that the government implementing agency will need to construct good working relationships with these stakeholders, to ensure an effective coalition of support for the project. Examples might be the senior officials and politicians (minister, prime minister) or trade unions.
- Box B: Stakeholders of high importance to the success of the judiciary and legal reform, but with low influence. This implies that they will require special initiatives if their interests are to be protected. An example may be relatively poor people for whom improved access to justice have a large social impact, but who have little “voice”
- Box C: Stakeholders with high influence, who can therefore affect the project outcomes, but whose interests are not necessarily aligned with the overall goals of the project. This conclusion implies that these stakeholders may be a source of significant risk, and they will need careful monitoring and management.
- Box D: Stakeholders in this Box, with low influence on, or importance to the project objectives, may require limited monitoring or evaluation, but are of low priority.
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