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Call for Consultancy: Development of a CCSF Violence Early Warning Mechanism
Church and Civil Society Forum (CCSF)

Deadline: 26 March 2012

The Church and Civil Society Forum (CCSF) is a coalition of church and civil society organisations which was formed to facilitate national reconciliation and healing in a coordinated and harmonized manner. More specifically; CCSF seeks to help develop Zimbabwe's national healing process into a broad-based; community centered process; to be a strong partner for the Zimbabwean government within the national healing framework and to ensure that ordinary Zimbabweans participate in the national healing framework in a meaningful way.

CCSF is calling for reputable individuals or organizations to undertake the research that will lead to the development of a violence early warning mechanism that is broadly accepted by both the Church and Civil Society in Zimbabwe. The research is commissioned in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the nature of violence and how to identify signs and signals of violence and come up with ways of dealing with it. The study is expected to come up with strategic policy recommendations to inform lobby and advocacy work by CCSF and other stakeholders with the hope of influencing the violence prevention and national healing framework in Zimbabwe.

CCSF will engage with various stakeholders through dialogue and wide public dissemination of the findings of the report through various civil society forums. The study will use a structured methodology, based on a wealth of quantitative and qualitative techniques to be carefully articulated in the research proposal.

From this study; state and non state actors will be able to develop contingency measures to deal with the humanitarian consequences of violence. It is envisaged that part of this mechanism addresses dissemination and sharing of information, with a central hub created that will link identified information bases together. This exercise will also bring about important recommendations for other stakeholders; including government; regional and international bodies on possible mechanisms to adopt in the event of a violent crisis.

The CCSF therefore seeks to engage a Consultant for purposes of developing a violence early warning mechanisms in Zimbabwe.

Overall Objective

The study will classify the forms of violence that have taken place in Zimbabwe, their likelihood to recur, highlighting the best responses to avoid these occurrences and what should be done in the event that violence erupts. It is also expected that recommendations from the study will provided concrete basis for evidence based lobbying and advocacy for the development of a early warning response mechanism for CCSF.

Objectives

• To identify the specific forms of violence that have taken place countrywide
• To gain knowledge of the signals of possibilities of violence eruption, what to be done to protect civilians, by whom and at what stage.
• To identify the practical ways of avoiding the eruption of violence
• To provide information needed to create a central hub that will link identified information bases

Methodology

• The methodology will be proposed in the Consultant's bid. The methodology will be further refined in consultation with the CCSF Violence prevention Mechanisms Cluster and presented in the Inception Report.
• The proposal to undertake the study should clearly indicate the specific data collection methods i.e. field visits, desk studies, review of secondary literature, and interviews with key informants and stakeholders. Interviews may include telephone, email and personal interviews.
• The research methodology must be underpinned by participatory mechanisms to ensure full ownership and participation by member organisations and their various constituencies. Thus it must show how the Church and CSOs will be involved at all stages of the research including problem identification, review of data and validation of findings.

Application Process

Institutional applications are accepted but the lead research must be in possession of at least a Master degree related to the area of peace and conflict prevention.

All interested individuals or organizations should send in their expression of interest to CCSF Secretariat (NANGO) 5 Meredith Drive, Eastlea, Harare, or email to vimbanai@nango.org.zw and copy machinda@nango.org.zw

The envelope or the email subject line should be marked "Development of a CCSF Violence Early Warning Mechanism".

The application must demonstrate institutional capacity to conduct the study, contactable referees, CVs of lead consultants as well as proposed methodology, implementation plan and budget.

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