Tenders Are Invited For Consultancy For Conducting Key Informant Interviews And Municipal Governance Profiling (Phase Ii)

Tenders are invited for Consultancy for Conducting Key Informant Interviews and Municipal Governance Profiling (Phase II). Closing Date: Tuesday, 15. Sep 2026 Intervention Sector(s): Conflict Resolution, Good governance and transparency Remuneration range: > 6000 (USD) Duration of Contract: 6 weeks Consultancy for Conducting Key Informant Interviews and Municipal Governance Profiling (Phase II) Project: Rigorous Impact Evaluation (RIE) of "Strengthening Inclusive Local Governance and Vertical Social Cohesion in Lebanon" Location: Across Lebanon: 24 municipalities in Upper Shouf, West Beqaa, Zahle, Maten, South Baalbeck and Hasbaya Duration: Mid-September to end of October 2026 1. Background The Berghof Foundation, in collaboration with the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) and supported by GIZ, is implementing a Rigorous Impact Evaluation (RIE) assessing how participatory planning processes influence citizens trust in local governance structures in Lebanon. Vertical social cohesion, meaning the trust and cooperation between citizens and local authorities, is central to community resilience in fragile settings, yet remains under-researched. Lebanons prolonged political paralysis, economic deterioration and institutional erosion make it a demanding environment in which to test whether inclusive, participatory decision-making at municipal level can rebuild trust between citizens and authorities. The RIE covers 24 municipalities across Upper Shouf, West Beqaa, Zahle, Maten, South Baalbeck and Hasbaya, and employs a mixed-methods design combining quantitative surveys with qualitative enquiry to establish causal pathways between participation and trust building. A first round of 48 key informant interviews (KIIs) was completed with participants in the projects activities, generating qualitative insight into how and why trust shifted over the intervention period. This second phase builds on that round in two directions: deepening the evidence on participants experiences, and, as its principal contribution, generating a structured governance profile of each of the 24 municipalities. 2. Purpose and Objectives The assignment has two objectives, weighted towards the second. Objective 1: Participant experiences (continuation of Phase I). To further examine, with participants in the projects activities: Whether and how levels of trust in local governance shifted as a result of participation in decision-making processes; The factors, positive and negative, that shaped trust building; Whether the participatory planning process served participants needs and purposes; Recommendations for strengthening participatory planning in future programming; Political, social and external dynamics affecting trust since the previous round, and behavioural changes not captured by the quantitative survey. Objective 2: Municipal governance profiling (principal focus). To complete the profiling of the 24 municipalities by generating comparable, evidence-based assessments of the quality of local governance in each. The profiling is expected to cover, at a minimum: Transparency in decision-making, budgeting and public communication; Accountability of the municipal body towards residents and oversight structures; Rule of law, regulatory compliance and consistency of administrative practice; Integrity and exposure to corruption risks; Inclusiveness and openness of decision-making to residents and local actors; Responsiveness and service delivery performance; Institutional and administrative capacity, including fiscal management. The consultant will alsoanalyse impact of municipal elections in 2025 to contribute to assessment of quality of municipalities and to capture impact of elections in municipalities that went through changes in leadership. The consultant is expected to propose the full profiling framework, covering dimensions, indicators, evidence basis and the form the assessment takes (descriptive, rated or a combination), as part of the technical proposal, and to finalise it with the Berghof Foundation RIE team during the inception phase. 3. Scope of Work The consultant will be responsible for: a. Methodology and framework design. Designing an integrated qualitative approach that balances the two objectives within a single field effort, and developing the municipal governance profiling framework, interview guides for each respondent stream, and the structure of the profiling matrix. b. Informant identification and access. Identifying and proposing named informants in each of the 24 municipalities, and establishing the contacts and access needed to reach them. Informants for the governance profiling stream should be local actors with substantive knowledge of, and working exposure to, municipal affairs: for example, municipal and local development office staff, mukhtars, lawyers, engineers, educators, cooperative and civil society figures, and local journalists. The emphasis is on informed local expertise rather than public prominence or mobilising capacity. The consultant will submit a longlist of proposed profiles per municipality for the RIE teams review and approval before fieldwork begins. c. Data collection. Conducting approximately 40 in-depth KIIs across the 24 municipalities. The exact number and the distribution between the two objectives will be proposed by the consultant and agreed with the RIE team at inception, on the understanding that all 24 municipalities are to be covered and that the profiling objective carries the greater weight. Sample report forms will be filled and will be provided by the partner organization WZB. d. Ethics, do no harm and conflict sensitivity. Applying informed consent, confidentiality and data protection standards throughout, and working to do no harm and conflict-sensitive principles at every stage: in the selection and approach of informants, in the conduct of interviews, and in how findings are recorded and presented. Particular care is required in handling material relating to integrity and corruption risks. Anonymity of informants is the baseline requirement; where limited attribution would strengthen the evidence base, the consultant should set out in the technical proposal how this would be handled without exposing informants to risk, for finalisation with the RIE team at inception. e. Analysis and reporting. Producing minutes of meeting for each interview, a thematic analysis across both objectives, and a completed municipal profiling matrix covering all 24 municipalities. 4. Team Composition The assignment requires a team that both collects and analyses the data, with substantive grounding in local governance. Data collection and analysis are not to be separated: the same expertise that designs the profiling framework should inform how interviews are conducted, so that the right information is drawn out in the field and the analysis rests on a well-targeted evidence base. Given the timeframe, this integration is what makes efficient use of the field effort possible. The team is expected to combine: Substantive expertise in local governance, public administration or related fields, sufficient to propose a relevant methodology and profiling framework and to interpret findings against it; Qualitative research capacity for the design and conduct of in-depth interviews, with interviewers who understand the subject matter well enough to probe effectively during the interview itself; Field capacity to reach all 24 municipalities within the timeframe, including transport and logistics; Analytical and drafting capacity to deliver the thematic analysis and profiling matrix to a publishable standard in English. Proposals should set out the roles and level of effort of each team member, and make clear how collection and analysis are linked across the team. 5. Deliverables 1- Filled surveys/forms 2- Analytical report of findings, consolidating findings from the first 48 interviews with the new ones All deliverables are to be submitted in English. Interviews will be conducted in Arabic; verbatim transcripts are not required, minutes of meeting in English are preferred. 6. Timeline The assignment runs from mid-September to mid-October 2026. Applicants should demonstrate in their work plan how they will mobilise quickly, run informant identification in parallel with framework design, and sustain fieldwork across the six areas simultaneously. 7. Qualifications and Requirements Applications are open to consultancy firms and to consultant teams. Applicants must demonstrate: A strong track record in qualitative research, in particular the design and conduct of key informant interviews; Demonstrable thematic expertise in local governance, decentralisation, public administration, transparency or integrity; Experience of comparable institutional or governance profiling, assessment or mapping assignments; Experience working across diverse regions and communities in Lebanon, and the capacity to conduct fieldwork across multiple governorates; Demonstrated application of do no harm and conflict-sensitive research approaches, particularly on sensitive governance and integrity topics; Capacity to mobilise and deliver within a compressed timeframe; Previous experience with GIZ-funded projects or with rigorous evaluation designs is an asset. 8. Coordination and Reporting The consultant will report to the Berghof Foundation RIE team, with regular coordination meetings to monitor progress. All tools, minutes of meeting, matrices and reports will be submitted in English. All data collected under this assignment remains the property of the Berghof Foundation. 9. Payment 20% on approval of the inception report and informant longlist; 40% on completion of fieldwork and submission of all minutes of meeting; 40% on acceptance of the final report and pro Tender Link : https://daleel-madani.org/civil-society-directory/berghof-foundation-operations-ggmbh/calls/consultancy-conducting-key-informant-interviews-and-municipal-governance-profiling-phase-ii