Request for Proposals: Research Consultants or Research Teams REGIONAL: West Africa, East Africa, South East Asia and the Balkans-4 proposals awarded At Hedayah

Background

Hedayah was established in 2012 as the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). It serves as the premier international institution for capacity building, dialogue and communication, and research to counter violent extremism in all of its forms and manifestations, in support of long-term, global efforts to prevent and counter-terrorism.

The Center’s mandate focuses on three core areas:

Dialogue and Communications: Collaborates with national and local actors, CSOs, researchers, and community leaders to foster dialogue, create messaging campaigns, as well as expertise in developing and implementing communications strategies.

Capacity Building Programs: Conducts collaborative training and builds practical tools to enhance the capacities of government and non-government partners to design and implement effective policies, programs, and projects to counter violent extremism.

Research and Analysis: Collects and delivers CVE knowledge resources as well as conducts and commissions new research to gain a deeper understanding of the drivers of violent extremism, and which approaches are effective in countering it.

General Function

The Research and Analysis Department has been tasked will assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on terrorism and violent extremism in four regions: West Africa/Sahel, East/Horn of Africa, South East Asia and the Balkans.

Hedayah will offer four consultancy contracts to four individuals or institutions to research and analyze data on a regional level.

The Research Consultant(s) will be responsible for systematically collecting data on this subject, to include statistical data (health, economic, education, security) and tracking of VE and terrorist narratives and methods over the course of the pandemic for their region of expertise. The Research Consultant will produce at least two regional analytical reports (July 2021 and October 2021), as well as contribute to a global analytical report to be produced by the end of the year (December 2021). The data from the project will also be uploaded to a microsite, managed by a Project Coordinator.

Key Responsibilities

For one of the four regions, the consultant or institution would:

· Collect data and analyze operational trends over time in terrorism and counter-terrorism responses throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, starting from January 2020 until December 2021. This may include attacks, attempted attacks, arrests, as well as existing CT and CVE programs. This may also include changes in terrorist leadership (e.g. COVID-19 death of terrorist leader) or approaches (e.g. distribution of PPE or vaccines by terrorist groups). The data may be disaggregated by violent extremist or terrorist organization.

· Track and collect information on the narratives and profiles of violent extremism and terrorism at the regional or country level. This information can include broader changes in the content narratives, including how VE organizations are exploiting grievances online and offline. It can also include context-specific narratives such as memes, GIFs, videos, hashtags, and other material that is circulating online related to COVID-19 that is related to violent extremism. In addition, this section could track relevant social media accounts that consistently spread disinformation and propaganda about COVID-19 online.

· Collate statistical data on the countries for the assigned region. This may include health data (e.g. number of cases of COVID-19 or number of deaths), economic data (e.g. GDP, unemployment), education data (e.g. education access, online access) or security data (e.g. number of attacks) on a country level;

· Collate existing research and resources on the impact of COVID-19 on violent extremism and terrorism for the assigned region.

· Contribute to the online database of information for the assigned region, including ensuring recent and relevant data is accessible on a quarterly basis for the duration of the project;

· Produce two regional analytical reports (July 2021 and October 2021), and contribute to one global report (December 2021). The July regional report will cover the time frame of 2020, and the October regional report will cover the time frame of January 2021-September 2021. The global analytical report will include a chapter on your region for the duration of the timeline (January 202-December 2021).

Requirements

The individual or team responding to the request for proposal should highlight the following skills:

· Demonstrated networks and access to information for the assigned region;

· Ability to read and write in at least one or more regional languages fluently to ensure contextually-appropriate data collection and analysis (with preference to teams with multiple language expertise);

· Demonstrated prior research work and expertise in terrorism, counter-terrorism or CVE. The consultant(s) applying for the role should have collectively at least 7 years of experience on these or related subjects;

· Demonstrated ability to collect and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data.

Key Skills

· Fluent in oral and written English;

· Demonstrated ability to work on projects that involve data consolidation through quantitative and qualitative research methods;

· Able to work independently, as well as within a team;

· Demonstrated organizational skills and ability to meet deadlines under pressure;

· Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite and video conferencing such as WebEx.

Funding

The 8-month part-time consultancy contract will be deliverable-based, with the expectation that the consultant(s) will also regularly coordinate on a weekly basis for the project. The expected workload is approximately 5 days per month. The contractors are responsible for managing their time appropriately to meet the deliverables and deadlines.

Successful candidates will be awarded a deliverable-based stipend between $8,000-$12,000. An estimated cost breakdown will be a requirement of the application process.