Work for us

Portuguese speaking evaluator

Overview

Peace Direct is seeking a Portuguese speaking evaluator for two linked assignments in Mozambique. Our partner, FOMICRES, mounted a large scale weapons collection programme in the ten years from 1995 to 2005. We would like to have a case study of this work. In addition, an external evaluation is needed for their current project, to train volunteers in community policing, and assess the results against a control group. The candidate will ideally be based in Mozambique or a neighbouring country to minimise travel costs and carbon.

Nature of tasks

a) Case study

FOMICRES was set up by a group of former child soldiers after the war ended. In the 10 years from 1995, they claim to have collected and destroyed over 800,000 pieces of weaponry. According to the UN they are the only non-governmental group to have carried out the whole process from persuading villages to let go of their arms, to destroying them and providing goods for the villages in exchange. (For more on this story, please refer to Peace Direct’s publication Ripples into Waves http://www.insightonconflict.org/from-local-to-national-peacebuilding/).

The case study will involve looking back over FOMICRES’ records and interviewing people in selected villages. It will be part of a set of case studies demonstrating that locally led peacebuilding can be large scale and effective. It should conform to these guidelines:

‘The idea is to have 8-10 case studies, authored by independent experts commissioned by the organisations that have supported the local initiative, with an overall editor to ensure consistency. The case studies must focus on a concrete initiative that was designed and led by a local organisation, at a scale comparable to the scale of work that might be carried out by an internationally led initiative, the larger scale the better. Case studies should be a good read, with quotes and boxed stories, but also authoritative, with data and financial costings.’

Time allocation: 5 days

Evaluation of community policing pilot project

The community policing project involves training selected community volunteers to work between the police and the community in selected districts in Maputo. The evaluation will test the impact of the training in comparison with other districts that have volunteers but who have not been trained. This is the description of the evaluation approach in the successful bid for funding to the German government.

The vision for the future is one where the level of violent crime is reduced because:

  • Young people acquire additional skills in analysing and resolving conflict
  • Communities are better able to identify causes and focuses of crime, and can more effectively work with the police to devise strategies to address these problems (e.g., increased surveillance, diversionary activities), as well as can better influence public policies where necessary
  • Police are held accountable to their communities and impunity is challenged

The assessment of the project will be based on using ‘control communities’ where the community safety committee volunteers do not receive additional training and support. The incidence of violent crime in both the control and the pilot communities will be established before and during the training period through the use both of surveys of the population and police statistics.

The incidence of crime will be measured again 6 months after the trained volunteers have begun work in their communities, and compared with previous data. Qualitative surveys will also seek to establish whether community members are more aware of the work of the community policing volunteers and whether they have a greater sense of security than previously. These findings will be documented, analysed and compiled into a comprehensive report at the end of the project.

Time allocation 8 days

Expressions of interest should be sent to Carolyn@peacedirect.org with a deadline of 8th March.