Case Study: ACORD-led consortium project for Addressing Root Causes of violent conflict, instability and irregular migration in South Sudan. Presentation to ACORD learning forum, Nairobi, Kenya, October 2016

1. www.acordinternational.org
Defending rights. Promoting
justice.
Case Study: ACORD-led
consortium project for
Addressing Root Causes of
violent conflict, instability
and irregular migration in
South Sudan
12 October 2016
Fairview Hotel, Nairobi
1

2. Brief on South Sudan country
context
• South Sudan remains a fragile country
• Hope for a peaceful South Sudan rekindle in May 2016
• July 8 incidence brought the country back into conflict
• Intermittent fighting spread to Equatoria region that was not
previously battle ground
• Most traders from the neighbouring countries left the
country-due to insecurity/inflation
• Goods and commodities that are not produced locally have
become scarce and very expensive
• Attacks along the roads to and out of Juba have become
common alongside increased criminality in the country
• Food insecurity is likely to worsen as harvest was affected by
July 2016 violent eruption in Juba but also uncontrolled cattle
grazing by pastoralists communities on farm lands.
2

3. ACORD in South Sudan
•One of the earliest ACORD country programmes
•Interventions thematically aligned; livelihoods and food security,
peace building and conflict transformation, gender and right to
health
•Currently implement programmes/projects in the greater
Equatoria region
•ACORD’s operational areas had been relatively peaceful prior to
July, 2016 incidence
•Some localized insecurity incidences have been reported in some
places where ACORD works but relates more to survival or
alternative livelihoods.
•Country operation has reduced due to insecurity and funding-
resource mobilization ongoing with most recent-Addressing Root
Causes (ARC) funding from the Dutch government.
3

4. ARC Funding-Case Study
•ACORD is the lead applicant; Dan Church Aid, and Centre for
Conflict Resolution based in South Africa are co-applicants
•ACORD leading consortium was inspired in part; by
experience with Oxfam/Novib in June 2015 and comparative
advantage in implementing more Dutch programmes
•ACORD had worked with DCA prior to ARC application as DCA
grant recipient in South Sudan-limited direct work with CCR
•Consortium members- different levels in terms of in country
operational capacity and resource flow-CCR, no office in SSU
•No major challenge so far registered in the partnership-
issues have been resolved through consensus
4

5. ARC application process
• Call for application accessed in January 2016 and
mobilization started
• Consortium formation negotiated and formalized
• Very high level of team work exhibited between ACORD
Secretariat and South Sudan Country Programme and
between ACORD and consortium members
• Application submitted in early March 2016
• Application feedback-ACORD consortium selected with
CARE consortium as best applicants from South Sudan
• Final part of the application process being concluded with
submission of final draft document by 20-21/10/2016
• Final feedback from Dutch ministry of foreign affairs
expected by 02/12/2016
5

6. About the programme
• The overall purpose of ARC fund is to address the political and
socio-economic root causes of armed conflict and instability in
South Sudan
• Geographical areas of focus: Central Equatoria State (CES), Eastern
Equatoria State (EES) and Jonglei State
• Root causes and instability in the geographical areas of focus:
1. Food insecurity and limited livelihood diversification strategies
2. Disengagement of youth
3. Tensions and mistrust
4. Lack of effective conflict resolution mechanisms
• Root causes and instability to be addressed through:
Outcome 1: Resilient livelihoods and food security
Outcome 2: Social Cohesion
Outcome 3: Peaceful conflict resolution
6

7. Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and
learning to be realised though:
• Tracking outcomes and impact of interventions, and adjust
programming accordingly
• Increasing knowledge of conflict drivers and multiple layers
of conflict through research studies
• Implementing flexible and adaptive programming
7

8. ARC funding and linkages to ACORD’s
overall strategic objectives
• ARC funding is consistent with ACORD South Sudan livelihoods
and food security, and peace building and conflict
transformation thematic focus
• ARC is also consistent with the global ACORD strategic
priorities
8

9. Addressing Root Causes of violent
conflict, instability and irregular
migration
• Euro 125 million from 2016-2021
• Dutch policy goals on security & rule of law
• Country-specific goals in one of 12 eligible countries
(Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Ethiopia,
Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burundi, DRC)
– To select max 36 applications (and minimum 12)
– Results matrix developed collaboratively with partners in the
knowledge platform under previous reconstruction tender
– Single country proposals only. Multi-country not allowed.
– Consortiums encouraged and any organisation could only be
in one application per country –to enclose signed MOU
9

10. Appraisal procedure
• 124 applications, 77 assessed having passed the
threshold check
– checking the lead applicant and co-applicants (legal
compliance, income from NL, capacity assessment,
office in country, min. 3 years experience last five
years with budget +Euro 0.5mill)
– checking eligibility of the proposal (duration, budget,
policy goals, country)
• 21 projects selected from 15 lead organisations
for partnerships with the Minister
10

11. Application: Track record
• Track Record in the form of two cases, experience in
target country on the policy goals last 5 years
– Reconstruction tender case mandatory to use
– Allowed to use one case from a co-applicant
– To be supported by external evaluation
• Assessed on duration and intensity of experience,
context and relevance, effectiveness, sustainability,
involvement of partner organisations and target
groups, M&E, complementarity and added value,
gender and conflict sensitivity
11

12. Application: Concept note
Rated on:
•Context analysis and actor mapping
•Theory of change
•Added value
•Conflict sensitivity
•Grant amount (min. and max. budget)
12

13. Proposal development
process – lessons learnt
• Decide what to target: country and policy goal
• Constitute consortiums: reach out
• Sign teaming agreement
• Skype meetings to get organised
• Set up a working team with clear roles and
responsibilities
• Enriching team work between country office and
Secretariat and with co-applicants
• Rigorous review process against criteria
13

14. Time frame
• mid-January: Call launched and consortium constituted
• Feb: proposal development
• 4 March: proposal submission
• 19 May: decision
• 20 June: global kick-off meeting in the Hague on Refugee Day
• 9-12 August: country kick-off meetings with consortium partners
and Dutch Embassy
• 16 Sept: preliminary programme submission incl. draft tripartite
MOU
• 21 Oct: final draft programme submission
• October: validation workshop
• December: award decision
• March 17: inception phase ends
14