Consultancy Services for the External Midline Evaluation of the Syria Community Consortium (SCC) Programme RFP-SYR-006941

1.Introduction The Syria Community Consortium (SCC) consists of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the International Medical Corps (IMC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Oxfam, four leading INGOs present in Syria for over a decade. The SCC members have engaged in early recovery programming for a number of years in various capacities and have established the SCC to build on those capacities and leverage the complementary technical expertise of the different organizations. In its second year, the SCC Programme has made significant progress in operationalizing the area-based resilience model in both Aleppo and Rural Damascus. The programme brings together nexus early recovery efforts to strengthen the resilience of conflict-affected communities through coordinated, community-driven, and adaptive interventions. This tender requests proposals from consultants/firms to conduct a midline evaluation of the programme at year two of a four-year programme.

Context:

The SCC operates in Aleppo and Rural Damascus, where conflict‑related damage, weakened public services, economic decline, and repeated population movements continue to shape household vulnerability and community resilience. These dynamics directly inform SCC’s area‑based approach and the design of interventions across its resilience pathways. Across both locations, basic services remain severely overstretched, particularly in education, water and sanitation, shelter, and electricity. Years of damaged infrastructure, under‑resourced public institutions, and rising operational demands—driven by large numbers of returnees—limit communities’ ability to meet essential needs without external support. Water scarcity is especially acute in Rural Damascus, with prolonged drought, receding water sources, and collapsing distribution networks affecting household access and increasing dependence on costly alternatives. Similarly, widespread housing destruction and soaring prices of construction materials continue to prevent vulnerable families from rehabilitating damaged homes, reinforcing the need for SCC’s targeted shelter and WASH interventions. Health services face similar constraints, public health facilities in SCC areas remain damaged and under-resourced, with shortages of qualified health workers, essential supplies and equipment, and weakened referral and disease surveillance systems. Prolonged crisis, displacement, and return have also elevated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs among returnees and host communities alike, underscoring the relevance of SCC’s health facility rehabilitation, community health, and MHPSS capacity-building interventions under Pathway 4. Protection and legal challenges remain central constraints to community well‑being. In both Aleppo and Rural Damascus, fluid administrative procedures, partially functioning civil registry offices, and barriers to accessing courts impede individuals’ ability to secure civil documentation, resolve housing, land, and property (HLP) issues, and regularize life events occurring during displacement. Under SCC, ICLA teams have adapted by continuously updating legal awareness materials, strengthening coordination with authorities, and introducing legal representation services to support participants with complex cases. Livelihoods and food security remain highly volatile. Economic contraction, rising prices, and reduced access to agricultural inputs have strained production and household income. The ongoing drought significantly reduced grazing and crop residues, negatively impacting breeders and farmers. In Aleppo, the rapid arrival of returnee households has sharply increased demand for employment support, business recovery services, and agricultural and food production assistance. Many returnees bring professional skills but face structural obstacles to reintegration into local markets and existing social networks and safety nets, heightening the relevance of SCC’s economic recovery interventions. At the neighbourhood level, SCC operational areas (As‑Sukkari, Bustan al‑Qasr, Kallaseh, Hosh Nasri (Duma), and Nashabiyeh) continue to experience daily service deficits. These include intermittent water supply, degraded sewage networks, insufficient solid waste management, overcrowded classrooms, and unreliable electricity. Economic instability and the removal of key government subsidies—particularly for fuel and electricity—have further increased household expenditures and reduced coping capacity, especially among returnees and the most vulnerable. Within this environment, the SCC programme plays a critical role in stabilizing essential services, supporting early recovery, and strengthening resilience capacities. By integrating interventions across legal assistance, livelihoods, agriculture, education, shelter, and WASH, the consortium seeks to address interconnected drivers of vulnerability and promote more inclusive, functional, and self‑reliant communities in Aleppo and Rural Damascus.

Relevant Sectors: Economic Recovery, Market Systems Development, Education, Protection, Legal Services, WASH, Shelter, Health, MHPSS.

2. Purpose of the Consultancy

The Danish Refugee Council based in Syria seeks proposals from a consultant to conduct an external midline evaluation for the Syria Community Consortium, with the primary goal of gathering evidence to evaluate the programme and provide tangible recommendations for improvement. The evaluation’s overall objective is to ensure that the interventions implemented in the programme align with the context and have led to satisfactory programme performance while contributing to its main objective. The evaluation's scope will be determined based on the OECD-DAC criteria, which include Relevance, Effectiveness, Coherence, Impact, Efficiency, and Sustainability. In addition to assessing programme performance, the evaluation will also focus to capture two key aspects of the consortium, including: - An analysis of how returnee and h