CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

Concern Worldwide received funding from the European Union and is currently implementing a 48-month, multisector project entitled Building Resilient Communities in West Kordofan (BRICK-II) in Sudan. West Kordofan continues to experience conflicts driven by competition over resources, cultural divides, and limited governance structures. 

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop a practical and context-specific Social Cohesion Manual with an accompanying Action Plan. The manual will serve as a guiding tool for Concern Worldwide and local stakeholders to strengthen peaceful coexistence, reduce community tensions, and improve inclusive participation in natural resources management. It will integrate gender-sensitive, conflict-sensitive, and participatory approaches to ensure no groups are left behind.

The EU-funded intervention has four outcomes:                                     

1. Outcome 1: Increased productivity, profitability, and diversification of crop and livestock production by smallholders and herders.
2. Outcome 2: Increased income through access to value chain development and marketing for small on and off-farm businesses.
3. Outcome 3: Increase equal and sustainable access to natural resources through conflict sensitive DRR programming and integrated water management systems 
4. Outcome 4: Enhanced sustainability of access and quality of nutrition services in the targeted health facilities.  

Under Outcome 3, the intervention aims to respond to the root causes of community-based conflict over natural resources (water, cropping, grazing land, etc.). To address these issues, the EU-funded project aims to promote resilience and sustainable social cohesion through locally driven initiatives linked to DRR practices in three localities. 

As part of this objective, a comprehensive social cohesion manual/guidance with a step-by-step action plan is required to guide stakeholders in implementing practical, context-based conflict resolution strategies. 

The consultant will:

• Review existing social cohesion practices in relation to FSL, DRR, WASH, and nutrition practices.
• Identify a series of general conflict sensitive measures and guidelines for the implementation team.
• Identify monitoring systems and key conflict sensitive indicators for the team to monitor during the implementation of the project, the risks of doing harm (and how to ensure rapid adaptation measures) and the opportunities for adaptation to increase positive impacts
• Develop a practical manual with tools, messages, and methodologies that reflect the unique conflict dynamics of Greater Kordofan.
• Provide a facilitator’s guide and accompanying training materials (slides, visual aids, case studies).
• Develop a step-by-step action plan to guide implementation by programme teams and local stakeholders.
• Ensure that the manual is inclusive of women, youth, IDPs, and marginalized groups.

Main Scope of Work:

The consultant is expected to conduct the following tasks: 

Step 1: Desk Review/ Project document and other relevant documents 

• Conduct a comprehensive review of existing practices, project documents, baseline survey reports, inception reports, and other resources.
• Include global best practices and guidance from UN, INGOs, and academic sources relevant to Sudan.

Step 2: Stakeholder Consultations 

• Organize and facilitate consultations with local communities, traditional leaders, government officials, and project staff to gather insights on conflict drivers, resolution mechanisms, and socio-cultural dynamics.
• Identify conflict drivers and social cohesion connectors in current resources in the project operation locations with a key area of targeting groups: WASH services (WASH Committees, farmers and Mother Support Groups (MSGs) to identify conflict drivers and possible solutions for peaceful coexistence) 
• community land users for farming (farmers) and animal herders (pastoralist and agro-pastoralist) 
• Disaster risk reduction (DRR) committees (their role and challenges in the community) 
• Existing Village savings and loans associations (VSLA) (their challenges in the conflict/social cohesion continuum) 
• Mother Support Groups (their roles and challenges in the conflict/social cohesion continuum) 
• Nutrition services (who is targeted/left behind without services etc. link to the conflict) 

Step 3: Develop a Manual Framework 

• Develop a toolkit for each targeted group based on the conflict and social cohesion findings.
• The toolkit should include what social cohesion messages should be emphasized to reach peaceful coexistence, reduce tension in the targeted locations: e.g. WASH committees what messages the project needs to send out to make a change. 

Step 4: Develop an Acton plan 

• Draft a comprehensive, practical action plan for each targeted group with the below details 
  • How the Social cohesion messaging will be rolled out e.g. training, committee meetings
  • Who will be responsible for rolling out the social cohesion manual, e.g. project manager, committee lead, etc. 
  • When the Social Cohesion manual will be rolled out (training time/date etc.) 
  • Who will monitor the performance of the targeted group (e.g. if the WASH committee rolls out a tariffs system for each ethnic group using the water source, etc.) 

Step 5: Validation Workshop

• Facilitate a validation workshop with programme staff to understand how the manual should be used with reference to the action plan. 
• Facilitate a validation meeting with each targeted group to ensure that the social cohesion manual and action plan is adapted to the context and reflects on the target communities peace/conflict realities.

Contract Duration

40 consultancy days (December-2025 and January 2026). The consultant should propose a clear timeline of activities, milestones, and reporting deadlines.

The consultancy is expected to last 40 working days, commencing from the signing of the contract.

Monitoring & Quality Assurance

Concern will review deliverables at each milestone and provide feedback. Weekly check-in meetings (virtual or in-person) will be scheduled to monitor progress. The consultant is expected to ensure quality, contextual relevance, and consistency with Concern’s policies.

Risk Management & Mitigation

• Access challenges due to security or weather.
• Potential delays in consultations.
• Limited availability of stakeholders.

The consultant should propose mitigation measures, including use of remote KIIs/FGDs, flexible scheduling, or collaboration with local enumerators.

Deliverables

1. Application Pack: to be submitted to Concern for further discussion and clarification. To include; Work plan, methodology, timeline, and declaration of individuals/sub-consultants involved.
2. Desk Review Report: Summary of existing social cohesion materials and gaps identified.
3. Draft Social cohesion Manual and Action Plan: Draft 1 submission to Concern for review and feedback 
4. Validation Workshop Report: to adjust the social cohesion manual and action plan as per the feedback of the stakeholders 
5. Final Social cohesion Manual and Action Plan consolidation 

Consultant Declaration of Sub-Hiring

The consultant must clearly state whether they will work independently or hire additional individuals.

If hiring additional personnel, the consultant must submit:

• Detailed CVs of all proposed individuals.
• Evidence of their relevant experiences.
• A detailed plan on how the consultant will contribute to the deliverables.

In the current situation remote management is accepted, however this needs a further discussion with Concern 

Ethical Considerations and Compliance with Concern Policies

The consultant must adhere to Concern’s safeguarding and Code of Conduct.

All data collection will follow ethical standards including informed consent, confidentiality, and do-no-harm principles. Sensitive issues must be handled with discretion and cultural respect. All consultants must sign and adhere to Concern’s Staff Code of Conduct and Programme Participant Protection Policy.

Person specification:

Essential:

• Advanced degree in social cohesion, Conflict Resolution, Community Development, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in managing projects in Sudan, preferable social cohesion or conflict resolution related projects or project components. 
• Strong familiarity with West Kordofan’s socio-cultural and conflict dynamics.
• Proven experience in developing training manuals, action plans, and similar materials.
• Excellent facilitation skills and stakeholder engagement experience.
• Proficiency in English, Knowledge of Arabic is strongly preferred. 

Job Location

• If candidate is national, Muglad Office, West Kordofan State – (Muglad, Meiram and Keilak localities). 
• If candidate is international, due to prevailing security policies, this consultancy will be fully remote. International candidates must be able to work within +/-2 hours of CAT standard work hours.

Budget and Payment:

The consultant will receive payment in 3 installments:

• 10% upon submission and approval of the Work Plan (contracting) 
• 30% upon submission of the draft manual framework and workplan (Draft 1) 
• 60% upon approval of the final social cohesion manual.

The financial proposal should clearly outline consultancy fees, travel, accommodation, per diems, and other related costs. Concern will clarify which costs are directly covered. 

Application Requirements:

Interested applicants must submit the following:

• A cover letter demonstrating knowledge of the context, including conflict drivers in West Kordofan and key cohesion themes relevant for the context.
• Technical proposal detailing methodology, Gantt chat work plan with sequencing of activities, proposed structure of the manual and technical approach 
• Financial proposal (detailed costs). 
• CV(s) of the lead consultant and sub-consultants if any.
• Declaration of sub-consultants (if applicable) and their qualifications.
• Examples of similar work previously conducted (manuals, toolkits, or action plans developed)

Deadline for Submission:

• 20th November 2025, Documents could be submitted in Person at Port Sudan Concern Worldwide office or through Sudan jobs and Sudan Bids advertisement portals.

Concern Code of Conduct and its Associated Policies.

Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s

Core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies

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