Terms Of Reference (ToR) for support To Political Dialogue Around the Security Sector in Somalia

Terms of Reference (TOR)

Support to political dialogue around the security sector in Somalia

Somali Dialogue Platform

About RVI

The Rift Valley Institute (RVI) is an independent, non-profit organisation working in eastern and central Africa since 2001. The RVI is a research and educational organisation with a social mission: to create a better future for the peoples and communities of Eastern and Central Africa by advancing relevant knowledge of the region through collaborative research, education and training, public information and dialogues, and promoting culture and heritage. A UK-registered charity, the Institute has offices in Nairobi, Juba, Hargeysa and London.

RVI is a leader in practical social research, policy analysis, training and public information. Our field-based research emerges from and seeks to respond to ideas generated by the communities and institutions with which we work. RVI research projects, which involve collaborations between African and non-African researchers, include training and mentoring of young researchers to develop their skills and experience. RVI supports the right to information and the exchange of knowledge by publishing its research and disseminating it through public fora.

Our Vision, Mission and Values

Our Vision

Making local knowledge work for the benefit of the people of Eastern and Central Africa.

Our Mission

The Rift Valley Institute works to create a better future for the peoples and communities of Eastern and Central Africa by advancing relevant knowledge of the region through collaborative research, education and training, public information and dialogues, and promoting culture and heritage. The Institute bridges development practice and policy, elevating local voices, knowledge and action.

Our Values

The following values guide and underpin our work:

Respect: We demonstrate respect for local knowledge and the partners and the communities we work with and those who work with us.

Independence: We are independent in our thought and action and produce research and deliver programmes free from external interests.

Integrity: We work with transparency and honesty to ensure accurate and open access to information, and we are accountable for our work and to those we work with.

Collaboration: We believe respectful partnerships are the basis for successful development and we are committed to long term, mutually beneficial collaboration between indigenous institutions, local researchers and international specialists.

Excellence: We strive to produce original work and to sustain our strong reputation for research, public information and training.

The Somali Dialogue Platform

1. Introduction

The Somali Dialogue Platform (‘The Platform’) is a policy dialogue and facilitation initiative, managed by the Rift Valley Institute (RVI), that responds to the need to support more collaborative, productive and inclusive political processes that can transform Somalia’s political settlement. The Platform seeks to create dialogue spaces genuinely trusted and led by Somalis, where they can confidently address past conflicts and grievances and collaborate to resolve fundamental differences in their governance ideas.

The Platform works to enable agreement across a range of areas including the elections, fiscal federalism, women’s participation in political processes. The Platform also seeks to enable necessary political discussions and agreement around core areas of security policy, such as the national security architecture, that can Somalia authorities effectively deliver security for its citizens.

Enabling inclusive political agreement on the core policy fundamentals on the Somali security sector – such as distribution and composition of forces, and command and control – is essential not only to effective security sector reform, but also developing a wider sustainable political settlement in which the “rules of the game” for exercising power are agreed. Important progress has been made on policy fundamentals in the security sector, most notably the preliminary agreement reached in early 2017 in London between Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and Federal Member State (FMS) leaders on a National Security Architecture (NSArch), which built off a range of pervious productive policy discussion and agreements. The NSArch clarified some issues, such as the size and distribution of security forces, as well as command and control structures within and between them.

However, there have been significant challenges in implementing the NSArch since its agreement, and many of its key tenets remain unimplemented. In the meantime the Somali Transition Plan (STP) has also been developed as an important policy framework focused more on the operational strategy for defeating Al-Shabab and liberating territory in anticipation of the draw down of AU peacekeeping forces. The STP, however, did not provide an alternative framework to address the key elements of the security policy discussed above. This lack of policy clarity has come alongside a recent history of politicization in the Somali security forces, even including major clashes between different branches as part of major political disputes.

It is therefore critical to re-vitalise inclusive negotiations on core pillars of Somalia’s “security settlement” to address key policy gaps, in order to support delivery of security for Somali citizens and a more sustainable political settlement.

1. Purpose

The purpose of this work is to enable, support and inform dialogue processes around core contentious issues in the Somali security policy space in order to enable decision-makers in reaching negotiated settlements on complex national security issues.

1. Scope of work

This scope of work is intended to act as a short pilot phase in advance of the set-up of longer-term programming following 1 April 2023. During this period the partner organization would be expected to test approaches to enabling consensus around the security settlement, drawing from learnings in the process to develop a longer-term (two-year) programme going forward.

The Platform anticipates that any approach to enabling dialogue in the security sector must be iterative and flexible, combining high-quality research and analysis, with careful and targeted efforts to promote policy dialogue. It expects any partner to be propositional in terms of a strategic approach to enabling consensus around core security policy areas in response to this proposal, and anticipates that scope of work may need to change rapidly and quickly, depending on changing dynamics.

The partner is expected to develop a proposal that has a clear strategy towards supporting agreement in the sector through a combination of: policy research and analysis; policy dialogue and political process support; ad-hoc analysis on emerging issues. A gender and socially inclusive approach should be used throughout, ensuring that a diverse range of voices participate in research and policy discussions. Throughout emphasis should be placed on supporting Somali stakeholders reach agreement in fora and discussion owned by them, whilst also informing external actor where relevant who continue to play an important role in the sector. Specific work should include:

1. Policy research and analysis: Develop a series of policy products targeted towards relevant Somali audiences that can provide evidence, framing, analysis and policy options to support productive dialogues on core parts of the security settlement’s. These products should provide policy options as to how the Somali authorities and other actors, and where appropriate the international community, can successfully come to consensus on the key security settlement issues. Depending on the product, these should be produced through a combination of desk-based research, consultation, and collection of primary data.

1. Policy dialogue and political process support: The partner will be expected to convene an initial set of dialogues on the security sector, using these as fora to discuss policy products, support consensus-building and identify further areas for policy research and convening. Partners may also be expected to provide technical assistance and inputs on political processes and fora, drawing form this research and discussions to inform decision-making on the issue.

1. Ad-hoc analysis: The partner will be expected to provide short ad-hoc analysis either in memo format (1-3) pages or briefing format on emerging issues relevant to the work that can support the Platform and the partner’s iteration of programme strategy.

1. An adapted long-term programme design: The partner will be expected to draw from the lessons of this initial phase of activity to develop a longer-term programme design for two years that can develop and build on this initial phase. It is anticipated that this longer-term programme would have scope for more operational research targeted to gaps in this initial phase, as well as more opportunities to convene policy dialogue and support political processes
2. Outputs and deliverables

The deliverables for this work are expected to be refined in consultation with partners, but it is anticipated that proposals included an offer for the following:

• Proposals for 2-4 policy analysis products aiming to encourage informed discussion based on this strategy (this could be a series of shorter products (3-4) pages, or fewer longer products (10-15 pages)
• Proposals for a series of policy dialogues across Somalia on key strategic policy issues concerning the security sector
• Capacity for short ad-hoc memos/briefs on emerging issues.
• A short programme design for a longer-term 2-year programme, highlighting a programmatic strategy towards greater consensus in the security settlement as a well as identification of research gaps in the sector.

1. Timeline for delivery

The research and analysis work should be delivered between 10 December 2022 and 31 March 2023.

1. Budget

The anticipated budget for this work is $85,000. It will be contracted through a sub-granting agreement