Maldives Pfem Final Evaluation Consultant - Asia, Perú - Internews

Descripción

Terms of reference:
Final Evaluation of Protecting Freedom of Expression in the Maldives***
(March May 2024)

Terms of Reference:


Final Evaluation of Protecting Freedom of Expression in the Maldives (PFEM)**
Internews overview:
Project overview:

As the Maldives adopts stronger systems of democratic governance, it is critical that people in the country have access to quality, impartial and trusted information to make informed decisions about their lives and hold power to account.

Internews Europe (Internews) and co-applicants Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) propose a 27-month project, "
Protecting Freedom of Expression in the Maldives" (PFEM).

Overall objective:

The overall objective of PFEM is to enhance democracy and human rights in the Maldives, through promoting and protecting Freedom of Expression (FoE), with a specific focus on media freedom and development.

Specific objectives (SO):

• Journalists and media outlets can effectively address hate speech, fake news and disinformation especially transmitted via social media; and audiences have access to quality factchecked information.
• Journalists are better protected against threats to digital, physical and psychosocial safety.
• Improved professionalisation and support to journalists and media outlets to improve the quality of journalism in the Maldives.

The PFEM project is designed based on the following methodology**:

Information Ecosystem Assessment:
Internews' Information Ecosystem Assessment methodology underpins activities in all, informing programming through focused and incisive analyses.

The initial IEA exercise will be conducted during the inception phase and will provide a continually evolving framework which is informed through ongoing due diligence processes; project-based monitoring, evaluation and learning; and regular consultation with actors on the ground as well as the broader donor/media development community.

This allows Internews to understand specific barriers to freedom of expression and information access, including for (and with a particular focus on) women and socially excluded groups, and to identify and select strategic partners and approaches that will maximise impact.

To respond effectively to needs identified through the baseline IEA, Internews also maintains a sufficient level of in-house technical and global expertise, regionally specific knowledge and management response capacity to ensure the Action can adapt to evolving circumstances.

Holistic approach to capacity building:

Key actors in the media and information sphere are provided with capacity building interventions drawing upon the related activities detailed in the previous section.

As well as dedicated safety and security trainings and activities, safety and security of partners is mainstreamed through all programmatic activities wherever possible in order to secure their resilience towards hostile threats and other changes in their context.

Over the past year and a half, Internews has implemented a flexible approach to implementing trainings and capacity building with the onset of COVID-19.

The ongoing COVID-19 situation will be continuously monitored and where needed, trainings can take place online and in modular formats to allow for the highest participation and engagement rates possible.

The high internet penetration rate of the Maldives will allow all participants to easily participate in online trainings.


Partnership approach:

Internews is proposing a capacity building and development intervention, drawing on international expertise and best practice, which will deliver impact primarily through building the capacity of, key leading media outlets, as well as journalists, citizen journalists, social media content producers and human rights defenders: to ensure and expand access to information and continued freedom of expression.

Internews' overall approach is centred on beneficiary-led development - as such, Internews does not seek to impose changes to media partners' mission or purpose, or indeed build new media partners from the top down.

Rather, Internews aims to provide existing media outlets with the tools and expertise to maximise reach and impact within their defined mission - as reflected here.

Organisational capacity strengthening:
IFJ will conduct baseline capacity assessment of MJA organisations using an Organisational Capacity Assessment tool. The OCA uses an ordinal scale to score components of organisational capacity. Scores are described and benchmarked to ensure SMART indicators are developed and utilised wherever possible. In-depth interviews with partner representatives will inform the OCA.

The OCA tool acts both as a need's assessment and analysis tool as well as a monitoring and evaluative instrument.

The scores obtained inform the baseline data related to partners' capacity and the assessment will b