Feasibility Study Consultancy Syria – Syrian Arab Republic 2 views

Tender Notice

Organisation: Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V.; www.hoffnungszeichen.de, www.sign-of-hope.org

Position: Feasibility Study Consultant

Type of Contract: Short-Term Consultancy

Location: Home-based with field mission travel to Aleppo, Northern Syria, Syria

Relevant languages: English and Arabic (required)

Application Deadline: 18 January 2026

Starting Date: 01 February 2026

Project Title: Fostering Climate-Resilient Livelihoods, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), and Social Cohesion in Post-Conflict Aleppo City

Total Project Budget: 1.000.000 Euro (to be approved)

Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V. (SoH) is announcing an open tender procedure for consultancy services for a feasibility study in Syria.

Background and Organisational Setting

SoH is a Christian motivated organisation for Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance and Development Cooperation. From its base in Constance, Germany, SoH is committed to helping those in distress and exploited people worldwide.

This feasibility study is commissioned, prior to project implementation, under the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) budget for development projects run by private organisations.
SoH will be the private German executing agency and the contracting party. The project will be implemented via a local partner.

Project Context

Aleppo city, Syria’s former economic powerhouse, has been severely damaged across its residential, academic and industrial sectors as a result of years of conflict. Now, Aleppo faces a series of complex challenges as people are trying to adapt to a new normal. High unemployment rates lead to significant economic vulnerability as well as dependency on external support. Climate change related vulnerabilities such as water scarcity and urban heat stress are increasing. The education sector is fragile, and children are lacking safe and well-equipped schools as well as adequately trained school staff to explore healthy coping mechanism for their experiences in a war-torn Syria. In parallel, displacement and tensions have broken down social cohesion among Aleppo’s ethnically diverse, religiously mixed communities, exacerbated by years of conflict and halting recovery responses.

The project is supposed to support the sustainable rebuilding of post-conflict Aleppo city with a multi-sector and evidence-informed coordinated approach, targeting vulnerable groups (particularly women, youth, displaced people and returnees). The intervention in Aleppo shall provide future perspectives by linking economic recovery to climate change adaptions. At the same time, past traumas shall be addressed by fostering mental and psychosocial resilience of communities and strengthening social cohesion – thereby unlocking Aleppo’s potential to recovery with three interlinked components:

Component 1 Livelihoods: Addressing unemployment, economic fragility and climate change challenges by equipping vulnerable groups with market-relevant, green-oriented skills and pathways to dignified employment (e.g. women-led cooperatives; training/mentoring with small business grants; vocational training and apprenticeship program).

Component 2 Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) & Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS): Restoring access to quality primary education (e.g. rehabilitation and equipping of primary schools; implementation of SEL and MHPSS programs at primary schools; capacity building of teachers; enhancing parent and community involvement).

Component 3 Cross-Cutting Social Cohesion: Fostering reconciliation and bridging divisions among Aleppo’s diverse population to support community-led recovery (e.g. women-led and gender-balanced peace groups; women- and youth-led local recovery initiatives).

Further information will be shared after selection.

Feasibility Study Objectives

The purpose of the feasibility study is to provide SoH with a solid foundation for developing a complete project proposal/concept, by identifying project prerequisites, opportunities and risks. This process includes an assessment of the feasibility of the proposed project intervention to assess if it can plausibly achieve planned objectives given existing contextual realities.

This comprehensive study will verify relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the proposed project intervention. The study will provide concrete and practical recommendations that will assist with the finalisation of project design elements, including the LogFrame, risk analysis, problem analysis and relevance of the proposed project intervention, stakeholder analysis, among others.

The study will support the project quality assurance measures implemented by SoH and contribute to the decision-making process regarding the funding of the proposed project activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Individual Consultants as well as companies are eligible to apply. For ease of reading, the term “Consultant” will be used exclusively in the following. The selected Consultant will work in close cooperation with the responsible SoH Officer and the local implementing partner.

The duties and responsibilities of the Consultant will include:

• Develop a work plan outlining the proposed research methodology, geographical coverage, and schedule to conduct the feasibility study;
• Carry out a project site visit to the project location to conduct research, collect data and establish contact with the local implementing partner, potential beneficiaries and relevant project stakeholders;
• Review existing policies and structures, government development strategies as well as relevant studies and research projects that could serve as a basis for the feasibility study;
• Identify relevant project stakeholders at various levels (local, district and national if applicable), including local governing bodies, academia and industry as well as lessons learned and best practises of similar on-going and implemented projects relevant to the project;
• Evaluate all available data and sources providing background information on identified issues, the problem analysis as well as the selected intervention to address identified needs (baseline data with focus on the qualitative analysis);
• Assess the proposed activities, as well as their timing and required financial resources.
• Examine institutional, technical, staffing and financial capacities of the selected implementing partner, as well as its relationship with the target group. Based on the findings, determine if there are areas in which capacities of the local implementing partner need to be developed;
• Review main governmental and non-governmental stakeholders with a purpose to see if there is a potential overlap or conflict of interest as well as opportunities for coordination with the aim of creating synergies and new cooperation partnerships;
• Examine the identified target group, its needs and role in the broader social context as well as the relevance of the planned project activities for addressing their needs;
• Identify potential obstacles and alternatives to overcome the foreseen challenges;
• Review and analyse all available project design elements and draft documents related to the project concept, if necessary;
• Critically review the planned project in terms of OECD/DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability (please see www.oecd.org/development/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm);
• Prepare a report containing the findings on the above items, specific recommendations for the project concept with a view to planning and implementing foreseen project activities.

Expected Deliverables

The feasibility study will produce the following deliverables:

• a feasibility study outline, including the proposed methodology and data collection tools, table of content and a timeline of research activities (inception report) prior to the site visit to the project location by 8 February 2026,
• a summary containing a brief overview and the main findings of the study by 28 February 2026,
• a comprehensive report of a maximum of 30 pages with practical recommendations and relevant annexes by 28 February 2026, including:

1. a review of the main project design elements and provision of concrete recommendations for improvement,
2. an analysis of the institutional structure required for project implementation, stipulating the roles and responsibilities of staff members involved,
3. a detailed problem analysis,
4. a stakeholder analysis,
5. a revision of the target group,
6. an analysis of the potential risks and recommendations on how to mitigate these risks,
7. a schedule of project activities,
8. a financial plan (planning budget),
9. a detailed project logframe with SMART indicators for the project objective and results listing related activities and required resources,
10. a “Do-no-harm analysis” including recommendations on how to mitigate potential harm and conflict situations that can potentially arise during or as a result of the project activities,
11. a gender mainstreaming analysis identifying potential risks and recommendations to ensure gender equality in all aspects of the project design and implementation.

A template will be provided to serve as guidance and suggested structure for the final report.

Process/Timeframe

A total duration of the assignment is up to 20 working days within the period of 01 February 2026 to 08 March 2026. The draft version of the report shall be handed in by 28 February 2026, while the final version incorporating feedback must be submitted by 08 March 2026.

A planning meeting with the local partner, handover of relevant documents – 1 day

Initial document review and preparing inception report – 3 days

Sharing inception report with SoH and local partner – 1 day

Data collection site visit to a project location – 5 days

Data analysis, draft report with annexes, presenting to SoH – 5 days

Incorporating received feedback and finalising the report – 5 days

Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

• Minimum of 5 years of project evaluation and/or implementation experience in the result-based management framework
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in at least two of the relevant fields: livelihoods/economic recovery, SEL, MHPSS, and social cohesion
• Proven experience of conducting feasibility studies, evaluations and other research projects
• Technical and methodological knowledge to conduct research projects and formulate conclusions based on a solid methodology, assessing projects for relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of projects
• Experience working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and partnered projects
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic

Desirable:

• Experience in the relevant fields of livelihoods/economic recovery, SEL, MHPSS, and social cohesion
• Professional familiarity with the project country/region
• Practical experience of working for and/or evaluating BMZ-funded projects

Academic Background

An advanced level university degree (Masters’ degree or equivalent) in social sciences, public administration, international development studies, and/or other relevant fields is required. A first-level university degree in combination with additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted.