1. Background

Two brotherly communities in the Laashimo Valley of the Sanaag Region, who have historically shared close social, cultural, and kinship ties as well as natural resources, trade, and traditional governance systems, have recently been involved in a violent encounter. Recurring disputes over grazing land, water resources, livestock movements, and unresolved grievances have escalated into violent conflict since 2025, resulting in loss of life, injuries, displacement of families, disruption of livelihoods, weakened social cohesion, and growing mistrust between the two communities.

Although local elders, religious leaders, and community representatives have undertaken several initiatives to de-escalate tensions, the underlying drivers of the conflict remain insufficiently understood and inadequately addressed. As part of the Community-Led Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Initiative, a comprehensive conflict assessment and situation analysis is being undertaken to generate an evidence-based understanding of the conflict dynamics and to inform the design of an inclusive and sustainable reconciliation process.

2. Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to engage a qualified Lead Consultant to design, lead, and deliver a comprehensive conflict assessment and situation analysis of the conflict in the Laashimo Valley. The Consultant will provide overall technical leadership for the assessment — developing the methodology and data collection tools, guiding and supervising the field enumeration team, leading the analysis, and producing high-quality reports that will guide the planning and implementation of a sustainable, community-led reconciliation process.

3. Objectives

Overall Objective

To provide technical leadership for a comprehensive conflict assessment and situation analysis that will guide the planning and implementation of a sustainable reconciliation initiative between the two brotherly communities.

Specific Objectives

Develop a sound, conflict-sensitive methodology and appropriate data collection tools for the assessment.
Recruit, orient, train, and supervise the field enumeration team.
Analyse the historical background, root causes, immediate triggers, and dynamics of the conflict.
Identify key conflict actors, stakeholders, influencers, and peace actors.
Assess the humanitarian, social, economic, and psychological impacts of the conflict.
Review previous peace initiatives, mediation efforts, and traditional conflict-resolution mechanisms.
Assess community perceptions, priorities, readiness, and willingness to participate in reconciliation.
Identify risks, opportunities, and local capacities relevant to the peace process.
Provide practical, evidence-based recommendations for the reconciliation process.

4. Scope of Work and Responsibilities

The Lead Consultant shall undertake, but not necessarily be limited to, the following tasks:

A. Inception and Design

Review relevant literature, including previous assessments, peace agreements, government reports, NGO reports, and academic studies.
Prepare an inception report setting out the understanding of the assignment, methodology, work plan, and data collection tools.
Develop and pre-test data collection instruments for key informant interviews, focus group discussions, direct observation, and any survey component.

B. Team Management and Field Oversight

Recruit and train enumerators, ensuring they understand the tools, ethics, conflict sensitivity, and “do no harm” principles.
Plan and supervise field data collection, ensuring quality, safety, inclusiveness, and adherence to the agreed methodology.
Conduct key informant interviews with senior stakeholders (traditional elders, religious leaders, government officials, security representatives, and civil society).
Provide daily guidance to the field team and troubleshoot challenges arising during fieldwork.

C. Analysis and Reporting

Conflict analysis — root causes, immediate triggers; political, social, economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions; conflict timeline; drivers and sustaining factors; grievances; current security situation; and potential escalation scenarios.
Stakeholder analysis — interests, influence, roles, relationships, capacities, and potential contributions to reconciliation.
Humanitarian and socio-economic impact — human, social, and economic impacts, with attention to vulnerable groups, women, and youth.
Mapping — affected villages and settlements, displacement patterns, areas of recurring conflict, and shared resources (water points, grazing land, livestock routes, and markets).
Review of peace initiatives — traditional and religious mediation, government interventions, community agreements, NGO-supported efforts, lessons learned, best practices, and gaps.
Community readiness — willingness to reconcile, trust in peace actors, expectations, priority issues, confidence in traditional institutions, potential spoilers, and community ownership.
Risk and opportunity analysis — potential triggers, political interference, security concerns, misinformation, revenge attacks, and climate-related resource competition, alongside opportunities such as traditional leadership, religious support, community willingness, dialogue platforms, and local peace champions.
Analyse all data and produce the draft and final assessment reports.

5. Methodology

The Consultant shall adopt a participatory and conflict-sensitive methodology, giving special attention to the inclusion of women, youth, elders, religious leaders, internally displaced persons, and minority voices. The methods shall include, among others:

Desk review — previous assessments, peace agreements, government and NGO reports, and academic studies.
Key informant interviews (KIIs) — with elders, religious leaders, government officials, women and youth leaders, civil society, business leaders, and security representatives.
Focus group discussions (FGDs) — with men, women, youth, elders, internally displaced persons, and religious leaders.
Direct observation — of conflict-affected locations, shared natural resources, community interactions, and livelihood conditions.

6. Expected Deliverables

Inception Report — understanding of the assignment, methodology, work plan, and finalised data collection tools.
Trained Field Team — oriented and trained enumerators, with a field data collection plan.
Field Assessment — completion and supervision of field consultations and data collection.
Draft Assessment Report — executive summary, background, methodology, conflict analysis, stakeholder mapping, humanitarian and socio-economic analysis, community readiness assessment, risk and opportunity analysis, findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Final Assessment Report — revised report incorporating stakeholder comments.

7. Duration

The assignment is expected to be completed within 20 working days, distributed across the following activities, among others:

Inception and desk review — 3 days.
Tool development and enumerator training — 2 days.
Field data collection, supervision, and senior KIIs — 6 days.
Data analysis — 3 days.
Drafting of the report — 4 days.
Submission of the final report following review — 2 days.

8. Reporting and Supervision

The Lead Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the PSA Project Manager and in coordination with the consortium partners. The Consultant will be responsible for the performance and conduct of the enumeration team and will report progress regularly against the agreed work plan.

9. Required Qualifications

Advanced university degree in peace and conflict studies, social sciences, development studies, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience in conflict analysis, peacebuilding, and community reconciliation.
Strong knowledge of Somali customary governance systems and traditional conflict-resolution mechanisms.
Proven expertise in qualitative research, stakeholder engagement, and gender and social inclusion.
Experience leading assessment teams and managing field data collection.
Excellent analytical and report-writing skills in English.
Experience working in Puntland and knowledge of the social and cultural context of the Sanaag Region will be a distinct advantage.

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