The West Bank Rapid Response (WB RR) Buy-In, also known as the "Responding to Local Priorities" project in the West Bank, is an initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project aims to address and support community-driven initiatives in the northern region of the West Bank. The primary objective is to enhance collaboration with Palestinian partners while encouraging a comprehensive and responsive approach to local needs.
Management Systems International (MSI) is a Washington, D.C, -area consulting firm that works in over 100 countries and offers services in strategic communications and outreach; organizational development and training; strategy, evaluation and analysis; and gender and inclusion. MSI’s technical expertise includes implementation of a range of analytical and field projects in results-based management including strategic planning and program performance monitoring and reporting, monitoring and evaluation, policy implementation, institutional development, and training.
MSI is currently implementing a project titled “Responding to Local Priorities” which is primarily designed to respond to community priorities and to provide quick assistance in targeted locations in the northern West Bank. This requires the project to successfully measure public opinions about priorities, community conditions, and many other factors. It also needs a way of quickly measuring the perceptions of local actors and communities towards such assistance, therefore assessing the impact of the project’s deliverables.
In cooperation with Palestinian partners, some of the main objectives of this activity includes:
- Responding to community needs arising from recent developments, improving community services, conducting light repairs for private and public spaces and buildings, and providing livelihood opportunities.
- Improving the ability of community organizations to help people cope with psychological hardships and better respond quickly and effectively to emergencies.
- Providing youth with meaningful access to economic opportunities, including short-term jobs and paid internships and working hand-in-hand with local youth organizations to expand activities and services that engage youth.
To successfully meet its expected levels of efficiency and accuracy, the project intends to apply the following strategies:
- Design survey questions for a limited audience, including translating questions into Arabic that is understood by the target audience(s). These questions are then tested on 10-30 participants, which includes targeted communities and certain demographic groups, helping them to adapt and finalize the approach and questions with the Responding to Local Priorities team.
- Deliver the survey to enough recipients to yield 500 and 2,000 completed surveys. The sample size and target locations will be tailored for each survey and priced according to the subcontract’s pricing table. The survey should also be divided by age (under 18, 18 to 29, and 30 and over), sex (male and female), education level, and geographic location (preliminary targets include Tulkarem, Jenin, and Nablus, with a focus on urban areas and camps).
- Provide informational graphics, reports, dashboards, and/or other methods of summarizing the data, secondary analysis, and other findings from the survey. Presentation methods should be informative, short, and easily accessible by various audiences.
MIS’s evaluation criteria is composed of five approaches, each of which empirically measures the expected outcomes and impacts of the project. These approaches are:
- Technical Approach: proposing an approach that achieves a consistent and effective methodology, survey design and targeting, survey execution, and analysis and reporting results.
- Speed and Accuracy of Delivery: propose theories and practices that highlight factors which bring closely accurate data in the most efficient manner, ensuring that it is representative of variables at hand as well as the actual conditions of chosen targets and chosen sights.
- Dealing with Political Sensitivities and Research Ethics: implement approaches which adapt methodologies that are acceptable to the current political and security environment in the northern West Bank and to ensure that interview subjects and field workers are not harmed in the conduct of surveys.
- Organizational Capacity: approaches should demonstrate competency and an ability to implement activities that satisfy the requirements of the project.
- Past Performances: outline and document past projects which conducted similar activities in the West Bank, Gaza, and similar environments (socially, economically, and politically), including their experiences and results.