Consultancy : Rootslab Training Consultant

Terms of Reference RootsLab Training Consultant     Introduction RootsLab is a collaborative pilot project by Global Fund for Women, Oxfam,  FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund and Young Foundation that seeks to test how best to incubate social change driven by young women activists.   Oxfam in Lebanon is looking to hire a Consultant (individual/team) to design and run a 3-month training program for RootsLab participants.   Project Background Global Fund for Women, Oxfam, FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund and the Young Foundation have joined together to adapt a potentially game-changing approach to advance young women's rights, leadership and collective action. The project responds to the fact that deep-rooted gender inequality prevents millions of young women from making choices about and taking control of their own lives. Yet not enough resources go to young women directly to help them address, innovate around and combat these challenges. We believe young women activists are best placed to imagine and develop impactful solutions in their communities, but they often lack the opportunity and support to do so. Young women often lack the connections across sectors, financial resources, professional skills, networks and confidence necessary to develop their ideas, scale their projects, and access mentoring and coaching support.   RootsLab seeks to tackle these challenges through offering a space for collective problem solving, and a structured support process to develop and test projects for new and exciting interventions. It provides formal linkages with women’s rights and feminist groups, tangible resources, key partnerships and support in targeted strategies for engagement, community mobilization, advocacy and communications.   During the outreach phase, RootsLab team will reach out to young women and trans* folks across Lebanon to submit their ideas for change. A diverse panel will gather to assess the team proposals, using identified evaluation criteria. Selected teams will then go through an incubation phase where they are expected to lay the groundwork for their projects. Teams will receive needs-based stipends, as well as tailored support, skill building opportunities, and trainings. Teams will also match with an established women’s rights or feminist organization that will host their projects during the prototyping phase, and disburse seed grants.   Therefore, a training program will be offered as part of a 3-months incubation period to support teams of young activists from across Lebanon to lay the groundwork for their projects and develop their ideas for change.       Objectives The training and coaching provided as part of the incubation phase will cover the two themes of social innovation (part 1) and feminist activism (part 2).    The objectives of the training are as follows: 1-      Facilitate the social innovation journey, including idea generation and collective problem solving for participating teams – this phase of the journey is about developing strong concepts and laying the groundwork for the initiatives 2-      Provide participating teams with the basic knowledge, tools and skills that will support them in designing, implementing and growing their initiative throughout the RootsLab journey   Consultants are welcome to apply if they can deliver on one of the two themes detailed below, but we are also interested in unified bids that can address both themes. The proposal should specify which theme(s) is/are covered.  If two separate teams are selected, they are expected to collaborate in delivering a holistic training and coaching package.   Part I: Facilitating a collective innovation journey   -       Generating excitement among participating teams on the innovation journey   -       Developing a strong understanding of and applying available tools from the field that support the development of strong initiatives   In particular, for participating teams to go through a mentored incubation phase of framing problems and developing solutions, drawing on tools and approaches such as human centered design, creative thinking and idea generation methods, concept design and stakeholder mapping.   -       Developing an understanding of their goals, resources, risk, and the needed funding activities to achieve the stated objectives. Teams should assess which resources (internal and external) they already have and/or need and be able to pitch to access resources and bring on board other stakeholders   -       Conducting a needs assessment with the teams and facilitating provision of coaching & training based on assessed needs such as social media, communications, web development or other.   -       Creating a supportive environment among the different teams that will enable peer-to-peer support, exchange and mutual learning, but also with the wider social innovation field and other relevant sectors in Lebanon     Part II: Implementing feminist activism   -       Conducting a needs assessment with the teams and facilitating provision of coaching & training based on assessed needs.   -       Building a strong understanding among participating teams on key gender justice issues their initiatives seek to address, and situating these initiatives in the history of the women’s movement in Lebanon. In particular, this includes:   Building an understanding of the history of key events, movements and trends affecting women’s rights struggles and the feminist movement in Lebanon and the region and gaining a sense of where the challenges and opportunities currently faced come from   Applying tools developed inside the movement to understand key issues such as power analysis & mapping, stakeholder mapping, and understanding the interlocking system of oppression   -       Gaining skills that support the implementation of strong initiatives such as community mobilization techniques, feminist leadership skills, dealing with online and offline threats and risks   -       Creating a supportive environment among the different teams that will enable peer-to-peer support, exchange and learning between the teams, but also with the wider women’s movement in Lebanon   -       Enable the participating teams to identify suitable host organizations to prototype their innovations.   The training and coaching should be constantly adapted based on the needs and requests of the teams and should focus on practical support. We expect creative training and coaching methodologies that are inspirational and motivational to the participating teams, have a focus on collaborative problem-solving and inviting external experts and/or speakers.   Tasks The consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks: a)      Design -       Design a training program, in collaboration with RootsLab project manager, and RootsLab team members from Young Foundation and FRIDA-Young Feminist Fund as per the above mentioned objectives and expected deliverables -       Based on an agreed training program, develop detailed session plans and methodology including presentations and exercises -       Training material can draw on existing material from Global Partners, other innovation and feminist groups from around the world, as well as experiences from the women’s movement in Lebanon   b)      Deliver training sessions -       Hold a kick off meeting with participants, in collaboration with RootsLab project manager in Lebanon, and adapt training based on feedback -       Deliver a series of training sessions for a maximum of 30 participants implemented in collaboration with RootsLab team over the course of 3 months. -       Identify and invite external speakers working in a variety of sectors and on different issues, including people who have implemented inspiring initiatives that have created social change -       Hold a wrap-up meeting to share learning, experiences, and inspirations   c)      Follow-up -       Remote support by consultant. This will include periodic phone check-ins to ensure continued and up-to-date follow-up -       Participate in review processes and based on rapid feedback loops work with RootsLab team to adapt support during implementation   The consultant will be briefed by RootsLab project manager in Lebanon and advisor from the Young Foundation on needs and objectives at the beginning of the consultancy.   Work Conditions The consultant will be expected to carry out the duties within the timeframe described below. Oxfam will be responsible for booking venues and organizing the logistics of meetings and workshops, as well as the coordination with participants Workshops and meetings might be organized during weekends, and provided in Arabic and English All products and workshop agendas should be approved by RootsLab Lebanon project manager. We reserve the right to amend or delete content whenever deemed necessary. RootsLab project team will feed into the design of the program and toolkit   Deliverables & Timeline The consultancy is expected to start on July 14, 2017 and end on January 13, 2017, according to the following schedule:   Deliverable Deadline Submit concept note July 30, 2017 Submit a draft version of the training program design August 15, 2017 Submit training toolkit and final program September 15, 2017 Facilitate inception meeting September 25, 2017 Implement training program December 25, 2017 Facilitate wrap-up meeting January 13, 2017   Reporting Line The consultant will coordinate with and report to the Lebanon RootsLab Project Manager.   Approx Budget The budget for the whole piece of work is approx $12,000. This includes fees of all speakers, trainers and consultants involved. It does not include any costs of printing, participant transport, venue hire and refreshments which will be covered by Roots Lab.   Experience and skills (Individual/Team) Proven experience in leading or supporting new initiatives, using innovation and/or human-centered design methods if applying for part 1 Proven experience of organizing in the women’s movement in Lebanon if applying for part 2 Experience in designing and delivering training related to gender justice and/ or social innovation Ability to work in both English and Arabic   Interested firms or teams of consultants must submit their proposals, in two sections (i) Technical Proposal and (ii) Financial proposal. Proposals should be received by the deadline, July 10, 2017 to Lebanonjobs@oxfam.org.uk.   The Technical proposal should include: A detailed work plan, in-line with the Timeline section above, including indicating number of days A methodology for achieving the aforementioned objectives and deliverables, The Curriculum Vitae for all experts on the consultancy team List of previous experience that are similar and/or relevant to this consultancy in terms of type and scale Any other supporting documents   The Financial proposal should include a general budget and breakdown.