Consultancy - Development Of Beneficiary Feedback & Response Systems

Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work today in around 30 countries, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home. The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, 7.6 people are internally displaced and 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. There are more than 4 million Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries. In Iraq, there has been a rapid deterioration of the security situation, seeing the number of people requiring life-saving assistance increase over 400% over the last 1.5 years. Over 2 million are displaced with hundreds of thousands living in formal IDP camps across Iraq, plus more than 1.5 million people from host communities and more than 200,000 refugees who fled Syria. These are no short- term humanitarian episodes. The devastating human consequences to huge numbers of people will endure for decades. The destruction of relationships, communities, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure will take years to repair. The IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria and Iraq crisis. With an annual budget in excess of $140 million and a rapidly expanding portfolio, supported by nearly 1300 staff, IRC’s Syria Response Region (SRR) is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the fields of health, water and sanitation, child protection, education, women’s protection and empowerment, non-food and food distribution, cash assistance, and livelihood programming. Programs are implemented both directly (i.e. by IRC) and by partner organizations. The humanitarian system, in response to the Syria and Iraq crisis included, does not always adequately plan or provide services in response to what affected people want or need. While other industries have capitalized on processes like human-centred design to listen and respond to the wants and desires of clients (and thereby increasing profits or influence), humanitarian actors still struggle to effectively engage clients in shaping responses, either at design stage or at key decision points during implementation. This leads to situations where humanitarian assistance is unused, underused, or misused, as affected populations try to repurpose available resources to fit their needs. Worse still, this can contribute to clients acting as passive aid recipients rather than active participants in their own recovery, undermining the intent of humanitarian assistance. Globally, IRC’s 2015-20 Strategy has prioritized, and investments are already being made in, strategic objectives and initiatives related to beneficiary feedback and response, such as effectiveness (including context adaptability), best use of resources (including equitable criteria), responsiveness (including client voice & choice) and research & development. At the regional level, some investments have already been made in SRR for polling and surveying recipients about program delivery, for example using RescueSMS (IRC’s tool for managing bulk text messaging) and ServiceInfo in Lebanon; on a more ad-hoc or individual program and often small-scale basis even more is happening. Much less has been done, systematically, to ensure and improve responsiveness to beneficiaries’ feedback. From another angle, IRC has many checks and balances in place to guard against aid diversion, however is not optimally using beneficiary feedback as an additional, potentially very effective, safeguard. Some level of regional coherence (i.e. similar or even joined mechanisms) is expected to be beneficial in terms of efficiency gains and effectiveness; however, this is to be confirmed through this consultancy. OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF WORK:The objectives of this consultancy are: 1. To identify and learn from beneficiary feedback and response mechanisms in place, under development or expected, both internally and externally2. To propose a workable beneficiary feedback and response model for IRC in SRR, including all details of its operationalization and projected costs3. To support country programs in the piloting and subsequent rolling out of the proposal beneficiary feedback and response system(s)4. To contribute to the organization-wide evidence base and learning from beneficiary feedback and response mechanisms, and ensure complementarity with related strategic initiatives The specific components of work required of the consultant will emerge as the work gets underway, and is expected to include the following: Fine tune these terms of reference in collaboration with the Regional M&E Coordinator and develop a plan of action for the consultancy Do a literature review of beneficiary feedback and response, and related topics such as accountability, to determine the applicability of emerging trends and innovations to the IRC SRR context and Syria crisis context more widely Identify, assess and learn from all beneficiary feedback mechanisms currently practiced by individual parts of IRC in SRR (country programs, sector programs, projects), by IRC globally (to a lesser degree of detail) and by other humanitarian actors in the Syria crisis, with a specific focus on their feasibility and value-added in practice Consult internal3 and external stakeholders, including donor representatives, to gain an understanding of expectations of beneficiary feedback systems (what they should achieve, how they should be used, the mechanisms themselves, investments, how it fits with wider accountability, etc.) Propose beneficiary feedback and response systems based on proven good practice, innovation and available resources Support selected IRC country/sector programs in SRR to pilot the proposed beneficiary feedback and response system, to test viability and work out operational issues Capture lessons learned and assess viability of the piloted approach Develop the final beneficiary feedback and response systems, with all necessary specifications including budgetary Several key questions should be explicitly addressed by the consultant; these will be supplemented by the consultant’s own findings as the work progresses: How to strike the right balance between the feedback and response components, i.e. that the systems to aggregate, analyze and reach to feedback data are given as much important as the systems to collect it from beneficiaries? How to make the mechanism both static and active, i.e. directly solicits feedback and offers opportunities for beneficiaries to approach and engage on their own? How to ensure a strong protection lens to the systems, i.e. checks to ensure a “do no harm” approach? How to apply the systems to programs implemented both by IRC directly and by partner organizations? How to factor operational, contextual, programmatic and target group differences between, and even within, country programs into a regionally coherent approach? For those operating in Syria, how to integrate this with IRC’s One-Syria approach? How to ensure the mechanisms are folded into country, regional and global level M&E or wider accountability frameworks, plans or procedures? How can the system react to, or be adaptive to, disruptions and other dynamic changes in programming while still being useful? Deliverables of the consultancy will be: Agreed plan of action for the consultancy Documented findings and conclusions of consultations, such individual interviews, country program visits, and country/regional workshop(s) (summary level only), with explicit recommendations on how these findings should be incorporated into SRR’s strategy action planning Documented proposed beneficiary feedback and response mechanism including evidence base and all operationalisation details (for each location/context) such as standard operating protocols (SOPs), staffing structures, job descriptions, cost elements and estimates, technology specifications, risk management, etc. (draft document in the early stages, final at the end of the consultancy) Final consultancy report (brief, to capture elements of the work not reflected in the aforementioned documentation) KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: Consultancy Manager: Regional M&E Coorindator, based in Amman Key points of contact: Country program senior management – Country Directors, Deputy Program Directors, Program Coordinators, M&E Coordinators/Managers Regional office staff – ICT4P Coordinator, Technical Advisors, Partnership Director, Strategy Coordinator, One-Syria Director, Regional Director Headquarters staff – Research Evaluation & Learning Unit and other Technical Unit (e.g. Governance) staff involved in related strategic initiatives External stakeholders – IRC partner organizations, current or potential IRC beneficiaries, other INGOs, key donors (including at least DFID, OFDA, SIDA, ECHO) REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL SKILLS: Undergraduate or graduate university degree in relevant social science or science disciplines. Experience in developing, using and/or managing beneficiary feedback and response mechanisms in humanitarian (preferable) or longer-term development contexts Conversant in information and communication technology (ICT) and its application to beneficiary feedback mechanisms. The consultant will not be required to build the ICT systems themselves, but should be able to provide the specifications for both the architecture and use of the technology. A sound understanding of humanitarian programming Hands-on experience working in insecure or otherwise disruptive environments Familiarity with NGO organizational culture and a realistic view of opportunities and constraints to institutionalizing and meaningfully using beneficiary feedback and response mechanisms Fluent in English, written and oral. The ability to communicate in Arabic is a strong added advantage. REQUIRED PERSONAL SKILLS: Ability to listen and understand others’ ideas and needs, and to contextualize them Ability to effectively facilitate multiple parties/viewpoints and gain agreements Strategic and innovative thinking, while remaining practical and realistic Proactive and self-motivated approach to work Note: List of responsibilities, professional and personal skills are considered indicative and not exhaustive; actual duties may differ or change depending on office and agency priorities at the time. TO APPLY:A CV, applicants should attach a brief proposed plan for completing the consultancy (maximum 2 pages), indicating the total costs including the required number of days work, daily consultancy fee and availability from September 2015 to April 2016. The cost should include professional fees and home-based office and communications costs; travel-related costs would be covered separately by IRC. Applications without the required proposal will not be considered. IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.