Capacity Strengthening consultancy - Safeguarding and Accountability

Mada Association and CAFOD are committed to upholding professional conduct in all areas of our work and creating an organisational culture that prioritises safeguarding and ensures a safe and trusted environment for all who come into contact with us.  To this end, CAFOD and Mada are seeking a consultant with extensive experience in supporting small NGOs develop their capacity in the areas of Safeguarding and Accountability.  The consultant will work with Mada to develop policies, systems, processes and staff capacity.

The approach will be one of accompaniment where the consultant spends time over an extended period working closely with Mada Association to understand their needs, provide technical support and advice and develop and implement organisational systems and processes.  By the end of the consultancy, Mada Association should not only have the necessary systems in place, but should have the knowledge, skills and understanding to maintain them and ensure that they remain fully embedded within organisational ways of working.  All staff should understand the importance of safeguarding and their role in it regardless of their position within the organisation.

Responsibilities

• Liaise remotely with CAFOD staff in London and Mada Association in Lebanon to agree a schedule of work and produce a detailed workplan.
• Develop a full understanding of the range and scope of the Mada’s work, visit the field as well as Mada’s offices in Beirut and Miniyeh in order to understand the requirements of the organisation and the needs of its staff.
• Ensure that outcomes and related outputs listed below are delivered
• Ensure the sustainability of the work by employing a genuinely participatory approach to the consultancy.
• Production of a final report detailing progress against agreed outcomes

Skills and experience

• Technical knowledge and practical experience of Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and complaints and feedback mechanisms.
• Demonstrable experience of supporting local NGOs to develop their capacity in relation to Safeguarding and complaints handling in a participatory way.
• Excellent understanding and knowledge of Lebanon and of Lebanese civil society
• Experience in accompanying small organisations in the development of systems, processes and policies and on staff training.
• Demonstrable experience of ensuring that organisational development processes are participatory and inclusive
• Ability to provide a tailor-made solution for a small organisation rather than a generic one-size fits all approach.
• Arabic and English language skills are essential

Aim

The consultancy will be for between 6-9 months during 2019/2020, timings to be agreed between all parties. The outputs will be a number of organisational policies and procedures as well as the time spent accompanying partner staff in developing their skills and knowledge on accountability and embedding safeguarding into organisational ways of working.  The process should be highly participatory with a focus on including staff at all levels, furthermore it should focus on the practical aspects of delivering safe, dignified and inclusive programming.

Outcomes

• Development of effective policies and practices in relation to safeguarding and complaints handling mechanisms.
• Development of sufficient staff knowledge and capacity to ensure that programming is safe and accountable to communities beyond the end of the consultancy.

Outputs

Organisational Code of Conduct that includes:

• A commitment to safeguarding
• A commitment to protection for sexual exploitation and abuse
• A duty to report suspicions of allegations of breaches of the code of conduct

A complaints handling mechanism:
Which includes a documented policy/process that:

Contains guidelines on what to do if a suspicion or allegation is brought to the attention of staff

Covers the management of non-sensitive (e.g. operational/programmatic) and sensitive complaints (e.g. safeguarding, fraud, other conduct related)?

Communicates where to refer complaints that fall outside the scope of the organisation

External reporting requirements (e.g. to local authorities)

Furthermore, Communities should be consulted on the design of the complaints mechanism and communities should know how to make a complaint and how it would be managed

Organisational safeguarding policy which;
Sets out the:

• Definition of a child/vulnerable adult
• Definition of abuse
• Specific requirements/expected behaviours for working with children (that aligns with UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and any National legislation)

The necessary organisational processes to ensure that:

• Staff and representatives sign the code of conduct
• That staff understand the code of code of conduct and the consequences for non-adherence.
• Staff are aware of the complaints policy/process
• The organisation can manage complaints safely i.e. has the skills to undertake investigations and respects confidentiality
• Staff know where to access/refer to specialist support for survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse.
• The organisation is able to learn from complaints.
• Staff know how to undertake a project-level risk analysis for safeguarding risks
• Risk analyses are conducted and mitigating actions are put in place (in relation to safe, dignified and accessible programming).

Indicative Timetable (negotiable)

Accompaniment, training and systems development and implementation.  Consultant embedded with Mada Association

Starting October 2019 for approximately 6-7 months

Approximately 3-4 days per month / Approximately 30 working days depending on the fee