BRCiS Tri-Donor Reporting Consultancy

Background:

Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BRCiS) is a consortium of national and international organizations – Action Against Hunger (ACF), CESVI, Concern Worldwide (CWW), GREDO, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), KAALO, Save the Children, and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) as lead agency. BRCiS’ objective is to work across the humanitarian-development divide, supporting marginalised communities in disaster-prone, rural Somalia to become more resilient to shocks and stressed, including as a result of climate change. BRCiS approach is contextually adaptive, focused on the specific shocks, needs, and priorities of individual communities. BRCiS was established in 2013 and is now implementing projects funded by multiple humanitarian and development donors in more than ten regions of Somalia.

As a continuation of BRCiS’ emergency, drought-response activities begun in early 2022, BRCiS is currently implementing a six-month (April – September 2023) project jointly funded by FCDO, USAID, and QFFD – the HARBS Emergency Response Programme – Phase Two. Through BRCiS, all three donors contribute to a shared theory of change that IF marginalized communities in disaster-prone, rural Somalia have access to humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs (Outcome 1 – primarily funded by FCDO and QFFD) AND IF commercial and domestic food producers and local food processors better meet community nutritional needs (Outcome 2 – primarily funded by USAID) THEN BRCiS will contribute to reduced severity of humanitarian needs and displacement in Somalia (Impact). Rather than operating as parallel projects, each donor’s priorities and resources are layered for a comprehensive service at the community level, captured in a central measurement and reporting framework.

Consultancy rationale:

Under the terms of BRCiS’ Accountable Grant Agreement with FCDO, each of the three donors will receive a separate quarterly narrative report from BRCiS by 31 July covering the period of 1 April – 30 June. While a large amount of content will be the same for each of the three donor reports, BRCiS must separately report on specific achievements under each donor and ensure that additional donor-specific reporting requirements are addressed. BRCiS is thus seeking an individual consultant or consulting firm to lead the preparation of these reports over the course of 10 days between 15 and 31 July.

Responsibilities of the Consultant(s):

• Review all relevant project documentation in order to ensure a complete understanding of the project, engaging with the BRCiS Consortium Management Unit (Programme, MEAL, and Finance teams) as needed to achieve full understanding of the project
• Receive and review report inputs from BRCiS Members (due 20 July), providing feedback to Members to ensure completeness and quality of submissions; the consultant(s) will work directly alongside the CMU Programme Team on the quality control of report inputs, but be ultimately responsible for management of the reporting process
• Coordinate report inputs on CMU-led activities across the CMU, managing internal timeline and submission quality.
• Consolidate all Member inputs into master report templates, ensuring adherence to all word limits and specifications of the three donor reporting templates. The consolidated reports should not be a copy and paste of individual Members’ inputs, but rather demonstrate a coherent, BRCiS-level project narrative.
• Conduct quality control of complete submission package (including log frame and other mandatory annexes) to ensure consistency across all documents.
• Deliver three finalized, donor-ready project reports and package of mandatory annexes to CMU no later than 30 July for onward submission by the CMU.
• Close the loop on all project reporting, ensuring that final materials are filed and accessible to BRCiS Members**.**

Competencies

Professional competencies:

• At least five years of experience preparing donor reports for complex projects in humanitarian or fragile, conflict-affected contexts, significant past experience in consortium settings would be an advantage.
• Superb English language communication skills (written and verbal), with proven experience explaining complex concepts simply too diverse audiences with little or no native English proficiency.
• Proven track record of remote collaboration, including mastery of Microsoft Teams suite of remote meeting and coordination tools (Teams, SharePoint, etc.).
• Proven ability to work effectively across cultures, in sensitive environments, and with stakeholders.
• Strong planning, monitoring, and organizational skills with good knowledge of the use of logical and result-based monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

Application Requirements

Interested consultant(s) should submit a bid, which must include the following:

• Proposal of a maximum of 3 pages in length, including:

  • Summary of experience with donor reporting for projects >$5,000,000 in general
  • Summary of experience with donor reporting for projects funded by USAID, FCDO, and/or QFFD specifically.
  • Written responses to the following questions of no more than 300 words each – responses should exemplify the quality of writing that you consider adequate for final donor submission:
    • What will you do differently when preparing these reports considering that the project includes three donors contributing to one theory of change?
    • How can narrative reports most effectively demonstrate Value for Money?
  • Two references for past work completed within the last 12 months (other references can be included, but at least two are mandatory from the last 12 months)

• Other documents as separate attachments:

• • Financial proposal (all cost proposals should be based on the number of days planned for this work)
    – Resume of the consultant (if independent consultant, then a single CV will suffice – there is no preference for teams vs. individuals).
    – At least 2 excerpts of similar work undertaken (3-5 pages maximum per excerpt). BRCiS has no material interest in the content of the reports; proprietary/confidential information of former clients should be redacted/excluded from the excerpt. Sharing such information may be grounds for rejection of an application.
    – Proven track record of developing similar reports.
    – Track record of similar assignments with evidence.
    – Proof of registration from the country of origin as a limited liability company or as a sole trader/self-employed.