[CALL FOR TENDERS] Design and Facilitation of One or More Training Courses on “Green Humanitarian Action”

Background

The Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) is one of the leading academic institutions in Europe for teaching and research in the context of humanitarian crises. Within the framework of a consortium project with the Umbrella Organization of German NGOs for Development and Humanitarian Relief (VENRO), the IFHV hosts training courses to support German humanitarian NGOs and their local partners in their efforts to implement future-oriented approaches and reforms, to drive innovation as well as to enhance sustainability and efficiency.

This project includes, amongst others, a training package on Greening Humanitarian Action. On behalf of the IFHV, the Academy of the Ruhr-University intends to commission external service providers to design and conduct one or more training courses on Greening Humanitarian Action within this package. The events are aimed at humanitarian NGO staff working on or interested in implementing projects and programming related to green humanitarian action. The trainings will be advertised and conducted under the umbrella of the academy for humanitarian action (aha) and some of the events will also be integrated into the aha’s certification program.

Complementary to the training events, the IFHV will conduct a research project to enhance NGOs’ capacities to track direct and indirect emissions. Mainstreaming the topics of emission-tracking and related tools into all advertised trainings is therefore highly desirable. IFHV staff will be available to advise on integrating these components into training concepts throughout the further planning process.

We invite you to bid with a written proposal on the services described below by email by March 3 , 2023, at 12:00 noon (CET). The training series consists of six training sessions grouped into three thematic clusters. It is possible to file a tender for one, multiple or all training sessions both within and across different clusters. Please note that the goals, format, and focus formulated in your offer may deviate from the indications listed in this call if this appears reasonable from your point of view.

Service Description: Training package on “Green Humanitarian Action”

According to the current IPCC report, human-induced global warming has already caused a temperature increase of 1.1°C since 1900. The world is expected to reach the 1.5°C limit in the early 2030s. The climate crisis affects humanitarian action in two mirrored ways. First, environmental catastrophes often contribute to factors of already existing crises. Secondly, humanitarian crises and humanitarian response can have degrading impacts on the environment if managed inadequately. Integrating new humanitarian mechanisms, tools, and standards taking into account environmental impacts will heavily improve the quality of humanitarian action. This training package, therefore, focusses on the various links between the environment and humanitarian action, its biggest challenges, and the potential opportunities to enable environmentally responsible answers. All training events are related to the topics of “Organizational Requirements in NGOs to enable ‘greening’” (Cluster 1), “Tools and Standards helping to enable ‘greening’” (Cluster 2) and “Sector-specific Greening” (Cluster 3).

Cluster 1: “Organizational requirements in NGOs to enable ‘greening'”

1. Training: Climate-Neutrality Transformation within NGOs: Step by Step towards greater sustainability (1-2 days; 8-16 working hours)

Brief description:
The climate crisis threatens humanity now and in the future. NGOs must do their parts to ensure that humanitarian action aligns with the ‘do no harm’ principle. Therefore, NGOs must improve their carbon footprint both in their HQs and the field. This has to be achieved by mainstreaming environmental concerns in the planning phase, assessment, and later conducting humanitarian assistance. This workshop seeks to introduce the participants to preconditions their organizations must implement to pave the way for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable response, especially regarding environmental assessment methods and emission tracking. The facilitated exchange should address the staff of international NGOs and their local partners and can be complemented with selected inputs and/or group work.

Location, time and language:
Online Event, expected in April or May 2023. The workshop should be delivered in English.

Objectives of the workshop:

• The participants know which preconditions within their organizations must be established to ensure an environmentally friendly humanitarian response.
• They have the opportunity to present and exchange the status quo and concrete project examples from their own organizations.
• They collect and learn about best practices concerning sustainable transformation.
• They critically reflect on the potential and applicability of the newly acquired skills in their own work context.

Cluster 2: “Tools and Standards helping to enable ‘greening'”

2. Training: Green Humanitarian Standards and Tools (1-3 days, 8-24 working hours)

Brief description:

To implement green humanitarian action in practice, NGOs need to know the most relevant and practical standards and tools such as DG-ECHO’s implementation of the ‘Green New Deal’,’NEAT+’ and the ‘Humanitarian Carbon Calculator’ and others. Implementing and applying these standards and tools is still an emerging area for most NGOs. This course aims to be a hands-on introduction to the essential tools and standards currently available in the field of green humanitarian action. It might cover one or two tools/standards in detail or give a brief overview about the most important ones.

Location, time and language:
Online Event, expected in June or July 2023. The training should be delivered in English.

Objectives of the training:

• The participants learn about the most important tool(s) and standard(s) in the field of green humanitarian action.
• They learn how to use and implement the chosen standard(s).
• They know the basics on using at least one tool practically.
• They critically reflect on the potentials and limitations of using these tools and standards in their own work context.

3. Training: Implementing Environmental Impact Assessment (2-3 days, 16-24 working hours)

Brief description:

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a mechanism that helps to identify the impacts of humanitarian response on the environment before decision-making. It aims to predict adverse environmental outcomes already in the planning phase of projects. By that, project designers can search for ways to reduce such impacts and shape their projects regarding local characteristics. There are several international frameworks and regulations on how to implement EIAs, for example the European EIA directive, the Espoo Convention on Transboudary EIA or UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook (GEO).This course aims to give an overview about EIA strategies, its processes and methodology.

Location, time and language:
Online event, expected in November or December 2023. The training should be delivered in English.

Objectives of the training:

• The participants know how to implement EIA in their project designs.
• The participants understand the importance of EIA and are able to construct an impact strategy.
• They get to know key methodological aspects of assessment, including the analyis of environmental trends and the study of polixy options for future scenarios.
• They critically reflect on the potential and limitations of EIA in different humanitarian contexts.

Cluster 3: “Sector-specific ‘greening'”

4. Training: Greening Shelter and Settlement Response (3 days, 24 working hours)

Brief description:
Much of the current emergency humanitarian shelter assistance depends on high-carbon measures with negative environmental repercussions. When the scale of procurement is multiplied across humanitarian actors, these items represent a significant portion of the humanitarian sector’s ecological footprint and a fruitful opportunity to find innovative ways to improve existing and future approaches. The most significant impacts usually stem from questions about where shelters are built, how much land needs to be excavated, whether roads need to be built, to which degree local vegetation can be respected, what energy systems are being used and how sustainable the shelter material is.

Location, time and language:
Face-To-Face Training in Bochum (Germany), expected in September or October 2023. The possibility of hybrid or online participation for local partners that are unable to travel to Bochum should be considered. The workshop should be delivered in English.

Objectives of the training:

• The participants know about the common risks for the environment in shelter response.
• They learn innovative approaches to design environmentally friendly shelters.
• They understand the multiplication of environmental impacts and shelter conception.
• They critically reflect on the potential and applicability of the newly acquired skills in their own work context

5. Training: Greening Food Security and Logistics (3 days, 24 working hours)

Brief description:

Every year, humanitarian organizations deliver millions tons of food across the globe. In-kind food assistance has a huge impact on the local environment. Some food is shipped internationally, some needs to be flown in, all of it is packed in billions of plastic bags and bottles, cardboard boxes and aluminium wrappers. To find an adequate response to the problems associated with the environmental crisis in their work, NGOs need to rethink and improve, in particular, their sector-specific work. In this workshop, we want to identify the specific logistics and food security challenges. The participants should be provided with innovative methods to preserve the natural environment when delivering food and energy supply solutions and give a brief overview on how Cash Transfers might impact the environmental footprint in the sector of food security.

Location, time and language:
The Face-To-Face Training in Bochum (Germany) is expected to be held in March/April 2024. The possibility of hybrid or online participation for local partners that are unable to travel to Bochum should be considered. The workshop should be delivered in English.

Objectives of the training:

• The participants are aware of the environmental impacts of logistics and food security.
• They know and practically use innovative methods to improve their response.
• They are aware of the interlinkage between the sectors (logistics, food security, WASH, shelter).
• They critically reflect on the potential and applicability of the newly acquired skills in their own work context

6. Training: Greening WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) (3 days, 24 working hours)

Brief description:

Climate change introduces many new challenges for the humanitarian WASH sector, e.g., due to water scarcity and droughts. Inadequate ecological considerations heighten the risk of soil degradation or the loss of biodiversity. Programs need to build resilience for future challenges by involving climate-appropriate management to ensure the supply of sustainable water sources. Those could be supported by solar water pumps or solar lighting at WASH facilities, the implementation of dams and reservoirs for energy generation, as well as desalination plants. Emissions could be reduced by including low-energy consumption water and waste-water treatment processes or the use of “green cement” and recycled materials. There are also innovative methods like waterless sanitation that should be implemented more regularly. This workshop should introduce the participants to environmental challenges concerning WASH and provide innovative answers to those.

Location, time and language:
The Face-To-Face Trainings in Bochum (Germany), expected to be held in May or June 2024. The possibility of hybrid or online participation for local partners that are unable to travel to Bochum should be considered. The workshop should be delivered in English.

Objectives of the training:

• The participants are aware of the potential adverse impacts that WASH projects might cause on the environment.
• They know and practically use innovative methods to improve their response.
• They are aware of the interlinkage between an environmentally adequate response and aid efficiency.
• They critically reflect on the potential and applicability of the newly acquired skills in their own work context.

Services to be provided

The following services are to be provided under the scope of this call:

1) Planning: Conceptual planning of one or more training events for a minimum of 15 participants per event. Preparation of a detailed agenda (about two DIN A4 pages per event) showing the contents, methods and objectives of the individual sections of the events. It should be hands-on and designed for humanitarian practitioners. All logistical planning matters (i.e. registration procedure, incl. any additional questions and/or pre-course assessments that will help to facilitate the training) will be handled by the RUB Academy and are not part of this tender.

2) Implementation: Professional input and independent moderation of the event(s). The proposal may include the commissioning of external speakers for additional professional input on certain topics. IFHV will support with technical and logistical assistance during the events. Additional assistance services (co-moderation, technical support etc.) can be provided by arrangement.

3) Documentation: Preparation of a short summary report (max. 5 pages) of the most important discussion points of the training.

Please note: All services are provided in close consultation with the responsible IFHV staff member. Ongoing arrangements regarding the conception as well as documentation of the training (via e-mail and telephone) are part of the service provision and will not be remunerated separately. A transfer of property rights to the training material (concepts, working materials, powerpoints, etc.) are not part of the tender and remain with the trainer or his/her organization.