Consultancy-Organizational Development (Capacity Building – WROs, WLOs and CSOs)- IRAQ (INT8920)

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Strengthening Partners’ Organisational Development in Iraq

(Capacity Building – WROs, WLOs and CSOs)

1. Background

This capacity building activity in Iraq is planned as part of two projects implemented by Oxfam in Iraq: “Naseej – Connecting Voices and Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls in the MENA Region” funded by the EU and taking place in Iraq, in OpT and in Yemen, and “Women’s Voice and Leadership” funded by GAC and taking place in Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.

Since 2020, the Naseej project has been providing grants to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Women-led (WLOs) and Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs) to realise actions against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and for gender equality, through programming and advocacy. The project has also included capacity strengthening actions with the grantees and partners to support their technical and organisational development as civil society actors working on gender equality and women’s rights.

The Women’s Voice and Leadership project on the other hand is expected to start by the end of the year 2022 and will support WROs in Iraq in contributing to increased enjoyment of human rights by women and girls, in vulnerable situations due to external factors and forms of exclusion/marginalization and to the advancement of gender equality, with a focus on eliminating and responding to SGBV.

This activity is planned to be delivered in the final stages of the Naseej project implementation and contributes to the project’s exit strategy. More generally, it is part of Oxfam’s strategy to continuously support the development, sustainability and strategic positioning of CSOs, WLOs/WROs in view of empowering the feminist and women’s movements for gender justice in Iraq. In this perspective the activity is meant to provide insights and recommendations to continue our support to our partners beyond the scope of the Naseej project and as the Women’s Voice and Leadership project starts.

1. Purpose and Objectives

The capacity building activity seeks to establish strengths, areas for further consolidation and key recommendations in terms of organisational development of Naseej partner WROs and CSOs, in view of their positions as actors of the gender equality movement and their contribution to sustaining services and advocacy efforts to end SGBV.

It is meant to provide both a concluding assessment of capacity strengthening undertaken so far, a baseline for future development and strategic advice in that regard.

The activity builds upon the conclusion of trainings and other capacity strengthening actions that have taken place under the Naseej project on several thematic areas (see details hereafter), and more generally, on partner assessments to grow as gender-just organisations, positioned and equipped to tackle SGBV as a systemic, gender inequality issue.

1. Scope and Methodology

The capacity building activity will encompass two levels of assessment and strategic recommendations for further development:

• At a first level: Assessing the progress made by partners (up to 9 partner organisations under Naseej) in their capacity strengthening needs, after the trainings, workshops, events and monitoring that have been taking place under Naseej for the good implementation of their projects, and identifying potential residual needs and key recommendations for further improvement and consolidation as autonomous civil society organisations.

The thematic areas covered in trainings have been as follows: financial management, logistics management, human resources management, safeguarding and safe programming, MEAL, communications, reporting. Other areas of support have included various aspects of project cycle management and planning and implementation of activities, facilitation,…

• At a secondary, higher level: Assessing the progress made by and/or positioning of partners (up to 10 organisations) in their development as gender-just organisations, examing key dimensions of strategic vision-setting and management, governance and practices, visibility and opportunities as organisations of civil society who have been working or started working on gender equality, particularly with respect to sustaining services and advocacy efforts against SGBV.

The key dimensions to be selected should be informed by transformative leadership for women’s rights and other domains presented, for instance, in Oxfam’s diagnostic tool for gender-just organisational development available at: https://www.oxfam.ca/publication/oxfam-canadas-capacity-assessment-tool-for-gender-just-organizational-strengthening/.

• The capacity building activity will then, through a consultation process, provide strategic advice on organisational development to the senior management at partner organisations (e.g. in the form of a Strategic Roadmap) and possibly initial coaching to set improvements in motion upon immediate feasibility.

The partners are located in Diyala, Anbar and Baghdad.

The selected consultant is expected to employ a participatory methodology to deliver the assignment. Ideally, the consultant will engage online data collection methods as well as in-person visits to each partner’s head office.

The consultant will propose a detailed methodology informed by Oxfam’s and possibly other organisations’ tools on the assessment and support to CSO, WROs/WLOs to grow as gender-just organisations. The methodology may include, not being limited to: usual data collection methods, quantitative and/or qualitative, participatory and feminist research methods, participatory workshop(s), …

1. Deliverables

The completion of the assignment includes the following deliverables:

– Inception report (English);

– Draft and final methodological tool [Arabic, English] for first-level assessment of the progress in capacity strengthening needs, and draft and final report on the assessment [English];

– Draft and final methodological tool (Arabic, English) for second-level assessment of partners’ progress and/or positioning in development as gender-just organisations and bearing mind their work on eliminating SGBV, and draft and final report on the assessment [English];

– Final report with summary of partners’ capacities and the list of strategic recommendations provided to partners for enhancing their organisational development and conclusions of any coaching sessions held with them [English].

1. Dissemination

The audience will include: the partners themselves, the Naseej and Women’s Voice and Leadership project teams, the Gender Justice Programme Manager and other Oxfam teams (e.g. MEAL, Partnership, Influencing…) who will benefit from the assessments and key recommendations for further support to CSOs and WROs.

Disclosure: Although free to discuss with the authorities on anything relevant to the assignment, under the terms of reference, the consultant is not authorized to make any commitments on behalf of Oxfam. All data collected as part of this consultancy belongs to Oxfam and public dissemination of the data and evaluation products can only be done with the written consent of Oxfam.

1. Supervision and Management

The assignment will be supervised by the Naseej Project Manager and Gender Justice Programme Manager in close coordination with Partners Focal Points in Diyala and Anbar. The final payment will be released upon written approval of all deliverables by the Naseej Project Manager and Gender Justice Programme Manager.

1. Ethical Requirements

There are risks in conducting interviews, particularly during a global pandemic. Participants may have difficulties taking the time to be interviewed amidst care and other responsibilities or face technical difficulties. We will work closely to continuously identify, assess, and monitor potential risks and unintended negative consequences, and decide if and how we should move forward with the data collection and expect the consultant to participate in that effort.

In addition, care will be taken to maintain safe programming and safeguarding. Capacity building participants will be provided with the necessary information about the activity so that they can provide their informed consent (with the option of being able to retract it if the need arises) and will be provided with the mechanisms available to them in case a problem arises (Ethics Point, etc.).

Lastly, this project will follow responsible and ethical data policies, including informed and voluntary consent. In particular, all partners involved in the Naseej project undertake action, one way or another, on issues of women’s rights, gender equality and SGBV. In this view, it is expected that the Consultant abide by ethical standards – in particular on SGBV-related research/programming – when examining organisational strengths and areas for improvement. Also, interviewees will have the option to be anonymous if they so wish and may opt out of the project at any time. Data will be stored safely – with identifying information removed if requested – and will be deleted when no longer needed.

1. Time Frame

The assignment is expected to be tentatively carried out between November/ December2022 and early Januarey 2023.

The consultancy is estimated to require around 30 working days.

The timeline will be refined based on the work plan submitted by the consultant.

• Overall experience: Strong knowledge and practice in providing strategic advice on organisational development to civil society organisations;
• Specific experience: Strong knowledge and practice in cooperating with feminist, Women’s Rights Organisations, Women-Led Organisations, understanding the needs and key issues of feminist movement building; Strong understanding of gender dimensions in organisational development, e.g. through experience in gender mainstreaming not only in projects but in structure, gender audits, WRO strategic and leadership support, …
• Practical experience with tools and methodologies for civil society development and capacity assessment and organisational diagnostic;
• Practical experience of project/programme cycle management;
• Overall familiarity with interventions aiming to end SGBV, preferably in Iraq, and with technical standards and organisational requirements for actors in SGBV protection programming and advocacy; in particular, understanding of issues of safety, confidentiality and ethical requirements in the work around SGBV;
• Fluency in English and Arabic;
• Ability to travel to Federal Iraq;
• Familiary with Oxfam’s mission; adherence to the organizational code of conduct and safe programming principles.