Consultant for Developing Policy Brief and Advocacy Statement

Terms of Reference

FOR DEVELOPING POLICY BRIEF and ADVOCACY STATEMENT

Post local workshop on “Shaping localized recovery in the aftermath of the earthquake in Northwest Syria”

Background

ActionAid (AA) is a global federation working for a world free from poverty and injustice in 45 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression.

ActionAid’s Humanitarian Approach

Emergencies are a strategic priority for AA. We believe that crisis and disaster-affected people have the right to assistance. Our emergency responses are guided by our Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) and Humanitarian Signature – our federation-wide, non-negotiable approach to humanitarian preparedness, response, and recovery which all humanitarian interventions must adhere to, and which is built around the pillars of:

• Aiming for all programmes to be women- and young-people led, supporting women, young people, their organisations, and networks to have more influence at the national, regional and global level.
• Shifting the power from North to South, international to local, from a male-dominated system to one where women, young people, their organisations, and networks play a central role.
• Working with communities and local organisations to hold agencies (e.g., national governments, donors and INGOs) accountable.
• Supporting community resilience to prepare for, mitigate, respond, recover, and build back better from crises. Interventions with a long-term perspective.

ActionAid’s response to Turkey/Syria response

An earthquake of M 7.8 occurred in the Southern part of Türkiye on Monday 6th February 2023 at 1:17:36 AM. According to The U.S. Geological Survey, the quake was centered about 20 miles from Gaziantep, a major city and provincial capital, just across the border from Syria. Its epicentre was 11 miles deep, and a strong 6.7 aftershock rumbled about 10 minutes later. The fatal tremor lasted about a minute, and was felt as far as Cyprus, Egypt, and Lebanon and a tsunami warning was issued by authorities along the country’s coast. Nearest places include Sakcagoz (6km), Akdemir (7km), Cerityeniyapan (9km), Çakmak (14km), Bekisli (15km), among others. Kahramanmaraş province in Türkiye is the most affected. The earthquake caused widespread destruction with thousands of buildings collapsing in over 20 cities and towns. Many aftershocks followed the earthquake and a second major earthquake hit the region after 9 hours with 7.5 magnitude causing serious further damage and destruction of damaged buildings. Over 11,500 aftershocks have been reported as of early March 2023, including a 6.3-magnitude earthquake on February 20th that caused additional damage and trauma among affected communities who have been sleeping in open spaces fearing additional aftershocks that could destroy their houses. (INSO (International NGO Safety Organization). Over 53,000 people have died in Syria and Türkiye: In Türkiye, 45,968 people died, almost 80,300 others have been injured and 147,934 have been evacuated. (AFAD). In Northwest Syria, 4,500 fatalities have been reported and over 12,400 injured. (The White Helmets). According to the World Health Organization, roughly 26 million people have been affected in total.

In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people are thought to have been made homeless. Immediate needs in the earthquake’s aftermath were compounded by rainstorms and flooding, which left camps damaged, leaving people exposed to harsh winter conditions and low temperatures. This has increased the needs not only in camps but also among host communities. In many areas people have left their destroyed houses and stayed in streets, cars or displaced to neighboring camps. More than 4,440 buildings have been destroyed and about 60,000 buildings are not safe to return to and need substantive reconstruction efforts. The earthquakes affected at least 78 communities and 35 sub districts in north-west Syria.

ActionAid’s response to the earthquake is led by local partners, mainly young people and women led organisations. It aims to alleviate suffering of populations affected by the earthquake by meeting the immediate needs of affected populations and building women and young people led approaches that strengthen resilience building and self-reliance while promoting accountability and the right to protection of women, girls and young people. To this end, the first phase of the response is providing urgent and maternity medical care, psychological first aid, cash, shelter and non-food items, and ensuring that GBV risk mitigation, response and prevention measures are in place to enhance crisis-affected women and girls’ safety and dignity. It is also strengthening women and young people leadership in humanitarian crisis. As for the second phase, the response will focus on recovery and resilience building utilizing ActionAid’s resilience framework and women-led community-based approach framework to protection to build social cohesion, address longer-term human rights issues and strengthen people’s agency to hold humanitarian actors and authorities to account.

Objectives of the consultancy

ActionAid is planning to develop a policy brief and advocacy statement building on the outcomes of a series of local workshops entitled “Shaping Localized Recovery: Women and Youth Leading Early Action to Build Back Better”. These local workshops are designed to consult with local communities in the Northwest of Syria and develop recommendations to promote their recovery and resilience in the aftermath of the recent earthquake crisis and amidst a protracted 12-year crisis.

The workshops are designed to inform the development of ActionAid’s early recovery and resilience activities, with a focus on potential livelihood project ideas relevant to the situation and markets. It will also serve as evidence for advocacy on livelihoods, including the right to decent work, equal access to resources by men and women and inclusion in response planning.

Building on the outcomes of these local workshops (5 small workshops and 1 summary workshop), the selected consultant is expected to produce a thematic policy brief on local recovery and resilience needs in the context of Northwest Syria, in addition to generating advocacy statement (one pager) on the same topic. The policy brief will analyse relevant early recovery policy initiatives in the protracted crisis context, and in relation to the recent earthquake emergency. It will also cover, amongst others, policy recommendations to inform and support early recovery and resilience initiatives to take place in the aftermath of the Syria-Türkiye Earthquake, while advocating for a localized approach to address early recovery needs, actively engaging local actors, young people and women.

Description of the assignment

Provide professional service to produce a thematic policy brief covering, amongst others, policy recommendations to inform and support early recovery and resilience initiatives to take place in the aftermath of the Syria-Türkiye Earthquake, while advocating for a localized approach to address early recovery needs, actively engaging local actors, young people and women.

Requested service and Responsibilities

The consultant will provide professional service to produce a thematic policy brief on early recovery and resilience in the protracted crisis context of Northwest Syria, targeting policy makers and humanitarian stakeholders and civil society organizations and is envisaged to carry out the following activities:

1. Complete a comprehensive desk review of relevant policies, existing assessments on early recovery and resilience, and relevant advocacy messages.
2. Summarize the outcomes of the local workshops implemented.
3. Undertake additional interviews with key informants as required.
4. Present a first policy brief draft.
5. Review and finalize policy brief draft including ActionAid’s and partner suggestions.
6. Present the policy brief to ActionAid partners and relevant stakeholders through a Webinar.

Deliverables

The consultant is hired to deliver the following deliverables:

1. First draft of the thematic policy brief
2. Final draft of the thematic policy brief: explaining the issue/s, known causes, links or relationships, context, stakeholders, scope, impact, and implications: all related to early recovery and resilience.
3. Advocacy statement: compelling and feasible recommendations from the policy brief are shared through an advocacy statement informing key messages to policy makers.
4. Webinar presentation

Location and Duration

The assignment can be remote, with preference for the consultant to attend the local workshop or ensure local note takers for the elaboration of the consultancy deliverables.

Required Experience and Skills

• Prior experience working in the context of Syria crisis response and adequate understanding of the operational context and the recent earthquake emergency.
• Demonstrated experience in the thematical area of human rights, humanitarian response, early recovery, and resilience programming.
• Proven experience in producing policy briefs, preferably for international organizations or UN organizations.
• Excellent organization, research, communication and writing skills; analytical and creative thinking.
• Professional English language level.