Partner capacity development diagnosis: facilitating the assessment, analysis, and planning process

1. Background and context

DRC has recently launched a program investing in developing a replicable model for supporting the sustainability of our equitable and strategic partners over a 4 year timeframe. This model embodies building self-sustaining local leadership and response capacities of civil society and recognizing that sustainability is maximized by investing in our partners in the areas of organizational development, flexible funding, linkages to institutional and other donors, and planned responsible exit or transition strategies. Illustrative activities supporting sustainability being explored during the start up phase of the program include:

• organizational development support to partners (including through external experts)
• flexible funding for partners (to invest in sustainability initiatives)
• supporting fundraising opportunities of partners
• linking partners to institutional and other donors
• supporting partners with strategic planning, business planning, donor engagement strategy
• planning for a responsible phased transition strategy over 4 years

The goal is that this program will culminate in a replicable global model for the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) on supporting the sustainability of our equitable and strategic civil society partners, by investing in resource development and documenting learning through testing and piloting coming out of the country offices participating in this program.

While the program is implemented in 3 diverse locations, this consultancy focuses exclusively on DRC’s partnership in the Asia region with the Geutanyoe Foundation (GF). Geutanyoe Foundation is a humanitarian and policy advocacy organisation founded in Aceh, Indonesia in 2013 and established in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2016. Geutanyoe works to facilitate the emergence of an ecosystem of protection and empowerment for marginalised groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs and indigenous communities, through direct programming, community engagement, research and analysis, advocacy, and strategic partnership and coalition building. GF has many years of experience advising and engaging the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia as well as some ASEAN bodies. Among some of the oranisation’s many achievements: it heads the Secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group in Malaysia on Refugee Policy, and is a co-founder and advisor to the Refugee Coalition of Malaysia, while also chairing the Rohingya Working Group of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, as well as engaging in several other national, regional and global refugee networks and civil society initiatives.

GF currently partners with DRC Asia on a two-year ECHO funded regional project, Protecting Rohingya Refugees in Asia (PRRiA), implemented in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

1. Purpose of the consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to inform the focus of the organizational development component of the program by supporting DRC Asia regional office and GF with carrying out a diagnosis to gather relevant information and produce a consolidated picture of how GF is situated with regard to specific capacity areas of interest.[1] The diagnosis findings will be used to make decisions about the way forward and to produce a practical, feasible and detailed capacity development plan that prioritizes areas of focus that DRC and GF will invest in over the coming 4 years. The plan will be more detailed for years 1 and 2, and periodically reviewed and updated by DRC and GF to ensure continued relevancy and effectiveness over the 4 year period. It will be complimented with a M&E plan clearly indicating how monitoring, reviewing, and learning will take place during the lifespan of the initiative.

Capacity development support is a key focus area of DRC’s engagement with local civil society partners. DRC’s approach to capacity development, including guiding principles can be found in DRC’s Global Civil Society Engagement Strategy (https://drc.ngo/media/1gvhvc1z/drc-global-cs-engagement-strategy.pdf). The consultant is expected to adhere to these principles during the application of the diagnosis and planning process with GF.

The consultant is expected to use DRC’s Partner Capacity Development Guide, a comprehensive step by step guide for DRC staff engaging in capacity development support to local civil society partners. Guidance is structured along each stage of the capacity development cycle[2]. Guidance is accompanied by additional resources such as tools, templates, additional reading material. Refer to Annex 1: Partner Capacity Development Guide (specifically Stage 2: Diagnosis and Stage 3: Prioritizing & Planning).[3]

Capacity areas of interest for the diagnosis:

The diagnosis will not cover all functional areas of the GF organization. Rather GF, with DRC Asia regional office, have identified the following capacity areas of interest to focus the diagnosis on:

1. Identity & Integrity: including but not limited to looking at the values, mission, vision; roots & support of the organization; transparency & accountability

2. Governance & Leadership: including but not limited to looking at clarity of roles in the organization; composition & effectiveness of governing body; leadership qualities; decision making; internal communication

3. Strategy & Resilience: including but not limited to looking at the strategic approach of the organization; organizational resilience;

4. People management: including but not limited to appropriateness of the work force in the organization; effective & fair recruitment; fair employment practices & policies; nurturing performance & a healthy work environment; grievance resolution & conflict management

5. Financial management: including but not limited to budgeting; financial systems; financial management & reporting

6. Implementing the work: including but not limited to technical sector work; participation in implementation; procurement & logistics

7. Monitoring & Evaluation: including but not limited to monitoring; evaluation; overall M&E systems

8. Strategic management of relationships: limited to effective relations with funders

A key aspect of supporting the capacity development plans for GF will be to ensure that recommended processes take into account the unique characteristics of the organisation, in that GF is nearly entirely represented and staffed by individuals with refugee status.

1. scope of the consultancy

The assignment will take place both remotely (home based) for the preparation (under Phase I), and producing the capacity development plan and associated monitoring and evaluation plan (under Phase II); and in-country (in Malaysia and Aceh TBC) to conduct the diagnostic workshop with GF (under Phase I) and workshop with GF and DRC (under Phase II). Refer to section below for more details under each Phase.

The primary contact for this consultancy will be Priya Jacob, DRC’s Regional Head of Programme, Asia. The consultant is expected to consult with the International Director of GF and is welcome to coordinate with DRC’s Global Civil Society Partnership Advisor for technical assistance.

Background and orientation:

At the start of the consultancy, the consultant will review and familiarize themselves with DRC’s Partner Capacity Development Guide, focusing on the Diagnosis and Planning and Prioritizing Stages and associated resources.

The consultant will be provided with a debrief on both the background of GF and the context of GF operating space in the Asia Region (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand), including the role of government, institutional donors, UN coordination mechanisms.

The diagnosis on the internal capacities of GF should be complimented with obtaining information about the external context to identify factors which may affect current actual, and future desired, capacity. These may be social, political, economic, legal, technological, or cultural factors.

PHASE I: Organize and facilitate the diagnosis stage

Prep work (home-based)

• The consultant should review DRC Partner Capacity Development Guide
• The consultant will be provided with a debrief on GF and context of GF operating space
• The consultant will lead on the planning for the diagnosis workshop, in collaboration with GF and DRC; and support GF to decide who within the organization should attend the workshop.
• Inception Report: The consultant will develop and share in advance, a plan outlining the process and timeline to be followed, resources (eg: translator, external stakeholders/KIIs to be interviewed remotely or in-person) and preparation required by GF for the in-person diagnosis workshop.

Facilitate diagnosis workshop (in-person in Malaysia approx. end-June):

• The consultant will lead on running the diagnosis process with GF in a participatory manner, mindful that the role of the consultant is that of a facilitator during the reflection process.
• The consultant will support GF to reach consensus on scoring on each of the capacity areas in the Diagnostic Template. The consultant will lead on facilitating the process of interpreting the data collected in the Diagnostic Template in order to feed the final results into the report.
• This phase of the in-person workshop is expected to take no more than 3-4 working days

Produce diagnosis outcome report: (in-person in Malaysia approx. mid-July)

• The consultant will lead on producing a Summary Diagnosis Report. A template will be provided but can be adapted as required. The consultant will solicit inputs from DRC and GF to finalize the report.
• The development of the outcome report is expected to take no more than 2-3 working days.

PHASE II: Organize and facilitate prioritize and planning stage

Facilitate planning workshop (in-person in Malaysia early-Aug):

• The consultant will lead on planning and facilitating a workshop for DRC and GF to debrief findings from the diagnosis. The workshop will include a facilitated discussion to have a clear and common vision of what the change will look like at the end of the capacity development process.
• The workshop will include prioritizing the areas of development which will make the biggest contribution to achieving the vision GF is working towards.
• The workshop will delve deeper to identify what needs to be in place in GF to achieve the desired change (ie. skills, resources, systems) and relevant capacity development methods to address them. This will feed into the development of the capacity development plan.
• This phase of the in-person workshop is expected to take no more than 2-3 working days

Produce capacity development plan and associated monitoring and evaluation plan: (home- based mid-Aug)

• The consultant will lead on producing a capacity development Action Plan with clear responsibilities, estimated resources needed, time frames and milestones. A template will be provided but can be adapted as required. The consultant will solicit inputs from DRC and GF to finalize the plan.
• The consultant will also lead on developing an accompanying M&E plan. A template will be provided but can be adapted as required.

Timeframe of the assignment

The consultancy will run from June 15 – August 15, 2022. This consultancy includes 30 working days over the span of 2 months, of which not more than 7 working days is expected to be conducted either in Malaysia or Aceh (TBC).

Deliverables

Due Date

1. Inception report, outlining the purpose and process to be followed for the Diagnosis workshop, expected outcome, suggested participants, timeframe, external KIIs if deemed appropriate, resources and preparation required by GF; Max 5 pages – 3rd week June 2022
2. Diagnosis outcome report, following the diagnosis workshop with GF (Phase I); Max 15 pages – July 15, 2022
3. Capacity Development Plan and associated Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, following the planning workshop with GF and DRC (Phase II); Max 10 pages per plan – Aug 15, 2022

Primary contact point in DRC

The consultant will collaborate closely with Priya Mariam Jacob, Regional Head of Programme, Asia.

Minimum technical requirement of consultant:

Desired qualifications are as followed:

• Previous experience leading on capacity development, specifically for local civil society organizations (ie. Refugee led, small, grassroots actors)
• Previous experience engaging with local civil society (including programming) and specifically targeting refugee led, small, grassroots actors
• Technical knowledge of organizational workings of local civil society organizations (ie. Refugee led, small, grassroots actors)
• Understanding of the civil society context/landscape in Southeast Asia
• Relevant academic background (Masters level)
• Strong communication skills (oral and written) in English
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal, communication and reporting skills

1. Proposal evaluation

For the award of this project, the evaluation criteria below will govern the selection of offers received. The evaluation is made on a technical and financial basis.

The proposed offers by bidders will be evaluated using, inter alia, the following criteria, and points will be allocated in the scale from 1 to 10 for each of the criteria stipulated below, whereas the weighting is as follows:

1. Consultant qualifications (30 %)

(Documented with the filled-out Supplier Registration Form and a list of least one similar assignment executed, including sample(s), as well as CV.)

• Documented experience in developing and carrying out similar organizational learning (20%)
• Documented experience of similar assignments (10 %)

2. Proposed services (40 %)

(Documented with the technical proposal)

• Content of the proposal suitable for and meeting the requirements (25 %)
• Proposed complimentary methodology for the assignment (15 %)

3. Interview (30 %)

(To be conducted online after the tender closing date, and only with the three bidders that score highest on the technical evaluation (point 1 and 2 from above)

• Personal interview on professional skills; based on the two points above (30 %).

All bidders must obtain an average score of at least five for the total technical scoring, in order to proceed to the financial evaluation. The financial offer will then be weighed against the technical offer.

The total cost of the financial offer should be mentioned in the DRC Bid Form (RFQ), while the breakdown of the budget should be attached separately. The budget should be broken down as described below:

A. Consultancy fees – daily and total

B. Technical costs – tool development, analysis, etc

C. Travel costs, if applicable (international or domestic costs incurred only upon pre approval of travel; proof must be submitted for payment and that DRC will only reimburse actual cost as per DRC’s internal guidelines)

D. Miscellaneous (e.g. visa fees, immunizations, printing – please specify in the financial proposal)

Confidentiality

All information presented, obtained and produced is to be treated as DRC’s property and is considered as confidential for all other purposes than what is outlined in the terms of reference.

The selected consultant is upon signing of the contract required to sign a confidentiality agreement. The material prepared by the consultant cannot be sold, used or reproduced in any manner (partially or in full) by the consultant without prior permission from DRC.

[1] Diagnosis is otherwise known as a capacity assessment. DRC’s Capacity Development Guide includes a Diagnostic Toolkit that contains a Facilitators Manual to run the diagnosis, a diagnosis template, and a catalogue of indicators to use for each capacity component.

[2] Stage 1: Exploring & Engaging, Stage 2: Diagnosis, Stage 3: Prioritizing & Planning, Stage 4: Implementation, Stage 5: Reviewing & Learning, Stage 6: Disengaging

[3] Relevant associated tools and templates that go along with the Manual will be made available to the consultant.

How to apply

Interested teams or consultants are expected to submit the following items in response to these terms of reference:

• Updated CV(s);
• A technical proposal (no more than 15 pages) that covers (i) the consultant’s suitability for the assignment, (ii) suggested process, approach and methodology, and (iii) Workplan ;
• A budget covering daily consulting fees in USD inclusive of applicable taxes (see section below on ‘proposal evaluation’ for details);
• A statement of availability for the duration of the evaluation;
• One or more work sample(s) of similar assignments; and
• Completed DRC Supplier Profile Registration Form.

All applications should clearly be marked as ‘Consultancy: DRC Asia Partner Capacity Development’in the subject line and emailed to [email protected] for bid submission by 04 June 2022.

For any questions and information, it is requested to email to[email protected]