Report Writer Consultant for Beyond Barriers: Overcoming Funding and Workforce Obstacles to Achieve a Localized Humanitarian Response

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Report Writer Consultant for Beyond Barriers: Overcoming Funding and Workforce Obstacles to Achieve a Localized Humanitarian Response

Summary

Concern Worldwide, with funding from USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), will undertake a 24-month project in support of efforts to overcome two of the largest barriers to the localization of humanitarian action – humanitarian financing and human resources. This focused research project will be implemented across five different humanitarian contexts, with a view to develop transferable learning on sustainable funding and staffing issues, such as capacity and retention, within the lens of advancing locally led humanitarian response and recovery.

The Beyond Barriers project, led by Concern, will be conducting research on advancing the localization agenda in five countries – Malawi, NW Syria, Bangladesh, DRC, and Somalia. The first phase of the project involved data collection visits to each of these countries. Phase 2 of the project will be composed of the final analysis of this data, drafting of country reports, developing case studies and conducting a global quantitative survey. Phase 3 will primarily encompass dissemination activities including possible return visit to the study contexts to host stakeholder engagement events, tool rollout, a global dissemination webinar, as well as participate in conferences and panels. Concern seek a consultant to support the project team with the various tasks in Phase 2 and Phase 3.

The consultant will work with the Concern team from mid-December 2023 – 31st June 2024. Remote working will be facilitated for the duration of the consultancy.

About Beyond Barriers

Led by Concern Worldwide, Concern is an international humanitarian organization committed to the relief, assistance and advancement of poorest people in the least developed countries of the world, aiming towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Founded in Ireland in 1968, Concern has over 4,000 personnel working in 25 countries around the world, primarily in Africa and Asia.

Beyond Barriers is one of Concern’s primary initiatives aimed at improving local humanitarian response capacity; others include joint initiatives between Concern, International Medical Corps (IMC) and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) on the Building a Better Response Project (BBR), the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership, and Local Capacity Strengthening for Response (LCS4R).

With the research conducted under this program, a series of practical solutions to overcome common challenges will be developed utilizing a variety of mechanisms, including case studies, teaching cases, and assessment frameworks. The tools will then be rolled out both in-country and globally via dissemination round tables, a newly developed program website, among other best practice mechanisms for dissemination and usability. Aimed at transferability and opportunities for scale-up, this program will be grounded in a focus on proactive, program-based solutions to funding and staffing challenges. By harnessing the broad spectrum of contexts in which Concern operates, while focusing on a finite set of routine operational issues and challenges that organizations in those contexts face, learning derived from the analysis will help strengthen replicability of best practice and accelerate the overall process of localization, while ensuring the highest standards of humanitarian response programming are maintained.

Scope of Work

With guidance and support from Concern Worldwide, the consultant will be responsible for:

Report Writing & Phase Two Preparation

• Lead technical writer for assigned country reports
• Support drafting the Beyond Barriers Final Study report including consolidating data and analysis from other reports
• Support on the dissemination of the quantitative survey
• Conduct analysis of quantitative survey and incorporate finding into various study products
• Support on the collation of ideas for tools, pilot projects, and future funding applications

Data Analysis & Research

• Support and review sections of analysis and convert into readable text
• Review certain key interviews to ensure all insights have been captured and analyzed
• Ensuring that analysis documents are consistent across all contexts

General

• Support on dissemination of research results within Concern Worldwide
• Other work as necessary relating to Concern’s work on localization

Consultancy Purpose & Timeframe

The timeframe for this consultancy is 7 months – between December 2023 – June 2024.

Essential Requirements

• 7 + years of experience in humanitarian or relevant sector
• Education to Degree level in relevant field of study
• Experience working in humanitarian and/or development contexts

Desirable Requirements

• Previous work on theme of localization and/or partnerships in humanitarian sector
• Previous work on research projects

Budget & Level of Effort

Candidates should provide a budget with a daily rate and other expenses.

Concern reserves the right to amend the number of days work required for this project.