Closing date: 06 Oct 2016
BACKGROUND:**
Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work today in around 30 countries, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, 7.6 people are internally displaced and 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. There are more than 4 million Syrian refugees living in neighbouring countries. This is no short- term humanitarian episode. The devastating human consequences to huge numbers of people will endure for decades. The destruction of relationships, communities, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure will take years to repair. The IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. With an annual budget in excess of $140 million and a rapidly expanding portfolio, supported by nearly 1300 staff, IRC’s Syria Response Region (SRR) is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the fields of health, water and sanitation, child protection, education, women’s protection and empowerment, non-food and food distribution, cash assistance, and livelihood programming.
As part of IRC 2020 and IRC’s Strategic Action Plans (SAPs) in SRR, partnership with national and local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) presents the opportunity to advance the following strategic objectives:
· Scale and Reach: expanding the number of people we can reach and the locations we can access
· Best Use of Resources: linked to investing in the gradual handover to local actors and reducing INGO costs or allowing them to be redeployed
· Effectiveness: benefitting from local knowledge and relationships
· Speed and Timeliness: investing in capacity to allow IRC to work with actors already present and to exit in a timely manner
· Responsiveness: responding to partners’ needs and priorities, particularly in capacity strengthening, and working with those organizations with closer relationships with clients.
In the January 2016 SRR Partnership SAP Workshop, country programs identified a number of challenges to being able to work well in partnership and advance IRC Strategic Objectives. These included being able to support partners to meet the requirements of institutional funding in HR, Supply Chain and Finance policy and procedures. It was also noted that these requirements should be addressed in a way that is appropriate to the operating environment and tailored, as opposed to ‘cookie cutter’ approaches are needed.
Syrian organizations are developing rapidly; limited time, human and financial resources, alongside their rapid scale up, mean they are being asked to manage institutional funds, often before they have policies and systems in place to do so. IRC is faced with a challenge in balancing IRC financial risk and donor compliance concerns with providing quality support to partners to develop policies that meet their specific needs. Furthermore, for support to be effective and institutionalized, in line with organizational development best practice, ownership from IRC’s partners’ is vital.
To respond to this need and requests from partners, the IRC will secure a consultant to develop How-to-Guides to support partners in developing their own policies that can be tailored to meet their specific organizational needs while also providing clarity and guidance on the standards required by institutional funding and partnering with INGOs.**OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF WORK:**Objectives**:
Produce How-to-Guides that support partners in developing and institutionalizing critical policies for the management of their organizations. It is anticipated that the consultant will compile three guides covering Financial Management, Supply Chain and Human Resources for use by IRC staff in supporting partners, partner staff and other organizations as appropriate. It is expected that these guides will contain:
· A guidance note on the minimum standards required in the area
· A template policy that can be adjusted by partners to their specific needs
· A guidance note on best practice processes for developing and institutionalizing policy**Components of work** required of the consultant will emerge in the preparatory phase, and is expected to include the following:Preparatory Phase
· Consult with relevant IRC partner staff and IRC staff on priorities for guide content and structure, presenting IRC with a final recommendation on How-to-Guide content.
· Identify existing resource material within IRC and produced by other organizations, such as MANGO, Pact and DisasterReady.
· Present final proposal on How-to-Guide content.
Drafting Phase
· Upon agreement from IRC on final content, draft and compile How-to-Guides.
· Liaise with relevant IRC departments to ensure coherence with IRC policy requirements and IRC experience and learning.
· Seek feedback from IRC and partner staff on How-to-Guides, making adjustments as required.
· Submit completed draft How-to-Guides for review.
Completion Phase
· Make revisions as requested to How-to-Guides.
· Present final How-to-Guides to IRC.
Deliverables of the consultancy will be:
Final proposal for How-to-Guide structure and content, accompanied by documented summary findings and conclusions of consultations.
Complete draft How-to-Guides for review.
Final How-to-Guides incorporating requested revisions.
The How-to-Guides will be built on the following guiding principles:
Relationship Management: The How-to-Guides will reflect and support high quality and authentic partnership. This can be understood as a relationship characterized by:
· Mutually agreed objectives and priorities
· Reciprocity of influence and shared decision making
· Roles that reflect each party’s skills and experience
· Mutual respect and learning
The How-to-Guides will be in line the partnership values of Respect, Clarity and Transparency, Accountability and Communication are incorporated into their work in addition to the IRC Way: Standards for Professional Conduct.
Resourcing: The IRC has developed policies for issuing and accounting for resources provided to partners which provide significant scope for effective partnership working. The How-to-Guides will reflect IRC policy and allow partners to meet requirements.
Capacity Strengthening: While work is ongoing in IRC to define its approach globally in this area, the How-to-Guides will reflect key principles of capacity strengthening which are industry standard and can be summarized[1] as:
· Capacity is strengthened from the inside out, not the other way round – it’s an endogenous process. Ownership and leadership by the partner is a pre-requisite
· No organization, no matter how informal or nascent is a blank slate. Capacity already exists and should be recognized, respected and developed
· Change happens through relationships – both within and between organizations. Building capacity is a collective process. IRC may need to change for another to change and we will learn from each other
KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:**
Consultancy manager: Director of Partnership and Capacity Strengthening, based in Amman
REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:**
· Undergraduate or graduate university degree in relevant social science disciplines.
· Extensive program management experience with an understanding of the relationship between operation policy, procedure and program delivery.
· Experience of program management in conflict and/or remote management settings.
· Experience of working with local CSOs in program delivery and risk management.
· Familiarity with NGO organizational culture and a realistic view of opportunities and constraints to developing, institutionalizing and meaningfully using policies.
· Experience of IRC structure and policy environment.
· Fluent in English, written and oral.
REQUIRED PERSONAL SKILLS:**
· Ability to listen and understand others’ ideas and needs, and to contextualize them
· Ability to effectively facilitate multiple parties/viewpoints and gain agreements
· Strategic and innovative thinking, while remaining practical and realistic
· Proactive and self-motivated approach to work
Note: List of responsibilities, professional and personal skills are considered indicative and not exhaustive; actual duties may differ or change depending on office and agency priorities at the time.
TO APPLY:**
Pleae submit applications to Nerys.Bannister@rescue.org. In addition to a CV, applicants should attach a brief proposed plan for completing the consultancy and relevant experience (maximum 1 page), indicating the total costs including the required number of days work, daily consultancy fee and availability from October to December 2016. The cost should include professional fees and home-based office and communications costs; travel-related costs would be covered separately by IRC.
Applications without the required proposal will not be considered.
IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.
[1]See http://www.unpcdc.org/media/8651/pn_capacity_development.pdfhttp://www.intrac.org/blog.php/51/cultivating-capacity-returning-to-first-principles and http://www.lencd.org/learning/core-concept
How to apply: