Consultancy on Documenting Capacity Strengthening related to National Partnership and Local Engagement - Beirut - FOR NATIONAL CANDIDATES ONLY

I-  Background to IRC

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

In July 2012, IRC conducted an emergency assessment in Lebanon that revealed increased risks of violence among women and girls due to the Syrian conflict. Since November 2012, the IRC Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE) program has established several static Women and Girls Community Centres (WGCCs) and mobile safe spaces in the North and Bekaa Valley.  Within the safe spaces and community centres, the WPE Program aims at increasing access of women and girls to psychosocial and Gender based violence (GBV) case management services and enable communities to identify and mitigate safety and security risks faced by women and girls. All programming is implemented using survivor-centred approaches that prioritize confidentiality, dignity, safety, and respect.

II- Context Overview

Through the past few years, IRC has established successful partnership with a number of local and national organizations who have taken part in a long term capacity strengthening programme on addressing GBV.  The IRC has designed capacity strengthening plans which were tailored to build on the assessed capacity and interest of the targeted organizations. As part of the capacity building programme, IRC provided a set of GBV prevention and response trainings including GBV core concepts, safe identification and referral, PSS curricula for both adult women and adolescent girls (e.g. My Safety, My Wellbeing / Life Skills Through Drama, Arab Women Speak Out) and GBV Risk Assessment and Response, Mobile service delivery approach to case management, national framework and the national SOP for child survivors (including the best interest of the child) and the M&E toolkit endorsed by the Inter-Agency SGBV sector. The immediate goal of these plans was to ensure access to technical support for NNGOs who were keen on enhancing their engagement in the provision of services for women and girls at risk of violence and SGBV survivors.

In addition to the work conducted in partnership with national NGOs, the IRC has also developed strong ties with targeted communities. Particularly, as a result of the mobile interventions implemented by the Women’s Protection and Empowerment programme, community based networks are developed to enable women and girls to play an active role in their own communities. Women leaders, volunteers, focal points gather around community based committees and provide other vulnerable women and girls with the needed support to access relevant information on available services. The role of the community based committees has been particularly valued in the context of emergency crises when there was a need to maintain communication with local communities and support for women and girls in need.

III- Purpose of the consultancy

Within this framework, the purpose of this consultancy is to document the IRC capacity building experience - including technical approach and working modalities – which has developed around local partnership with local and national NGOs as well as around community based networks as part of the Women’s Protection and Empowerment Programme. The consultant will lead on this piece of work by working closely with the WPE team and other counterparts. The documentation of the capacity building elements will serve as reference material for learning purposes.

IV- Scope of Work:

The consultant will focus on three main aspects: 1) the capacity strengthening pathway adopted by the IRC/WPE to support local and national organizations in relation to the provision of GBV services; 2) the engagement of community based networks in supporting WPE work at the field level; 3) the overall capacity building approach adopted by WPE with a view to providing technical support to further enhance it through formal training and coaching.

Responsibilities:

Consultant:

•  To review the ToR and provide inputs.
• To review relevant project and training materials, reports, M&E tools and other documents that are relevant to the scope of the consultancy for each of the three aspects described above.
• To provide a concise inception report that will clarify the methodology used by the consultant to fulfil the three assigned tasks. The inception report will also include a clear and accurate timeline and workplan.
• To gather primary information through in depth interviews of IRC staff and other relevant counterparts for each of the three aspects highlighted above, including actors who have received IRC technical support such as NGOs and community based focal points. Depending on how the situation evolves, the consultant will either gather information remotely, in the context of field visits or a combination of both.
• To shadow the delivery of some training activities delivered by IRC staff either in person or remotely depending on the working modalities in use at the time of the consultancy.
• To fill out database files with relevant information and analyze available data through a structured recording system
• To produce the desired outputs and deliverables with reference to 1) the capacity strengthening pathway adopted by the IRC to support local and national organizations in relation to the provision of GBV services; 2) the engagement of community based networks in supporting WPE work at the field level; 3) the overall capacity building approach adopted by WPE with a view to providing technical support to further enhance it through formal training and coaching. See details provided in the Deliverables section.
•  To finalize the three assignments through incorporating feedback provided by WPE focal points.

IRC WPE Team:

The IRC WPE team will support the consultant through and in:

•  To provide the consultant with background materials
• To provide the consultant with clear guidance on the specific outputs. WPE will assign a focal point who will be responsible for supervising the consultancy work, which will require the validation of WPE Coordinator.
• To provide the consultant with information needed to arrange meetings and interviews related to the scope of the consultancy
• To provide the consultant with logistic support as needed
• To provide the consultant with the necessary feedback to each of the products
• To validate the final products submitted by the consultant

Deliverables:

1. With reference to the capacity strengthening pathway adopted by the IRC to support local and national organizations in relation to the provision of GBV services, the consultant will produce a comprehensive document (word/pdf file) that will encompass key information related to the methodology, process, and learning, including good practices. The document will be reflective of the primary and secondary data gathered by the consultant. The full document will supplemented by an executive summary and a presentation (PPP/Prezi) that will summarize the main findings.

2. With reference to the engagement of community based networks in supporting WPE work at the field level, the consultant with produce a learning document that will encompass key methodology, process and good practices and will highlight recommendations for future reference. The document will also include a suggested plan for trainings targeting community based focal points and committees. The consultant will support IRC staff to operationalize the plan.

3. With reference to the overall capacity building approach adopted by WPE the consultant will identify areas for further enhancement based on the findings from the review of materials and inputs gathered from IRC staff. The consultant will submit a report that will document these main considerations and the report will include a suggested plan aimed at further strengthening the capacity of WPE capacity building team. To this end, the consultant will  provide WPE staff with technical support through a workshop followed by practical coaching sessions.

V- Timeframe:

6 months – Starting End of July 2020

VI-  Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: M&E Manager/WPE Coordinator

• Position works with: WPE Senior Manager, Capacity Building Team and WPE Field teams. Additional IRC staff from other sectors such as Partnership will be consulted.

VII-  Requirements:

Given the scope of the consultancy, the consultant is expected to have sound expertise on capacity building in the NGO sector, excellent communication and drafting skills, and relevant background or previous experience on gender and gender based violence.

•  Graduate Degree in Social Science, Public Health, Human Rights or other fields that are relevant to the scope of the consultancy
• Minimum three years of relevant work experience in the areas of capacity building and learning, including solid knowledge about capacity building approaches and working modalities
• Advanced contextual knowledge with a focus on strengthening the local capacities.
• Previous professional experience in Protection or gender/GBV programming, preferably in an emergency context associated with capacity building roles or expertise
• Strong research skills and knowledge of participatory research methods.
• Experience in program reviews, producing lessons learned and best practices.
• Demonstrated experience facilitating trainings and workshops
• Experience coaching and mentoring staff/volunteers on technical topics
• Fluency in Arabic and English.
• Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills.
• Positive and professional attitude, including ability to work well in a team setting
• Strong ability to organize work, meet deadlines, maintain composure, prioritize work under pressure, coordinate multiple tasks and maintain attention to detail.
• Excellent computer skills including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint