Terms of Reference
25-30 days from mid-October 2015 to end-February 2016
Deadline for expression of interest: 6 October 2015 CoB
Background
National governments have the primary responsibility to assist their populations in case of disasters or conflict. An increasing number of national governments now include disaster prevention, preparedness and response into an overall coherent disaster management approach linked to development. Their national disaster management agencies (NDMAs) have adopted disaster management policies and guidelines. Those also include humanitarian standards, either adapted from global standards such as Sphere, developed specifically for a particular country, or a mix of both. The disaster management policies and guidelines are often managed by the same bodies which are charged with capacity-building, training, sensibilisation, reporting and coordination.
An NDMA’s ability to effectively prepare for and respond to disasters varies according to government structure, political and security context and numerous other factors. Furthermore, governments often do not respond to disasters in isolation, but in collaboration with national and international humanitarian actors.
In many countries, explicit or implicit reference is made to Sphere as the basis for national disaster management standards. In others, Sphere country focal points are advocating with their respective NDMAs to consider integrating global humanitarian standards to improve existing national standards or to fill gaps in national response management.
A number of Sphere focal points have expressed the need for additional support for their advocacy efforts. Recurring issues appear to be, among others, the perception of Western-imposed standards or inappropriately high/low indicators for specific contexts. It is with this challenge in mind that the Sphere Project is developing a guide to support Sphere focal points and other humanitarian actors in their advocacy efforts, as well as interested NDMAs working with global standards. The advocacy messages will be developed together with Sphere focal points and address a variety of country contexts.
Objective
The objective of this guidance is three-fold:
- Evidence: Despite recurring anecdotal evidence that a significant number of NDMAs have institutionalised Sphere and other international standards, no study has ever reviewed the number of countries, nor the degree to which they work with a standards approach. A desk study will be carried out by the consultant to shed light on the current state of NDMAs working with national and/or global standards, as well asthe degree to which working with standards can be shown to make a difference in disaster response. It will also identify challenges to considering global standards for contextualisation.
- State of the art and gaps: A clear understanding of the current implementation and gaps will allow to address the important role of NDMAs in disaster management during the next Sphere Handbook revision.
- Advocacy and field response support for Sphere focal points and other humanitarian actors: This planned guidance should provide the Sphere focal points with clear arguments for the usefulness of these standards and for ways to contextualize them to reflect national realities. Concrete case studies will support these arguments.
Focus of the guidance document
The Sphere Standardshave been developed to reflect a universal minimum standard for life with dignity in humanitarian response, yet these must be applied in context through adaptation of key actions and indicators. In line with its stated objectives, the Sphere NDMA guidance will focus on this contextualization in the following ways:
- Desk study: The desk study will establish the extent to which global standards are currently included in national disaster management guidelines and policies. The results of this study will be fed into the development of this guide. The desk study will cover countries of which some evidence of the use of standards is already available, as well as others. It will establish the extent of use of standards and establish the related challenges expressed by government officials. It will be done through email exchange and a number of skype interviews. A maximum of 10 working days are foreseen for this study, with no travels.
- Case studies and evidence:The consultant will work with an Advisory Group commenting on the inception report and subsequent drafts. A number of Sphere country focal points will be joining this Advisory Group and bring in concrete experience in advocating for standards with NDMAs. This will allow to develop some messages around what works and why.
- Advocacy messages: The central part of this guide is expected to be a range of advocacy messages which Sphere advocates will be able to tailor to their specific needs. These messages will be based on findings from the desk study and the case studies.
- Technical recommendations:It may be interesting to study the contextualization of specific indicators in some detail and again based on concrete examples. This will further support the uptake of standards in specific circumstances.
Process and timeline
This guide will be part of the Sphere Unpacked series. Previously published titles in this series include Sphere for Assessments, Sphere for Monitoring and Evaluation and Sphere for Urban Response (at drafting stage). To the extent possible, the structure of the NDMA guidance should be consistent with already existing documents.
In line with Sphere practice, the proposed drafting process will be consultative, consensus-driven and based on sector-wide practice. It will be supported and guided by an Advisory Group (AG), with the Sphere Project office acting as convener.
The consultancy is expected to start mid-October 2015 and run until 28 February 2016 at the latest, with approximately 25 - 30 working days in this period. The final submitted urban guide is expected to be approximately 10-15’000 words.
Deliverables include:
- Literature review and inception report
- Desk study on the current uptake of international standards by NDMAs
- A minimum of three case studies to support the guidance, based on consultations, the desk study and/or AG contributions
- Moderating a minimum of 3 Advisory Group sessions during the period, to discuss the inception report and each of the drafts
- Draft guidance, shared with AG and Sphere Project for comments (draft 1 and draft 2)
- Final pilot version of guidance to be submitted by or before 28 February 2016.
HOW TO APPLY:
The consultant must have a strong background in humanitarian response, including working with NDMAs, and an excellent understanding of contextualizing standards into national disaster management guidelines and policies. Additionally she or he must have strong communication, coordination, analytical and writing skills.
The expression of interest should include a CV and detailed proposal for developing the desk review and guide, along with relevant experience of the consultant and budget.
Please submit your expression of interest to recruitment3@icvanetwork.org
Please note that if the consultant lives and works in Switzerland, she or he must already be duly registered as a consultant to be considered.
Deadline for submission of expression of interest: 6 October 2015.
Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted.
