Consultancy Services
Partnership Consultant
Background:
For over 90 years, Save the Children has been making a difference in children's lives in more than 120 countries. We are the world's largest independent child rights organisation, underpinned by a vision in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.
Save the Children is an organization for talented people with different backgrounds and perspectives. We are proud that our people are representative of the children we work with and we thrive on our diversity. We are an equal opportunity organisation dedicated to our core values of Accountability, Ambition, Collaboration, Creativity and Integrity. Our culture is embedded in these values, along with a strong commitment to our Child Safeguarding Protocol, ensuring that all representatives of Save the Children demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour towards children both in their private and professional lives.
Background of this Consultancy:
Over the past 3 years, Save the Children Rwanda has begun to work with local partner organisations that share an alignment with the organisation’s vision, mission and values, working in similar thematic areas of implementation. As the organisation continues to grow, and considering the needs of assessing the effectiveness of Save the Children’s partnership work to date, we are seeking a consultant to address different aspects of the organisation’s engagement with partners, including carried out a partner organisational capacity assessment and partnership review, as well as a potential partner mapping exercise, as here described:
Partner Organisational Capacity Assessment and Partnership Review:
Save the Children has been working with a Rwandan NGO, Umuhuza, for the past 3 years as a key partner in implementing a 5-year literacy promotion programme – Advancing the Right to Read. Umuhuza is a Rwandan child-focused organisation with the primary goal to create a culture of peace across Rwanda, supporting children and their families to become peaceful citizens. Umuhuza have previously implemented a project working with families of young children, training them on parent-child interaction and nurturing relationships, through sensitisation sessions, home visits and community meetings. Umuhuza are recognised as having a high level of expertise and experience with communities and local leaders through outreach and mobilisation. They have an especially impressive track record in achieving behavioural change.
Despite their strong programmatic expertise, prior to partnering with Save the Children, Umuhuza was operationally very small, and functioned on limited funding. Within this context, Save the Children committed to supporting the capacity strengthening of Umuhuza as a key outcome within the Advancing the Right to Read (ARR) programme. An organisational capacity assessment was carried out in late 2012, which served both as a baseline against which Save the Children can monitor progress against this expected outcome, as well as helped to inform a capacity strengthening plan to address identified gaps.
Potential Partner Mapping:
As Save the Children Rwanda continues to grow, the organisation would also like to expand its partnership base by identifying potential partners with whom Save the Children could work with in the future.
Title: Partnership Consultant
Consultancy Objective:
Partner Organisational Capacity Assessment and Partnership Review:
The general objective of this consultancy is to assess the organisational capacity of Umuhuza with respect to their current status against the core functions of NGOs (including Internal Organisation, External Relations and Programme Performance), which can be compared against the capacity assessment conducted in 2012. In addition, the consultant is expected to document reflections on the effectiveness of this partnership, including the production of a case study, providing recommendations for future capacity strengthening support and refining SC’s partnership approach.
Potential Partner Mapping:
The objective of this component of the consultancy is to identify potential partners for future collaboration by Save the Children across different thematic areas.
Scope of Services:
The consultant should expect to engage in the following activities:
Partner Organisational Capacity Assessment and Partnership Review:
- Conduct a capacity assessment of Umuhuza (using a SC-provided template) to identify the organisation’s current strengths and weaknesses, and provide an analysis of these results vis-à-vis the assessment conducted in 2012;
- Facilitate a workshop with key Save the Children staff and Umuhuza Board and senior management to feedback results of the capacity assessment, and discuss future capacity strengthening support priorities;
- Review the partnership relationship between Save the Children and Umuhuza to date against expectations set out within Save the Children’s Partnership Principles;
- Review the “Partnership Approach” for Save the Children Rwanda to refine/update the way in which SC monitors and supports partners.
Potential Partner Mapping:
- In consultation with Save the Children, identify and meet with at least 5 other INGOs currently working with partners to learn from their experiences in partner identification and implementation, including documenting the successes and challenges;
- Conduct a preliminary review of potential partners through the identification of local NGOs engaged in programming aligned with Save the Children’s areas of thematic focus (Education, Child Protection, Child Rights Governance);
- Identify organisations that demonstrate potential to be effective partners through their alignment with Save the Children core values and practices.
Deliverables:
Partner Organisational Capacity Assessment and Partnership Review:
- Results of the capacity assessment, defined in terms that can be used as a midline for measuring progress against the previous capacity assessment;
- Workshop report with defined and agreed upon capacity strengthening plan for 2016-17;
- Case story outlining the effectiveness of the SC-Umuhuza partnership work to date;
- A revised “Partnership Approach” document that defines the way in which Save the Children works with Umuhuza (or other partners in future).
Potential Partner Mapping:
- Report outlining the experiences of other international organisations’ work with partners in Rwanda;
- Table of potential partners for Save the Children to consider engaging with for future collaboration, including rationale for inclusion.
Duration of role
Proposals should outline a detailed workplan; however, we anticipate the consultancy will require approximately 15-17 days (including 10-12 days work for the Partner Organisational Capacity Assessment and Partnership Reviewand 5 days for the Potential Partner Mapping). The consultant is expected to begin the tasks by 15 October 2015 and complete all tasks by 15 November 2015.
Key selection criteria
- Experience in conducting partner capacity assessments;
- Experience working in collaboration with INGOs and/or UN agencies, especially in their partnerships with local NGOs;
- Experience in case study documentation;
- Excellent spoken and written English skills;
- University degree in Education, Development Studies, Social Sciences, or related field;
- Knowledge of the Rwandan NGO context in thematic areas of Education, Child Protection and/or Child Rights Governance preferred;
- Spoken Kinyarwanda and/or French skills preferred, but not required.
Application specifications
To register interest in this consultancy, please send the following documentation to HR-Rwanda@savethechildren.org specifying ‘Partner Organisational Capacity Assessment and Support Consultant’ in the subject line.
· Cover Letter
· Curriculum Vitae, including contact details for a minimum of 3 references
· An estimated work plan based on scope of services outlined
· Budget breakdown based on expected daily rates (gross) and initial work plan
Applications close on 29th September 2015
We work with children, communities and governments all over the world and we believe in the right person for the job regardless of where you come from and how you identify yourself. We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to ensuring that only those who are suitable to work with children are considered for these posts. All successful applicants will therefore be required to provide a Police Clearance and must sign onto our Child Safeguarding Policy and organizational Code of Conduct.
HOW TO APPLY:
Application specifications
To register interest in this consultancy, please send the following documentation to HR-Rwanda@savethechildren.org specifying ‘Partner Organizational Capacity Assessment and Support Consultant’ in the subject line.
