REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
Title: Humanitarian Leadership Academy, “Expert Pool”
Duration of contract: 12 months
Location: Nairobi, Kenya.
About Humanitarian Leadership Academy
The humanitarian Leadership Academy is a global learning initiative set up to facilitate partnerships and collaborative opportunities to enable people to prepare for and respond to crises in their own countries. To achieve this, the Academy facilitates access to learning resources, platforms and tools that can enable locally relevant capacity sharing. It also supports knowledge and innovations with a view to increasing and improving efficiency and effectiveness of the humanitarian sector. The Kenya Academy Centre “The Academy” was established in 2016 to contribute to this effort and is expanding to the rest of the East Africa region.
For more on the Humanitarian Leadership Academy, visit: www.humanitarianleadershipacademy.org
Background
The Academy Centre has a lean structure of staff running its programmes and would like to maintain this structure on full time basis to deliver its mandate. However, from time to time, it will need the services of external experts to provide specific capacity the Academy Centre does not have or to supplement existing capacity to accomplish tasks that may be too big for the staff to complete in a timely, effective and efficient manner.
In the past, The Academy has individually advertised for each Terms of Reference (ToR), and conducted a selection and recruitment process for each piece of work. However, this is neither efficient nor cost-effective, especially since there is an increase of activities and demand for support services. Hence the Academy is now seeking to develop strategic relationships with key consultants in different areas of expertise. Accordingly, we are seeking to develop framework agreements with a small pool of Academy technical experts, with a view to working more flexibly, efficiently and effectively.
Academy’s pool of experts
The Academy’s Expert Pool is one of the key elements in ensuring that the work is done by the most qualified expert who can be recruited at the shortest time possible.
The Academy’s Expert Pool is divided into 7 ‘sub-panels:
Panel 1: Strategy and business modelling
The academy’s strategic plan seeks to achieve increased and improved efficient and effectiveness of humanitarian sector ensuring that learning, knowledge and innovation are maximally utilized to attain this. Specifically, experts in this panel will provide support internally (to academy staff) and externally to academy partnerships focused on:
§ Understanding the humanitarian landscape using stakeholder analysis and other analytical tools.
§ Developing clear goals, objectives and strategies.
§ Developing and/or clarifying the theory of change framework where needed.
§ Matching the demand for learning and knowledge with supply side.
§ Providing advice on strategic planning cycle - national/regional.
Panel 2: Learning design and facilitation
To provide the Academy with expertise to support the design and facilitation of various learning products, including, but not limited to:
Support and develop learning content and curriculum for humanitarian learning areas.
§ Develop and implement E-learning materials and content
§ Support blended learning programmes
§ Aggregated learning pathways
§ Translate and contextualize identified courses on Kaya and other projects
§ Review of the translated materials and projects
§ Knowledge and skills audit
§ Innovation design and incubation
§ Curricula design and review
§ Learning needs analysis
§ Developing various learning products for the humanitarian sector
Panel 3: Humanitarian and disaster program management
This panel will consist of experts who will advise and support the Academy on:
§ Humanitarian value chain analysis and management
§ Project cycle management related to humanitarian programming.
§ Tools for management for the humanitarian sector.
§ Disaster Risk Reduction processes and their link to development.
§ Humanitarian programming about Climate Change Adaptation (CCA).
§ Capacity Development and Assessments around Humanitarian programming
§ Resilience programming
§ Innovative Humanitarian programming in response to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Panel 4: Facilitation and communication
The panel will consist of experts who will support the Academy with:
§ Conference rapporteur: To capture and share proceedings and highlights from workshops and any other meetings convened
§ Graphic design: To support the Academy and its partners in graphic design productions as well as building of graphic design skills
§ Media tracking: Stay on top of what is reported by leading print and electronic media and internet outlets on humanitarian issues to enable us to be more responsive and effective.
§ Technical editing: to write, edit and abridge technical documents, reports, publications, manuals, briefs, proposals, research materials for use by a wider non -technical audience
§ Infographics and information conversion: Translate data, information and content into graphical visualisations that are engaging and describe the Kenya Academy Centre’s work with the partners
§ Public relations and media: To communicate progress, create awareness and raise issues in the humanitarian sector through the lens of the Kenya Academy Centre and partners.
§ Audio visual production: To package information on our work into audio-visual products targeted at various audiences.
Panel 5: Monitoring and Evaluation
Experts in this panel will support the Academy carry out external and internal monitoring and evaluation processes. The expert will support the Academy with:
§ Conducting M&E surveys – baselines, mid- term and end term surveys.
§ Process evaluation - Assess the quality of the implementation of the project against agreed, planned and expected actions, with a view to improving programme design.
§ Performance evaluation - Assess the outcome and impact of the project in relation to its objectives, activities and outputs as set out in the log frame and recommend ways of improving the delivery model of similar humanitarian programmes in future.
§ Linking M&E with the achievement of Learning Products
Panel 6: Policy
The experts in this panel will focus on availability, access and effectiveness of policies related to the humanitarian sector in the East African region (initially focusing on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). Specifically, the focus will be on:
§ Policy analysis – linking humanitarian needs to policy processes and outcomes.
§ Understanding and facilitating processes related to effectiveness of humanitarian policies.
§ Supporting establishment and capacity building for institutional frameworks for humanitarian sector.
§ Facilitating the integration of disaster risk reduction issues in development, goals and objectives.
Panel 7: Operations and finance
The experts in this panel will support the academy with legal, financial and auditing. The consultants will support the Academy with:
§ Auditing of grants awarded to partners.
§ Evaluate appropriateness of accounting policies in place.
§ Audit financial statements, procedures and processes.
§ Compliance with local laws and regulations.
Knowledge, skills and experience desired
The consultants are expected to have an advanced and thorough knowledge, skills and experience in their respective fields.
Essential skills
§ Qualifications: First degree in relevant area.
§ Post graduate qualification in a relevant area, including professional qualifications (preferred).
§ Experience: At least 8 years working experience in the respective area of expertise.
§ Strong technical and theoretical grounding in the respective fields.
§ Excellent written English and report writing skills
§ An in-depth understanding of key standards, guidelines and tools relating to humanitarian work.
§ Ability to facilitate and/or chair technical discussions and debates
§ Ability to communicate technical subject matter (in a written and oral form) to people with varying technical knowledge and skills, and across different job roles/functions.
§ Track-record in conducting high quality analysis and research involving a combination of quantitative and qualitative analytical skills.
§ Creative and tenacious in sourcing data from a range of sources and systems.
§ Ability to travel: Experts must be able to travel where necessary to complete the required assignments, often at very short notice.
§ Ability to sub-contract- Additional resource may be required for certain assignments, and experts must be able to source this independently to complete the work as required by the Academy.
§ Previous publications/reports relating to work in the humanitarian field (preferred).
§ Demonstrated experience of documenting case studies and models.
Consultancy Rates and Payment Schedule
Consultancy rates will be capped at a maximum daily rate including taxes, which may differ depending on the type of work/ToR offered. These rates will be agreed upon at the contracting stage and will be fixed in the framework agreement for the duration of the contract.
Payment will be made in line with the milestones and deadlines for key project deliverables, as outlined in each individual ToR. Consultants will invoice The Academy as usual, based on the agreed milestones and payment schedule laid out in each ToR.
Expressions of interest:
The Academy is inviting expressions of interest from suitably qualified consultants or teams of consultants who would like to be part of our expert pool. Interested applicants are expected to submit a proposal with the following components:
a) Technical proposal (no more than 3 pages) to include:
§ Panel to which they are applying to.
§ An overview of your skills and experience as related to the panel you are interested in.
§ Your expected daily rate.
§ Descriptions of at least 3 relevant examples of recent work
b) Consultant’s CV
c) Three referees for whom the consultant has carried out similar work, (stating the organization, assignment undertaken, date and duration, contact person’s name, email address and contact number)
Please note that while we encourage you to reference any previous work done for The Academy in your application, The Academy staff cannot act as referees.
Application Procedures
Expressions of Interest must be sent to kenya@Humanitarian.Academy by Tuesday,28th March, 2017. Indicate on the subject line ‘Expert pool and indicate panel number’.
Any clarifications that are needed on the above consultancy should be submitted to the above address by 12 noon on Friday, 24th March.
HOW TO APPLY:
Expressions of interest must be sent to kenya@Humanitarian.Academy
