Purpose of Project and Background
The Collective Service is a collaborative partnership between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), and key stakeholders from the public health and humanitarian sectors. The three agencies have a long history of effective collaboration to bolster coordinated community-centred approaches across a broad range of emergencies, contexts, and geographies. The Collective Service aims to ensure that the strengths of each partner in RCCE are supported and leveraged to deliver the greatest impact, reduce duplication, and increase effectiveness of localised action.
Previous emergencies, and outbreak responses have garnered hard won lessons and spurred demand for expanding and refining collective approaches to risk communication and community engagement, in humanitarian responses.
The Collective Service delivers the structures and mechanisms required for a coordinated community-centred approach that is embedded across public health, humanitarian, and development response efforts. This will ensure expert driven, collaborative, consistent and localised RCCE support reaches governments and partners involved in the national and community response to COVID-19 and beyond.
For more information, please visit the Collective Service website.
Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy
(IFRC’s plan 2021-2025)
This project is an activity as part of part of the strategic priority 3, growing gaps in health and wellbeing and enabler 3 on community engagement and accountability
Project objectives
After nearly 3 years in operation, there is an urgent need to ensure the Collective Service can collect and disseminate evidence of its coordinated and data-driven approach to RCCE. Thanks to additional funding received, the Collective will be working on building an evidence-tracking framework that provides a robust and systematic process for measuring the contributions of the Collective Service toward strengthening collective approaches to RCCE and SBC for prevention, preparedness, and response activities for Public Health Emergencies (PHE).The framework aims to conceptualize and document, with data and case studies, the contribution and added value of collective approaches to Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and Socio-Behavioral Change (SBC) at national, regional, and global levels for the COVID-19 response and future health emergencies. It aims to establish the parameters, operational indicators, and overall monitoring and evaluation measurement approach through which the Collective Service will capture the positive change and contribution of its work.
The primary outcome of the project includes:
- Evidence of whether the model of a collective approach to coordinated RCCE and SBC through the Collective Service platform is effective and the type of value it contributes to public health emergency response. To the extent possible, quantitative and qualitative data will be used to generate evidence for such effectiveness and value-add at the national, regional, and global levels, providing an overview and guidance as to the most effective activities and interventions carried out by the Collective Service and contributing to RCCE preparedness and response.
With the evidence generated, the Collective Service and its partners will be able to better showcase the nature, relevance, and effectiveness of its work to its audiences, with the aim of:
- Securing long-term investments in the Collective Service as a platform from both partners and investors.
- Increasing visibility and understanding of the Collective Service value proposition to key stakeholders at the national, regional, and global levels, through communications and advocacy activities.
- Assessing the value of the commitment of core agencies and partners to the Collective Service and how core agencies and partners leverage the work, guidance, and tools from the Collective Service for their agency-led work.
- Assessing and capturing – to the extent this is possible – how individual partners of the Collective Service are leveraging this platform for improving outcomes and results of agency-specific community engagement efforts. This will enable the Collective Service to understand and show if and how it is serving as a catalyzer and accelerator of change and potentially incentivize additional RCCE and SBC actors to engage in a coordinated approach to RCCE and SBC.
- Increasing interest for the integration of SBC within the public health emergency architecture.
Under the supervision of the Global Coordinator and in collaboration with the Collective Service teams (Secretariat and regional teams) and core partners (IFRC, WHO, GOARN, UNICEF), the consultant will conceptualize, develop, and implement evidence tracking framework. The framework will allow the Collective Service to monitor its work and activities, determine and report their relevance and effectiveness on an ongoing basis, and assess and implement new strategies when necessary to course correct and ensure the success of each workstream continuously and systematically.
Desired outcomes
Contribute to developing coordination mechanisms and evidence generation that can strengthen the way we work and optimise the Collective Service response. This will include the design of an evidence monitoring mechanism at the global, regional, and country level and leverage data use for decision making and coordination.
Consultancy outputs
The work will be undertaken under the supervision of the Collective Service Global Coordinator and in close collaboration with relevant team members, including the interagency IM officer. The Evidence Tracking Framework consultant’s main tasks will be to propose, develop and implement the Framework for the RCCE Collective Service following the deliverables bellow.
1. Evidence Tracking Framework:
In collaboration/consultation with CS Secretariat, co-leading agencies, and regional colleagues, as applicable:
- Review existing process for tracking and monitor Collective Service support
- Review and adjust the Theory of Change in collaboration with CS Secretariat and co-leading partners, to meet the new strategic objectives of the CS
- Design the evidence-tracking framework and identify applicable and actionable indicators for global and regional level.
- Collect feedback and recommendations from Collective Service Secretariat, technical lead, regional colleagues, and other key partners.
- Validate with the Core team the strategy.
2. Development of the Evidence Tracking System:
In collaboration/consultation with CS Secretariat, co-leading agencies, and regional colleagues, as applicable:
- Design the Evidence Tracking System model through a detailed data cycle and workflow.
- Validate with CS Core team the Evidence Tracking System model.
- Develop tools for field monitoring work closely with IM team for designing the evidence-tracking dashboard.
3. Implementation of the Evidence Tracking system:
In collaboration/consultation with CS Secretariat, co-leading agencies, and regional colleagues as applicable:
- Define an engagement strategy with priority countries and regions and establish a realistic implementation workplan.
- Roll out the implementation workplan through field monitoring within priority countries.
- Collect quantitative and qualitative data against the Evidence Tracking Framework by:
- Collect data and information for reporting EFT indicators.
- Compile partner’s feedback on the role of the CS and support provided.
- Identify challenges and bottlenecks that could impact CS roles.
- Compile user feedbacks on global tools developed by the CS.
- Collect as possible Collective Service’s partners testimony or story telling describing how the collective service contributes to strengthen their work
- Report indicators and relevant qualitative data within the evidence tracking dashboard.
- Work with IM team to integrate the Evidence Tracking system with CS’s monitoring tools.
4. Analysis and impact measurement
In collaboration/consultation with CS Secretariat, co-leading agencies, and regional colleagues as applicable:
- Analyse indicators and measure contribution and impact of the Collective Service with priority countries
- Provide technical for generating recommendations based on country-based evidence, bottlenecks, challenges, and opportunities.
- Develop an evaluation framework to measure contribution and impact of the Collective Service within priority countries.
- Provide technical support by generating analysis, infographics that contribute to fundraising and advocacy effort of the CS (e.g. annual report, donors reports, advocacy materials, …).
- Collaborate with the Global Coordinator, Knowledge Management for disseminating relevant findings and insights through existing communication platforms and coordination mechanisms.
- Based on 6 months implementation, revised the framework and implementation strategy for long term Evidence Tracking System as needed.
5. Other
- Additional support may be determined as the project is implemented-.
- The consultant may also be asked to support M&E activities, aligned with the ETF (I.e.technical assistance to regions as requested).
Method of delivery and reasons for selecting that method
All delivery will be done digitally through appropriate platforms determined as part of the consultancy.
Support to be provided to the consultant
The IFRC RCCE Collective Service team will provide ongoing support and inputs to the consultant, as per outputs outlined above.
Schedule for payment of fees
At completion of work, as per invoices submitted by the consultant
Time Allocation, for budget purposes
230 days over 1st March 2023 and 31st October 2023
Management of consultancy
Global Coordinator, RCCE Collective Service, Health and Care department
Notes
The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC, and the standard contractual terms will apply.
- Travel is expected as part of this consultancy.
How to apply
Interested candidates should send their application to health.department@ifrc.org email with subject: “ Evidence Tracking Framework Consultant”
Please include the following documents within your application:
- Curriculum Vitae
- Cover letter summarizing your experience
- your daily rate (Swiss francs)
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.