Closing date: 06 Dec 2016
Terms of reference for consultancy
Summary
Purpose: The Secretariat of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) seeks to evaluate the coordination services provided by the IFRC-led Shelter Coordination Team to the humanitarian shelter response to the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, to identify key lessons and recommendations to improve and inform future response.
Audience: The IFRC and in particular the Shelter & Settlements Unit will use the evaluation to identify lessons and provide recommendations to improve future deployments. Shelter coordination team members will use it to learn from the findings and improve practice. Cluster partners will use it as reference and in improving their shelter response as relevant. The Humanitarian Country Team and Government of Nepal will use it to inform the coordination arrangements for shelter response in Nepal. Donors and other humanitarian actors will use if for general information. The report will be public and available at sheltercluster.org.
Commissioners: This review is being commissioned by IFRC as Global Shelter Cluster Lead agency for natural disasters and Shelter Cluster co-lead agency for the earthquake response in Nepal.
Reports to: Pablo Medina, IFRC Shelter and Settlements Unit.
Duration: Thirty (30) working days.
Timeframe: to start as soon as possible until December 31, 2016.
Location: Home based with travel to Nepal (10 days). Dates for the field visit to be coordinated with the IFRC country office and the IFRC Shelter & Settlements Unit.
Purpose of Project and Background
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Nepal on April 25 between the capital, Kathmandu, and the city of Pokhara. A series of aftershocks followed since, including a second earthquake of 7.4 magnitude on May 12, which further compounded the damage caused by the first earthquake. The devastation was widespread, with many buildings and infrastructure collapsed as a result of the earthquake. The Government of Nepal declared a state of emergency and appealed for humanitarian assistance internationally. All humanitarian clusters were activated to facilitate the coordination of the international humanitarian response.
The government lead agency for the shelter cluster in Nepal is the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC). The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) together with the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) are the shelter cluster lead agencies on behalf of the national and international humanitarian partners. IFRC deployed a Shelter Coordination Team (SCT) to work with NRCS, the government and humanitarian shelter agencies in facilitating and coordinating the shelter response.
The SCT very quickly established a basic coordination framework including a shelter response and recovery strategy focusing on support to self-recovery, technical guidelines, an information management and reporting framework, a Strategic Advisory Group and Technical Working Groups and the definition of key advocacy concerns, which evolved over time. These included in the later phase issues such as the winter response and advocacy around the fuel crisis, which had a significant impact in the humanitarian response.
The eventual shift from immediate emergency response to recovery activities meant a redesign of the information management systems to accommodate the increasing volume and diversity of shelter recovery activities by cluster partners as well as the tracking and coordination of cash for shelter. The Shelter Coordination Team (SCT) in Nepal engaged early on in agreeing with cluster members, donors and the Government of Nepal on a transition and exit strategy for the cluster towards the end of 2015, by the establishment of a Shelter Cluster Recovery and Reconstruction Working Group (WG) which would eventually take on the coordination of longer term recovery and reconstruction activities. This WG of the Shelter Cluster was designed to evolve into the Nepal Earthquake Housing Recovery & Reconstruction Platform (HRRP), which was eventually funded by DFID and launched by the Nepal Government. This involved coordinating closely with cluster partners, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Nepal major donors group to ensure common approaches to planning for housing recovery and reconstruction. The Shelter Cluster scaled down after handing over to the HRRP, but retained core staff and functions for the monitoring of winterization activities and preparedness and contingency planning for future disasters. Built on lessons learnt from past deployments, IFRC successfully engaged a number of local staff in the SCT, including a position to map out the response of the private sector with a view to better analyze existing gaps in the response.
The members of the SCT contracted by IFRC were exclusively dedicated to the task of cluster coordination, independent of NRCS and IFRC operations. Some members of the SCT who coordinated the cluster at the hub level had a dual responsibility in cluster coordination and their agency shelter program while others were fully dedicated to the cluster. The SCT worked closely with humanitarian shelter agencies and national and local authorities, providing technical advice, coordination and information management, assessment, strategic planning, advocacy, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and capacity building services to ensure the core cluster functions were met.
For further information, please visit: http://www.sheltercluster.org/asiapacific/nepal
Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy
(IFRC’s Strategy 2020)
This project aligns with strategic aim 2 of IFRC Strategy 2020, to save lives, protect livelihoods, and strengthen recovery from disasters and crisis. It will provide key lessons and recommendations to improve and inform future shelter response in Nepal and other countries where a shelter cluster or sector-based shelter coordination mechanism is activated. Through improved shelter coordination, humanitarian agencies can strengthen the shelter response to disasters.
Project objectives
The objectives of the review are to:
Appraise the service provided by IFRC as shelter cluster co-lead agency to shelter cluster partners – Government, UN agencies, Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, NGOs both national and international, and other actors.
Review and analyse the experience of IFRC with respect to the establishment and operation of the Shelter Cluster, with a particular emphasis on lessons to be learnt for future operations.
Provide recommendations with regard to IFRC’s leadership of future shelter cluster coordination activities in Nepal, for preparedness and emergency response and the resources required to perform such a role.
Examine if there were aspects of IFRC’s cluster leadership which potentially might have or actually did compromise the mandate and principles of the Red Cross/Red Crescent.
In the framework of these objectives, the review will refer to the core cluster functions as per the IASC Reference Module for Cluster Coordination at Country Level (July 2015) as the main criteria to appraise the service provided by IFRC as shelter cluster lead:
Supporting service delivery: coordination management; design, timeliness and implementation of the SCT, including factors and determinants which provided the SCT’s strengths and weaknesses; linkage of IFRC’s shelter coordination role with any coordination system set up by the national authorities; extent to which national actors (NGOs, affected population, civil society and private sector as relevant) were included in the coordination mechanism; relations with other sectors, the UN system, the Government and other coordination mechanisms as applicable; information management.
Informing strategic decision-making of the humanitarian response: assessments and response gap analysis and how these fed into the appeal process; extent to which cross-cutting issues were included in the situation analysis and design of the shelter response.
Planning and strategy development: strategic planning; technical coordination and application of standards; resource mobilization and appeals; accountability to affected populations; recovery guidance and involvement of the SCT in the transition from meeting emergency shelter needs to durable shelter solutions.
Advocacy: communication and public information strategy and activities; identification of advocacy concerns and advocacy activities undertaken on behalf of cluster participants and the affected population.
Monitoring and evaluating: reporting systems to monitor the implementation of the cluster strategy and corrective action when necessary; cluster performance monitoring.
Contingency planning/preparedness/capacity building: national contingency plans identified and shared if available; extent to which response followed previously established contingency plans; development of cluster-based contingency plans when relevant; risk assessment and analysis carried out; readiness status enhanced; regular distribution of early warning reports; training; the feasibility and conditions required for IFRC to continue to lead the shelter cluster during preparedness and emergency response in Nepal.
In order to review and analyse the experience of IFRC with respect to the establishment and operation of the Shelter Cluster, the review will also consider the following areas of inquiry:
- Coordination Arrangements: in-country coordination modalities; activation of the cluster process; staffing and rotation; access to equipment and supplies by and funding of the Shelter Coordination Team (SCT); understanding, support, and impact of IFRC’s shelter coordination role within the in-country IFRC team and National Society, the Zone office and the secretariat in Geneva; value of linking and/or separating the SCT and the Red Cross operation; issues with regard to visibility for the IFRC and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement; remote support; and design, implementation and timing of the exit/handover strategy.
Desired outcomes
Through the conduct of a review of the Nepal Shelter Cluster in response to the 2015 earthquakes, the following outcomes will be achieved:
IFRC (Nepal delegation, Asia-Pacific Zone Office and the Shelter and Settlements unit) will identify lessons and act on recommendations to improve future deployments.
Shelter Coordination Team members and the Global Shelter Cluster Support Team will learn from the findings and apply them to revise tools and guidelines to improve shelter coordination policy and practice.
Nepal shelter cluster partners and Government of Nepal will use it as reference to improve their shelter response in future disasters as relevant.
The Humanitarian Country Team, Government of Nepal and other clusters in Nepal will identify good practices and areas for improvement that may be relevant to their own coordination responsibilities.
Donors and other humanitarian actors will use it to inform planning and funding decisions for future shelter coordination and response in Nepal.
Consultancy outputs
An inception note (2-3 pages long) detailing the proposed methodology, data collection and reporting plans with draft data collection tools such as interview guides, a timeframe with firm dates for deliverables, and the travel and logistical arrangements for the evaluator.
Debriefing / feedback to IFRC at all levels– The evaluator will report its preliminary findings to the IFRC (in-country, zone, and Geneva), before leaving the country.
Draft report– A draft report, identifying key findings, conclusions, recommendations and lessons for future shelter coordination and response, will be submitted for review and feedback.
Final report– Concise, written report in English (20-25 pages long) with key findings and recommendations and supporting information. The final report will contain a short executive summary and a main body of the report in the standard IFRC shelter coordination review template. Recommendations should be specific and feasible. This document should be of use for discussing the IFRC experience of the cluster process internally and also with key donors and other stakeholders, and address the objectives and areas of inquiry outlined above (Project objectives).
Annexes - Additional notes, summary of review activities undertaken including interview guide, list of stakeholders interviewed, questionnaire or survey if applicable, visits conducted with dates, list of documents reviewed, timeline that captures the milestones regarding the deployment of the SCT and shelter coordination and response, and any other supporting documentation as appropriate, as annexes to the report.
Method of delivery and reasons for selecting that method
The methodology will adhere to the IFRC Framework for Evaluation, with particular attention to the processes upholding the standards of how evaluations should be planned, managed, conducted, and utilized, and to the evaluation criteria endorsed by the IFRC Secretariat (relevance & appropriateness, efficiency, effectiveness, coverage, impact, coherence, sustainability & connectedness, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Fundamental Principles, Code of Conduct, and IFRC’s Strategy 2020).
An IFRC evaluation management team will oversee the evaluation and, with the evaluator, ensure that it upholds the IFRC Management Policy for Evaluation. The evaluation management team will consist of three people, one of which is from the Shelter & Settlements department, one from the Asia-Pacific Zone Office and one from the IFRC Country Office.
The external evaluator will provide an independent, objective perspective as well as technical expertise to the evaluation, and will be the primary author of the evaluation report. S/he should not have been involved or have a vested interest in the IFRC activities being evaluated, and will be hired in accordance with the IFRC procedure for the contracting of consultants, through a transparent recruitment process, based on their professional experience, competence, ethics and integrity for this evaluation. It is expected that the evaluator will be able to conduct a reliable and informed assessment of the shelter coordination in response the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal that has legitimacy and credibility with stakeholders.
The specific evaluation methodology will be further detailed in the inception note in close consultation between the evaluator and the IFRC evaluation management team, but will draw upon the following methods:
Desktop review: Review of available documented materials relating to the start-up, planning, implementation, and impact of the Nepal Shelter Cluster, relevant background documents and history, including prior IFRC Shelter Cluster evaluation reports, and any relevant sources of secondary data.
Field visits/observations to selected sites in Nepal.
Key informant interviews, with key internal stakeholders within the IFRC Secretariat in Geneva, the Asia-Pacific Zone Office, the Country Office, and the deployed shelter cluster coordination team members, as well as with external stakeholders, including government officials, shelter cluster agencies, donors, OCHA, the Humanitarian Country Team, and others as relevant.
Other methods, such as a possible online survey or focus group discussions, will be detailed in an inception note to be developed by the consultant, as time and capacity allows.
An initial draft report will be prepared for a review process, which should occur within 1 week of submittal of the draft report to the evaluation management team, and will involve the following stakeholders in the following order:
Days 1-2 of review process: the evaluation management team to check content is in line with TOR and standards .
Days 3-7 of review process: stakeholders participating in the evaluation.
The review process will be followed to ensure stakeholder input while maintaining the integrity and independence of the report according to the following criteria:
· Inaccuracy. Inaccuracies are factual, supported with undisputable evidence, and therefore should be corrected in the evaluation report itself.
· Clarifications. A clarification is additional, explanatory information to what the evaluator provided in the report. It is the evaluators’ decision whether to revise their report according to a clarification.
· Difference of opinion. A difference of opinion does not pertain to the findings (which are factual), but to the conclusions and/or recommendations. These may be expressed to the evaluator during the review process. It is the evaluator’s decision whether to revise their report according to a difference of opinion.
Support to be provided to the consultant
The IFRC Senior Officer, Shelter Cluster Coordination, will brief the consultant and provide backstop support in dealing with any questions the consultant may have regarding the scope and content of the review as well as the information and background documentation required to gather data and analysis. The IFRC Country Office will provide the required administration and logistics support to organize the field visit and required interviews with stakeholders.
Time Allocation, for budget purposes
This assignment is for a maximum of 30 working days, to be completed by December 31, 2016.
Management of consultancy
The consultancy shall be managed by the IFRC Senior Officer, Shelter Cluster Coordination. He will provide the required briefing to the consultant and have weekly monitoring discussions to assess progress. Other ad hoc communications with the consultant will be held as required.
How to apply:
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) seeks to evaluate the coordination services provided by the IFRC-led Shelter Coordination Team to the humanitarian shelter response to the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, to identify key lessons and recommendations to improve and inform future response. Interested and qualified candidates, please send your CV, a letter of interest, and expected daily fee rate to pablo.medina@ifrc.orgas soon as possible and no later than November 30, 2016.