Consultancy to conduct CD & NDs’ Perception Survey of the Services and Effectiveness of South Sudan NGO Forum 42 views0 applications

1. Background **

The South Sudan NGO Forum is a voluntary, independent networking body of 529 NGOs of which 407 are National NGOs and 122 are International NGOs. The Forum supports its members to effectively respond to the humanitarian and development needs in South Sudan. All member organisations provide humanitarian assistance to the South Sudanese people regardless of ethnic background, political affiliation, or religious belief.

The NGO Forum provides a platform through which NGOs, the Government of South Sudan, the UN, donors, and other external stakeholders can exchange information, share expertise and establish guidelines for a more networked, efficient and effective use of aid resources in South Sudan. The Secretariat primarily focuses on information sharing, networking, capacity enhancement, representation and communication around safety and wellbeing.

The Forum is comprised of two main constituencies (national NGOs – NNGOs and international NGOs- INGOs) served by a Joint Steering Committee of INGO and NNGO members coordinated by the NGO Forum Secretariat. While there is a dedicated National NGO Focal Point in the NGO Forum Secretariat, all positions serve both the National and International NGO Groups.

The NGO Forum’s mission is to support members to save lives and improved lives through effective and principled delivery of humanitarian and development assistance in South Sudan by national and international NGOs in South Sudan. The Forum aims to achieve this purpose through a number of services that it offers to its members by exercising a number of functions.

NGO Forum Core Functions

The South Sudan NGO Forum exists primarily to serve the needs of its members and to act in their interest. To this end, the NGO Forum pursues five aims:

a) Information Sharing function

· To collect and disseminate relevant information on decisions and changes that affect operations of members in South Sudan.

Function is carried out through the following Services:

• Collect, store and disseminate relevant information pertaining to humanitarian action, recovery and development activities and policies;
• Collect, store and disseminate relevant government publications, announcements, and circulars following up with the appropriate line ministries to ensure that they are understandable to the NGO audience;
• Collect, store and disseminate calls for proposals from donors;
• Disseminate job vacancies from donors, UN Agencies, and NGOs to stakeholders;
• Attend and disseminate minutes/notes of meetings in which the NGO Forum is invited to participate (i.e. pooled funding oversight committees, UN HCTs, donor fora, UN Security Management Team, etc.);
• Publish weekly update to the Executive Director’s and Country Director’s Groups;
• Disseminate information on public / special events;
• Maintain and disseminate a contact directory of different stakeholders for NGOs where appropriate;
• Prepare and publish briefings on issues of common interest to the NGO Forum as defined by the Steering Committee;
• Support NNGOs in diagnosing institutional gaps and strengths as well as generate quantitative information to inform NNGO capacity status discussions;
• Support, publicise and/or organize training opportunities for members and/or stakeholders.

b) Safety & Security function:

• To Support the NGO Forum with information sharing, analysis, advice and guidance in order to enhance situational awareness, inform operational decision-making and help enable humanitarian activity.

Function is carried out through the following Services:

• Providing more timely early warning on potential risks to NGO operations in South Sudan;
• Provide 24/7 response to emergent security issues;
• Provide flash and daily incident updates;
• Provide weekly and monthly security analysis reports;
• Manage incident database;
• Provide weekly security briefing;
• Coordinate NGO security-based relocations;
• Conduct outreach activities to support field NGOs;
• Manage and coordinate information sharing platforms;
• Conduct external liaison with security / safety network;

c) Policy function

• To ensure that formal policies and guidelines support NGO operations and service delivery to South Sudan population through the representation, communication and public messaging function, the forum engages in relevant fora.

Function is carried out through the following Services:

• Share with members relevant policies and formal communications that touch on NGOs operations in South Sudan;
• Engage with authorities on implementation of formal policies and statutes;
• Engage with members for inputs that shape polices and laws;
• Forging strong working relationships with relevant duty bearers in South Sudan;
• Share and engage with relevant stakeholders best practices in policy development and implementation;
• Advocate and represent collective interests of members to relative stakeholders and duty bearers.

d) External Engagements function

• To facilitate NGOs delivery of humanitarian and development outcomes through joint working with members, authorities, donors, UN agencies and observers.

Function is carried out through the following Services:

• Represent members voice and concerns to relevant partners, duty bearers and donors;
• Providing technical assistance support to NNGOs;
• Facilitating dialogue and workshops; promoting networking;
• Discuss implications of changes in operational context on NGO work with key stakeholders’
• Reach-out and disseminate relevant messages on NGO work in South Sudan;
• Peer reviews and analysis;
• Forge and amplify good working relationships with actors that impact NGO work in South Sudan.

e) INGO-NNGO Networking and Capacity Development function

• Enhancement of NGOs posture and National NGOs (NNGOs) capacity strengthening for improved delivery of programs.

Function is carried out through the following Services:

• Information sharing on best practices in humanitarian and development programmes delivery;
• Offering training and mentoring opportunities to members and range of other stakeholders for effective programming;
• Internal networking among NNGOs and with INGOs and with donors and other stakeholders;
• Capacity strengthening of national NGOs;
• peer-pairing and sharing information on funding opportunities;
• Internship Programme;
• State Coordination Support;
• National NGOs Annual Exposition;

South Sudan NGO Forum seeks to be technically robust, building a strong evidence base for its services, robust risk identification and mitigation to avoid doing harm, and drawing on humanitarian and development best practice, as appropriate, to support effective delivery of credible services and results by NGOs in South Sudan.

2. Purpose of the Consultancy

The South Sudan NGO Forum seeks a reputable consultant(s) carryout country directors (INGOs) and national directors (NNGO) perception survey on services being offered to members in 2020 by South Sudan NGO Forum particularly in the areas of information sharing, networking, capacity enhancement, representation and communication around safety and wellbeing.

3. Essential and Desirable Experience/Qualifications

Required qualifications for consultancy**

Individuals or firms that apply for this consultancy will need to meet the following requirements

· At least ten (10) years demonstrable institutional experience in field research;

· At least five (5) years of experience in conducting perception surveys

· Demonstrable experience in conducting both quantitative and qualitative surveys, including stakeholder/beneficiary and programme outcome evaluations, in international and post-conflict or fragile state contexts;

· Demonstrable experience in engaging with local community members, using participatory and consultative approaches;

· Demonstrable experience in engaging with government institutions and use of tact and sensitivity when handling sensitive information;

· Demonstrable experience in monitoring and implementing activities and delivering all required outputs;

· Demonstrable strong oral and written communications;

· Demonstrable experience of operating in areas with accessibility challenges;

· Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity;

· Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and maintain flexibility in working hours.

· Strong analytical skills

· Experience in South Sudan desirable.

Requirements for Consultant(s)**

It is up to the Offeror to propose the optimum team composition to achieve the objective of this study but based on previous surveys, a maximum of three consultants suffice to complete the task on time. It is hereby suggested that the proposed team should include one or two of the following expertise:

· M.Sc. degree in social science or related field and seven to ten years of demonstrable experience in coordination, project management and implementation as well as monitoring of programme outputs and activities;

· M.Sc. degree in Statistics or Population Studies or related field and with seven to ten years of demonstrable experience in designing methodologies and undertaking data analysis for research and surveys.

4. Objectives and Specific Tasks to be undertaken by the Consultant(s)

General objectives of the consultancy

The South Sudan NGO Forum seeks an experienced and qualified consultant(s), preferably South Sudan-registered and -based, to conduct a comprehensive survey targeting members of the South Sudan NGO Forum to collect statistically reliable data on the perceptions of the members about South Sudan NGO Forum services to members, both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The findings of the survey will inform the next steps regarding what needs to be done in order to improve the services the Forum provides to its members, building on established strengths of the NGO Forum.

Specific Objectives of the Survey

Specific objectives of the survey are:

· To obtain statistically reliable data on the NGO Forum services to members.

· To assess the NGO Forum’s responsiveness to members’ needs and how they are being met.

· To assess the current level of Secretariat’s and Steering Committees’ responsiveness to NGO Forum members’ needs

· To assess the effectiveness of the functions of the NGO Forum in supporting members in principled delivery of aid assistance in South Sudan.

· To establish the current extent of effectiveness of National Directors’ and Country Directors’ Group meetings in responding to members needs and/or concerns.

· To assess how the Forum is supporting field-level coordination among members and between members and other actors or coordination networks.

· To assess how the NGO Forum effectively engages with external actors such as the Humanitarian Coordinator, OCHA, Humanitarian Country Team, UNHAS Steering Committee, Inter-Cluster Working Group, Partnership for Resilience and Recovery, South Sudan Humanitarian Fund, the Humanitarian Response Plan, Donors, UN Agencies, and UNMISS on the one hand; and Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Finance/National Revenue Authority, and other relevant Government institutions, on the other hand, in addressing challenges that affect operations of members in South Sudan.

· To assess how the Forum effectively engages on policy issues that impact the operating environment for NGOs in South Sudan.

· To assess how the NGO Forum provides capacity development support to members through training, funding or networking opportunities.

· To assess the extent to which the Forum promotes best practices including awareness of humanitarian principles, promoting fair processes, and effective engagements with local actors at the field levels.

· To show the trend of NGO Forum performance across various functions from 2018 to 2020.

5. Outputs

Key Outputs and Activities**

The scope of work, including expected outputs and supporting activities, to be delivered by the selected consultant will include, but is not limited to the following:

· Draft a comprehensive and suitable survey instrument and methodology. The suggested sample size out of the total population is to be drawn at 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. The analysis methodology should include both descriptive analysis (i.e., X% of NGO Forum members hold this sentiment) as well as multivariate regression analytical data at the Forum level (i.e. X% of Forum members hold this sentiment which can be attributed to X, Y and Z factors). The NGO Forum Secretariat will work in partnership with the consultant(s) to refine the methodology to ensure alignment with the indicators, being cognisant that resources dedicated to this purpose is limited);

· Pilot the survey instrument/data collection tools and methodology;

· Finalize the draft questionnaire through consultative process with the NGO Forum Secretariat and Reference Group drawn from the Steering Committees;

· Develop a work plan;

· Develop an engagement mechanism to encourage target groups to respond to the survey;

· Conduct the survey of National and Country Directors;

· Carryout data and trend analyses and quality control for the survey;

· Draft report of findings shared with the Reference Group;

· Organize and conduct workshops to validate draft findings; and

· Produce Final Report (Introduction, conceptual framework, methodology, findings, conclusions, recommendations and bibliography shared with key stakeholders.

Notes to the Consultant(s)**

· The Consultant(s) is responsible for quality assurance as well as coordination of the data collection as well as data entry, analysis and reporting. The data analysis should involve an appropriate level of disaggregation;

· The Consultant is responsible to arrange and provide transport/phone call services, accommodation and other logistics for the survey.

Expected deliverables

The following are the expected deliverables for this consultancy:

Milestone 1:

• Inception report based on the inputs and agreements for implementation, which includes but not limited to detail draft methodology and instruments/tools, detail work plan with timeline and survey team composition.

Milestone 2:

• Consultative meetings to finalize survey methodology and instruments;
• Finalized methodology and survey instrument;
• Guiding document for data collection and supervision.

Milestone 3:

• Draft survey report for inputs by NGO Forum Secretariat and Reference Group;
• Second draft report incorporating the inputs;

Milestone 4:

• Final survey report (in soft and hard copy) with clear set of findings, conclusions and recommendations, based on an agreed reporting outline, a final report not exceeding 100 pages with relevant and key data being presented graphically;
• Debriefing reports and presentations to the Steering Committees;
• Collected and cleaned data (both qualitative and quantitative) using appropriate database/statistical software.

Proposal**

The proposal should comprise of technical and financial proposals.

i). Technical Proposal

The technical proposal must include but may not be limited to the following:

a) Scope of the survey**

· The consultant(s) should explain its/his/her understanding of the scope of this Assignment.

b) Methodology**

· The consultant(s) should explain its/his/her methodology and approach to the survey, including demonstrating an understanding of the survey objectives and suggest key research questions for the survey.

c) Quality Assurance Plan**

· The consultant must explain its/his/her quality assurance mechanisms for each stage of the survey process.

d) Work plan

· The consultant(s) should provide a tentative detailed work plan, including timeframe with a list of activities required and resources needed. This can be reviewed within one week (1) of commencement of the consultancy or agreement with the NGO Forum.**

e) The consultant(s) should provide CVs, education certificates and client references as supporting documents.

ii). Financial proposal

The financial proposal should include all costs the consultant(s) needs to successfully complete this assignment on time. Financial cost should come under headings: 1) consultancy fee, 2) other costs if required, such as accommodation fee, estimated return air ticket cost, visa fee, permit/registration fee and any other cost the consultant might need to incur while performing this assignment.

Payment

For this consultancy, the following payment schedules shall apply:

· Payment 1: 25 percentage of the payment upon the completion of the Milestone 1, acceptable by the client.

· Payment 2: 25 percentage of the payment upon the completion of the Milestones 2 and 3, acceptable by the client.

· Payment 3: 50 percentage of the payment upon the completion of the Milestone 4 acceptable by the client.

1. Lines of Communication **

The selected Consultant(s) will provide milestone updates to the NGO Forum Secretariat Director and/or his designate at key stages of the initial assessment, survey design and implementation process and as may be required. Moreover, the Consultant(s) is responsible for delivering timely and good quality presentations on the technical aspects of the survey as well as progress on implementation to NGO Forum Secretariat and/or relevant members of the Forum/Reference Group.

The Recipient

1. The primary recipient of this consultancy report is the NGO Forum through the NGO Forum Secretariat. Secondary recipients are donors, civil society, and local institutions.
2. As a recipient, NGO Forum through the Secretariat will:

· Appoint a focal point to support the consultant during the survey process;

· Coordinate with and inform NGO Forum members as needed;

· Advise the selected consultant to identify key stakeholders to be interviewed as part of the assessment;

· Support the selected consultant in liaising with members of the Forum and providing relevant documentation as well as feedback.

1. Timeframe

The perception survey is to be conducted within 4 – 5 weeks starting mid-November 2020 to mid-December 2020. However, the Consultant(s) will have to submit the exact timeframe. Detailed work plan together with timeframes could be revised at the later stage in consultation with the Survey Reference Group.

Reference materials:

The consultant(s) should study the following documents among others:

· NGO Forum Statutes of Operations;

· NGO Forum Functions as spelt out on the Forum website and social media: www.southsudanngoforum.org; @SSNGOF

· National Directors’ and Country Directors’ meeting minutes;

· Joint Steering Committee meeting minutes;

· CD and ND weekly Updates/e-Bulletins;

· Other relevant documents produced by the Forum over the last one year.