Consultant For Development of, and Training on Early Action Protocol (For Anticipatory Action) at Sign of Hope (SoH)

Purpose and objectives:

• The main purpose of this assignment is to develop an Anticipatory Action Framework for SoH.

Specific objectives

• Develop Early Action Protocol (EAP) (s) for specific (agreed upon) disasters within 2 selected disaster prone hotspot sites in the project area (priority being given to cross border areas of Ethiopia and Kenya).
• Undertake stakeholders consultative meetings/workshops as way of facilitating development of locally relevant EAP (s)
• Training SoH staff and partners in Anticipatory Action including on EAP (s) developed.

Main tasks

• Facilitate stakeholder’s consultative and information gathering workshop/meetings.
• Guide the initial consultation and consensus building with various humanitarian actors on Anticipatory Action (AA) concept
• Develop AA plans and/or EAP (s) that clearly stipulate specific target area (s), risk analysis, scenario setting and proposed funding needs for each scenario; trigger approaches, models and timelines, role of various stakeholders, validation approaches and prioritization for anticipatory actions against drought.
• Develop an operational/implementation guide for piloting the EAP (s)
• Training SoH and partner’s staff and volunteers, strategic community, government and humanitarian representatives on AA and/or EAP (s).

Expected Deliverables

• Stakeholder and partners consultative meetings/workshop report
• Two EAPs (1- Kenya and 1- Ethiopia) or 1 combined Cross Border EAP backed up with an operational/implementation plan/guide

Process/Timeframe

• The proposed assignment will be spread between 1st October 2023 and 31st July 2024. The combined total duration of the assignment is up to 45 working days (8hours a day) spread across these period. Even though the consultant may have the liberty to determine how they work and deliver on the assignment by organizing their working days or hours worked in a day, the following milestones should be achieved within the stated timelines;

Milestone Timeline

• Consultative/information gathering meetings/workshops with SoH/ Done by the 15th December 2023 (or preferably earlier)
• Partners staff and relevant stakeholders
• Bilateral consultation meetings/discussions/Key informant interviews/ Done by the 15th December 2023 (or preferably earlier) focused group discussions
• Training SoH staff and partners on AA (first phase- Done by the 15th December 2023 (or preferably earlier) introducing SoH staff and partners to AA)
• Sharing of first draft EAP (s) for review 15th April 2024
• Training of SoH staff and partners on FbAF (second phase)- 15th April 2024
• Training/sensitizing SoH staff and partners on the developed EAP (s)
• Submission of final documents and dissemination 5th July 2024 (the earlier the better) (meeting with stakeholders) of developed EAPs
• The details below give potential applicants the SoH’s “thinking” around the entire process that could help/guide applicants in better defining their process.

Proposed number of days and year & Comments

Consultative meetings/workshops with SoH/partner staff and relevant stakeholders

• The consultant may propose to have consultative workshops in each country (Kenya and Ethiopia) or have a combined workshop/meeting for relevant cross border partners, stakeholders and SoH staff
• This will be done in year 1 (2023) between September and December 2023
• Proposed number of days for consultation: between 2 and 4 days
• SoH will organize for the meeting venue, travel and accommodation needs for participants
• The structure of consultative meetings could also change based on the consultants methodology and approach

Bilateral consultation meetings/discussions

• The consultant may require some days to undertake bilateral discussions with relevant stakeholders (WFP; the Red Cross etc.) in the field of climate change, weather, FbAF, AA
• This will be considered as a cost under the consultant’s proposal. To be done between September and December 2023

Training SoH staff and partners on AA

• The number of days for the training will be based on the consultant’s proposal but should however not be more than 2 days per training.
• The first part of the training to be done between September and December 2023
• The second part of the training to be done between January and July 2024
• The consultant to proposed the structure of the training, the content and the number of days needed
• SoH to organize for the meeting venue, travel and accommodation needs for participants

Development of EAP (s)

• The development of the EAPs will be spread across the two years (2023 and 2024)
• Days to be aligned to consultants proposal

Stakeholder dissemination meeting

• This is proposed to happen after development of EAPs. The meeting will be used to disseminate the findings of the stakeholders meetings and sharing the new EAP
• This will be done in year 2 (2024)
• Proposed number of days: 1 and will be done at the field level
• SoH to organize for the meeting venue and travel cost for participants

NB: The successful applicant will have an opportunity to further discuss the methodology with SoH and come up with a harmonized approach.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in emergency and resilience programming or designing Disaster Risk Reduction Models.
• Solid understanding of key components of AA and knowledge on relationship/connection between emergency preparedness and Disaster Risk Reduction.
• Proven experience in conducting trainings and stakeholder’s engagement meetings/workshops
• Technical and methodological knowledge in AA and formulating DRR plans on solid methodologies, assessing risks and scenario for relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of projects
• Experience working with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and partnered projects is an added advantage.
• Fluency in written and spoken English

Desirable:

• Experience in the relevant field
• Familiarity with the project country/region
• Practical experience of working in humanitarian and development work

Academic Background

• A first-level university degree in combination with at least 7 years’ relevant/similar experience.
• An advanced level university degree in social sciences, climate related studies; Disaster Risk Reduction/Management; International development studies or any other relevant field.
• The consultant is to be independent and impartial with no liabilities to any other organization or government entity regarding this evaluation.

Application Process

Please submit the following documents as PDF files with the subject line “Anticipatory Action framework development, Project number; EAB-ER-KEN23-01” to recruitment@sign-of-hope.org no later than: 25th September 2023

• A résumé indicating all relevant experience,
• Contacts of at least two professional referees,
• A cover letter
• A technical proposal (max 3 pages) with a brief description of the proposed methodology and work-plan (indicating when the key milestones captured in this document will be realized
• Financial proposal (In Euros) clearly indicating breakdown of costs), including professional fees separated from all the other relevant costs such as travel expenses etc.
• A written sample of a document of similar nature