Terms of Reference (ToR) Developing Advocacy Strategy for NCA Partners 1. Introduction Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) with its long presence (since 1979) in Afghanistan. NCA is a partner based organization which implements projects through national NGOs in Afghanistan. The national partner organizations of NCA, implement programs with NCA funds in Uruzgan, Daikundi, Faryab, Bamyan, Kabul and Khost and our national partners are present in 30 provinces of Afghanistan. The low presence of NGO actors in the provinces where NCA works raises a need for development intervention due to remoteness and the potential to contribute towards peace and stability. Despite difficult access into these provinces for international organizations and authorities, NCA has been able to implement programs there through its network of local partner organizations. Our partners have greater acceptance amongst rural communities and they better understand the local contexts, culture and traditions of rural communities. NCA Afghanistan s vision of change and overall goal for Afghanistan is A country that has just and sustainable peace. To contribute positively towards this goal during the period 2016-2020, NCA s programme will focus on three key thematic areas; Peacebuilding, Economic Empowerment and WASH, with a particular focus on women and youth. In addition and in recognition of the fact that civil society is a key driver of change, NCA, through its national partner organisations, advocate duty bearers to fulfil their obligations to manage resources fairly, to promote social cohesion and to deliver services equitably. Recognising that sustainable development will not be achieved while national and local conflict is prevalent throughout Afghanistan, NCA aims to address potential and/or existing conflicts and power imbalance as an integrated part of its development activities. NCA is also a committed organization in providing assistance to civil society organization and has been working with local institutions in Afghanistan since its interventions began. NCA believes that local institutions, as part of civil society organizations and formal country based civil society organization can be more effective in development and humanitarian interventions if they are accountable and transparent. These organizations can better assess the need and priorities and can work in accessible and restricted areas through the good relations they have with communities in general and particularly with remote rural communities. In addition, they also have better understanding of the local context and can better plan conflict sensitivity in their programming work. NCA Afghanistan has conducted Partnership Study in 2014 focused on partner s effectiveness, efficiency and as basis for either diversifying or selected current partners for the future partnership. The study has
highlighted several shortcomings with regard to capacity support to partners and as result NCA has changed its capacity development support to partners. Later in 2015 NCA has conducted a comprehensive capacity assessment to highlight partner weakness and strength using systematic approach both for the assessment as well as for the capacity development plan for NCA country strategy 2016-2020. 2. Background NCA Afghanistan conducted partners capacity assessments as part of country strategy 2020 in the year 2015. The overall purpose of the assessment was to equip partner with the right capacities to become an active civil society to assist NCA in the implementation of country strategy 2020. The central theme of the capacity assessment was on assessing organizational, accountability, advocacy and financial capacities of partners. The assessment targeted ten partner organizations. Though the findings of the assessment varied, but there were also several commonality such as 1) Organization capacity: Fund raising, Strategy & PMER, HR, Code of Conduct and security, 2) Accountability Capacity: Internal democratic governance, Integrating gender justice, Participation of RHs, 3) Advocacy capacity: Advocacy methods, networking, interaction with government and other decisionmakers and 4) Financial Capacity: Budget process, Financial system, internal control and reporting process. Right after the capacity gaps were identified each partner was given a baseline score and annual progress scores as a systematic approach in recording the improvement as well as to assess pre and post capacity development implementation plan. To address the capacity gaps NCA has developed a five year plan focusing on 3-5 issues on annual basis and a review to observe where are partners comparing to baseline. The present ToR focuses on developing advocacy strategy and providing training to partners. 3. Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to assist NCA partners in developing contextualized advocacy strategy and training to support partners in achieving NCA and partner advocacy goals 2016-2020. 4. Objective of assignment The objective is developing advocacy strategy and to provide advocacy training to for six NCA partners. 5. Planned Outcome Advocacy strategy for six partners is in place. 6. Planned Output The consultant will be expected to:
Review partners current projects, as well as advocacy initiatives and identify potential priorities and areas of focus; Organize a one to two day workshop in Kabul to consult with partners staff and identify priority areas for advocacy over the next four years. The workshop will rely on participatory methods, including brainstorming sessions; Provide 4-5 days training workshop for partner main office and field staff on advocacy Carry-out bilateral consultations with NCA and NCA head Office advocacy and policy advisors. Note that much of these consultations will be done remotely via phone, Skype and/or email; Carry-out consultations with some of current advocacy networks to identify areas for potential collaborations; Develop a complete advocacy strategy, outlining clear objectives, targets, activities, allies, deliverables and indicators, as well as an implementation plan for the first year and advice on funding opportunities for such work; Review the current structure, workload and focus of partners communication & advocacy department(if any) and carry out a SWOT analysis; Produce a report on the current structure of the communications & advocacy department (SWOT analysis) and provide recommendations on potential structure and focus over the coming four years. Produce a workshop report maximum 10 pages. 7. Key deliverables The consultant will work closely with NCA and partner designated staff. All deliverables will be submitted to the joint team of NCA and partners on date as mutually agreed during the inception meeting. The reports will be reviewed by NCA and partner team. All draft and final documents will be submitted as soft. The consultant should submit following key deliverables, Inception report: Outlining details of activities with proposed methodology and timeline/ delivery dates Schedule of workshop and session plan Draft advocacy strategy for feedback and comments Draft report on advocacy structure and focus A final strategy in English, including implementation plan for 2017-2020 Workshop report in English The advocacy strategy to include the following or otherwise suggested by the consultant: what is the problem what is the solution who can make the change (decision maker) when can the change happen (is there a process or do we need to initiate one?) who do we work with (Alliance?) and what methods do we use
8. Methodology The methodology will be proposed by the consultant. Consultant will work closely with NCA and partners as the designated contact point in setting up meetings, exchanging information, providing documentation, organizing and facilitating training to NCA partners. The strategy work will be concluded with a feedback session where initial findings are presented for key staff of each NGO for their comments. Furthermore, the consultant will prepare an inception report prior to the commencement of the developing partner advocacy strategy. The inception report will present the proposed methodology, a matrix and instruments that will be used for the purpose of having strategies, conducting interviews, organizing workshops, conducting desk study, collecting field data and proposed timetable for the entire process and the cost for the assignment. 9. Skills and Competencies NCA is looking for an international consultant who will be responsible for working with partners to develop organizational strategies for the selected partner organizations. Applicants will be shortlisted based upon their expression of interest, budget and CV. The marking system is as follows: Quality of proposal (15 points) Extensive work experience and proven record in advocacy, policy, campaign, strategic management (15 points) Demonstrate experience of having undertaken similar assignments (20 points) Good analytical and documentation/report writing skills (10 points) Proven communication and facilitation skills (15 points) Excellent command of oral and written English (10 points) Familiarity with Afghanistan context. (15 points) Those attaining 70 or more points will be shortlisted, and then the successful candidate will be offered the contract by the procurement committee. The purpose of the procurement committee in this instance is to ensure that all procurement is carried out objectively in a fair and transparent manner in order to prevent conflict of interests and corruption. The evaluation will be advertised openly as this will generate competition and promote transparency and accountability. 10. Timeframe The advocacy strategies developments and training are planned to be undertaken in November 2016. The strategies development will include meetings and workshop with partners staff, stakeholders and relevant advocacy networks. The following is a proposed time table that may be revised after discussions between parties.
No Date Activity Description 1 31 October 2016 Submission of expression of interest, budget and CV 2 10 November 2016 Selection of consultant 16-17 November 2016 Submission of inception report to NCA, after desk review of relevant documentation and kick-off skype with NCA and partners. 3 25 26 Nov 2016 (2 days) Meetings with partner staff, conducting workshops and interviews in Kabul 27 30 Nov 2016 (4 days) Conducting 4 days advocacy workshop with NCA partner main and field staff in Kabul 4 01-05 Dec 2016 (5 days) Developing the strategy and action plan 5 06 December 2016 Submission of draft advocacy strategy to partners 6 08 December 2016 Draft version reviewed and commented by partners and sent to the consultant for revision and finalization 7 10 Dec 2016 (2 days) Submission of the final advocacy strategy to partners Total working days = 13 11. Consultant s Proposal The consultant firm or person shall submit the following: Initially an expression of interest with budget and short CV by 31 October 2016. The applicants to include flights, accommodation and daily fee Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted Submission process: Both Technical and Financial Proposal should be submitted in soft copy. All proposal documents shall be provided in English language. Individual consultant, consultancy firm, national NGOs or local capacity builders are requested to submit their technical and financial proposals. The proposals should be submitted latest by 16:00 hours, 31 st October, 2016 in soft copy to the email address: Mirwais.Stankzai@nca.no stating Training Consultancy Title in the email subject line. Only short listed applicants/consultancy firm will be contacted. NCA reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and is not bound to any legal claim in this regard. No telephone inquiries will be entertained. Contact: +93 777 33 49 86