Consultants at Action Against Hunger-USA

Action Against Hunger (ACF) is part of the ACF-International Network which works to save lives by combating hunger and diseases that threaten the lives of vulnerable communities, through nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, health and advocacy.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Consultant for the Elaboration of a Joint INGO Assessment Framework and Budget

Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Duration: 2 weeks
Start date: 29/06/2015
Final report date: 10/07/2015

Background
In addition to the massive killings of civilians in recent years, the conflict in the North-East of Nigeria has caused major humanitarian consequences by prompting the displacement of more than 1.5 million people, including around 800,000 children, mainly in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe States. According to the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix, only around 10% of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are staying in government camps, the majority of the displaced being settled in informal settlements or in host communities, contributing to straining sometimes already limited resources of the local population. Food, shelter and protection have generally been identified as priority needs, while Nutrition, WASH, Health, NFIs and Education would be in a critical stage. In each State and LGA, priority needs vary depending on the kind of settlement, proximity of a water point, access to a health center, profile of the IDPs, etc.

The current humanitarian response to the needs of these populations remains limited due to the large scale of the crisis, the difficulty to reach the internally displaced persons and the lack of adapted programmatic information.

The INGO Forum was established in November 2014 by a group of humanitarian and development NGOs to reinforce coordination, cooperation and information sharing at the INGO level and with relevant external stakeholders. Eight Members of the INGO Forum already implement activities in the affected States supporting IDP populations and host communities.

In this context, the Members of the INGO Forum have decided to build on their experience in their areas of intervention and acceptance with IDP and local populations to carry out a joint assessment of people's needs in areas of displacement.

Purpose of the Exercise

Why a joint assessment?
One of the main challenges to programming an effective response to the crisis for all actors involved, including the Government of Nigeria, Nigerian civil society, the international NGOs and the UN, is the lack of comprehensive humanitarian information. Each organization involved carries out relatively small-scale assessments pertaining to specific geographic areas or sectors, while the humanitarian community lacks consistent information allowing for comparisons between sectors and locations to organize and coordinate the response effectively. The INGOs can therefore build on their experience in these areas, as well on their humanitarian expertise, to gather humanitarian information together. Such a joint work will also contribute to reinforcing the cooperation among INGOs at technical level, in addition to the coordination, cooperation and information sharing already supported by the INGO Forum in Nigeria.

What are we aiming at?
The INGOs intend to build on the assessments already carried out in 2015 in the North-East of Nigeria to develop a joint assessment of people’s needs in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe and possibly some parts of Bauchi, Jigawa, Plateau and Taraba States if budget allows. The aim is to identify and prioritize the needs of the displaced populations, as well as of the most vulnerable host communities where relevant. Therefore, the assessment will be multi-sectorial, but will not go into an in-depth assessment of each community as for a project assessment. The goal is to identify where and in which sectors the humanitarian response needs to be scaled up or established, as well as where the host communities are most strained. The results of the assessment will be shared with the Government of Nigeria, the UN, Sector working groups at Abuja and State levels and other relevant partners.

What are the perceived challenges to conduct a joint assessment?
The INGOs that will conduct the assessment are already implementing in the North-East and gathering information is extremely time-consuming when delivering services to their beneficiaries takes priority. The assessment framework and budget that will be developed by the consultant will need to be as cost and time-efficient as possible to limit the diversion of financial and human resources from the humanitarian response per say. Nevertheless, the need for such assessment is acknowledged by all humanitarian actors on the ground.

Objectives for the Consultancy
In order to develop an assessment framework and budget, the consultant will be expected to conduct the following activities:

Analysis of the INGO's and other relevant assessments conducted in the targeted areas in 2015:

• Identification of assessed areas (States and LGAs);
• Identification of assessed sectors and extent of the assessments;
• Identification of areas or sectors that need to be further assessed and identification of gaps in information.

Elaboration of an assessment framework (Terms of Reference):

• Geographic areas and sectors;
• Methodology and guidelines of the assessment;
• Timeframe of the assessment;
• Tools of the assessment (questionnaires by location and by sector, guidelines for focus group discussions, etc.);
• Composition of teams (number and required qualifications or experience).

Elaboration of a budget for the assessment:

• Collection of information about relevant logistical and transportation costs within the INGO Forum Members;
• Collection of information about relevant human resources costs within the INGO Forum Members;
• Draft of a budget for the assessment.

Expected Outcomes of the Consultancy:

• Report on already carried out assessment in 2015 and compilation of relevant findings;
• Terms of Reference of the joint assessment to be conducted by the INGOs, including target areas and sectors, methodology, guidelines, tools, timeframe and required human resources;
• Budget of the joint assessment.
• The end products will allow for an immediate operationalization and organization of the assessment by the INGOs upon the end of the consultancy.
• It is expected that all necessary tools and guidelines for the assessors will be included in Annex to the Terms of Reference.

Required Experience

• 10 years of International Development experience or 5 years Humanitarian experience, preferably with Monitoring and Reporting experience;
• Knowledge of working in an emergency context;
• Previous assessment design experience;
• Previous budget design experience;
• Experience in a non-governmental organization.

Application Closing Date
Wednesday 24th June, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV, along with a brief outline of their proposed methodology and structure for the framework assessment (of 2 to 4 pages in length maximum) to: [email protected] before the closing date above, with "INGO Forum Consultant" in the subject line of your email.