Terms of Reference (ToR) Right Based Approach Training to NCA Partners Organizations 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 In many societies there is a strong dimension of horizontal inequality, gaps in well-being between clearly defined groups (for example, along lines of gender or ethnicity). Frequently, lack of respect for equal rights and difficulties in claiming entitlements, in particular for social groups subject to legal, political, social or cultural discrimination, is a major factor underlying poverty, associated with high levels of inequality and contributing to economic and social exclusion. Discrimination reflects socially-constructed identities and interests which, depending on the situation, operate along lines of gender, religion, class, ethnicity, nationality, age and other dimensions. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (Article 1). The principles of equality and non-discrimination are fundamental to ensuring that every human being can realize his or her human rights, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, religion, gender or any other sources of distinction. The main value of adopting a human rights approach is that the beneficiaries of development are considered to be right-holders, not subject to charity, and are thus able to make legitimate claims on governments for their rights to be respected. Though, there is an increased awareness on the needs for development stakeholders, especially civil society actors and organizations including NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, youth networks and women s groups/association to adopt RBA approaches in programme development, however, correct application of these approaches in practice has been utterly fragmented. Thus, it has become imperative for both rural and urban development practitioners to understand, get acquainted to, and be well equipped with requisite information, skills and techniques to enable them effectively and efficiently make use of RBA tools and apply RBA techniques to support and promote various indigenous developments. 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 organizational accountability capacity participation of rights holders (Right Based Approach) for partners. 3. Purpose The purpose of the training is to introduce NCA partner staff to the concept of rights-based approach to development; and deepen participant s practical understanding on human rights concepts at local, national and international levels, as well as enhance their ability to establish linkages between human rights issues and development. 4. Objective of assignment The objectives of the training through the workshop are to: Introduce participants to the rights-based approach to development; Deepen participant s understanding in the principles, practices and policies those underpins rights-based approach to development; Expose participants to existing tools, to facilitate the use of rights-based approaches in development planning, implementation and project/program evaluations; Increase partner understanding to engagement with rights holders 5. Planned Outcome Participants received five days training sessions to enhance knowledge and skills on right based approach. Participants Developed logical fame work for a program using right based approach. Participants expressed right based approach in all stages (designing, implementation, Monitoring ) of development projects. 6. Planned Output NCA partners will be able to integrating gender justice both for projects as well as for their offices, increase interaction with rights holders for participation and sharing project plan and progress reports with rights holders 7. Methodology The methodology will be proposed by the consultant. Consultant will work closely with NCA and partners as the designated contact point in organizing workshop and training for partner staff. The consultant to present final report of the training to NCA.
8. Skills and Competencies NCA is looking for an international consultant who will be responsible for working with partners to develop the capacity on right based approach for the selected partner organizations. Applicants will be shortlisted based upon their expression of interest, budget and CV. The marking system is as follows: Must have strong background in development with special focus on RBA Must have conducted similar workshop previously in particular workshop organized by international organization, Shall have previous experience in Afghanistan Facilitation skills Report writing skills and fluency in English both written and verbal. 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. 9. Timeframe The consultancy is for a period of one weeks starting from 11 until 15 December 2016. The period includes developing of materials, presentations conducting the training and writing report. A tentative schedule of activities is outlined below: No Date Activity Description 1 05 November 2016 Submission of expression of interest, budget and CV 2 15 November 2016 Selection of consultant 3 20 November 2016 Submission of inception report to NCA, after desk review of relevant documentation and kick-off skype with NCA and partners. 4 11 15 December Review of partner existing capacity and delivering the RBA training( 11 partners) 5 20 December Feedback report submitting to NCA and partner reflecting the action plan and outcome of the meetings, training and workshop
10. REPORTING The report ought to be submitted to NCA as per the time frame given in section 4 and shall be based on the following structure: Executive summary Introduction and purpose of the workshop Approach and methodology Findings and analysis of participants Conclusions and recommendations The final report shall be written in English. It shall contain an executive summary including a list of recommendations. It shall be maximum 10 pages long, including the executive summary. Appendices may be added. 11. Consultant s Proposal The consultant firm or person shall submit the following: Initially an expression of interest with budget and short CV by 05 November 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