Consultancy: Referral Capacity Building Project Tender - 32886344

Procurement Summary

Country: USA

Summary: Consultancy: Referral Capacity Building Project

Deadline: 17 May 2019

Posting Date: 11 May 2019

Other Information

Notice Type: Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 32886344

Document Ref. No.:

Competition: ICB

Financier: Other Funding Agencies

Purchaser Ownership: -

Tender Value: Refer Document

CPV Classification

71315200 - Building consultancy services

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Tender Details

Tenders are invited for United States of America: Short-Term Consultancy: Referral Capacity Building Project.
I. TERMS OF REFERENCE: Overview
Women for Women International (WfWI) would like all country office (CO) teams to adopt best practices on conducting referrals for the women participants in our programs. A referral is the process of sending someone to another person or place for help, information, or advice when as an organization, we do not have the ability to provide a specific service ourselves.
Referrals describe the processes of how a woman gets in touch with an individual professional or institution about her case and how professionals and institutions communicate and work together to provide the woman with comprehensive support.
The experienced consultant should review WfWI-s current referral processes, draft recommendations based on best practices for referrals and develop staff capacity on how to conduct referrals. Targeted staff for this capacity building project will include Social and Economic Empowerment staff from our COs, men-s engagement, and advocacy programming staff who carry out referrals. The support that the appointed consultant will provide through this project includes the following:
Review and document, with support from the Senior Associate Director (AD) for Social Empowerment, how COs are currently referring cases, maintaining records and databases, and following up with women participants and service providers;

Provide best practices, based on research and evidence, of how to refer cases, including best practices involved in documentation, tracking, and follow-up for all types of referrals (health, legal, economic, and GBV);

Develop programmatic guidance on referrals, in collaboration with AD for Social Empowerment, based on best practices in the development field and concrete recommendations for how WfWI should improve its current referrals system; and

Conduct training and follow up with each of the COs on the program guidance and best practices on how to properly refer cases.

Deadline for proposals: May 17, 2019

Budget: $12, 0000 (includes time + projected travel expenses)
Contract Duration: May-August 2019

Submit applications to: Senior Associate Director for Social Empowerment, Saba Ghori, [email protected]
II. Project Overview
Since 1993, Women for Women International has worked with more than 462, 000 marginalised women survivors of conflict in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the DRC, Kosovo, Iraq, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Sudan. We were founded on the belief that stronger women build stronger nations.
Through all of our work, we aim to support progress in four key outcomes in women-s social and economic empowerment: that women earn and save money, develop health and well-being, influence decisions in their homes and communities, and that they can create and connect to networks for support.
WfWI provides a 12-month social and economic empowerment program which combines awareness on women-s rights, health, and connection to networks, along with practical and technical business and vocational support. We aim to provide women with information about their rights, build their confidence and provide opportunities for them to improve their health and well-being as well as earn and save money.
WfWI does not provide direct services to the women we work with either through medical care, legal aid, trauma counselling, or financial assistance through microcredit or loans. Instead, we strive to maintain strong relationships with other organizations providing services and support such as NGOs or government agencies who offer psychosocial support, shelter, health services, counselling, or legal aid, loans so that we can directly address the urgent needs of women in a systematic, confidential, and consistent way.
We are committed to growing the capacity of our staff in country to effectively monitor and track referrals in a more systematic way that ensures follow up and adequate support to the women we serve.
We are looking for support from a consultant to deliver the scope of work below, working closely with the Senior Associate Director for Social Empowerment based in WfWI-s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
III. Scope of Work
The first phase of the project is focused on doing research and collecting information. By the end of this phase, the consultant will:
Review and document each COs- current referral process: how teams are currently referring cases, maintaining records and databases, and following up with service providers. The report should highlight strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the process.

Conduct a review of best practices based on research and evidence of how to refer cases, including best practices on documentation, tracking, and follow-up for all types of referrals (health, legal, and economic)

Develop recommendations for how COs can overcome challenges they face in the cycle of referrals and how to improve the referral system

The second phase is drafting guidance and tools. The consultant will work closely with the Senior AD for Social Empowerment to:
Develop programmatic guidance for the entire organization on referrals

The guidance should be based on best practices and recommendations for what WfWI should be doing to improve how it refers cases, maintains records and follows up with women participants and service providers. It should include global guidance including how to identify potential service providers and how to communicate to women where they can get referrals as well as specific guidance for each CO (based on the review), and practical tools that teams can easily adapt to their context and implement. The guidance should be relatively simple and very practical to implement.
The third phase of the project is focused on providing capacity building for the Country Offices. This will include:
Training CO staff on the guidance and tools.

Support CO staff with adapting the tools to their context, country by country.

Work with each CO to develop an action plan that has specific actions for each CO to take in terms of improvements in how it is referring cases, maintaining records and following up.

Develop a full report, including a status report on improvements made by the end of the project and remaining capacity building efforts.

During this project, WfWI envisions that the consultant will travel to at least one country to gain first-hand experience with the strengths and challenges of WfWI-s current referral system. Together with the Senior AD for Social Empowerment, the consultant will select the target country, which may need the most assistance with referrals, whether it is in developing a system/database, developing a referral directory, or in developing an action plan.
Outputs:
The appointed consultant will be responsible for ensuring the following are delivered before the end of the project:
Consultant provides best practices based on research and evidence of how to refer cases, including best practices involved in tracking and follow-up for all types of referrals (health, legal, economic, and GBV)

Report documenting how the COs are conducting referrals, maintaining records and databases, following up, and suggested areas for improvement

Develop programmatic guidance on referrals based on best practices in the development field and make recommendations for what WfWI should be doing. It should include global guidance including how to identify potential service providers and how to communicate to women where they can get referrals. It should include specific guidance for each CO (based on the review), as well as practical tools that teams can easily adapt to their context and implement. The guidance should be relatively simple and very practical to implement.

The consultant will conduct training with each of the COs on how to properly refer cases, sharing the research from the best practices and the programmatic guidance.

Work with each CO to develop an action plan that has specific actions for each CO to take in terms of improvements in how it is referring cases, maintaining records and following up.

Develop a full report, including a status report on improvements made by the end of the project and remaining capacity building efforts.

Timeframe:
WfWI believes that the entire timeframe for this project will take about three months, with approximately 20-30 days of work.
Budget:
The total available budget for this project is $12, 000 and all applications should include a detailed budget that covers all associated costs. The budget includes cost of international travel to one of WfWI-s COs, which is estimated at $2, 000.
This project is to be conducted remotely, with the exception of travel to at least one country that may need the most assistance with referrals, whether it is in developing a system/database, developing a referral directory, or in developing an action plan.
Skills and Experience:
Essential Experience:
Experience conducting or carrying out referrals, especially related to health or gender-based violence

Demonstrated experience in the development and implementation of capacity building plans and training for local staff, especially in conflict-affected states

Experience developing and delivering trainings with adults

Experience working with an INGO that works on women-s rights

Excellent technical experience understanding social services, including the referral process

Strong understanding of local women-s rights organizations

Desired Experience:
Participatory training with adults

Worked in any/all of WfWI-s countries of operation

Delivering humanitarian assistance in a variety of countries

Essential Knowledge and Skills:
Excellent knowledge and understanding of women-s rights, especially in addressing violence against women and/or women-s economic empowerment

Excellent effective communication skills

Strong project management skills

Flexibility when working around busy schedules

Ability to meet deadlines

Excellent report writing including ability to synthesize large amounts of data

Fluency in English

Masters degree preferred in international development, social work, or related field

Desired Knowledge and Skills
Fluency in French

Fluency in Dari/Pashto

III. Background on Women for Women International
Since 1993, Women for Women International has worked with more than 462, 000 marginalised women survivors of war in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kosovo, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Nigeria, Rwanda and South Sudan. We were founded on the belief that stronger women build stronger nations.
Our core work is centered on a holistic, rights-based program to address the needs of marginalized women in conflict-affected countries around the world. We have tested and evolved our approach to fit the needs of women who have been denied access to education and other opportunities, have been affected by conflict and who seek inclusion and recovery.
This core program equips women with skills and resources to earn and save money, learn about their health and human rights, regain their confidence and actively participate in their communities.
We have also been a pioneer in men-s engagement activities aimed at targeting male community leaders and male family members of our women participants in Afghanistan, the DRC, Nigeria, South Sudan, Rwanda and Kosovo. We work with a variety of male leaders (e.g. traditional, military, or religious) and male family members of women participants, providing them with training in women-s rights and gender equality. We have reached almost 29, 000 men since we began this work in 2002.
In 2017, we began training select women graduates in advocacy and leadership skills to support them to become agents of change in their communities. These Change Agents in Afghanistan, the DRC and Nigeria are taking on leadership roles in their communities, organizing collective action to achieve the changes they want to see, including addressing violence against women (VAW). By the end of 2018, we will have also trained cohorts of Change Agents in Kosovo (through Kosova Women 4 Women), Rwanda and the KRI.
With the support of the UK Foreign Office and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have established Community Protection Committees (small groups of male community members) in Afghanistan that provide VAW survivors and their families with access to justice and support. In the DRC we are implementing Community Forums, which bring together graduates of our men-s engagement activities and Change Agents to work together on issues that they identify, including addressing violence against women and issues related to inheritance.

Documents

 Tender Notice