Country: Somalia
Closing date: 07 Jul 2018
Background
The IRC is a member of the Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BRCiS) Consortium and implements multi-year Resilience Programs in Somalia. Through the BRCiS consortium, the IRC is currently implementing BRCiS DEVCO projects funded by the European Commission in Galmudug. The overall objective is to improve the resilience of rural communities and IDP households in Somalia. The Specific objective is to reduce vulnerability and enhance livelihoods in rural Somali and internally displaced communities in Somalia. The project has different layers of interventions necessary in building communities capacities to shocks and stresses in a fragile contexts. Arrange of activities ranging from Recovery, rehabilitation and development of sustainable livelihood initiatives are implemented to respond to community needs and building their capacities to sustain these achievements.
Among the key activities includes the establishment of Community Early Warning Systems (CBEWs). With the increasing manifestation of negative effects related to disasters, building public awareness about disaster risks with proactive engagement of the various stakeholders is becoming critical. Community-based early warning systems (CBEWs) are essential in empowering communities to prepare for and confront natural hazards. Good lessons have been learnt from their use in areas with established and proactive CBEWS, However, in the pastoralist communities of Somalia, where drought as a slow onset disaster is a major hazard, the lessons learned on CBEWs are far fewer. CBEWs are an integral step in the process of community managed disaster risk reduction (CMDRR). They are a means for communities to collectively address a common disaster risk, and to pursue common disaster risk reduction measures (Caritas, 2009). CBEWs are developed, managed, maintained and owned by the community, and in the process they empower the community. They build on what communities already know about the risks they face, their knowledge of anticipating the effects of hazards, and they explore the coping strategies they already use. With lots of efforts to mitigate effects of drought rolled out in many parts of the country, there is still gaps for successfully coming up with an inclusive approach towards drought mitigation.
In light of this, the IRC seeks a consultant to help in reviewing current Systems and tools and help in developing relevant community based early warning systems that supports locally available capacities to identify, mitigate and respond to hazards. Affected communities are in better position to deal with disaster once capacitated and relevant community structures established. The intent of the consultancy is therefore to (1) recommend relevant systems applicable to pastoral communities, (2) develop an operational CBEWs guidelines/standards, (3) develop CBEWs reporting templates. The consultancy will also explore possibilities to link the Community Based Early Warning Committees (CBEWCs) to National level Drought/EW Committees and thus create platform for information sharing and wider drought response plan.
Main Objective
The main objective of the consultancy is to set up community based early warning system relevant for pastoral communities, develop CBEWs guidelines and develop appropriate EW reporting tools.
Specific Objectives:
The consultancy will target community Based Disaster Management Committees (CBDMCs), Individuals traditional/indigenous weather knowledge and other influential community members. The objectives of the consultancy are:
§ Develop operational Early warning guidelines relevant to drought affected pastoral communities
§ Develop locally appropriate early warning reporting tools, templates and set up CBEW systems.
§ Develop strategies to institutionalize early warning systems into the process cycle of disaster risk reduction and development planning, emergency response, and preparedness activities.
§ Design and implement community based early warning systems that are people centered.
Scope of the work
The assignment is supposed to take 12days for conducting and writing the report. The consultant is expected to develop early warning template, develop operation early warning guidelines relevant to drought affected pastoral communities.
Methodology
The consultant will review existing literature on the topic, conduct FGDs, KI and administer questionnaire on selected community samples. The study involves desk review with, brain storming session with traditional elders so that relevant guidelines to drought affected pastoral communities is developed.
Deliverables
§ Initial inception report detailing the study design and data collection tools to be approved prior to contract signing. IRC will require approval of the proposed strategies to be used and any tools to be incorporated before the consultancy can begin.
§ Develop Early warning system reporting template that will be used for monitoring prevalence, morbidity and impact of hazards.
§ Develop operational Early warning guidelines relevant to drought affected pastoral communities
§ Draft and compile detailed final report of the study with clear guiding recommendations on how CbEWs can be linked to national drought mitigation committees, and share with Livelihood &ERD staff for mentorship framework/approaches recommended.
Reporting
The consultant is expected to produce a precise final report written in simple and clear English language. The draft report shall be shared with IRC field staff for comments and inputs for inclusion in the final report by the consultant.
Key qualifications and skills required for the consultancy
§ Master’s degree in social sciences, Development Studies, environmental science and related fields
§ Knowledge in EW systems development, disaster mitigation and preparedness and environmental science.
§ Proof of similar study in drought affected pastoral communities.
§ Substantial experience and knowledge of EWS set up, DRR, NRM
§ Strong analytical and writing skills and the ability to clearly present findings and drawing practical conclusions and recommendations.
§ Good Somali language skills and ability to understand the context.
Proposed Format of proposals/Bids
The attachments to the proposal should include:
- Cover Letter outlining your agreement with all sections of the Terms of Reference mentioning the validity period of the Financial Offer.
- Brief description of your company or firm, qualifications summary of the key staff, organization and legal standing.
iii. The qualifications and experience to undertake the scope of work, providing a list of similar assessments implemented, the number of years the firm has worked in similar assignments.
- Step by step description of the activities (methodology) that your company will employ in carrying out the assignment to accomplish the required deliverables.
- Qualification of the Team Leader and Assistant Team Leader proposed for deployment to undertake this assignment: Provide a list of the Technical and managerial staff, with a brief summary of the experience for each of them and what their roles will be in this assignment; attach CVs of Team Leader and Assistant Team Leader to be involved in this assignment indicating the amount of time they will dedicate to the project.
- Provide Names of at least three of your recent past clients. Enclose testimonials/references from them as well as telephone and email addresses and contact persons. IRC will contact these references as part of the technical evaluation of this proposal.
- Timeframe – Proposed timeframe to complete this assignment, work plan for the expected activities.
viii. Summary budget to complete the assignment and perform the contract, including: 1) estimated total number of days required; 2) daily rate; 3) travel costs; accommodation, logistics and 4) any additional equipment & supplies costs.
How to apply:
Instructions on application and Bid documents can be downloaded in the website below, in the jobs page: