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Assessment and Formulation of Statements on Capacity in Education, Child Protection, Under-5 Health and Household Econ

  1. Context and Justification

Taking into account the dynamics and changes in its external operating environment, including the world global economic crisis, the acceleration of demographic trends, and the comprehensive review of how far the world is meeting the targets set out in the MDGs of 2000, Plan International adopted a new strategy for the global organization for the next 5 years: “Strategy to 2015: One Plan, One Goal: Rights and Opportunities for Every Child”.
The global Strategy to 2015 emphasises the focus on marginalised groups, within Plan’s vision “of a world in which all children realise their full potential in societies that respect people’s rights and dignity”; and also highlights the Child Centred Community Development (CCCD) approach as central to Plan , in order to promote child rights to end child poverty. Strongly based on its vision, the organization sets a unique strategic goal to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalised, with high-quality programmes that deliver long-lasting benefits.

To realize this goal, Plan is committed to four broad objectives: Relevance or Tackling exclusion: Plan will reach more children, making sure those who are currently excluded or marginalised are not left out, in development and emergencies, Quality: Plan will implement high-quality development and emergency programmes, based on clear evidence and agreed policies, Scale: Plan will adapt and expand successful programmes across new communities and countries, Influence: Plan will become increasingly recognised as a leading expert on education and protection, using our influence to create wide-reaching, long-lasting change. In line with priority for children identified in Plan’s Strategic Framework for Africa and its effort to operationalize the new global strategy in the regional context, the West Africa Region identified two more regional program impact areas as a priority, - under-5-Health and Household Economic Security - , creating the following four priority programmes areas in which the organization would like to became a recognized though leaders in the region: Education, Protection, Under-5 Health, and Household Economic Security. While Education and Protection are in direct alignment with Plan’s global strategy, Under-5 Health and Household Economic Security reflect priority areas emerging from country CSPs and existing and potential grant income and growth, while offering opportunities to reach most marginalized groups and particularly girls and young women with essential services and development opportunities.

In the context of West Africa, Plan recognise the potential impacts of resource constraints, political and social instability, growing urbanisation and other demographic trends, and advances in ICT on our goal of combating children vulnerability and reducing child poverty. We also recognise the changing role of international development organisations such as Plan, in the context of uneven progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and the emerging Aid Effectiveness agenda, which influences government, donor and civil society.

It is in this global and regional context that Plan West Africa aims to develop a Regional Programme Strategic Framework to ensure the regional focus on the four priority program areas to achieve the Plan’s four strategic objectives: tackling exclusion, improving program quality, scaling up successful approaches and extending our influence.

To support the development of the regional programme strategic framework, Plan is planning to conduct an assessment of our organizational practice and capacity for the four program priority areas, and to elaborate capacity statements in Education, Protection, Under-5 Health and Household Economic Security.

  1. Purpose of the Capacity Assessments and Capacity Statements

a) Capacity Assessments: to identify current organizational practice in the respective thematic area as well as approaches and projects/programs with the potential for scaling up to discern programmatic areas of strength and those in need of reinforcement to gauge in how far our programs take global priorities into account as outlined in Plan’s Global Strategy 2015 (education, protection, tackling exclusion (incl. girls), improving quality of programs, scaling up, extending our influence, increasing our resources, working in collaboration with others, working as ONE Plan) - To analyse our organizational investment in this area in regard to budgets, human and technical resources and breadth and widths of organizational partnerships - To identify potential areas for quick wins in regard to improving, scaling up, increasing influence, and learning about ongoing key programs and projects in West Africa - To review our capacity in light of the regional and global context and development trends in the specific sector and identify in how far Plan is addressing these trends in West Africa - To review the level of accountability and commitment to support children’s rights - To asses our HR/ technical capacities to deliver quality programmes ain the 4 programmatic areas

b) Capacity Statements will summarize key findings from the capacity assessments and describe: - Common approaches, methodologies, program experiences in the region - Innovative and promising approaches with the potential for scaling up - Plan’s organizational capacity in regard to budget, human resource and technical capacity - Key partnerships, networks and campaigns Plan is engaged with - Key areas for growth and challenges - Plan’s added value and niche in the region - Plan’s accountability to children and their communities (fulfilling promises) will be written up in two versions: 1 internal version meant to inform the strategy making process; and 1 for external audiences which can be used to inform donors, grantors and other audiences about our key capacities in West Africa. will clearly put Plan’s capacity in the context of Plan’s child centered community development approach and Plan’s global strategy 2015 provide a platform for internal discussion to confirm priorities for action, build political support for an agenda, debate operational hurdles

  1. Plan’s understanding of Organizational Capacity
  • Plan recognises that there are different dimensions of capacity residing at the level of an enabling environment, the organization and the individual.
  • Institutional arrangements, leadership, knowledge and practices, and accountability are important elements contributing to capacity
  • Functional and technical capabilities as well as budget are fundamental resource for delivering Plan’s programmatic ambitions.
  1. Objectives for the Consultancy/ies:

a) to assess Plan’s organizational capacity in the areas of Education, Health, Protection, and/or Household Economic Security b) to produce high quality capacity statement(s) tailored for internal respectively external audiences

  1. Expected Results:
  • A (set of) report(s) showing Plan West Africa’s capacity assets and needs in the area of Education, Protection, Under-5 Health and/or Household Economic Security
  • Four internal capacity statements for Plan West Africa describing Plan’s technical capacity, best practices, added value and opportunities for better tackling exclusion, improving quality and scaling up.
  • Abbreviated capacity statement(s) for external use with donors, grantors, media Consultants are invited to submit proposals for assessments in one or more than one thematic area listed above.
  1. Methodology: The consultant is responsible for proposing and conducting an adequate methodology as well as data collection tools to meet the above objectives and expected results. However, it is expected that the main approach for the task will be desktop analysis, e-mail communication and telephone/online interviews with staff from Plan’s country and regional offices and potentially also with staff of selected partner organizations.

The assessment methodology is expected to engage stakeholders and collect their views already in the light of helping to formulate Plan’s program strategy and thematic frameworks.

  1. Geographic Scope The assessment will cover Plan’s area of intervention in West Africa, where Plan currently operates in 12 Country Offices: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo

  2. Timeline:

The total numbers of days for the consultancy will be 60 days, 40 for the assessment and 20 for the elaboration of the assessment report and related capacity statements.

After the assessment period, a first preliminary report should be presented to Plan within 5 working days in soft and hard copy, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation.

After Plan’s feedback on the preliminary report, the consultant will have 15 days to finalize and submit the final report to elaborate the capacity statements.

  1. Working with Plan’s Team in West Africa: The consultant will have support from Plan West Africa in terms of accessing to available resources (people, documents, tools, etc.) as needed. Plan West Africa’s Regional Head of Strategy as well as Technical Specialists in the area of Child Rights (Protection), Livelihood (Household Economic Security) will work closely with the consultant for the overall exercise respectively for the individual thematic areas. There are currently no regional education specialist or health specialist in place.

For each thematic area, one Country Director has been identified as a champion and will serve as additional resource and discussion partner to help the assessment and statement formulation process.

  1. Available Documentation: In addition to global strategic papers, Plan has ample background information on our operations in West Africa that will be made available to the consultant: a) Country Strategic Plans for all countries b) Evaluations of Country Strategies and programs c) Annual country program reports d) Grants reports e) External donor and competitor scan f) Assessment of the African Policy and Program Environment g) Internal assessment of Plan’s Advocacy Capacity; regional advocacy capacity development plan h) Internal assessment of Plan’s Monitoring, evaluation and research capacity; regional capacity development plan for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research i) Regional Microfinance Strategy

  2. Required Skills and Qualifications for the Consultant/s: At least 10 years of extensive working experience in conducting organizational and program assessment Technical background/proven working experiences in one or more of the following thematic areas: Education, Protection, Under-5 Health and Household Economic Security A solid understanding of the West and Central African working environment Excellent understanding of regional and international development issues, especially those related to children’s rights Demonstrated ability to produce high quality reports Ability to work in English and in French

Proposed consultants can apply to conduct the assessment and develop the capacity statement for one or more technical areas (Education, Protection, Under-5 Health, and Household Economic Security).

How to apply:

Responding consultants should submit by the 21 November a technical and financial proposal in two separate envelopes, to Plan’s Regional Administrator, Annick Abisse, via email (annick.abisse@plan-international.org) or at: Plan International West Africa Regional Office Amitié II, No. 4023 Dakar P.O. Box 21 121 Dakar – Ponty, Senegal

The financial proposal should include a detailed budget.

The technical proposal should include: - a clear description of the proposed methodology - a sample questionnaire - a detailed proposed work calendar - a CV of main consultants/staff engaged with the execution of the consultancy - two references for previous work related or similar to the topic of this consultancy