RFQ FY23 – 142 Partnership Competencies Review At Plan International

1. Background Information on Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Read more about Plan International’s Global Strategy: All Girls Standing Strong Creating Global Change at https://plan-international.org/strategy

About the commissioning office

This consultancy is commissioned by Plan International Global Hub, Plan Limited, which has overall accountability for delivery excellence across Plan International, in line with our global strategy.

2. Background/Context

Plan International’s updated global strategy All Girls Standing Strong Creating Global Change (2022-2027) emphasises that working with and through partners is critical to achieving the goal of impacting positively the lives of 200 million girls over the next five years. With a global priority to increase our impact and strengthen the legitimacy of Plan International as a leader in gender-transformative change, a key pillar of the new strategy focuses on evolving into an organisation which is “locally-led, and globally connected”. This is interlinked with advancing the quality of our programming and influencing work in partnership with others and through strengthening civil society. Our new global strategy further draws out specific areas of our work which highlight the importance of developing context-specific and flexible partnering approaches, such as scaling up humanitarian work and working with young people as agents of change.

Our global guidance Building Better Partnerships functions to establish a common understanding across Plan International of our approach to partnership across all contexts where we work. It outlines principles for working with partners and details key steps for good partnership management. However, the essential element for effective partnership practices and realising the ambition of principled and equal partnering relationships depends upon people: our values, mindset, capabilities and actions and our continued learning and reflection in relation to our work with others.

As Plan International’s partnership work evolves in complexity and increases in volume, we continue to develop our thinking on what it takes to partner well, and equitably, with diverse organisations, and to support civil society. We are learning how to adapt our structures and advance our processes and practices to strengthen programming and influencing in pursuit of gender-transformative change.

The purpose of this project is to assist Plan International to better understand and strengthen the way we recruit and structure our teams, build in effective accountability mechanisms and support strong competencies and professional skill development for partnership work so that we are working effectively and efficiently and embedding enabling and principle-based partnership management and oversight cultures across our teams. The main focus of the project will be on countries across the four regions where Plan International works and where we conduct the majority of our programming and influencing, however it is also expected to incorporate key roles within our National Organisations, which are separate legal entities and support fundraising and programme and project development and oversight.

The project time period is anticipated to be 5 months, with all work expected to be completed by 30 June 2023.

3. Description & Objectives

Purpose

The purpose of the consultancy is to develop practical guidance and recommendations for Plan International offices so that we are working effectively, efficiently, and embedding enabling and principle-based partnership management and oversight competencies and working cultures across our teams. This includes guidance on competencies and accountabilities within job roles across functions and across team structures, associated recruitment resources and processes, and staff professional development pathways for working in partnership drawing upon existing resources but also highlighting where gaps exist.

Specifically, the consultancy will:

1. Review and identify existing good practices, challenges and gaps in terms of how partnership competencies and accountabilities are effectively embedded within key roles, and across functional areas and team structures, taking into account the nature of partnership work in different country contexts and the strategic ambitions of offices to partner equitably and effectively work to strengthen civil society.
2. Develop practical guidance to strengthen internal ways of working to distribute partnership accountabilities and strengthen competencies across teams and functions, including developing models for Plan International offices to structure teams, roles and responsibilities for partnership management and oversight appropriate for their operational context.
3. Develop recruitment guidance to ensure key job roles across functional areas reflect appropriate accountabilities and competencies for working in partnership. This will include example job descriptions and/or sections of job descriptions to reflect good practices on how partnership accountabilities and competencies should be integrated across different team functions, for example project management, finance, supply chain management, internal control, business development, and example exercises and interview questions to integrate into selection processes.
4. Review existing learning materials and competency and skill frameworks to create professional development pathways for key functional areas to strengthen their competencies and skills for working in partnership, in line with the accountabilities within their role and function.

Methodology

The consultant will conduct a desk-based review of Plan International’s existing partnership guidance and training materials, internal stakeholder feedback and other internal learning documents to ground themselves in Plan International’s partnership approaches and ambitions. This will also include a review of Plan’s internal value-based frameworks and competency frameworks. Colleagues from across Plan International country offices, and National Organisations, will be consulted and interviewed and relevant resources/ content will be collated from across these offices and analysed. It is expected that key stakeholders will be offered the opportunity to provide feedback and comments on any outputs of the consultancy before final sign off. All methodologies, approaches and content developed throughout the consultancy will be proposed by the consultant and reviewed by the technical oversight team established by Plan International, composed of programming and operational staff.

Users

The users of the guidance and recommendations from the Consultant will include Plan International offices and staff.

Management Arrangements

The consultant will be identified and contracted by Plan International’s Global Hub: Plan Limited. Plan International’s Global Hub will be responsible for overall management. The consultant’s work will be supervised by the Global Lead Civil Society Strengthening and Partnership Development.

Technical Reference Group

A technical oversight team consisting of a small number of staff whose work is connected to partnership strengthening will provide support to the consultant and be responsible for signing off key deliverables. Specifically, the technical reference group will support the consultant in the following ways:

• Identify key stakeholders to engage in this work
• Provide support to the consultant by sharing key resources and materials
• Provide feedback, comments, and edits to relevant drafts of key deliverables

Selection and Engagement of Key Stakeholders

The consultant is expected to work with stakeholders including those in leadership roles, and working in programmes, operations and HR in countries across the four regions where Plan International works and where we conduct the majority of our programming and influencing. S/he is also expected to consult with key stakeholders within our National Organisations, in order to provide general recommendations on strengthening accountabilities and competencies for core functions which influence our effectiveness at working in partnership at a country office level (for example, fundraising, programme and project development and oversight).

Final selection of key stakeholders will be made during the inception phase by the technical team, following discussion with the consultant. The Plan International technical team will facilitate initial introductions to these stakeholders however the consultant is expected to work independently to schedule meetings and activities necessary for the fulfilment of the consultancy.

It is important to Plan that partners are also engaged in steering aspects of this work. The consultant should propose a suitable mechanism for meaningful engagement of partners in this project in their proposal submission.

4. Deliverables and Timeline

Key Deliverables

Deliverable 1:

Inception report and presentation, including:

• Updated timeline and methodology/ workplan
• Initial recommendations based on analysis of current documents, initial consultations, and sector good practice
• Short mapping of potential guidance/ tools/ other content needs with prioritised items identified and useful external guidance/ tools from other organisations

Format and length: 10-page report (including annexes) + 8 slide (max) presentation

Due: By 31 January 2023

Detail: For technical team and to be used as a communication tool for participating offices, In English.

Deliverable 2:

Key findings and recommendations from interviews and document review

Format and length: 12-page report + 10 slide (max) presentation

Due: By 15 March 2023

Detail: In English

Deliverable 3:

Guidance on team structures/models and roles/ responsibilities for partnership management and oversight appropriate for different operational contexts

Format and length: 10-page written guidance + 6 slide (max) presentation

Due: By 15 April 2023

Detail: For internal teams and as a communication tool for offices

Deliverable 4:

Guidance pack for recruitment of partnership roles/ competencies, including job descriptions for:

• Leadership/ Programming and Influencing/ Project Management/ Finance/ Supply Chain and Partnership managers/ coordinators

Format and length: 6-page written guidance (max) with annexes for specific role/ competencies/ job descriptions

Due: By 15 May 2023

Detail: For internal teams and as a communication tool for offices

Deliverable 5:

Guidance on partnership professional development pathways

Format and length: 12-page report + 6 slide (max) presentation

Due: By 15 June 2023

Detail: For internal teams and as a communication tool for offices

Note: In the event that there is a change or additional deliverables during the contract period, an addendum to the contract must be agreed and signed. The change/additional deliverables must be in line with the initial scope of the project.

Duration and timeline

The consultant will be contracted for a total of 30 days, between the period of January 2023 and June 2023.

Activity 1: Inception meeting, initial desk review and key informant interviews, develop inception report and conduct presentation and feedback session with technical team

Deadline: By 31 January 2023

Days of work: 2

Responsible: Consultant

Individuals involved: Technical team, identified key stakeholders

Activity 2: Interviews with key stakeholders from Plan Offices/ collation of existing resources and analysis of current practices, challenges and gaps followed by presentation and feedback session with technical team

Deadline: By 15 March 2023

Days of work: 10

Responsible: Consultant

Individuals involved: Country offices, National Organisations, Other key stakeholders, Technical team

Activity 3: Development and submission of guidance on roles and partnership management structures (including validation session with key stakeholders)

Deadline: By 15 April 2023

Days of work: 6

Responsible: Consultant

Individuals involved: Technical team/ key stakeholders

Activity 4: Development and submission of recruitment guidance pack for partnership roles/ competencies (including validation session with key stakeholders)

Deadline: By 15 May 2023

Days of work: 6

Responsible: Consultant

Individuals involved: Technical team/ key stakeholders

Activity 5: Development and submission of partnership professional development pathways guidance (including validation session with key stakeholders)

Deadline: By 15 June 2023

Days of work: 6

Responsible: Consultant

Individuals involved: Technical team/ key stakeholders

Note: This timeline is indicative and is intended to support prospective consultants in the development of their proposals. As part of the process, this timeline will be re-evaluated in consultation between Plan International and the consultant.

5. Budget

Plan International follows a fair Procurement process and does not divulge our budgets. Value for money is very important to Plan International, as every additional £ saved is money that we can use on our humanitarian and development work throughout the world.

Payment Schedule

Milestone 1: Inception report and presentation

Detail: 10-page report + 8 slide (max) presentation

Amount to be paid (%): 10%

Expected Timeframe: By 31 January 2023

Milestone 2: Presentation of key findings and recommendations from document review and interviews with key stakeholders

Detail: 12-page report + 10 slide (max) presentation

Amount to be paid (%): 30%

Expected Timeframe: By 15 March 2023

Milestone 3: Guidance on team structures/models and roles/ responsibilities for partnership management and oversight appropriate for different operational contexts

Detail: 10-page written guidance + 6 slide (max) presentation

Amount to be paid (%): 20%

Expected Timeframe: By 15 April 2023

Milestone 4: Submission of recruitment guidance pack for partnership roles/ competencies

Detail: 6-page written guidance (max) with annexes for roles/ job descriptions

Amount to be paid (%): 20%

Expected Timeframe: By 15 May 2023

Milestone 5: Submission of partnership professional development pathways guidance

Detail: 12-page report + 6 slide (max) presentation

**Amount to be paid (%):**20%

Expected Timeframe: By 15 June 2023

6. Expected qualifications of Consultant

Required

• Advanced University Degree and/or Professional qualifications in human resource management, organisational development and/ or learning and development or another related discipline. Applications will also be considered from those holding a Batchelor’s Degree with very strong and relevant work experience
• Extensive hands-on experience working with international development and humanitarian organisations in human resourcing, organisational development and learning and development, across diverse operational contexts.
• Understanding of partnership and civil society strengthening approaches and partnership operations and associated skills and competencies
• Strong understanding of adult learning principles and structuring content for training and learning materials for adult learners
• Understanding of gender responsive and transformative approaches
• Strong research and analysis skills
• Excellent written and visual communication skills
• Flexible work attitude, with the ability to follow direction and work independently across a virtual work environment
• Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to independently track and follow-up on various tasks
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Computer skills, including MS Office, Excel, PowerPoint, online survey tools

7. Contact

Any request for clarification or questions must be submitted to procurement@plan-international.org. Please quote the RFQ reference “RFQ – FY23 – 142 Partnership Competencies Review” in all communication.

8. Submission of Offers

Qualified candidates are requested to prepare and submit the following documents by 2 January 2023.

• Curriculum vitae with 2-3 examples of previous work (PDF)
• A detailed technical application outlining the proposed methodology and detailed work plan (maximum 3 pages) (PDF)
• A detailed financial proposal including hourly/daily rate as well as a breakdown of hours/days per activity (PDF). Pricing must be in GBP for UK-based consultants or USD if based outside the UK.

All consultants/applicant are required to agree and adhere to Plan International’s Non-Staff Code of Conduct (Annex)

9. Submission of offers

Please send your application to procurement@plan-international.org by 23:59 (GMT) 2nd January 2023

referencing “RFQ – FY23 – 142 Partnership Competencies Review” in the subject line and including support documents as outlined.

10. Evaluation of offers

Shortlisted suppliers may be invited to discuss their proposals in more detail at Plan’s discretion.

Plan International, at its sole discretion, will select the successful RFQ.

Plan international shall be free to:

• Accept the whole, or part only, of any submission
• Accept none of the proposals
• Republish this Request for Quotations

Plan International reserves the right to keep confidential the circumstances that have been considered for the selection of the offers.

Part of the evaluation process may include a presentation from the supplier.

Women-owned businesses and companies actively engaged or advancing gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace are especially encouraged to apply

Value for money is very important to Plan International, as every additional £ saved is money that we can use on our humanitarian and development work throughout the world.

Plan International may award multiple contracts and all contracts will be non-exclusive.

11. Contract & Payment terms

Please note that, if successful, Plan International’s standard terms of payment are 30 days after the end of the month of receipt of invoice, or after acceptance of the Goods/Services/Works, if later.

12. IR35 Requirements – Only applicable for UK based or connections to the UK Consultants

As of April 2021, all Global Hub UK-based contractors (Consultant/personal service company/agency/intermediary) employing “people” in their chain to deliver serves to Plan International must follow a strict process of IR35 determination.

Plan Limited will conduct a CES tool on all relevant shortlisted proposers as outlined above to determine whether they fall inside or outside IR35.

13. Plan International’s Ethical & Environmental Statement

The supplier should establish environmental standards and good practices that follow the principles of ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems, and in particular to ensure compliance with environmental legislation (as applicable)

14. Clarifications

The onus is on the invited individual/companies to ensure that its offer is complete and meets Plan International’s requirements. Failure to comply may lead to the offer being rejected. Please therefore ensure that you read this document carefully and answer fully all questions asked.

If you have any queries in relation to your submission, or to any requirements of this RFQ, please email: procurement@plan-international.org

Thank you for your proposal