Organizational Capacity Assessment of War Child Canada and 10 implementing partner organisations in West-Nile and South Western Uganda-BRIDGE Project At War Child Canada

Consultancy Title: Organizational Capacity Assessment of War Child Canada and 10 implementing partner organizations in West-Nile and South-Western Uganda – BRIDGE Project

Reports to: Advocacy and Partnership Lead.

Supported by: BRIDGE Project Director, Country MEAL Manager or Bridge MEAL Lead, and Country Director.

Background: War Child Canada is an international charity organization registered in Toronto, Canada, dedicated to helping children and their communities overcome the devastating effects of active and post war. Its vision is “Accelerating Peace by disrupting the cycle of violence” and its mission is “Driving Generational Change for The Hardest Hit by Investing in The Power of Local Communities.”

Since being founded in 1999, War Child Canada has worked in 20 countries across the world and we are currently operational in Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.

During the past five years, War Child Canada reached over 2,500,000 conflict-afflicted children and adults; 985,000 people benefitted from War Child’s educational initiatives; 480,000 people were helped to climb out of poverty and 1,075,000 people learned more about their rights and had better access to justice systems.

War Child Canada has been operating in refugee hosting districts in Uganda since 2005. War Child Canada is registered as an international non-governmental organization (INGO) and holds a registration as a law firm in Uganda. War Child Canada is currently implementing education, protection, and livelihood programs and in currently implements projects in nine refugee hosting districts in Uganda (Adjumani, Koboko, Madi Okollo, Terego, Yumbe, Obongi, Isingiro, Kikube, Kamwenge)

The BRIDGE PROJECT: War Child Canada in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD), Education Local Expertise Uganda (ELECU) and eight refugee-led community-based organizations, is implementing the BRIDGE: From Secondary Education and Skills Development to Job Opportunities for Refugee and Host Community Youth in Uganda project.

The 5-year BRIDGE project (2022 to 2027) is part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works Strategy (2018 to 2030) to address the youth unemployment challenge among refugee and host communities in 9 refugee settlement areas in Adjumani, Obongi, Isingiro, Kamwenge, Kikuube, Yumbe, Terego, Madi Okollo and Koboko districts.

War Child Canada and project implementing partners will employ a gender sensitive and inclusive approach to programming, empower young people and recognize their potential as agents of change to ensure effective implementation and sustainability of the interventions. This will be achieved through two outcomes.

1. Increased access to market relevant secondary and tertiary education and skills for refugee and host community youth
2. Improved capacity of education institutions and teachers to offer quality and relevant education and skills for refugee and host community youth

BRIDGE ’s overarching program goal is to improve access to quality & relevant education and skills for 73,439 refugee / host community youth and transition 38,912 refugee / host community youth to dignified and fulfilling work in Uganda by 2027.

The program will further support young people in their transition to dignified work and throughout the life of the project, to thrive in their chosen form of employment or livelihood. Activities to support their success will include conducting market analysis annually to tailor interventions to the business context at the refugee settlement, implementing an adopted UPSHIFT business incubation “boot camps”, strengthening youth business support centres and BTVET institutions through training and infrastructure improvements, providing financial support to young people to access training programs and set up businesses and pairing young people with mentors from the business community. Finally, the program approach promotes continuous learning and development to ensure project sustainability.

Consultancy summary: Organizational Capacity Assessment of War Child Canada and 10 implementing partner organizations refugee-hosting districts – Adjumani, Obongi, Isingiro, Kamwenge, Kikuube, Yumbe, Terego, Madi-Okollo and Koboko districts (including within the refugee settlements).

As part of capacity building interventions under the BRIDGE project, Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCAs) of War Child Canada and implementing partners will be conducted and followed by organization-specific capacity improvement plans for each organization. A competent firm will be engaged to provide consultancy services for the execution of this task. Key areas which this OCA should examine include but are not limited to the following:

1. Finance, operations, administrative & logistics systems
2. Gender and safeguarding, and youth engagement and voice mainstreaming in education and skilling programmes
3. Resource mobilization and programme development
4. Institutional governance
5. Institutional policies, guidelines, and procedures
6. Organizational resilience and sustainability

Purpose of the consultancy : The primary purpose of this consultancy is to conduct organizational capacity assessment of each of the eleven (11) organizations implementing the BRIDGE project in 9 refugee settlements and hosting districts.

Specific objectives include:

• Together with the organizations, the consulting firm will conduct organizational capacity assessments of War Child Canada and 10 implementing partner organizations.
• To create unique capacity development / improvement plans for each organization.

Approach and Deliverables:

The consulting firm will conduct a mixed-method assessment. Primary data collection will engage organizational staff and key members of the board. Secondary data collection will include a review of all project documents and relevant organizational documents as may be required. The consultant/team and War Child Canada staff (in Canada and Uganda) will jointly finalize the assessment tools.

The consulting firm will be responsible for design of the assessment tools, coordination, data collection, analysis, and reporting. The consulting firm will provide the following deliverables:

1. Draft inception report: Upon signing the contract, the firm will have 5 working days to submit a detailed report on the proposed approach to this assignment. The inception report will include a detailed description of the methodology and tools, expected outputs, budget with a breakdown of costs and detailed work plan for the entire assignment.
2. Revised inception report: Following the provision of feedback on the first draft of the inception report from War Child Canada and partners, the Consulting firm will incorporate revisions and recommendations from War Child Canada.
3. Undertaking the assignment and submission of the first draft OCA reports: After conducting the OCAs, the consulting firm will submit 11 draft reports (1 per organization) and other accompanying documents for review by War Child Canada and Partners. The Consulting firm should submit the first draft of the report for each organization to War Child Canada within 30 days after the start of the contract.
4. Capacity improvement plans: The Consulting firm will submit in 11 capacity improvement plans (1 per organization), based on the OCA reports, to War Child Canada within 30 days after the start of the contract. The improvement plans will refer to each organization’s OCA results.
5. Final OCA reports: The consulting firm will finalize the assignment reports (OCA and improvement plans) within 5 days based on the comments and feedback received from War Child Canada and partners on the draft reports. The final OCA reports should incorporate specific, practical and action-oriented recommendations and the improvement plans should have clear methodologies for implementation, for each of the 11 organizations.
6. All the OCA tools and other relevant documents should be included in the reports as annexes.

The final reports will have graphic design and will be formatted by the consulting firm, with feedback from War Child Canada. This assessment will be conducted within Kampala metropolitan, West-Nile and South-Western Uganda regions. The assignment is expected to take a maximum of 35 working days beginning on 24th April 2023. The final assignment report and all other deliverables should be submitted to War child Canada by 10th June 2023.

Experience, skills:

War Child Canada is looking for a competent firm with skills, knowledge, and proven experience in undertaking Organizational Capacity Assessments or organizational development assignments in a development context. Applications from consulting firms will be assessed on their ability to demonstrate the following qualifications, experiences, and competencies:

• Team members with a University Degree in Education and Skills and any Humanities, Business Administration, Project Management, Organizational Development or any other related discipline.
• The consulting firm should have at least 10 years of demonstrated knowledge and experience in conducting and facilitating organizational development interventions.
• Previous experience in developing capacity development or improvement plans for implementation.
• Previous experience working with non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and in refugee settlements especially in Western or West Nile regions of Uganda is an advantage.
• Experience in strategy reviews, organizational development including review and optimization of organizational structure and management practices.
• Demonstrated experience in reviewing/developing internal management and control systems in non-governmental organizations or private sector.
• Knowledge and experience in using participatory approaches and innovative techniques, with organizational leadership.
• Excellent analytical, presentation and report writing skill.
• Experience working on projects related to children’s rights and protection issues, education programs, and youth engagement and skills training in Uganda or similar context.
• Experience working in Uganda.
• Strong English language skills required; other local languages are an asset.

Travel:

• Travel to the project field locations in Adjumani, Obongi, Isingiro, Kamwenge, Kikuube, Yumbe, Terego, Madi Okollo and Koboko districts is required.

  *Travel costs are the responsibility of the consultant and should be included in the proposed budget.