CONSULTANCY FOR THE COORDINATION OF THE NGO FORUM At Norwegian Refugee Council

¢ BACKGROUND

The Forum of Humanitarian Organizations – Colombia (NGO Forum) is a strategic space made up of 36 international and local organizations that promotes consensus for the coordination, effectiveness and coherence of the humanitarian response. It addresses situations generated by armed conflict, the migration and refugee crisis from Venezuela and natural disasters. Its main purpose is to generate a communication network between organizations and reinforce the flow of information regarding acts of violence and/or threats that occur in the country.

The Forum coordinates actions within the international cooperation mechanisms in Colombia (Interagency Group on Mixed Migration Flows – GIFMM and Humanitarian Country Team – EHP), with the National Government (Migración Colombia, Presidential Agency for Cooperation – APC, Victims Unit, National Unit for Disaster Risk Management – UNGRD) and, in particular, with local authorities. It is a member of ICVA and works with both Interaction and the LAC RMD Coalition.

As humanitarian organizations, Forum members are committed first and foremost to assisting people in immediate need , as well as to complement and contribute to the actions of local states. To do so, we are guided by universally recognized humanitarian principles (humanity, neutrality, independence, impartiality) and, of course, human rights.

The Forum has three main areas of work: a) representation of its members (before collective coordination bodies such as the EHP, GIFMM, RMRP, LAC RMD, ICVA or Interaction); b) advocacy agenda on issues of collective interest (agreed for the period 2022-2024); c) coordination of specific spaces around: i) security; ii) information management; iii) administrative/logistics/HR issues; iv) advocacy and public information; v) localization.

The Forum’s governance structure is led by a Steering Committee , composed of 5 members, four of whom are elected by the membership, plus a fifth (NRC) who is the Forum’s trustee. The Forum is currently funded by financial contributions from its members and in-kind contributions from iMMAP (information management).

The Forum has a person in charge of General Coordination , a person for the incidence products (this consultancy), another for the communication products and the contribution of IMMAP / 3Is Solutions for information management.

The consultancy should address the above aspects. The confidentiality and trust under which the NGO Forum member organisations work will be fundamental in this consultancy, in addition to the understanding of the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. The work and products of this consultancy should be framed within the Common Humanitarian Standards , Do No Harm, the Triple Nexus, the agenda derived from the Grand Bargain or the Good Humanitarian Donorship .

This consultancy is managed through the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which was designated as the managing organisation of the Humanitarian NGO Forum.

¢ OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF WORK

Aim

The purpose of the NGO Forum Advocacy position is to contribute with specific products and actions to the execution of specific areas of the Forum Strategy (2022-2024), in the Bogotá office, and with possible field/international travel. This position does not entail responsibility for personnel management; however, under certain circumstances the consultancy to be contracted may involve guiding activities/products for a very limited number of people. These circumstances may be related to limited contractual support in time or limited but permanent administrative support, without such provision of services implying compliance with a schedule or any subordination.

Scope of work

• Ensure adherence to Forum and NRC policies, manuals and guidelines .
• Develop and carry out, under the guidance of the Forum Coordination, the advocacy strategy.
• Support the Forum’s coordination spaces and working groups.
• Generation of data-based impact products , ensuring the quality of the arguments and proposals of the products produced.

Main tasks and responsibilities

1. Participation and monthly in ten (10) specific spaces of humanitarian coordination in the structures of GIFMM and EHP, protection sector (EHP/GIFMM), group and child protection, information management, EVIDEM, among others, providing analysis and representing the Forum when required, ensuring internal communication. Participation on behalf of the Forum in specific coordination spaces such as national meetings, providing analysis and representing the Forum when so indicated and ensuring internal communication. Generation of follow-up notes / minutes.
2. Monthly participation in three (3) regional coordination spaces (with Interaction; ICVA; forums in Latin America). Generation of follow-up notes/minutes.
3. Monthly participation in eight (8) spaces for coordinating the Forum groups (security, information management, administrators, localization, incidence and communication). Generation of follow-up notes/minutes. Participate, encourage and support the Forum Coordination in the incidence and communication group and other groups within the Forum.
4. To prepare five (5) products for the Forum Strategy on a monthly basis, which qualify and encourage, together with the co-leaders of the Forum’s member NGOs, the implementation of a Forum advocacy strategy.
5. Participate monthly on eight (8) occasions per month with the Forum coordination team , through face-to-face and virtual meetings. Support the Forum with products/actions in the monitoring and strengthening of its strategy regarding international coordination spaces related to the crisis of migrants/refugees/displaced persons/victims of conflict and natural disasters and spaces for influencing national legislation.
6. Generation of one (1) Forum activities newsletter per month , for internal communication.
7. Monthly participation in two (2) coordination meetings with the Steering Committee and the monthly meeting of Forum members, supporting the generation of the agenda, discussion of points, presentation of topics. Contribute to the analytical and strategic reflection within the Forum, providing elements of reflection and synthesis that contribute to the collective effort of the Forum. Generation of notes / minutes of follow-up.
8. It is necessary that the person in charge of preparing the products and participating in activities be able to function in both Spanish and English .

¢ INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PROVISIONS

NRC will formally contract the consultancy services. Management and approval of products and activities will be the responsibility of the Forum Coordination.

Duties of the consultancy:

1. Comply with each of the deliverables, activities and products defined with the consultancy.
2. Execute the contracted service, in accordance with the requirements of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) under the designated contract or by the person delegated by it.
3. Address any comments or suggestions made as long as they are within the scope of the contract and are relevant to its execution, within the regulations applicable to the subject matter.
4. Adhere to the information security policies of the Forum and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
5. Establish workspaces, planning and delivery of results in spaces agreed with the Forum.
6. Carry out at your own risk all tasks necessary to complete the assigned work, including providing insurance if necessary.
7. Comply with the assigned tasks and commitments arising from the work plan and schedule of activities that have been proposed and approved by the Forum.
8. Comply with all obligations relating to affiliation and timely payment of the respective contributions to the general comprehensive social security system, payment of support staff required for the service, this being a suspensive condition for the payment obligation to arise on the part of the Norwegian Refugee Council – NRC, therefore, supporting documents must be presented.
9. Subscribe to and assume the costs of the quality and compliance policies or guarantees that may be required for the implementation of this activity.
10. Any others that may be necessary to fulfill the purpose of this document.
11. Maintain strict confidentiality of the information shared as initial input for the conceptual and narrative proposal.

Reports should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, in Spanish. Texts should not be formatted, unless otherwise indicated by the Coordination. Charts or other graphic elements should be editable (i.e. not images). All references should be cited according to convention and listed in a bibliography, using the Harvard system as set out in the UNESCO Style Manual . All direct citations should be enclosed in quotation marks and should not be excessively long. All data collected within the framework of the consultancy should be submitted with the deliverables, in a widely recognised format, e.g. Microsoft Excel.

Any submission to the Forum and NRC must be the original work of the consultant. Any plagiarism in any form, or any other violation of intellectual property rights, will automatically disqualify the provider from receiving any further payment under the contract entered into by the NRC, and the NRC will seek to recover any payments already made.

The provider will follow the Ethical Research Involving Children guidance regarding the ethical participation of children. In addition, all study participants or other interaction will be fully informed about the nature and purpose of the interaction and their requested participation. Informed consent must be obtained for any photography, audio or video recording, etc. in accordance with the NRC consent policy.

PROPERTY RIGHTS and RELIABILITY:

The Forum shall hold the intellectual property rights for all materials submitted by consultants under the contract . The copyright shall remain with the Forum and shall be administered by the Norwegian Refugee Council or the managing organisation of the Forum. The reliability of the information collected is essential and dissemination of the material without authorisation from the organisation could put the safety of participants at risk.

Consultants must therefore ensure that they own any materials provided to the Forum as part of the deliverable. Reproduction rights for the reports will be granted to the Forum and its contracted agents. The Forum will be free to reproduce the materials at will and to grant reproduction rights. Any dissemination or reproduction of the collected material or consultancy products must be authorized by the Forum.

¢ EXECUTION CALENDAR AND ESTIMATION OF INPUTS

The start of execution will be from November 1, 2024 .

The maximum value of the consultancy is set at $ 9,917,295 COP for monthly fees for the modality of provision of consulting services, payable monthly. Additionally, a contribution of $100,000 COP/month will be recognized for communication expenses and $360,000 COP/month for transportation, for a total of $10,377,295 , which includes all taxes and withholdings applicable to the contractor.

The disbursement will be made after the delivery of the monthly report of agreed products, prior to the fulfillment of the presentation of the forms where the payment of social security (Health, Pension and ARL) is evidenced, as well as the preparation of the billing account and/or electronic sales invoice.

The consultancy must agree with the Forum on a schedule or calendar of its activities based on the strategic planning and work plan of the coordination space.

The consultancy will have freedom to manage its time to generate products and establish relationships. However, it must be present in coordination spaces and activities that require its presence in Bogotá. The product delivery schedule will be monthly, agreed upon with the coordination and flexible in light of the opportunities for influence that arise.

An average of 20 products will be delivered per month. Products are defined, among others, as:

• Participation in meetings and minutes of these.

• Communications / communication proposals to coordination (letters, emails) or positions on the impact objectives.

• Progress on the advocacy strategy.

• Presentations.

• Progress reports.

A monthly report will be produced that includes the progress of the products delivered, integrating the actions of other areas of the forum, so that it serves as a newsletter of progress of the Forum for its members.

¢ QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PERSON / CONSULTING COMPANY

To be eligible, the natural/legal person providing these services must have:

• At least 3 years of experience in advocacy or coordination positions in civil society organizations and,
• At least 5 years in humanitarian action .

Education.

• University degree in International Relations, Political Science, Sociology or similar.

Specific skills required:

• Experience working in similar positions, influencing and relationships , in a humanitarian aid context in Colombia.
  • Knowledge of humanitarian architecture/actors/legislation in Colombia, in other countries/contexts and at a global level.
    • Previous experience working in complex and volatile contexts.
    • Verifiable experience related to the responsibilities of the position.
    • Experience in dealing with state institutions relevant to this position, with civil society organizations , humanitarian organizations and with the media, especially those with national reach, will be valued.

Required skills:

• Plan and achieve results.
  • Teamwork.
    • Flexibility.
    • Initiative.
    • Analytical thinking, with the ability to analyze data and draw hypotheses and conclusions.
    • Ability to articulate complex messages in a synthetic manner.
    • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with impact and respect.
    • Managing unsafe environments.

Languages

• Excellent command of Spanish, at the level of text editing.
• Written and verbal fluency in English (intermediate-high), with the ability to express oneself at a technical level in this language and write short texts.

Work tools.

The person who carries out the consultancy must have the proper tools to carry out the duties of the position. The consultancy must provide the means and resources necessary for the performance of its work, including computer and communication equipment and programs.

¢ DURATION

This consultancy is projected to last 12 months, starting on November 1, 2024, ending on October 31, 2025.

¢ TAXES

The offer includes all taxes and withholdings applicable to the consulting firm.