Consultancy to author: Sphere Thematic Sheet on working with National Disaster Management Authorities

Terms of Reference

Apply by 13 September 2021

1. Sphere

The Sphere movement was started in 1997 by a group of humanitarian professionals aiming to improve the quality of humanitarian work during disaster response. Sphere is a diverse global community of purpose and practice that brings together frontline practitioners, humanitarian agencies, community organisations, trainers, donors, policy makers, government agencies and affected communities, around a common goal – to improve the resilience of, and outcomes for, people affected by disaster and crisis.

Sphere establishes, promotes and reviews quality standards for humanitarian action which provide an accountable framework for preparedness, resource allocation, response, monitoring and advocacy, before, during and after disasters and crises. Sphere believes that people affected by crisis must be at the centre of decisions about humanitarian protection, assistance, recovery and resilience.

Sphere platforms are freely available and Sphere products are open source. We are committed to reaching as many people as possible, because we believe that principled humanitarian assistance – based on Sphere principles and standards – results in better outcomes for people affected by crisis.

2. The assignment

Sphere standards are universal and need to be interpreted and adapted to various contexts, purposes and disaster responses. National Disaster Management Authorities (NDMAs) and other civil protection actors prepare for, and respond to, disasters, often with the support of the international disaster response community. Over the past 10-15 years, several NDMAs – for example in India and Guatemala – decided to integrate international standards such as Sphere and other standards of the Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP) into their national disaster management policies and guidelines. Many others are yet to do so, at times due to a lack of understanding of the advantages of working with internationally recognised standards. Engaging these national actors in a discussion around these standards has been a key activity of Sphere country focal points for many years, and it remains important.

Sphere published a discussion paper in 2016 on Sphere standards in national humanitarian response: Engaging with National Disaster Management Authorities, which captured some of the valuable lessons learned. The paper was followed in 2019 by a report What makes International Standards interesting for National Disaster Management Authorities? Written by a group from the London School of Economics (LSE), this report examines the main opportunities and challenges for engaging with NDMAs and looks at how best to enable and support NDMAs to adopt international standards and principles in their national emergency response. Both papers include case studies.

In July 2021, Sphere hosted an online consultation with its country focal points on Working with NDMAs – Challenges and best practice which generated several action points, which included developing a Thematic Sheet on NDMAs and humanitarian standards and creating a half-day online training package to train and engage NDMAs. A recording of the webinar can be made available to the Consultant.

Please note: This consultancy is linked to a second consultancy [both TOR documents are available from the Sphere website here: https://www.spherestandards.org/work-with-us/] to develop a 4-hour training package for Sphere focal points or other actors to engage with NDMAs. The training package will be based on the content of the Thematic Sheet and will be developed in the second half of September 2021. Consultants who cover both sets of skills (document writing and development of training materials) are encouraged to apply for both consultancies, since they are strongly linked in terms of content.

3. Deliverables

The consultant will develop a Thematic Sheet (TS) with key learnings and messages for civil society organisations and NGOs to engage NDMAs. The primary focus of the TS should be on the interaction between NDMAs and standards.

The primary audience of the TS is Sphere focal points and advocacy staff who engage with NDMA representatives on Sphere and the other Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP) standards.

The TS should include the following:

a. a brief explanation of the role of NDMAs in nationally-led disaster preparedness, response and recovery;

b. a section on how humanitarian standards support national disaster response, with a focus on rights and needs;

c. a section on key obstacles in working with NDMAs (for example change of government);

d. a section with key learnings from existing case studies on what worked to address these obstacles (taken from the two guides and the webinar);

e. a section with key advocacy messages for NGOs to use.

The final product should be ready to be sent to layout and translation without substantial editing. From the final product, the consultant will extract a two-page summary with key points and advocacy messages. Target groups for the two-page summary are also NGOs and standards focal points.

For reference, earlier Thematic Sheets include Environmental Sustainability and DRR. The length is expected to be similar (i.e. around 3,500-5000 words).

4. Process

Sphere will facilitate outreach to HSP members. Short interviews with some of them may be useful to bring in perspectives of other standards-setting initiatives with NDMAs.

The consultant will review and use content from the two existing NDMA guides and the webinar, and other relevant information.

Based on the above, the writing process includes the following steps:

• Review of existing Sphere content on NDMAs;
• Develop TS structure, based on existing content and discussion with Sphere and HSP members;
• Develop the first draft of the TS;
• Sphere will share the draft with its members, focal points and HSP members;
• Develop final product based on feedback; and
• Develop a two-page summary with key messages.

5. Consultant requirements

• Experience with humanitarian standards and nationally-led humanitarian responses.
• Experience developing advocacy messages.
• Track record of developing concise and clear written guidance, focusing on adult learning ideally for humanitarian audiences.
• Experience working with NDMAs.
• Experience of Sphere and other HSP handbooks.

6. Timeframe and number of days

This is a 7-day contract, including a few interviews and adaptation of the draft TS after a consultation round with Sphere and HSP focal points. The ideal contract period is between Monday 20 September and Friday 15 October 2021.**

7. Location

The consultant can be based in any country except those restricted by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the federal council of Switzerland. If based in Switzerland, the consultant must be registered in Switzerland.