Consultancy to develop a functional Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) System for NPA, South Sudan At Norwegian People’s Aid

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is an International Non-Governmental Organization and has been operating in South Sudan since 1986. NPA’s programme implementation is structured into three programmes:

i. Civil Society Development Programme:

NPA works in partnership 27 civil society organizations, the work of which is broadly divided into four areas:

• Conflicts over rights to land and natural resources often occur in settings impacted by urbanization and internal displacement. NPA partners do what they can to mediate in such conflicts and help local communities protect their rights.
• Freedom of expression and media issues are important. Partners work closely with various radio stations in order to spread information about dialogue, peace and reconciliation and provide training to journalists.
• Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a widespread problem in South Sudan. NPA partners work to strengthen women’s rights by mobilizing women’s groups, strengthening legal protection for women and holding public awareness campaigns.
• NPA supports young adults who promote non-violent conflict resolution. Means to this end include art and performances that encourage peace and reconciliation.

ii. Emergency Response Programme:

This programme focuses on providing food aid to vulnerable populations. The aim of the programme is to save lives and support post-emergency transitional recovery processes through:

• Provision of in-kind food aid through unconditional support i.e. General Food Distribution (GFD) and conditional support i.e. Food Assistance for Assets (FFA).
• Provision of emergency recovery livelihoods kits.
• Provision of unconditional multipurpose cash assistance.
• Provision of cash grants to Income Generating Activity (IGA) groups.

These projects are carried out by NPA employees in cooperation with local communities.

iii. Rural Development Programme:

NPA’s Rural Development programme focuses on medium to more long-term livelihoods strengthening activities that aim to increase the resilience of conflict-affected households in South Sudan. NPA also supports communities to prevent/mitigate climate change related challenges. The programme activities are implemented directly by NPA and in partnership with 14 local NGOs and Community Based Organizations (CBO’s).

The RD activities are divided into three programming areas:

• Promotion of increased and diversified household income by supporting income generating activities, access to microfinance though Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA’s), entrepreneurial /business skills transfer, cash for wok and micro enterprise development.
• Support for increased household food productivity by facilitating access to quality agricultural inputs (seed and tools), fishing kits, post-harvest technologies, smallholder farmer trainings and livestock production interventions (livestock distribution, vaccination and training of pastoralists).
• Promotion of peace building/conflict mitigation, Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Activities include capacity building of local structures (NRM committees, DRR committees and peace committees), natural resource mapping and support in peace building/conflict mitigation.

2.0. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

Protracted conflict in South Sudan has led to a perpetual state of humanitarian crisis. Although there has been a decline in large-scale hostilities over the past years, localized violence has persisted in many pockets of the country. The humanitarian situation in South Sudan remains dire. More than two-thirds of the South Sudanese population and some 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan need some form of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2021, as the country continues to experience cumulative effects of years of conflict, a surge in sub-national violence, unprecedented flooding and hyperinflation, further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of durable peace and limited investment in basic services impedes many people’s ability to move towards sustainable development. The impacts of climate change have been high in South Sudan where up to 95% of the population (about 11 million) depend on climate- sensitive sectors which include forestry resources, agriculture and fisheries.

NPA is implementing various projects to address the immediate needs, improve the lives and livelihoods of affected populations and promote peace. In all it’s interventions and in line with commitment 5 (Communities and people affected by crisis have access to safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints) of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS), NPA seeks to gather feedback from the people we serve and the partners we work with. However, this process is not documented and formalized and hence not uniformly applied across all the project locations. Therefore, NPA is seeking a consultant to develop a comprehensive and context-specific Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) system, policy and implementation guidelines. The CRM system should be informed by the CHS while taking cognizant of the unique context of NPA’s operational areas in South Sudan.

3.0. CONSULTANCY OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of this consultancy is to strengthen and improve NPA’s capacity to be accountable to the people we serve and the partners we work with through development of a functional and context-specific CRM system, policy and implementation guidelines. The specific objectives are:

1. To identify gaps in NPA’s current CRM practices.
2. To develop a needs-based and context-specific CRM policy including a framework, tools and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) that NPA will use in operationalizing the CRM system.
3. To develop a formalized system and process of soliciting, receiving, processing and responding to the feedback and complaints received from the people we serve and the partners we work with.
4. To support NPA in rolling out the CRM policy by training NPA staff in Juba and across all the field offices on the CRM policy, system and the relevant implementation tools.
5. To provide concrete recommendations to NPA on the staffing and financial requirements needed to ensure that the CRM remains fully operational after the roll-out phase.

4.0. DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The consultant should complete the assignment within 45 billable days. All the objectives should be achieved fully within this duration.

5.0. SCOPE OF WORK

The consultant will solicit information from NPA staff, partners and target communities to inform the development of the CRM policy. The consultant will sample at least three NPA partners and target communities from at least three counties in NPA’s operational areas in Lakes, Jonglei and Central Equatoria States. The target counties and partners will be identified in consultation with NPA.

6.0. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

The independent consultant/consultancy firm must demonstrate experience and expertise as follows:

• Advanced degree in Social Sciences, International Relations, Economics, or other areas of relevance to this consultancy.
• More than five years’ experience working on issues of NGO accountability, protection, CHS in developing countries. Experience working in South Sudan is desirable.
• In-depth understanding of the CHS and CRM systems in NGO’s.
• Demonstrated experience in providing high quality Beneficiary Accountability or Protection services for NGO’s.
• Thorough understanding of the context in South Sudan including humanitarian and development issues.
• Ability to manage work and context-related stress while maintaining high performance to achieve the consultancy objectives.
• Able and willing to travel long distances on rough roads.
• Fluency in English with excellent writing and presentation skills.
• Experience in conducting trainings.
• Experience in and exposure in conducting assignments in similar contexts

7.0. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
7.1. Technical proposal:

The technical proposal should include:

• Brief explanation about the lead and associate consultants with particular emphasis on previous experience in similar assignments.
• Understanding of the terms of reference for this assignment in line with the overall and specific objectives.
• Proposed methodology.
• Draft work plan.

7.2. Financial proposal:
This should be presented in USD and should include the consultancy fees, inclusive of 15% Government Tax.
NPA will cover the consultants’ travel and accommodation costs and all the costs related to the roll out of the CRM policy and training of staff. The number of consultant/s to be engaged in the assignment and their costs should be included in the financial proposal.

7.3. Supportive Documents

This includes:

• Copies of reports of previous work conducted in relation to this assignment.
• Organizational (if it is a company applying) or personal capacity statement (if it is an individual).
• Resume of the lead consultant and three references from previous clients including their full contact details.

8.0. EVALUATION CRITERIA

The applications will be evaluated against the following criteria:

• Experience in conducting similar assignments.
• Education background of lead consultants and co- associates.
• Known and established reliability in delivery of timely and quality services.
• Relevant field and country experience.
• Relevant sector specific technical experience and qualifications.
• Sound methodology in undertaking the assignment.