Consultancy to support in the development of Habitat for Humanity Zambia Strategic plan At Habitat for Humanity

Context

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is an INGO, founded in 1976, devoted to building simple, decent, and affordable housing. In 2018, Habitat launched “Global Impact 2025” (GI25). The initiative seeks to transform Habitat’s global operations to align with the ambition of its strategic plan, “to materially reduce the housing deficit.” The past three years have established a foundation for that growth: introducing the ministry’s first international theory of change; building the capacity for new revenue streams; and co-creating new models for more integrated operations across the Habitat network. Within the Africa region, HFHI recently finalized the Africa Strategy Framework which is now being cascaded down for national level alignment.

Habitat for Humanity Zambia (HFHZ) as an Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International network is a non-governmental organization that has been in existence in Zambia since 1984. HFHZ’s mandate is to fulfil a vision where everyone has a decent place to live. Since its establishment in Zambia HFHZ has served the most disadvantaged vulnerable households and communities through the provision and promotion of decent housing, water and sanitation, savings and financial literacy and advocacy on land and housing rights with an emphasis on gender equality ensuring that no one is left behind.

Purpose of Consultancy

The purpose of the consultancy will be to support Habitat for Humanity Zambia (HFHZ) in the development of their new 5-year strategy. The general strategy process has already been developed for Habitat International, but a consultancy is sought to implement the process and to consolidate the process into a single strategic document that is aligned with the Africa Strategy Framework. The strategy steps are outlined below with more detail on these steps in the scope of work section. More information can also be shared with the selected applicant post award.

Strategy Steps / Additional Support for Consultancy

• Housing ecosystem: Will be completed by a separate consultancy
• Finding leverage:
• Internal analysis: Supported by internal HR / Finance / RD review
• Operating environment:
• Naming the challenge:
• Scenario building:
• Assumptions and modeling:
• Strategy mapping:
• Action planning:

1. SCOPE OF WORK

The successful applicant will build on the work already being done and will design a process that responds to the ongoing work globally to build greater alignment across Habitat’s operations. Implementation should anticipate coordination with global initiatives related to systems underpinning local operations, ongoing discussions related to governance of the network, and further articulation of our theory of change and its impact on global positioning. Habitat for Humanity Zambia as well as the Africa Area Office are expected to be critical partners within each of these processes and the design of this engagement. The specific strategy steps the consultancy will support are included below:

Housing Ecosystem Assessment ­*– completed by separate consultancy*

Objectives:

• Define target population (bound the system)
• Understand the stakeholders that make up the housing ecosystem affecting the target population
• Understand the key drivers of the deficit affecting the target population

Detail:

This exercise is a scanning exercise aimed at building an understanding of the key drivers of the deficit in a given context and the key stakeholders that affect the way that the system perpetuates or addresses this deficit

Finding Leverage

Objectives:

• Develop a common narrative for how the ecosystem affects the target population
• Identify the program areas where the organization expects to intervene within the housing ecosystem
• Document the assumptions driving these decisions

Detail:

Building on the team’s understanding of the target population, the stakeholders and drivers affecting their access to housing, the team will develop a narrative of how the housing ecosystem works or doesn’t work for this target population and identify key areas where they believe they can find leverage for change in that ecosystem

Internal Analysis

Objectives:

• Deepening understanding of current capabilities of the organization

Detail:

Examination of current operations looking across indicators of financial health, fundraising, program performance, talent, and growth

• Desktop review of internal performance data: board reporting, AO reporting, financial data, fundraising pipeline, org structure, etc
• Interviews with key stakeholders: views of internal strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats; operational challenges and risks in the current model (Opportunity and Threat information can inform Operational Environment Exercise)
• Synthesis: consolidated report of internal data and interview responses aimed at deepening understanding of current situation; report should incorporate broader GI25 and AP related change initiatives
• Validation: communication of key findings from analysis to leaders for validation and internalization of themes as we lead into the consolidated SWOT exercise

Operating environment

Objectives:

Common understanding of the macro-trends impacting the operational health of the organization over the next 3-5 years

Detail:

Environmental scanning looking for key trends that will affect our ability to continue or expand operations; this differs from the housing ecosystem in that the focus is more on the health of the entity and the operational constraints that it might face as an NGO over the next several years

• Fundraising Trends: desktop review of overall trends in funding markets that are identified through interviews with the leadership team (size of market, growth, donor motivations, market leaders, enabling environment, key constraints to growth)
• Talent Market Trends: desktop review of key themes around talent including competition, decision drivers for new talent, trends in management talent growth, future of work trends, etc
• Regulatory Trends: key considerations and limitations for NGOs, government decisions affecting the sector, risks, limitations of current registration
• Competitor Growth and Capabilities: civil society trends, sophistication and capabilities; close competitor identification and analysis
• Validation: workshop to consolidate thinking around these dimensions and deepen understanding of key themes affecting growth

Naming the challenge

Objectives

• Consolidate and synthesize ecosystem and scanning data
• Prioritize key changes in the market and frame the strategic challenge facing the organization

Detail

Exercise is designed to consolidate thinking around the programmatic intent for the organization and its operational realities. The end result of this exercise is a clear articulation of the strategic challenge facing the organization

• The competitive SWOT built over the last two sessions is brought forward into the conversation
• Current state operations are compared with the results of the analysis done to date
• Areas of conflict are identified and prioritized
• Where possible participants begin to synthesize these areas of conflict into a clear problem statement or opportunity
• Facilitator likely will need to take this away and refine the challenge into a few different options, one of these should be selected by the overall sponsor

Scenario building

Objective

• Identify 2-3 scenarios for testing and further development for the future state of the organization

Detail

Based on the frame provided in previous phases, the future state for the organization can be ideated. The goal of this stage is to identify 3-5 potential future states for consideration by leadership, these starting points will help to characterize the organization that we are trying to build and how it differs from today

• Facilitators and sponsors identify 3-5 scenarios of what a future state could look like for the organization
• These scenarios are benchmarked on the basis of match to current capabilities and perceived ability to capture the market
• Team is asked for feedback and prioritization of the different scenarios
• For top 2-3 scenarios, team works through risks, assumptions, and unknowns and validates the trade-offs, benefits and implications presented by the facilitators
• Where necessary, the team helps to refine or consolidate the models under consideration

Assumptions and modeling

Objective

• Develop a better understanding of the models selected so that we can generate commitment towards the change

Detail

Largely driven by the consultants, models are built and tested for the prioritized options. The goal here will be to understand first how value is created and deepen the understanding of the assumptions driving the model, wherever possible providing external evidence to justify those assumptions

• Business models for the selected scenario can be built collaboratively with the organization or built by the consultants and validated with the organization
• Key assumptions identified under the scenario or surfaced through the modeling effort will be researched and tested
• Financial models built with scenario modeling capabilities

Strategy mapping

Objective

• Understand the strategic objectives required to realize the organization’s strategic vision

Detail

This is a critical step in adopting a balanced scorecard approach to management; building on the model, the team will identify the skills, knowledge, processes, relationships and results that will be required to realize the vision of their strategy. This creates a logical map of how activity leads to results so that kpis can be developed and yearly milestones identified. This requires metrics that are unique to the individual strategies of each implementing team; however, we can categorize objectives and associated lead and lag indicators and milestones that help management, local boards and area offices track implementing teams’ progress toward their strategic goals. By standardizing the categories for these objectives, we can consolidate across the portfolio and make better decisions about deployment of regional/global resources

Action planning

The team will space out implementation on the basis of investment requirements and modeling built out through previous phases. Implementation should include a rough guess on milestones and performance indicators to be reached each year to achieve the intended outcome

1. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT AND PROTOCOLS

The consultant team will spearhead this research with support from the Zambia team and Africa Area Office. Habitat Zambia must first approve the research design, tools, and final report before proceeding with the conduct of the research. Also, the tools that the consultant team will use must be reviewed and provided input by Habitat before pre-testing. Communication and dissemination of key findings to a broader audience must first be approved by Habitat Zambia beforehand.

1. DELIVARABLES AND TIMELINES

The estimated start-up is as soon as possible or latest on the first week of August 2022 It is anticipate that the work will take 6-8 months and will include the following deliverables expected from the consultant:

Output #

Deliverable

Due date

1

Project plan and inception report: consultant’s assessment of current state and a methodology for developing a regional strategy including a stakeholder engagement plan

Week 2

2

Strategy report outline for validation before the report is detailed out

Latest by Month 5

3

Strategy report synthesizing work from each of the strategy steps (including pulling in findings the internal team will provide on the internal components):

• • Background research (operative environment, leverage analysis, housing ecosystem assessment, internal analysis) – Identification of the challenge – The proposed scenarios that were tested (2-3) – The final model with assumptions – Strategy map

Latest by Month 6

4

Action plan a plan for implementation including milestones, investments and distribution of resources across the regional hub and its NO membership

Latest by Month 6

5

2 Page Validation report after stakeholder consultations on board/SMT and other key stakeholders to describe any final updates/feedback on the product

Latest by Month 6

All deliverables are to be submitted in English and comply with the communication guidelines of HFHZ to adhere to Habitat branding.

1. REPORTING AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

The consultant(s) will report to National Dir, Habitat for Humanity Zambia. The project will include a working group of key Habitat for Humanity Zambia staff to ensure alignment with ongoing work and contextualization. The consultancy team will meet regularly with this working group. Beyond this, the successful applicant will need to engage with the Habitat for Humanity broader staff, board, and the Africa Area Office.

1. PAYMENTS SCHEDULE

The fees will be paid upon receipt of an invoice from the Consultant/firm/institution, with the bank detail.

• 50% payment will be delivered upon the completion of output #1
• 50% payment will be delivered upon the completion of the remaining outputs
• The Consultant, firm must be legally registered and have valid tax clearance certificates from the regulatory authority
• The assignment is subject to local Withholding Tax at applicable rates

1. QUALITY AND ETHICAL STANDARDS

The author(s) should take all reasonable steps to ensure that the final product demonstrates respect and protects people’s rights and welfare and the communities of which they are members. It is also expected that the consultant will respect the values of HFHI: courage, humility, and accountability.

Qualifications

The competency requirements for the consultancy are:

• Preferred that the Consultant/all team members have an advanced degree related to housing – urban / regional planning, climate science, earth sciences, policy.
• Or a relevant degree in social sciences or Bachelor’s degree with work experience (5+ years) in a directly relevant field.
• In-depth knowledge and professional experience in country-level assessment on housing. Climate change adaptation, urbanization, people-centered development or disaster risk management research, programming, or evaluation in Zambia
• Demonstrated experience in qualitative analysis – literature review / secondary document review
• Demonstrated experience in using existing quantitative data sets for secondary review
• Demonstrated experience in ecosystems / systems approach and analysis. Specific expertise on land and housing country assessment is an asset.
• Demonstrated excellence in report writing
• Fluency in English
• Knowledge and experience working in Zambia

1. APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The Consultant/agency should submit a technical proposal for carrying out the assignment and the consultancy fee.

Application materials should include:

1. Technical proposal not exceeding 20 pages including a) project background, b) proposed report structure, c) any ethical considerations, and d) work plan.
2. Explanation of overall approach and timing of engagement.
3. A confirmation of your status as an institution/firm or (in case of an individual consultant) independent contractor or employee of a consultancy firm or research institution (for contracting purposes).
4. Related experience of the applicant entity(s) with curricula Vitae (CV) for consultant/all team members applying for consideration, with the contact details of three professional referees.
5. Financial proposal in Zambia Kwacha (ZMK) itemizing estimated costs for services rendered (daily consultancy fees) and any other related supplies or services required for the consultancy.
6. At least one sample report similar to that described in this TOR.
7. ONLY electronic submissions will be accepted

Selection Criteria will include:

• Understanding of the assignment and the business need
• Proposed approach and timing of engagement
• Relevant past experience
• Competitive pricing
• Familiarity with the Zambian / Housing context and institutional funding markets
• Experience with federated networks in the development sector

Proposals will be ranked according to how they fulfill the three following requirements:

• Qualifications (50%)
• Methodological approach (25%)
• Price (25%)

HABITAT’S STATEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS SURROUNDING SAFEGUARDING

Habitat for Humanity Zambia requires that all consultants take their ethical responsibilities seriously to safeguard our intended beneficiaries, communities, and those with whom we work. Habitat for Humanity Zambia has particular responsibilities to support and develop systems that create and maintain an environment that prevents harassment, sexual exploitation, and abuse; safeguards beneficiaries and community members (especially children); and promotes the implementation of Habitat for Humanity’s code of conduct.