RFQ-AFG-005962 Provision of Consultancy Services – Resilience

Background:

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a humanitarian, non-governmental, non-profit organization that works in more than 30 countries. DRC fulfills its mandate by providing direct assistance to conflict-affected populations – refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities in the conflict areas of the world; and by advocating on behalf of conflict-affected populations. As a global agency, DRC focuses on protection, relief, rehabilitation, post-conflict recovery, capacity-building, humanitarian mine-action, and advocacy.
DRC has been working in Afghanistan since 2011 where it provides immediate relief to displaced people in the form of cash and non-food items, and longer-term protection and economic recovery support for displaced and returnee communities in urban and peri-urban areas.

In Afghanistan, like in many other fragile states, conflict and political instability threaten development goals, impede economic gains and generate humanitarian crises. The country is particularly at-risk to the impacts of climate change. About 80% of its population rely heavily on natural resources to sustain their livelihoods; however, this resource base has been seriously degraded and damaged and is no longer adequately meeting basic survival needs. There is a strong likelihood that natural hazards and environmental stresses associated with climate change will further trigger or amplify conflict in the future (CSIS and CNAS 2008).

Finding pathways out of fragility has become a major priority of the international community but building resilience in these contexts remains a daunting challenge. DRC’s existing program “Supporting Undocumented Afghan Returnees through the Transition from Relief to Rehabilitation” funded by the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has provided a unique opportunity to re-think how we can engage in fragile and rapidly urbanizing contexts like Jalalabad and Kandahar in ways that go beyond supporting the immediate needs of vulnerable populations.

Consultancy Objectives

DRC seeks a consultant with strong resilience assessment knowledge and skills, to meet the following objectives:

1. Oversee and lead a practical and interactive resilience review and analysis together with DRC staff focusing on the GAC funded program, titled: Supporting Undocumented Afghan Returnees through the Transition from Relief to Rehabilitation.
2. Review/Assess the interplay of vulnerabilities and capacities, risks and opportunities vis-à-vis resilience under the GAC funded program. highlight critical challenges for resilience in these fragile and rapidly urbanizing contexts, as well as solutions and opportunities for action (recommendations).
3. Develop a framework based on findings to map out challenges, lessons learned and recommendations to ensure a resilience lens is incorporated in future programs within the Afghan context.
4. Lead and guide the DRC team in developing a resilience-focused strategy at the program level, designing new long-term programs and re-energize existing initiatives using a resilience lens.
5. Ultimately strengthen abilities to plan for and quickly recover from a growing array of inter-connected shocks and stresses (beneficiaries I/NGOs, and stakeholders.