Strategic Planning Consultant – Afghanistan At Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe

Background:

Under the umbrella of DKH’s Capacity Building Initiative Asia (CBIA) Program that aims at enhancing the capacities of DKH partners in the region, an emerging need to support the partners in training, mentoring, and coaching has risen. Complying with the Core Humanitarian Standards and its indicators, alongside the commitments listed in the Charter for Change, strengthening partners’ capacities, and forming a stronger partnership spirit in the humanitarian assistance field is of crucial value. This assignment will directly contribute to building the capacities of DKH Asia partner’s staff, by equipping them with the technical and practical knowledge to grow the organization and programs which should ultimately improve the delivery of services to the most vulnerable people in their respective countries.

Position Summary:

DKH’s Regional Office West and Central Asia is seeking to hire a Facilitator/Consultant to support, refine, and guide the Organizational Strategy for two of DKH’s partners in Afghanistan namely ADA and AHDAA. The assignment includes, but not limited to, facilitating an Organizational Strategy Development workshop in line with the experience and knowledge of the partners’ vision and mandate The consultancy focuses on improving the overall strategic direction of the two partners against the available resources and the long-term goals. This requires full understanding of the contextual factors which affect the overall flow of work organizationally and programmatically for each partner organization.

The assignment will be conducted in ADA’s premises in Kabul, and in AHDAA’s premises in Herat and potentially via online communication platforms.

The Consultant’s tasks will be:

1. Conduct a focused desk review of previous Strategy documents (mission, vision, values, objectives, goals, resources, etc). And extract areas for improvement that will be refined throughout the consultancy. A reflection on the organisation’s previous work with a critical and learning lens (where is the organisation particularly effective and successful, where is it not, what can it build on, etc.)
2. Update the context analysis for each partner based on their areas of operation and thematic focus, including anticipated trends and adaptation measures that partners can take
3. Facilitate a 2–3-day workshop with each partner’s Senior Management Team and Program department that leads to:
   • Conducting of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis in line with the desk review.
   • Updating of the Organizational Strategy document to streamline each partner’s short, medium, and long-term programmatic and organizational objectives.
   • Coordinate among each partner’s department leads and the SMT to produce the final version of the Organizational Strategy document which would be endorsed by the Board of Directors.

Responsibilities and Duties:

1. Desk Review: conduct a comprehensive review of previous Strategy documents and meet with the SMT and Programs Department members/leads. The objective is to fully understand ADA and AHDAA’s mandate and ways of working.
2. Facilitation of a Strategic Planning Workshop: the consultant will be responsible for facilitating a workshop of 2-3 days to coach ADA and AHDAA on the main elements required to produce a multi-year strategy document in the context of a humanitarian NGO. The workshop should be collaborative and include relevant staff from across all ADA and AHDAA functional units.
3. Strategy Document Alignment: ensure that the final strategic framework clearly identifies the partners’ impact ambitions and provides a stronger basis (key impact ambitions and indicators) for a stronger monitoring and communication of results.
4. Reporting: the consultant shall prepare a Desk Review Report and a Workshop Report for each partner, in addition to a Final Consultancy Report.

Coordination Scheme:

The DKH Country Program Coordinator, DKH Capacity Building Coordinator, Partners’ Senior Management Teams and Program Managers, and Facilitator/Consultant shall remain in in regular contact and provide updates on the progress of the mission and the planned activities and outputs.

The consultancy is based on achieving the set deliverables within a maximum of 12 days per partner. The consultancy does not represent a full-time job nor is it considered an employment with DKH West and Central Asia Regional Office or with ADA and AHDAA.

Scheduling:

DKH expects to commence the mission as of March 2023.

Language:

Due to a potential language barrier, a translator may/will be externally hired to simultaneously translate meetings and conferences, when needed.

All reports are to be submitted to DKH in English.

Timeline:

24 days of effort from signing the consultancy agreement.

Deliverables:

1. Desk Review & Context Analysis Reports (2 – 3 days of effort per partner)

• In close coordination with each Partner’s SMT Representatives, Program Managers, and the DKH Country Program Coordinator, perform a comprehensive desk review to identify strengths and areas for improvement in the previous Strategy Documents of each partner organization.
• Report on recommendations that serve as working plan to produce a SMART Strategy Document
• Report outlining a) the consultant’s findings from his/her preliminary review of documents b) the proposed plan (list of interviewees and questions) for the consultations; Report from the consultations (feedback from stakeholders about ADA and AHDAA and context analysis findings) and facilitated discussions of the findings

2. Strategic Planning Workshop (4 – 5 days of effort per partner)

• Organize a workshop with each partner’s teams to coach the process of developing SMART strategy documents.
• The workshop must focus on learning the main elements of a functional/SMART strategy document that tackles all functions of each partner. SWOT analysis exercise must be done during the workshop.

3. Alignment of Strategy Document (2 -3 Days of effort per partner including revisions)

• Help ADA and AHDAA identify how each should organize itself (structure/division of organizational roles) to optimally deliver on the strategy
• Facilitate the development of an operational plan that charts out how the organisation will deliver on its strategy (approaches, structure, capacities) and clarifies the organisational division of roles and responsibilities.
• Produce, endorse, and submit the final versions of Strategy Documents for each partner.

4. Reporting (1 – 2 days of effort per partner)

• Submit the desk review reportfor each partner.
• Submit the Strategic Planning Workshop report for each partner.
• Submit the consultancy’s full narrative report on all of the activities commenced throughout the consultancy mission for both partners.
• Obtain acceptance by writing from DKH on the completion of the consultancy.

The final Consultancy report must include:

• Executive summary.
• Introduction.
• Main activities conducted in line with the set deliverables.
• Description of challenges faced during the consultancy mission.
• Annexed Desk Review report and recommendations.
• Annexed Context Analysis report.
• Annexed Strategic Planning Workshop report for each partner.
• Annexed final Strategy Documents for each partner.

The proposalmustinclude:

• Consultant’s motivational letter
• Consultant’s updated CV – including a concise summary of relevant competences and previous relevant experiences.
• Technical Proposal including technical methodology (must not exceed 5 pages)
• Proposed daily rate inclusive of all taxes.
• Work plan against a proposed timeline.

Required Competencies:

• Proven experience in a senior leadership position within the Humanitarian Assistance Sector. Preferably as an SMT or BoD member.
• Experience working in Afghanistan or in the South Asian region.
• Ability to travel across different locations inside Afghanistan, if necessary.
• Fluency in English.

Budget proposal

Proposed budget should indicate the daily rate for a maximum of 24 days of effort, distributed according to the deliverables mentioned above. Logistical arrangements for the mission must not be included in the budget proposal, as they will be reimbursed separately. The daily rate must be inclusive of all taxes due in Jordan. Payment of the contract will be released in EUR or in the local currency via bank transfer within 30 business days of the completion of the mission.