Terms of Reference to engage external consultants in country Strategy Development

1. INTRODUCTION

SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is looking for a consultant, who will work closely with Management and staff of the organization to facilitate the process of reviewing the current strategic framework (mid-term plan (MTP)) and identify new and ambitious but achievable goals and objectives for the period 2023-2027.

The purpose of this TOR is to provide general guidelines for the engagement of external or internal consultants who will play supportive role in the development of National strategy

The concept is an overall frame which provides some recommendations on the roles and responsibilities of a facilitator, what is in scope and out of scope of his/her assignment having an independent facilitator to support the efforts of the Member Association to bring about strategic change through collaborative action is essential. The facilitator’s independence from the National Management team is key to building an environment and space that holds all perspectives equally and listens to all voices. In doing so, the facilitator will set the foundations for a neutral, safe space to work together, where participants can trust the process.

2. Purpose

The purpose of the strategic planning and formulation process is to develop a revised strategic framework for SOS children’s village in Somaliland in order to increase the effectiveness, relevance and impact of the association while fully utilizing new major developments nationally and globally to bring major change and impact on the ground. A number of programming, financial management, resources mobilization, technological and advocacy opportunities exist today that didn’t exist a few years ago when formulating our last midterm plan. The Covid-19 pandemic; an ever growing demand for our services and products means that the association has to redefine how it works to impact in the future. It is these issues and an expired strategic framework (MTP) 2017-2020 that are prompting SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland to critically review and update its strategic framework for the future.

3. ROLE

A facilitator supports the national associations in their National strategy Development process. He/she has a neutral and external perspective and is motivating and positive.

· A facilitator will bring process expertise to the work and support the design of workshops / (online) meetings, to make the best use of all the stakeholders’ time. The facilitator will also be key in ensuring all the stakeholders are engaged in the appropriate way.

· A facilitator is neutral, limiting content involvement and focused on supporting the National Management team to be successful in reaching the workshop and process objectives.

· Manage expectations and clarify roles and responsibilities

· Ask the right questions to facilitate a structured discussion around the current challenges encountered and responses. Have sufficient knowledge and skills to ask probing questions to encourage a deeper analysis

· Have proficient skills to ensure all stakeholders are equally contributing to the discussion.

· Have confidence and diplomatic skills to manage discussion and disagreement and to keep the discussion on track

· Note key points throughout the discussion and build on them. Summarize complex issues and agreements to ensure accuracy and guide discussion

· Build consensus through facilitating discussion on priorities, principles and next steps.

· Prepare summary report on PESTLE and SWOT analysis from the stakeholder inputs.

· Prepare summary points of the sessions and compiles a report synthesizing the agreements during the meeting

· Responsible to prepare the final strategy document strictly based on inputs and contributions of stakeholders

4. IN SCOPE

To be prepared by doing some pre-work to understand the relationships between participants, teams and stakeholders. It is important that the facilitator is given opportunity to get in depth briefing at regional office level (CVI rep, MSA, RSA..etc.) and at National level (ND, NMT..etc.)

The following scope which defines of consultant’s work are the key elements of his/her role:

· Understanding the external context as per the following key documents and guidance the in-house working teams and the strategy development process accordingly:

· International documents and conventions related to children and young people such as UNCRC and UN Guideline on Alternative Care

· Documents related to child care sector in the country such as CRSA, National Child Laws and other relevant docs which might be provided by the organization.

· Donor market assessment report, if available and provided by the organization, or other relevant doc/information to understand and guide on external opportunities

· Understand the country social, political, economic, legal, environmental, technological and humanitarian context.

· Understanding the internal organization context and guidance the in-house working teams and strategy development process accordingly.

· Understand the key organization reference documents and materials including: template and guideline for the development of National strategy; Federation 2030 Strategy, the 5 federation Priorities 2021-2024, Africa Strategy and the organization key policies and guidelines

· Guidance and facilitation of the application of defined methodology, processes, tools and templates based on the organization’s strategy development guideline. This includes guidance and facilitation for various quality inputs, analyses and outputs aspects of the process. Delivers independent process facilitation to support meetings, sessions’ and workshops’ stated objectives.

· Collects and/or supports the collection and preliminary analysis of relevant and sufficient external information which may not be readily available and/or accessible to the ‘’in-house’’ working teams.

· Developing and executing quality assurance plan to ensure the quality of the entire strategy development process from inputs, analyses and outputs perspectives.

· Design effective collaborative processes either virtual, face to face, or a combination of both to guide and/or facilitate various sessions and/or workshops for ‘’in-house’’ teams and engagement with stakeholders

· Facilitates the strategy formulation workshop and consolidates its outcome as per agreed expectations, scope and intent.

· Prepare agenda designs and facilitation notes for all engagements, workshops and events to support the logical flow of content, analyses and group process dynamics.

· Provides complimentary information/data/input gathering and analytical tools whenever required and facilitates their applications.

· Ensure workshop design that allows all to participate in the process including marginalized groups or individuals.

· Guidance and support for strategic thinking process in a simple and stimulating way. This includes guidance to participants by generating curiosity and independent inquiry without siding with any of the groups.

· To listen, understand and return to the group what is being said in order to promote reflection.

· To keep the group focused on the subject at hand in order to keep momentum.

· To summarize and emphasize agreements and disagreements.

· To record what happens during the dialogue and liaise with project team to ensure workshop/meeting records and reports are produced accurately and in a timely manner.

5. OUT of SCOPE

· The facilitator is not responsible for explaining the content of the national strategy or giving content suggestions to the national management team.

· The facilitator shall not assess and/or decide and/or prescribe and/or choose strategies. He/she would rather guide and facilitate the analysis process towards generating strategic options and realistic possibilities that would enable the working team to make strategic decision and choices.

· The facilitator shall not chair working sessions or any off the working teams. He/she would rather guide and facilitate sessions.

· Process and content ownership is out of scope of the consultant. The consultant needs to ensure that the working teams and others do own and have strong internal perspective for the entire process.

6. DELIVERABLES

• Definition of the process and a quality assurance plan based on proposed methodology and template of the organization’s guideline for guiding and conducting/organizing the various inputs, sessions, analysis, workshops and outcomes including the strategy formulation workshop and the strategy plan document.
• Complimentary and standardized tools for input collection and analysis.
• Collation of locally relevant and needful content from external sources and internal stakeholders.
• Successful facilitation of the strategy formulation workshop and process including technical advice and support to participants during the workshop.
• Consolidation of the outcome of the strategy formulation workshop to produce a zero draft strategy document as per the organization’s guideline and template with expected annexes which will be shared with the internal teams for subsequent reviews and finalization. The consultant makes sure that the content of the strategy document is within the scope, direction and consensus of the outcome of the formulation workshop, dialogue and process. Content is also aligned to internal organizational terminologies & language while ensuring external and industry norms and standards, and appealing to stakeholders & donors.
• Evaluation of the facilitator work, based on evaluation forms received from participants
• Final report on the implementation of the tasks after finishing the workshops.

7. Minimum requirement

The minimum requirement to qualify and engage a consultant would include but not limited to the following:

· Experience in designing and facilitation of strategy developing process using a variety of approaches and tools with an emphasis on employing a collaborative thinking approach.

· Experience working with multi-stakeholder, multi-sector groups forging collaboration, and collective agreement across differences of opinion and perspectives.

· Adequate experiences in gathering, analysis, interpretation and application of national and local relevant information and/or data on political, social, economic, technological, legal and cultural contexts for the purpose of strategy development process.

·

· An excellent collaborative work style, with an openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback

· A track record with ways to promote diversity and inclusion in dialogue.

· An excellent ability to plan/ manage, organize, implement and report on work

· Demonstrated experience in virtual facilitation and use of virtual tools

· The ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines

· Outstanding communication and advocacy skills

· Excellent presentation and facilitation skills

· Demonstrated integrity and ethical standards

· Fluency in English

Process of Submission of Bids

To facilitate the submission of proposals, the submission can be done electronically in PDF format and sent to SOS HR Department via to hr@sos-somaliland.org.

The titles of submitted documents should clearly state “Terms of Reference (ToR) to engage external consultants in country Strategy Development.” For further information, please contact mustefa.adow@sos-somaliland.org. +252633881653

Documents to submit

· Profile and previous experiences of the consulting firm/Independent Consultant

· Financial and Technical proposal

· CVs of the research team member(s) including current geographical location(s)

· Three references (at least two of them must be familiar with your work)

Deadline for submission

The proposal has to be received by latest on 23 May 2022, by the end of the day. Proposals received after the deadline will be not be considered.

Modification and withdrawal of bids

Proposals may be withdrawn on written request prior to the closing date of this invitation. Any corrections or changes must be received prior to the closing date. Changes must be clearly stated in comparison with the original proposal. Failure to do so will be at bidder’s own risk and disadvantage.

Signing of the contract

SOS Children’s Villages will inform the successful bidder electronically and will send the contract form within 1 week after closure of the bid submission deadline. The successful bidder shall sign and date the contract, and return it to SOS Children’s Villages Somaliland within three calendar days of receipt of the contract. After the contract is signed by the two parties, the successful bidder shall deliver the services in accordance with the delivery schedule outlined in the bid.

Rights of SOS Children’s Villages

• contact any or all references supplied by the bidder(s);
• request additional supporting or supplementary data (from the bidder(s));
• arrange interviews with the bidder(s);
• reject any or all proposals submitted;
• accept any proposals in whole or in part;
• negotiate with the service provider(s) who has/have attained the best rating/ranking, i.e. the one(s) providing the overall best value proposal(s);
• contract any number of candidates as required to achieve the overall strategy development objectives

Evaluation of proposals

After the opening, each proposal will be assessed first on its technical quality and alignment with the TOR and subsequently on its financial proposal. The proposal with the best overall value, composed of technical merit and price, will be considered for approval. The technical proposal is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR). Bidders may additionally be requested to provide additional information (virtual presentation or phone interview) to SOS Children’s Villages on the proposed services.

The criteria for selection are:

§ Method: The proposed method for evaluating the Project is suitable (in the current case, the mothed is largely provided by SOS)

§ Timetable/work plan: The timetable/work plan is realistic and meet the needs of the Project

§ Cost: The cost of the proposal is reasonable and feasible, given the other aspects of the proposal

§ Experience: The training and experience of the consultants in similar tasks and recommendations from organizations for which the consultant(s) has previously worked