Consultants (m/f)

Description

• Oxfam is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to beat poverty and injustice. The vision being a just and sustainable world and the mission is to fight inequality to end poverty and injustice. Oxfam in Southern Africa is operating as a cluster in four countries Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Driven by the need to be efficient, the cluster was established in July 2021. The new model of presence delivers several strategic choices and shifts aimed at achieving broader impact across the region, program coherence and synergies across and within thematic areas of work, actualizing the localization agenda through a deeper partnership model, program management, financial and operational efficiency through shared program and business support services. One of the thematic focus is the humanitarian program which prioritizes disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response and resilience building, food security and economic Inclusion; WASH governance; humanitarian advocacy and building the local humanitarian leadership
• The region’s economy and people’s lives, remain vulnerable to climate-related shocks and humanitarian disasters. This has had wider impact on agriculture and food systems as well as livelihoods and poverty. The last decade has seen the region hit by consecutive climatic disasters that have left millions food insecure and hundreds of thousands displaced. Since 2004, around 15 million people have been facing hunger every year and in 2015, the El Nino-induced drought left nearly 40 million people without enough food and water. Cyclone Idai in 2019 left a trail of destruction in parts of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, leaving hundreds of thousands of families homeless and millions of others facing a bleak future ahead of them, while strategic infrastructure was extensively damaged. Recurring droughts have adversely affected cereal production in the region such that traditional exporters like Zambia and South Africa reduced their exportable surpluses from 7.5 million tonnes to 1.4 million during the 2019/20 marketing season and Zambia went from having a surplus of 1.8 million tonnes to a deficit of 0.3 million tonnes
• The conflict in Cabo Delgado continues to be the main driver of food insecurity in Mozambique as an increasing number of IDPs need emergency food assistance. The displacement caused by the conflict and insecurity has left many people in Cabo Delgado with no access to their lands and no means of earning a living. During the 2020-2021 cyclone season at least 681,000 were affected by heavy rainfall in the region, causing death, displacement, flooding, landslides and infrastructure damage. From January to March 2022, tropical storms Ana and Batsirai, and cyclones Emnati and Gombe left significant destruction in the Southern African countries torn through. Impacts included displacement, crop destruction, deaths, heavy flooding, death of livestock, and loss of homes. In Malawi, tropical storm Ana was responsible for destroying 228 schools, leaving 114,218 learners without facilities . Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change because it deepens existing discriminations, abuses, and assaults on their dignity. Following climate shocks, women and girls must travel farther in search of clean water and firewood, increasing workloads and putting them in the path of potential violence
• Oxfam, therefore, calls for applications from experienced and qualified individuals or consulting firms to conduct a needs assessment for the ECHO HIP call for proposals with the aim of prioritizing and quantifying humanitarian needs in proposed targeted areas

Objective of the Assessment

• The overall objective of the assessment is to provide comprehensive, cross-sectoral, methodologically sound, and impartial overall assessment of humanitarian needs for the SAF countries (Malawi, Mozambique& Zimbabwe) to inform strategic decisions on how to respond
• The specific objectives of the Rapid Needs Assessment
• To establish good understanding of gaps in social services that are gender transformative and inclusive in the following areas:
• WASH
• Food security
• Gender in emergency
• Safe programming, protection, sexual exploitation, abuse risks facing communities (especially girls, boys, young people, women, and people with disabilities) and the mitigation measures
• Disaster risk reduction and preparedness
• Resilience building

Methodology

• Scope of the Study
• The Rapid Needs Assessment Study shall cover disaster preparedness in Malawi (Nsanje, Chikwawa, Phalombe), Zimbabwe Manicaland Province (Chipinge district) and Mozambique Zambezia province (Maganja da Costa and Mocuba districts) & Sofala province (Buzi district and Beira city) and for emergency response in Mozambique Cabo Delgado province (Metuge and Montepuez districts). Mozambique has a recent needs assessment conducted in Cabo Delgado province on the IDPs which will need to be updated
• Approach and Methodology
• The consultant must outline clearly on how the rapid needs assessment will be conducted. The data collection should be obtained from various stakeholders including government, NGOs, UN Agencies, and community members in these provinces within the different targeted districts
• The consultant must demonstrate capacity to use diverse, safe, confidential, and participatory tools including but not limited to desk review, interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussion
• The consultant should be committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected, in accordance with Oxfam Data Protection, Feminist Principles and Safeguarding Policies
• The consultant should factor-in the various sections embodied in Oxfam needs assessment tools

Duties

Responsibilities of Consultants

• The consultants will be primarily responsible for:
• Development/design of the study including tools and methodology
• Share study design including process, methodology, sample size and tools with the Oxfam team
• Get feedback and finalize study design
• Conduct a desk review of key relevant documents and literature (both internal and external) to have clear understanding of the contextual framework
• Carry out and administer data collection and analysis for reporting
• Support, train and lead study team
• Clean data set and ensure that they are interactive for use
• Analyse data and prepare draft report
• Present assessment findings and and then submit final report
• Provide final version of data collection tools, methodology and analysis
• Ensure safeguarding policy is adhered to by his/her team throughout the contract period
• And any other duties relevant to the study

Responsibilities of Oxfam

• Within its policies and practices, Oxfam’s primary responsibility is to help the consultants achieve the objective of the TOR. Specifically, Oxfam, will be responsible for:
• Preparing detailed TOR and hire consultant
• Share the existing information such as the recent IDPs needs assessment in Mozambique, PDMs reports of the most recent responses and other relevant information
• Highlighting core inputs to study and design of the tools
• Monitoring, and evaluating the study through providing feedbacks and ensure effectiveness of the study implementation
• Coordinating with partner NGOs to ensure adequate support is provided at national and district level
• Giving inputs/feedback to draft and final report
• Releasing budget as per the agreed budget disbursement schedule.
• Orient consultant on safeguarding policy
• Orient consultant on COVID-19 and monkeypox declaration and acknowledgement

Deliverables

• The following deliverables are expected under this TOR by the consultant based on close consultation with the PQMEAL and SAF Humanitarian team:
• An inception report highlighting methodology, detailed work plan, templates for assessment, assessment teams, etc as well as the budget to be reviewed by Oxfam
• Provide final version of data collection tools, methodology and analysis
• A draft report in English with rounds of feedbacks with from Oxfam should be expected
• Final assessment report should also be submitted in electronic version with clear priorities of humanitarian intervention
• Provide a copy of the raw data either soft or hard for documentation or further analysis if needed
• Presentation of the Assessment results to the Oxfam SAF team

Requisites

• Eligibility Criteria:
• The consultant/team should have experience in qualitative and quantitative research, clear understanding of Humanitarian programming/research approaches, technical expertise in using complex data design to support mixed methods analysis and ability to use survey software such as STATA and Sampling approaches
• Consultant should provide detailed budget of the assignment, separating professional fees, administrative fees, indicating payment terms and validity of the bid
• Consultant should also have expertise in gender equality in emergencies
• The consultant must have a minimum of a master’s degree in social sciences from an accredited institution in any of the field of pure or Social Sciences, Humanitarian, Governance, Advocacy with a minimum of 5 years’ proven experience of conducting similar assignments in Southern Africa Region/SADC
• Consultants have an option to either partner with other consultants across the targeted countries or Oxfam can make recommendations for partnering at the selection process if selected consultants are not operational in other countries

Work Schedule

• Oxfam expects the consultant to finish within 20 working days from the day of signing the contract. The proposed detailed workplan to undertake this assessment is based on below tentative schedule:
• Issue  - Timeframe
• An inception report highlighting operational methodology, templates for assessment, teams, detailed cost for assessment etc. plus detailed work plan. Completion of contract - 4days
• Data collection and field work - 6 days after inception report approval concurrently across countries
• Draft Needs Assessment Report - 4 days
• Review of the assessment report - 3 days
• Final Assessment Report - 3 days
• Total - 20 days

Notes

• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
• Supervision and Management: Oxfam will supervise the process, specifically the Monitoring, Evaluation and Accountability and Learning (MEAL)/ Program Quality team. The consultant is expected to work and interact with PQ/MEAL on a continuous basis
• Ethics and Safeguarding: Oxfam has a zero-tolerance policy towards inaction against sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse. Oxfam’s ethics for safeguarding will be emphasized and remain mandatory throughout the process of the undertaking of the mapping study. Engagements and support will aim to create and maintain safe, equitable, and inclusive culture where all those who work for and with Oxfam as well as those in the communities where Oxfam operates are treated with dignity and their rights and voices are heard and respected
• You can report any concern related to ethics or safeguarding online here: https://oxfam.clue-webforms.co.uk/webform/misconduct/en

How to Apply

1. Submission of Proposals

• Interested consultant (s) should submit technical and financial proposal (not more than 20 pages excluding annexes-failure to adhere to this may lead to disqualification), detailing how they will undertake the assignment. Attach up-to-date CVs of the core team as annexes. Closing date of receiving any bids is 21st of October 2022

2. Application

• Send your Documentation to vacancies@oxfam.org with the Subject line “Consultants”