Consultancy for Development of
Operational Manuals for Local
NGOs

Terms of Reference (ToRs)

Consultancy for Development of Operational Manuals for Local NGOs

October 2019

1.       Background

Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Concern has been working in Pakistan since 2001, implementing emergency response, resilience and long-term development programs across the country.

Concern is implementing the RAPID program in Pakistan with the support of the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA). The objective of RAPID is to assist the most vulnerable populations in the aftermath of any natural or human-induced disaster across the country. In close coordination with the relevant clusters, I/NGOs, target communities, Disaster Management Authorities (DMAs) and working alongside existing humanitarian mechanism, RAPID provides timely, flexible, effective and needs-based sub-grants to national and international NGOs through a systematic, short-term small grants mechanism. The local NGOs and Disaster Management Authorities (DMAs) are most often the first responders to a disaster. However, they struggle to cope with the regular, multiple disasters due to both institutional, as well as staff, capacity constraints. Therefore, in addition to relief and recovery response through sub-grants, the second component of the RAPID program provides capacity building support to local NGOs (selected through a competitive process) and DMAs. The basic objective is to invest in local capacity as the country has a considerable national NGO base and established disaster management structure with strong potential to contribute towards timely and effective humanitarian preparedness and response.

Amongst many objectives within the capacity development framework, an important goal is to contribute towards the improvement and development of internal systems of the local NGOs. The capacity building activities for local NGOs focus on institutional support, such as development and improvement of organizational operational manuals, procedures and human resource skills development through trainings, exposure visits and practical simulations to enhance organizational capacity in conducting humanitarian needs assessment, proposal development and smooth implementation of humanitarian program with improved accountability and internal controls. For this purpose, Concern requires the services of a consultancy firm/institute to support in development of operational manuals for the NGOs selected under RAPID’s capacity building component. Concern will shortlist/pre-qualify a pool of consultants based on their technical capacity for a period of 2-3 years, who will be engaged on a need-cum basis.

2.       Purpose

The purpose of hiring the services of the consultancy firm is to develop operational manuals/procedures for Financial Management, Human Resource (HR), Logistic, Security Management Plan (SMP) and other related SoPs compatible to the needs of small and medium-sized local NGOs with the aim for improved operational efficiency and effectiveness contributing towards appropriate internal controls, transparency and accountability to program participants, donor and stakeholders.  

3.       Objectives and Specific Tasks to be Undertaken by the Consultant(s)

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide need-based support in Concern RAPID capacity building initiatives for local NGOs, specifically related to Human Resource, Financial Management, Logistic (Procurement/Transport) and basic Security Management policies with the key objective of increased operational efficiency and for improved humanitarian response. Although the NGOs selected for the capacity development activities differ in size and capacity, but due to limited scope and funding constraints, Concern does not aim to produce separate or customised manuals for each NGO. The objective is to provide basic guidelines/standards to the selected NGOs, which they can further adapt and tailor according to their own organizational structure, operational context, vision and mission.

The selected consultant(s) will not have to start from the scratch but to consolidate the available tools and information as capacity development is central to all of Concern’s programmes and the guidelines, tools and procedures have already been developed for providing on-the-job support to partners. Therefore, the consultant(s) is required to consolidate and streamline the provided material, as well as consider credible external resources for the development of required manuals. 

Based on the need/gap assessment of local NGOs conducted by Concern, the potential tasks/assignments to be performed by the selected consultant(s) are listed below. This is not a conclusive list and the requirements and needs for the consultancy may vary incumbent upon the findings and recommendations of the NGOs’ capacity needs/gaps assessments. As the services will be required on need-basis; therefore depending upon the nature of assignment, Concern will share specific ToRs for the relevant assignment pertaining to Human Resource, Financial Management, Logistic and Security Management or other related tasks with the pre-qualified consultant(s to submit their financial proposals.

1. Human Resource (HR) Manual: The overall objective is to develop a context-specific, compatible Human Resource Management (HRM) manual in line with international best practices, local laws and consolidate HR policies, procedures and practices in a single document for ease of reference, as well as include user-friendly HR related forms, templates and procedures, to meet the HRM needs of local NGOs. The purpose is to enhance the HR system of the selected NGOs in the domain of recruitment, selection and management of staff with systematic policies and procedures in place for an overall effective HR recruitment regime including staffing level, HR file, setting a grading structure, hiring of staff with clear procedures to ensure that the necessary human resources and support systems are in place for rapid and effective recruitment and mobilization during emergency response. The HR policies provide in-depth guidance on non-discriminatory and an equitable hiring process that promote gender equality and hiring of qualified staff with requisite knowledge, skills and credentials. In addition, provide templates/format that are required for overall recruitment cycle and staff management encompassing staff requisitions, JDs, contracts, staff management, performance review and overall HR file.
2. Financial Management Manual: The overall objective is to develop a Financial Management manual to streamline the financial management function of the selected NGOs, compatible to the financial portfolio of both small and medium-sized NGOs. Based on the identified gaps, the selected consultant(s) will analyze the accounting and financial management requirements of the local NGOs, develop and recommend an appropriate financial manual to ensure proper processing, accounting, management and reporting of project funds and transactions with improved internal controls to ensure accountability to program participants, stakeholders and donors. At a minimum, the Financial Management Manual must include consistent and uniform accounting policies, accounting of transactions with adequate controls, guidance on authority of delegation and segregation of duties, payment, cash and bank management, documentation requirements for payment and expenses, asset management, payroll process, security for cash management etc. In addition, provide user-friendly templates/formats relevant to financial management activities.
3. Logistic Manual:The overall objective is to provide a consistent, fair and transparent interpretation of logistic and procurement policies with improved internal controls and accountability, compatible to local laws and procurement and logistic-related needs of small and medium-sized local NGOs. At a minimum, the logistic manual must include policies and procedures for overall procurement cycle, procurement thresholds, acquisition of goods/services, storage or warehouse management, transport management, basic assets  management, record keeping with due consideration to humanitarian imperative in case of emergency situation.  In addition, provide logistic related template for overall procurement cycle and as per the logistic needs of local NGOs.
4. Security Management Plan (SMP): The overall objective is to develop a Security Management Plan (SMP), which will serve as a guiding document for the local NGOs and will be updated on a regular basis to describe the security management practices in place to ensure that all organization staff can perform program activities in a manner that minimizes risks to themselves and their colleagues, along with safeguarding the organization’s assets in a way that does not further expose staff to risk. Concern does not aim to produce the SMP for each organization, rather provide a guiding document with basic contents and a standard SMP for future use and up-gradation to be done by the NGOs participating in the capacity building activities. Therefore, the consultant(s) will review existing template available within Concern previously developed for its partners, as well as Concern’s own SMP and develop the contents with guiding notes for each section of the proposed SMP. At a minimum, the proposed contents must cover guidelines and templates related to security risk assessment, SoPs for critical situation/incident management, formation and role of Security Focal Groups (SFGs), Security Focal Persons (SFPs) and monitoring staff movement etc.

4.       Outputs

Following are the intended outcomes, however these may vary depending upon the needs/specific assignment for which the consultant is engaged by Concern:  

• Develop a basic understanding on the concept, scope of work and required deliverables. This can be achieved by conducting desk review of existing literature (policies/SoPs/guidelines available within Concern and its local NGO partners), perusal of Capacity Needs/Gap Assessment of NGOs conducted by Concern and meeting/discussion with relevant Concern staff.
• Based on the literature review/discussion, develop an outline of all the manuals or relevant selected manual(s) and share with Concern for review. After incorporating the received feedback (if any), share the final approved version of the outline, specifying the contents and brief note/guidelines for each section within the manual.
• Based on the approved outline, develop the manual/SOPs related to HR, Finance, Logistic and Security Management depending upon the needs and engagement with selected consultant(s). Concern will review the initial draft and share feedback (if any) after which the Consultant will share the final version.
• Develop a standard template/forms/tools for each function i.e. HR, Finance, Logistic, Security Management, separately attached to each manual as an appendix in easy to use and editable form. Also provide brief guidelines on how and when to fill each section of the standard templates. Concern will then review the draft, Consultant will incorporate feedback and share the final version of all the templates.

5.       Line of Communication and Reporting

The consultant will communicate and report to:

1. Director RAPID: On progress and issues arising (overall management).
2. Grants Coordinator: Responsible for contractual arrangements and coordination, review and input on logistic and SMP manuals.
3. Finance Manager: Regular coordination, review and input on Financial Management Manual.
4. HR Coordinator: Regular coordination, review and input on HR manual.
5. Program Coordinator-Capacity Building: Routine coordination on local NGOs’ capacity building needs and the findings of assessment conducted by Concern.

6.       Consultant Essential and Desirable Expertise/Experience

Essential

Consultancy Firm/Institute

• Institutional operational experience of consultancy services of at least ten (10) years;
• Previous proven work experience with INGOs/UN relevant to similar assignment;
• Human resource capacity of consultancy firm with available/potential staff for the proposed assignments. Staff with required credential, knowledge and skills separately for each required assignments (Financial Management, HR, Logistic and Security Management). The proposed human resource must also include a staff with strong communication/reporting, editing/proof-reading skills;

Note: Concern reserves the right to verify the proposed staff credentials, experience and their availability to your organization.

Staff/Human Resource for the proposed Assignment

• The proposed staff must have requisite academic qualifications, preferably postgraduate in related field. The staff proposed for finance related manuals/SoPs must have academic qualification related to financial subjects, similarly the proposed staff for HR related SOPs/Manuals must have HR related academic qualification, while the staff proposed for logistic related manuals/SoPs must have academic qualification in related subjects.
• Previous work experience of proposed staff in similar assignments with I/NGOs and/or UN will be given preference.

Desirable

• The proposed staff with practical experience related to the above-mention potential assignments i.e. the staff proposed for logistic manual possesses previous work experience with INGOs/UN in supply chain management with roles and responsibility related to development, implementation and monitoring of organizational policies/internal controls – similarly for other proposed assignments such as HR, Financial Management and SMP;
• Institutional and staff experience of working in humanitarian sector, understanding of humanitarian standards and principles, specifically working experience in emergency context;
• The proposed staff is gender balanced;
• Understanding of local labour laws, safeguarding requirements (organizational code of conducts), procurement rules and internationally accepted best practices and standards;
• Strong analytical skills, including legal analysis.

Please find template in attached file.