Consultant Financial Development review

NorCross is looking for a team of two consultants of which one will serve as a team leader. The consultants must be fluent in English. Fluency in Spanish and French would be an advantage. The consultants should have expertise in finance management and organizational development. The consultants should have proven review/evaluation experience in relevant fields, documented reporting skills and an understanding of the ICRC and the Red Cross Movement is desirable.

The main purpose of the review is to assess to what extent the objectives of the NorCross FD support in the East- Africa region and Guatemala have been achieved, and to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the activities, in reaching those objectives. This includes how the FD support has contributed towards the National Societies’s ability to attain their own strategic and operational goals and how the FD has been provided as part of the National Society Development support. Based on this it should give recommendations on how NorCross should take the FD support forward in the future.

The duration of the review is 60 days, including briefings, desktop review, field work, report writing, presentation, and follow-up. The review will be conducted during the period Oct 2015 – Feb 2016. Deadline for delivering draftinterim review is Dec 15th2015 and for final report is 1st March 2016.

The review will consist of desk studies of relevant program documents, agreements and strategy documents as well as field research. The review team will carry out interviews and focus groups with relevant staff at NorCross, Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies and other relevant stakeholders. The consultant is responsible for developing a methodological framework for the review, preferably with mixed methods.

The review will take place with Red Cross National Societies in four countries in East-Africa and one National Society in Central America with some interviews as well at NorCross Oslo headquarters.

The main goal of the Norwegian Red Cross Finance Development (FD) programme is to assist identified Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies to build their capacity to become strong, self-sustained and accountable humanitarian actors. This is based on the realisation that Finance Management is often linked to National Societies performance, which can be addressed by targeting strategic and operational core areas of the National Societies. In the past decade NorCross has provided technical, financial and human resource support to various National Societies’ programmes aiming at strengthening National Society capacity in Finance Management and Good Governance. It is believed that working towards professional standards and transparent Financial Management systems, as well as introducing various supporting tools, could result in more targeted and efficient humanitarian assistance, ensuring growth and sustainability to cover core resources and services, enhance self-reliance and establish confidence with partners such as governments, donors and the public.

Over the years, the NorCross FD support has been provided in various forms; through global FD advisors, regional advisors, local external consultants or full-time delegates.

An FD review was conducted in 2011. In addition there has been various internal assessment, However, there is now a need and interest for another review in order to to assess the progress, the reasons for progress (or lack thereof), to give recommendations as well as generating lessons learned from the different experiences and set ups to provide direction for the future. More specifically, NorCross would like to assess the FD support to Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia and review the content and set-up of the FD support in those countries as well as the content and set up of the FD support in another National Society and context (Guatemala).

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates should submit their application material by 16thof October.

The Expression of Interest should include:

1. Technical proposal (when appropriate) not exceeding five pages expressing an understanding and interpretation of the TOR, the proposed methodology, and a time and activity schedule.
2. Financial proposal itemizing estimated costs for services rendered (daily consultancy fees), accommodation and living costs, transport costs, stationery costs, and any other related supplies or services required for the review.
3. Curricula Vitae (CV) for all members of the team applying.
4. Letter clearly summarizing your experience as it pertains to this assignment, your daily rate, and three professional references.
5. A brief description of your firm or institution (for applicants other than individual contractors).
6. At least one example of an review report most similar to that described in this TOR.

Application material is non-returnable, and we thank you in advance for understanding that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the next step in the application process.

For more information and Terms of Reference, please contact:

Trine Moa and Tone Faugli

Norwegian Red Cross

International Department

E-mail: trine.moa@redcross.no and tone.faugli@redcross.no