Consultancy Assignment on Anticipatory Action

Overview of Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian INGO with over 80 years of experience in working to advance children’s rights around the world focussing specifically on promoting girls’ rights and gender equality. Plan International UK (PIUK) is one of 20 national organisations which support programmes in over 50 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas

The PIUK Disaster Risk Management Unit (DRMU) is a leader in the development of Plan International’s global humanitarian work and is committed to becoming a centre of excellence in key technical areas. In line with the new PIUK strategy, the DRMU team aims to support country offices dealing with rapid onset and protracted crisis. PIUK uses its expertise to specifically address the needs of girls and boys, women and men and their communities affected by disasters and crisis with a particular focus on Disaster Risk Reduction, Resilience, Child Protection, Cash and Voucher Assistance and Education. We also mainstream Gender in our emergency programming by aiming to adapt our programmes to the differentiated needs, and participation of girls, women, men, and boys.

Background

Thanks to the increasing availability of risk analysis and forecasts Anticipatory Action (AA) has, in recent years, been gaining momentum to provide a faster, earlier and more dignified response without having to wait for the hazards to hit the communities. AA to a predictable hazard can help communities and responders be better prepared and act collaboratively to reduce human suffering, losses and damages. Donors and organisations are increasingly promoting AA given the growing availability of high-quality risk and forecasting information.

PIUK, through the initiatives led by DRMU, has been building innovative models and partnerships to promote AA in our country offices.

To date there is no comprehensive analysis of AA across Plan International.

Priorities for DRMU on AA

• Quality programmes – increase the effectiveness and efficiency of programmes
• Impactful programmes – reduce the number of casualties, injuries, loss of livelihoods, impacts from disasters
• Programme growth – increase the reach and scale of our work
• Innovative models and partnerships development

Purpose of the Consultancy

The consultancy will:

• collate learning and best practice from the work Plan International has already done in the space
• identify and assess main external AA initiatives and stakeholders with recommendations on priority initiatives and forum for Plan International to engage with
• analyse the donor funding landscape for AA initiatives
• map the most promising approaches and mechanisms, with a clear objective to identify a clear role for Plan International to play in this space (our USP), given Plan International’s child- and gender-focused lenses, and grow our programmes

Deliverables

The following are the expected deliverables for this assignment:

1. AA in Plan International Report covering the mapping and analysis of the existing initiatives and approaches across Plan international
2. AA State of Play Report covering the mapping of the most relevant external or cross-sectoral initiatives and stakeholders involved, by risk, including recommendations on best practices
3. Donor mapping indicating funding landscape and possible opportunities to support AA programming
4. Advocacy Briefs:
   • Internal audience: Mapping out evidence-based reasons why Plan International should develop more of its presence in the preparedness/AA space in order to support Plan international decision makers
   • External audience: Possible AA advocacy paths PIUK could follow in order to raise profiles of those vulnerable in the preparedness space
5. Capacity Statement for PIUK on AA
6. Workshop – share the findings and facilitate ways forward for PIUK to identify promising approaches (including e.g., ToC, logframe of activities)
7. Debrief – dissemination of findings to a larger group of stakeholders across Plan International

Timeframe

The timeframe for the work outlined under this consultancy is April-June 2021.

The consultancy is expected to take 20-25 working days to be completed within the 3 months mentioned above.

Duty Station

Home-based

Profile of Consultant:

Essential

· fluency or working proficiency in English, French desirable;

· university degree or equivalent work experience in a field relevant to humanitarian preparedness and response;

· extensive knowledge and demonstrable experience in anticipatory action (AA), early warning for early action (EW/EA), forecast-based action (FbA) initiatives, providing technical inputs, advice and recommendations;

· demonstrable experience in implementing research methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods;

· significant experience in planning, design and implementation of anticipatory action initiatives;

· significant experience in evaluations, and/or reviews for multi-sector, multi-stakeholder initiatives and/or partnerships

· demonstrable experience in producing case studies for evidence and/or advocacy purposes;

· extensive experience working with project stakeholders including officials from government agencies, research organisations, weather, climate and risk modelling sector;

· experience of working with a variety of organisations to collaboratively design or deliver projects;

· strong analytical skills including experience of collecting and analysing primary and secondary data;

· excellent communication skills both written and spoken, including ability to write succinctly and clearly;

· excellent skills in writing donor reports;

· strong influencing skills and experience in advocacy, external representation and communication;

· good working knowledge of key humanitarian donors including Start Network, FCDO, ECHO, UN and innovative funding mechanisms for AA;

· good working knowledge of main AA actors, networks and partnerships including Start Network, Anticipation Hub, REAP (Risk-informed early action partnership), IFRC, RCRC, German Red Cross

· politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy;

· computer proficiency particularly with MS Office packages.

Desirable

· experience in a range of humanitarian contexts, particularly linked to natural hazards-induced disasters;

· experience of and commitment to working through systems of community participation and accountability, especially safeguarding;

· significant experience in gender sensitive and transformative programming, preferably with young people;

· experience in policy design;

· understanding of Cash and Voucher Assistance, Social Safety Nets, social protection systems;

· experience in vulnerability analysis and tackling inequality and exclusion.

How to apply:

Plan International UK welcomes a response to these Terms of Reference with:

• A CV (maximum two pages) including examples of relevant previous work
• A cover letter demonstrating how you meet the required qualifications and competencies
• A short, written statement (maximum one page) outlining how you would approach the task, and the potential challenges that you might expect to encounter
• Contact details for two referees (one from your latest client/employer)
• Anticipated total fee (all inclusive) to deliver the tasks outlined, in GBP
• Availability during the requested time period.

Responses should be sent via email to drmuadmin@plan-uk.org as soon as possible with Anticipatory Action consultancy as the email title line. Candidates are encouraged to apply early as we will be reviewing the applications upon receipt and may close the post early. If you have any questions about the consultancy, please contact: drmuadmin@plan-uk.org.