CONSULTANCY - TERMS OF REFERENCE
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5.5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with more than 30,000 staff. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.**
Consultant (local) - Assessment of Community Based Organizations (CBOs)- Gender
Syria Field
BACKGROUND
The Social Services Programme was formally established with the aim of enhancing social participation and inclusion of Palestine refugees, achieving gender equality, promoting civic engagement, and addressing multidimensional poverty by building refugees' human, social and capital assets. Women Programme Centers (WPCs) based on volunteer work were established to cater for the needs of women, children, youth, and older persons, particularly in the camp environment. These centres were seen as an important supplementary service centres between UNRWA and the refugee community, managed by community members themselves.
In the 1990s, UNRWA began to take on the role of a facilitator, rather than a service provider through these community-based organisations (CBOs), encouraging Palestine refugees to become more actively involved in identifying their priorities and organizing needed activities. CBOs gradually moved towards operating with their own budgets and bank accounts as autonomous, not-for-profit entities, whose incomes and revenues serve their own needs exclusively. CBOs are expected to become operationally sustainable, covering their running costs through self-generated income and/or donations. CBOs today provide services including skills training, rehabilitation services, and recreational activities.
In 2014, UNRWA RSSD at HQ hired a consultant to assist the Relief and Social Services Programme (RSSP) social services teams to develop a strategy and a work plan for the regularisation of their relationship with partner CBOs in Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank. However, no assessment was conducted in Syria at that time due to the crisis in Syria.
According to the findings of the consultancy, the institution-based approach of the CBOs encouraged by UNRWA during the last two decades did not result in community and family engagement to address social exclusion. On the contrary, the nature of this long-term relationship has built a culture of entitlement and dependency among many CBOs. Most of them enjoying the use of UNRWA installations, equipment, and ongoing technical support by Social Services teams. Moreover, the significant resources and time that has been devoted by UNRWA to build the managerial, administrative, and technical capacity of these CBOs did not achieve the desired outcome for the refugee community and the quality of the services provided to poor and vulnerable refugees.
CBOs Current Status in Syria:
The CBOs in Syria are operated by UNRWA itself due to the specific local circumstances. In 2012 and during the crisis, the Agency lost 3 CBOs out of 15, these CBOs were destroyed in Yamrouk, Dera’a and Ein el Tal camp. Currently there are 12 CBOs in Syria, 3 in central, 1 in North, 1 in Dera’a and 7 in Damascus, all of them are in the camps. Two of the CBOs are in rented premises. The rest are in UNRWA premises.
Today, the CBOs provide services to almost 42,000 refugees. The work of the CBOs expanded to provide different services and activities to hundreds of women, children, youth, and older persons. The CBOs run vocational training and livelihood initiatives, referral services, provision of assistive devices, rehabilitation services to children with disabilities, awareness raising and physiotherapy services in addition to kindergartens and nurseries. Moreover, they provide social activities for adolescents and older people as well as vocational training and legal services for women.
UNRWA seeks the services of a Gender Consultant to undertake an assessment of the current capacity of the CBOs in Syria. The assessment will focus on improving the CBO’s technical capacity to provide quality services to women, children, youth and older persons including the compatibility of these services with the related national standards. In addition, the assessment will also include the CBOs financial capacity to sustain the services provided to children and women and their capacity to raise funds as well as their administrative and managerial capacity to run the different programs and services, including their readiness to explore some partnerships with other services providers in the community. **
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the overall supervision of the Director of Relief and social services department, the consultant will work with the Chief of Social Services HQ Amman and the Chief of Relief and Social Services Programme in Syria to coordinate the overall implementation of the assessment.
Specific tasks related to this consultancy are;
1) Conduct desk review where the consultant will be shared with all background and reference documents regarding UNRWA’s engagement with CBOs.
2) Conduct meetings and focus group discussions with RSS management and CBOs’ local administrative committees and volunteers using field visits, meetings and focus-group discussions.
3) Visit, 5 CBOs located in different areas (Central area and Damascus) and carry out the capacity assessment of CBOs.
4) Review the capacities of CBOs in Syria with respect to the technical programmatic interventions, administration, and financial management of CBOs, including available capacities in terms of human resources, as well as their past and potential role within the community. Deliverable: Comprehensive assessment report.
5) Carry out workshops with CBOs and community members to identify possible priorities for intervention and support in the community considering constrained budgets. Deliverable: Project overview list.
6) Identify an adequate financial budget for CBO programme implementation commensurate with the general context. Deliverable: Financial implementation plan
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MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Professional Knowledge and Experience
● Advanced university degree in social sciences, gender, development studies, psychology, economics, or any other relevant field.
● At least 5 years of relevant experience in research and/or evaluation in humanitarian contexts in the field of gender.
Competencies
● Ability to collect, validate and analyze qualitative data;
● Advance analytical skills and ability to conduct independent research;
● Ability to design, manage and implement qualitative data;
● Excellent team leadership skills;
● Proven writing and analytical skills;
● Excellent command of spoken and written English.
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
● This consultancy is open to local candidates based in Syria.
● The expected start date is 1st of August 2021; end date is 30st Sept. 2021;
● The Consultant work under the overall supervision and guidance of the Director of Relief and Social Services and in close collaboration with the Syria field team of the relief and social services programme. **
APPLICATION PROCESS
Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form clearly demonstrating the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements. The cover letter should: i) clearly demonstrate the knowledge and experiences relevant to the planned assessment, ii) include information on availability over the evaluation period, and iii) an expected daily rate for consultancy services. Additionally, relevant samples of work should be submitted.
Please submit this as one package to consultancy@unrwa.org indicating the title of this consultancy, “**Consultant (local) - Assessment of Community Based Organizations (CBOs)- Gender-Syria field”.** The deadline for submission of applications is 24 August 2021. **
UNRWA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from both women and men. UNRWA encourages applications from qualified women. Only those applicants shortlisted for interview will be contacted. UNRWA is a non-smoking environment.
11 August 2021
How to apply:
APPLICATION PROCESS
Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form clearly demonstrating the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements. The cover letter should: i) clearly demonstrate the knowledge and experiences relevant to the planned assessment, ii) include information on availability over the evaluation period, and iii) an expected daily rate for consultancy services. Additionally, relevant samples of work should be submitted.
Please submit this as one package to consultancy@unrwa.org indicating the title of this consultancy, “**Consultant (local) - Assessment of Community Based Organizations (CBOs)- Gender-Syria field”.** The deadline for submission of applications is 24 August 2021. **