Consultancy on Risk Management for Humanitarian NGOs

Consultancy Description

Location: Home based

Contract: Consultancy

Starting date and duration: 15-20 working days over a period of 1 month, starting from 7 June, detailed workplan to be developed with ICVA.

About ICVA

Founded in 1962, ICVA (International Council of Voluntary Agencies) is a global network of over 130 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) active in 160 countries, operating at global, regional, national and local levels, whose mission is to make humanitarian action more principled and effective by working collectively and independently to influence policy and practice. ICVA promotes and facilitates effective NGO engagement in the humanitarian sector, with a focus on Forced Migration, Humanitarian Coordination, Humanitarian Financing, and cross-cutting systems-strengthening issues.

Background to Consultancy

Humanitarians inherently work in places of high fragility, conflict, or instability. These characteristics both define where humanitarian action is needed and impact the ability of humanitarian actors to accomplish their mission of reducing human suffering.

The humanitarian imperative requires humanitarian organisations to accept a culture of risk in order to operate effectively in such environments. While a hight level of risk acceptance is embeded in the culture of humanitarian work, corresponding use of risk management tools is not yet embedded in the culture of many humanitarian NGOs. It is critical for NGOs to understand how to better identify and manage risk to improve their ability to respond effectively in humanitarian crises.

To work toward this objective, ICVA started a “Risk Series” at the end of 2019 to facilitate dialogue among humanitarian stakeholders on how to improve application of risk management approaches and tools. The series has so far included a number of briefing papers and webinars focused on a range of topics: risk and organizational culture, risk appetite and tolerance, security risk management, and staff well-being, among others. The full series can be referenced here.

Consultancy Objectives

With this consultancy ICVA aims to support the future development of the the current risk series with the goals to make the knowledge accumulated accumulated so far more widely available and conduct scoping work on the most effective approach for supporting ICVA members on risk management moving forward.

The consultancy will include two objectives:

1) Content development for mobile guides on risk management

ICVA has partnered with DisasterReady to create 2 to 3 mobile guides on risk management by the end of 2021. These will each include a 3-4 modules that will include concise and topical guides accessible to field parcatitioners and others.

DisasterReady will support the technical creation of the mobile guides using their existing process and format for humanitarian mobile guides. The work of the consultant will be to support the adaptation of current materials developed as part of the ICVA risk series into content that is compatible with the DisasterReady guides. This can be done using information that already exists in the papers and webinars form the ICVA Risk Series as well as from the consultant’s own experience and from available literature. The guides are not text heavy and the objective is to include the relevant practical information on risk management to be used by humanitarian NGO country staff.

Methodology: Desk reseach, consolidation of existing risk series materials, adaptation as required

2) Scoping of the next steps for ICVA member engagement on risk management

The current ICVA risk series has been well received by ICVA membership and NGO colleagues in general, however, ICVA is now seeking to explore a second phase to the project to connect more directly with NGO staff that are engaged in risk management within their own organizations. For example, development of a Community of Practice (CoP) where risk management experts can share best practices and lessons learned and exchange on the diverse topics relating to risk.

The role of the consultant is to assess the scope and feasibility of potential options (including a CoP, and other alternatives) and propose recommendations to improve direct engagement with NGO risk management professionals, with the goal of maximumizing ICVA’s potential impact as a network supporting risk management.

Methodology: To be developed by the consultant in cooperation with the ICVA Humanitarian Finance policy team. The consultant should rely on a combination of their own expertise, inputs from ICVA members and others via key informant interviews, possible light survey work, and relevant document review.

Reporting Lines

The consultant will work in close collaboration and report to ICVA’s Head of Humanitarian Finance and Policy Officer, Humanitarian Finance.

Consultant requirements, competencies and skills:

• Previous experience working in the humanitarian sector including experience engaging with a range of stakeholders at the local-country and global levels;

• Strong understanding of risk management concepts and tools and their relation to field operations, preferred previous experience working in the field of risk management with professional certification (RIMS-CRMP, CRM, CRMA, or equivalent)

• Preferred experience in developing training materials or guides for humanitarian practitioners, either in the area of risk management, or other operational topics;

• Fluent in English with proven writing and editing skills, including the ability to develop materials ready for publication with limited external editing;

• Proven ability to work autonomously and meet agreed deadlines with limited direct oversight.

Note: Throughout the work, the consultant must be registered in accordance with legal requirements in their country of residence and must be able to submit documentation that proves that she/ he is meeting all legal obligations for the consultancy, including full compliance with ICVA regulations including its safeguarding policy.