Consultancy Opportunity

Request for Proposals 17th September 2022 Programme Articulation & MEAL in the Humanitarian- Development-Peacebuilding (Triple) Nexus

1. Background

In the past few years Christian Aid Ireland, in collaboration with the global ‘Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention’ team, numerous country teams, partner organisations and academic institutions, has seen an increase in Humanitarian-Development-Peacebuilding nexus (HDP nexus) programmes, approaches and thinking. For Christian Aid, working primarily with local partner organisations and networks, the HDP nexus is a natural fit for many of our country programmes. In many of these fragile contexts, communities’ needs include both short-term emergency relief and support for long-term peace and development. The growth of HDP work is mirrored across the sector, in particular since the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.

Despite the rise in HDP nexus thinking and programming, there is not aways consensus on what work qualifies or can accurately be described as ‘working in the HDP nexus’. The nexus is sometimes seen as equivalent to flexible or adaptive programming approaches or conflated with ‘working within’ contexts affected by conflict or being conflict sensitive (rather than conscious and targeted work on building peace). At the same time some programmes are implemented using the HDP nexus approach but are not labelled as such.

This has meant it can be difficult to determine the extent to which HDP nexus programming approaches are valuable compared with traditional programming models. In Christian Aid we see the HDP Nexus can be delivered at the country programme or project level: At the project level, HDP nexus creates space to implement humanitarian, development and peacebuilding interventions all in the same locations under one umbrella project – contributing to a collective outcome. It also provides the flexibility to adjust outputs and activities to the context as it changes.

At the country programme and strategic levels, the HDP nexus approach aims to align strategies and projects so that they contribute to the same overarching goals and objectives. This includes strengthened collaboration and coordination between CA teams and partners, with each other and with the wider sector to catalyse greater collaboration and build on the complementarities of partners’ work, particularly where intervention geographies intersect or overlap. As a partnershipbased organisation, CA also seeks to support partners to identify areas of potential coordination and navigate sectoral spaces. The HDP nexus should always have a higher/overarching goal which shows the complementarity of how each component contributes to the whole.

Christian Aid Ireland Request for Proposals, 17th September 2022 In addition, traditional approaches to conceptualising and managing programmes are not well suited to HDP nexus projects. Artefacts (logical frameworks / Results Frameworks) often articulate outcomes under thematic umbrellas (e.g., ‘resilience’, ‘humanitarian response’, ‘peace and security’ social cohesion, ‘livelihoods’) and pre-determined indicators, which can require significant resources to adapt or amend. This undermines the benefit of an approach where the option to adapt both strategy and focus is built in from the outset.

Further, project outcomes often focus on key thematic areas related to the HDP nexus but rarely articulate the broader system change that is desired from the HDP approach. How MEAL systems account for this broader change remains relatively unexplored. Most artefacts focus on withinprogramme outputs, outcomes and pre-defined indicators, whereas general literature on HDP nexus MEAL encourages a more systems-aware approach; collaboration, coordination, understanding of context, and hypothesising that benefits from these structural changes will manifest independently of programme-specific timeframes.

This has two consequences: – That the models used to frame and conceptualise programmes are misaligned with the value-added of a HDP nexus approach, and thus are suboptimal tools for programme managers and implementers – The communication of value added of a HDP nexus programme to a donor fails to fully reflect the extent of change achieved by building on the mutually reinforcing complementarities of each individual area of work.

1. Our Proposal With this consultancy we seek to explore two separate, but related areas of inquiry:
2. Building on existing CA research (see below) refine a framework to help Christian Aid assess the extent to which a given project/ programme/ office or team is ‘doing’ nexus programming in practice. Subsequently based on this: i. Design a learning approach that will help Christian Aid more systematically learn whether using a HDP nexus approach is valuable. ii. Explore methods and metrics for which we can report the ‘extent’ of HDP nexus practice to donors and other stakeholders.
3. Develop recommendations on the use of programme management and donor-accountability artefacts (Logical Frameworks/ Results Frameworks, Indicators) so that they support, enhance and are coherent with a HDP nexus approach. This should engage with the challenges outlined in ‘1. Background’. Christian Aid resources that we anticipate will inform these deliverables (in addition to external, sectoral literature and experiences): – Christian Aid guidance note on using a ‘HDP/Triple Nexus’ approach – Christian Aid’s HDP Nexus Action Plan – ‘Analysing the Integration of Peacebuilding in Humanitarian and Development Programmes in Fragile Contexts’ by the Queen’s University of Belfast – Christian Aid Ireland’s research on the use of Adaptive Programming – Ongoing research on Christian Aid Burundi’s HDP nexus programme Christian Aid Ireland Request for Proposals, 17th September 2022 3 – Christian A and partner staff experiences in HDP programming
4. Deliverables: In addition to an inception report with refined questions and detailed methodology: – A working paper with evidence-based solutions/ recommendations to the following: o How can Christian Aid better, and more consistently, learn about the benefits (or otherwise) of using a HDP nexus approach (noting that some benefits/ otherwise might materialise outside the scope of a single project, programme or team? o How can Christian Aid better communicate the extent to which a programme or project us taking a HDP nexus approach? o Give the outlined constraints of donor-accountability and programme management artefacts (Results Frameworks, Logical Frameworks, indicators) in a HDP nexus programme, what approaches, alternatives and recommendations can be made so that the artefacts better serve their purpose. The solutions and recommendations should be rooted in an understanding of Christian Aid’s programme environment. Some or all of this working paper will be published to share with the wider sector. – 2 within-Christian Aid seminars to share and discuss findings – Up to 2 sectoral seminars to share and discuss findings1
5. Methodology: Christian Aid is open to refining the above questions at the commencement of the consultancy and is keen for selected consultants to propose a methodology best suited to address these questions. We anticipate that as well as within-Christian Aid resources the consultants will also engage with external practitioners and stakeholders. While Christian Aid programme staff in country offices will be available for interview and discussion, we are keen that the proposal does not require intensive engagement (i.e., in excess of one day per staff).
6. Consultant Requirements: • Demonstrated experience in HDP/ Nexus programming in varied geographical and institutional contexts • Strong background in MEAL, with ability to think critically about MEAL and programme management systems and approaches • Knowledge of the donor landscape funding HDP Nexus work • Connections with other researchers, institutions working on HDP nexus and knowledge of relevant sectoral literature and partnership • Appreciation for partnership approaches and understanding of how these manifests in programming

1 Logistics for both seminars will be led by Christian Aid Ireland. Christian Aid Ireland Request for Proposals, 17th September 2022 • Excellent communication skills. Ideally fluent in Spanish and French • Willingness to collaborate with Christian Aid and partner staff and ability to hear and engage with their experiences and ideas. 6. Proposals and selection process We hope that this piece of work can be largely completed before end 2022 (although external seminars can occur early 2023). Financial information: The available budget is €13,000. All proposal costs should fall within this including VAT and any expenses. Content of proposals: • A brief outline of the overall approach and proposed methodology, along with rationale for key design decisions • The proposal should be costed in Euro including all fees and VAT. • Proposed timeframe and consultant’s availability • Profile of the proposed consultant/s noting relevant expertise (and including key roles and responsibilities – particularly where there is more than one team member) • Two pieces of work completed by the proposed team, and the Curriculum Vitae for each team member (these will be held in strictest confidence and deleted following procurement process) Submission of proposals: Please submit proposals to Maria Collison ([email protected]) with the subject line, ‘HDP Nexus consultancy’. Deadline for submissions is 5pm (GMT) 3rd October 2022. Please send any questions or clarifications to Paul Quinn, Head of From Violence to Peace ([email protected]).

Selection Process: Applications will be assessed based on the quality of the proposal, ability to meet requirements above, availability, and overall budget. A shortlist of applicants will be interviewed in October with a view to commencing as soon as possible. The selected consultants will be asked to sign and abide by Christian Aid’s Code of Conduct and a non-disclosure agreement.