Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Consultant

Background:

In response to the escalating humanitarian needs in Ukraine, the DEC launched the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal in the UK on 3 March 2022. Christian Aid are responding as part of the DEC appeal, working with partners in Ukraine and four neighbouring countries: Poland, Romania, Moldova and Hungary, and providing cross-border support from Romania and Slovakia.

Purpose:

The purpose of the scoping exercise is to localise the design process for the development of ideas, options and approaches to strengthen and accelerate localisation / local humanitarian action in DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Response. The scoping exercise will provide a basis for further DEC fund investment and will inform programmatic approaches by DEC Members.

As part of the scoping exercise, a comprehensive literature review will be conducted, followed by consultations with relevant stakeholders in-country and in the region to enable a participatory, and generative process. The consultations aim to understand the gaps and needs for localisation as well as opportunities and ideas to embed localisation into the DEC response. The scoping exercise will engage local stakeholders to create design criteria, and develop ideas to improve the localisation of the DEC funded response.

The local consultant will be working closely with, and under the guidance of, the Localisation Advisor at Christian Aid who has been commissioned by DEC to lead this scoping exercise.

Responsibilities and Activities:

• Review literature review developed by the Localisation Advisor and provide feedback, comments and/or share additional key literature as necessary.

• If aware of any, share information about on-going initiatives, learning and challenges related to strengthening local humanitarian action in Ukraine and neighbouring refugee-host countries.

• Co-develop the methodology for the scoping exercise in close coordination with the Localisation Advisor, which will most effectively allow an understanding of the gaps and needs for localisation, as well as opportunities and ideas to embed localisation into the DEC response. Ideally, this includes a human-centred / design-thinking approach with participatory ideation methods. This is likely to include interviews, consultations, and group discussions. Therefore:

  • Conduct at least 10 interviews, consultations and group discussions with local partners of DEC members (local & national), and other relevant local and national entities, in Ukraine and neighbouring refugee-host countries. There is a preference for using focus group discussions (FGDs) over interviews wherever possible, so that the process is participatory, and generative, rather than an extractive.
  • Conduct at least 3 interviews with DEC members and other INGOs in Ukraine as needed, in agreement with the Localisation Advisor.

• Co-develop and/or review presentations and a draft report for consultation in close coordination with the Localisation Advisor. These should clearly articulate the design criteria, and ideas for programme design elicited from local organisations. It should also have recommendations on the process for engaging local stakeholders in the next stage of the programme design.

• Present findings and ideas for ways forward through validation/feedback meetings with some of the stakeholders involved in the scoping exercise.

• Co-develop and/or review a summary report for publication (executive summary (1 page) + report (10 pages)) in close coordination with the Localisation Advisor.

Person specifications:

• Currently living in Ukraine (preference) or Poland, Moldova, Romania or Hungary.
• Familiarity with the international development / humanitarian sector, NGOs / UN.
• An understanding of the current humanitarian context in Ukraine.
• Solid experience of facilitating focus group discussions and interviews.
• Familiarity with design thinking and human-centred design methodologies desirable.
• Ukrainian and English language skills.
• Willingness to travel within Ukraine as deemed necessary and dependent on security.
• Willingness to travel to Poland, Moldova, Romania and Hungary as deemed necessary, and dependent on travel and security considerations.

Expected days:

This consultancy is expected to take a total of up to 20 days

Rate:

£350 per day

Timeframe:

All activities as outlined above is expected to be completed in September – November 2022.

How to apply

Please send the following to Lizz Harrison, Localisation Advisor at [email protected] by 5pm (UK time) on 14th September 2022.

• CV (no more than 2 pages)
• Cover letter (no more than 2 pages) summarising your interest in the consultancy, your relevant skills and experience, ideas for the methodology, and why you want to do this consultancy.
• Your draft budget (including daily rate, expected travel and accommodation fees, and any other expected costs (e.g. refreshments for focus group discussion participants, insurance etc.) based on your suggested methodology.