Consultancy on Formative Review of the Sudan Emergency Response 2023-24

1. Who is the Danish Refugee Council?
Founded in 1956, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading international NGO and one of the few with a specific expertise in forced displacement. Active in 40 countries with 9,000 employees and supported by 7,500 volunteers, DRC protects, advocates, and builds sustainable futures for refugees and other displacement affected people and communities. DRC works during displacement at all stages: In the acute crisis, in displacement, when settling and integrating in a new place, or upon return. DRC provides protection and life-saving humanitarian assistance; supports displaced persons in becoming self-reliant and included into hosting societies; and works with civil society and responsible authorities to promote protection of rights and peaceful coexistence.

2. Purpose of the consultancy
The Danish Refugee Council from its East Africa and Great Lakes regional office in Nairobi, Kenya seeks proposals from consultants to carry out a formative review DRC’s emergency response across programmes following the outbreak of hostilities in Sudan.

3. Background
DRC has maintained a presence in Sudan since 2004, offering a diverse range of programs spanning protection, shelter, disaster risk reduction, camp coordination and management, humanitarian mine action, as well as food security and livelihoods initiatives. Our projects have been implemented across various regions, including Central Darfur, South Darfur, South Kordofan, Gedaref, and Khartoum states. Since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan in mid-April 2023, DRC swiftly adapted its activities to address the escalating emergency needs of the growing internally displaced population. Through direct service delivery, collaboration with local partners, and engagement with community-based networks, we have remained operational in Central Darfur, Gedaref, South Kordofan, and Khartoum states. Our emergency relief efforts encompass the distribution of essential items, WASH activities, provision of protection services, and coordination. We distribute multi-purpose cash assistance, non-food items (NFIs) such as cooking, washing, and bedding materials, dignity kits, and emergency shelter materials. In areas with inadequate sanitation infrastructure, we undertake initiatives such as constructing latrines, supporting waste collection and transportation, water chlorination, waste management, and hygiene education. In some regions, like certain localities in Central Darfur, DRC serves as a focal point for incoming IDPs. Apart from providing immediate assistance, including cash aid, NFIs, and shelter kits, we also guide IDPs to available services and refer them to other service providers when necessary.

To ensure adaptability to the dynamic context, DRC has strengthened collaborations with community-based networks and local leaders. This includes support for rehabilitating essential infrastructure, such as water purification facilities, and facilitating the evacuation of Sudanese nationals and refugees from conflict-affected areas.

4. Objective of the consultancy
The purpose of the review is to provide the organisation with impartial evidence of DRC’s emergency response performance in Sudan following the outbreak of conflict in April 2023. It is intended to be formative while ensuring that it sums up in sufficient detail the results of DRC’s response and provide a forward-looking perspective.
Within this overall purpose, the primary objectives of the review are:
a) To assess the overall performance of DRC’s emergency programme response
b) To assess the contributions of internal procedures, capacities and structures from country office, regional office, and HQ towards the emergency response performance, comparing and contrasting with recent evidence on DRC’s ability to respond to emergencies. This should include both programme and support functions.
c) To identify learnings from the response to inform and shape the near future of the operation in Sudan.
The main use of the review will be at senior management level, both globally and regionally. Secondary use will be organization-wide learning.

5. Scope of work and Methodology
5.1. Scope of the review
The scope of the review is the period from the outbreak of hostilities in Sudan in April 2023 to date.
Key areas of inquiry include not only relevance, effectiveness, and coherence of the emergency response itself but also the existence and use of systems, capacities and structures at country, regional and global levels that supported the responses and DRC’s strategic positioning in the wider humanitarian landscape.

5.2. Methodology
The review is to be evaluative yet is not required to follow a strict evaluative framework to allow an overall formative character of the review. It is expected to rely mostly on a qualitative approach but may deploy limited quantitative methods as deemed necessary by the consultant. Primary quantitative sources, such as questionnaires to staff, may also be considered, with due consideration to limited access to relevant field staff, and turnover since the start of the response. Qualitative methods include semi-structured key informant interviews with different staff groups, implementing and coordinating partners (NNGOs and INGOS), and key donors (ECHO, BHA, OCHA), HAC as well as focus group discussions with affected populations where feasible.
The final review design should take into consideration some key constraints; turnover among staff and stakeholders, limited connectivity in field areas, language complexities, and the unpredictability of the context which should influence design considerations.
DRC’s core principles around protection of rights, accountability to affected populations, and inclusion are to be applied throughout the review process. There may be context-specific human rights sensitivities that impact design or data collection in some areas, however, due attention to representation, power imbalances and confidentiality is expected across the review in its entirety.

5.3. Guiding Questions
The following are indicative questions that will be elaborated on during the inception phase of the review to produce the final list of key questions and sub-questions that will guide it.
DRC emergency response performance
Relevance
To what extent was DRC’s emergency response relevant to the needs of the affected populations and proved able to adapt to changing contexts and needs? Were scale and ambition proportionate to needs?
Appropriateness
How appropriate were DRC’s activities and delivery modalities for the operational situation? How did this vary across different regions of the country?
Effectiveness
To what extent was DRC’s emergency response effective? What were the factors that enabled or hindered expected results to be achieved?
Efficiency (Timeliness)
To what extent was DRC’s emergency response timely? Did DRC’s systems, protocols and mechanisms provide sufficient momentum for the situation at hand? What were the factors that enabled or hindered timeliness and momentum?
Coherence (external)
To what extent was DRC’s emergency response coherent and added value to interventions of other actors in the context?

Internal capacities, systems, and structures
Relevance
To what extent were DRC’s internal capacities, systems, and structures, including the activation and categorisation processes, relevant for the crisis response?
Appropriateness
How appropriate was DRC’s level of readiness for such a large-scale emergency, at the level of country, region, and globally?
Efficiency
To what extent were DRC’s internal capacities, systems, and structures, effective in providing the resources needed (management, response, support service) in support of the emergency response? Were they applied to a sufficient degree and with the required flexibility? Was DRC’s risk culture supportive or inhibiting of the response?
Coherence (internal)
To what extent was DRC able to leverage its internal capacities, systems, and structures towards enabling a strong emergency response and strengthen DRC strategic positioning in the country?

6. Deliverables
6.1. Review phases and main deliverables.
The review will follow a phased approach so that the scope and methodologies are fully developed and well understood before the main data collection starts. The review consists of three phases:
Phase 1: Scoping/Inception phase with very few scoping interviews and development of final work plan, methodology and tools
Phase 2: Data collection
Phase 3: Reporting

6.2. Deliverables and outputs in detail
Deliverable 1: Inception Note
Following the completion of the inception phase, the inception Note will be produced including:
– Updated analytical framework.
– Revised work plan
– Tools for the review, including interview guides, outlines of report, formats for consultations.
Deliverable 2: Final Review report
The Final report will include:
– Summative review report, not more than 12 pages excluding annexes covering:
o Background, purpose, and objectives of the review
o Review findings substantiated by data and evidence and analysis.
o A prioritized set of actionable recommendations, including forward-looking recommendations that are clearly linked to the conclusions.
o Annexes for supporting documentation.

6.3. Expected timeline

Phase / Tasks / Estimated Commitment
Inception – Desk review / Scoping Interviews/ Inception Note – 8 days

Review / Data Collection – Data collection – 20 days
Reporting – Draft and final report – 7 days

7. Duration, timeline, and payment
The total expected duration to complete the assignment should not exceed 35 working days. The consultant shall be prepared to complete the assignment no later than 15 July 2024. Payments will be scheduled against key deliverables.

8. Eligibility, qualification, and experience required.
Services for this review will be sought from an individual or a company, providing an adequately yet reasonably qualified consultant with the following minimum profile:
Essential:
– Bachelor’s degree in relevant field (Humanitarian Aid and Development, Disaster Management, relevant technical sectors, or other related fields)
– At least 10 years’ work experience in the Humanitarian Aid
– At least 5 years’ demonstrated experience in similar reviews in the humanitarian sphere (published reports/shareable reports)
– Demonstrated advanced level of writing concise and engaging case studies and reports
– Fluent in English; Fluency in Arabic is an advantage
– Specific regional work experience in North-Central Africa
Desirable:
– Humanitarian or Development work experience in Sudan
– Master’s degree in relevant field (Humanitarian Aid and Development, Disaster Management, technical sectors or other related fields)
– Able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the Danish Refugee Council

9. Technical supervision
The review will be overseen by a senior regional coordinator. A reference group will be established for the review of the inception note and the draft report.

10. Location and support, Travel
While part of the work can be done remotely, it is anticipated that travel to Nairobi, Kenya and other countries in the region (visas permitting). Travel will be arranged and covered directly by DRC.

11. Submission process
Interested parties will be required to submit a short technical offer of not more than 5 pages that
– demonstrates understanding of the terms of reference
– suggests an overall methodological approach with time estimates
– demonstrates how the specific skills of the consultant will be applied to the assignment
– Includes the curriculum vitae of the consultant
– Copies of, or links to, three samples of relevant work
The technical offer is to be accompanied by a financial offer that stipulates a lumpsum broken down into a daily fee. The daily fee is to include all institutional overheads and management costs.

12. Evaluation of bids
For the award of the contract, DRC has established evaluation criteria which govern the selection of offers received. The evaluation is made on a technical and financial basis. The percentage assigned to each component is determined in advance as follows:

The technical offer will be evaluated in two dimensions, and points will be allocated in the scale from 1 – 10 for each:
a) Qualification of the consultant (60%)
b) Quality of the technical offer, in particular the proposed methodology (40%)
All bidders must obtain a weighted average score of at least 5 or the total technical scoring, in order to proceed to the financial evaluation. The total offer will then be calculated as costed score, i.e., total cost divided by average score.

Please find complete bidding documents in the following link: RFP-RO01-002861 – Consultancy on Formative Review of the Sudan Emergency Response 2023-24