Consultants/firms to undertake Baseline Survey and Community and School Disaster Readiness Assessments

IFRC/ARC Nepal is looking for consultancy services to undertake Baseline Surveys and Community and School Disaster Readiness Assessments 

Interested applicant should submit their expression of interest along with the documents mentioned in ToR to Ms. Aliza Baidya at aliza.baidya@ifrc.org  by 08 October 2023

IFRC/American Red Cross 

Terms of Reference (TOR)

For engaging consultants/firms to undertake

Baseline Survey and Community and School Disaster Readiness Assessments 

SAFER Nepal Project

September 2023

I. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES 

1.1. Background and Goals of the Project/Program

The SAFER Nepal Project (2023-2025) is being implemented in Achham and Bajura districts of Sudurpashchim Province in Nepal, which is designed to equip communities and institutions (including schools, local government bodies, and sub-national entities of Nepal Red Cross Society-NRCS) with the necessary skills and capacities on DRRM. The project aimed to enhance their readiness to reduce disaster risks and events. The SAFER Nepal project is expected to further build upon lessons and preparedness efforts initiated by the Paschim Disaster Preparedness Project and strengthen disaster management capabilities in the targeted region.

Specifically, the projects aim to ensure:

• Individuals and communities build their knowledge of disasters and vulnerabilities, are self-organized, and take individual and collective actions to establish a culture of preparedness and reinforce their networks and connectedness.
• NRCS’s structures at various levels have mechanisms in place to provide efficient, effective, and timely assistance to affected and at-risk populations.

The overarching objective of the project is to address various hazards/disasters identified in communities by strengthening their local preparedness and response systems. This also involves improving coordination among local actors and enhancing the Nepal Red Cross Society's role as a key technical partner to the government in disaster preparedness and response, especially in rural municipalities (RM) and municipalities. Currently, the SAFER project has been working to consolidate the achievements Paschim Disaster Preparedness Project (2020-2022) in the Doti and Baitadi districts until December 2023 and preparing to expand the project in four local bodies of Achham and Bajura districts since Jan 2024. The terms of reference (ToR) are designed to carry out a baseline study and disaster-ready assessment of selected 20 communities and 12 schools. 

1.2. Project/Program Areas:

The SAFER Nepal project will focus on 20 communities and 12 schools in two districts covering four local bodies of Achham (Sanfebagar 9 &14 municipalities and Mellekh rural municipality-3,4 & 5) and Bajura (Budiganga municipality-2 &10 and Khaptad Chhededaha rural municipality 4, 5 & 6) from January 2024. The terms of reference (ToR) are designed to carry out a baseline study and disaster-ready assessment of selected 21 communities and 12 schools across nine municipality wards in above mentioned local bodies which will include district chapter, local government, communities, and schools (list of the communities and schools will be provided later)

1.3. Project Stakeholders

The project is a collaborative effort between the IFRC/ American Red Cross (IFRC/AmRC) and the NRCS, with close coordination with the local governments and other stakeholders in the respective districts. The NRCS takes the lead in planning and implementing the project intervention, while IFRC/AmRC provides overall supervision, technical expertise, and financial support to ensure the project's outcomes meet high-quality standards and compliance requirements. Moreover, most recently British Red Cross also started to provide additional support to the NRCS to address impacts of ages-long practices of seasonal migration of youth on disaster risk reduction. The success and sustainability of the project is dependent on the active engagement and support of various key stakeholders. These stakeholders include:

• Local Governments: The local governments play a crucial role in providing support and cooperation for the project's implementation as well as leadership in taking forward the achievement.
• Municipality ward level: Municipalities and ward-level disaster management committees contribute significantly to disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and response efforts of the target vulnerable communities.
• Schools: School teachers, school management committee (SMC), school disaster management committees, and Junior and youth red cross circle (JYRC) in educational institutions actively engage in the project, enhancing disaster resilience in the educational sector.
• Red Cross Sub-Chapters: Local sub-chapters of the Red Cross are important partners in implementing the project's activities at the community level.
• Red Cross Local Volunteers: Volunteers from the local community who are associated with the Red Cross actively participate in the project's initiatives.
• Red Cross Provincial Committee of Sudur Paschim Province: The provincial committee of the Red Cross in the Sudur Paschim Province plays a key role in coordinating institutional capacity-building activities, replication of good practices, advocacy, and resource mobilization.
• Local Units of Nepal Police: Local police units are vital stakeholders, contributing to disaster management efforts and community resilience.
• Government and Non-Government Development Agencies: Various government and non-government development agencies working in the project area also support efforts to enhance community resilience.
• IFRC and members organizations: IFRC and PNS are key stakeholders of this project as they contribute for the achievements of the IFRC Strategy 2030. Moreover, the IFRC/British Red Cross recently started to introduce a migration component to address the interrelation of disaster risk reduction and migration considering historically high youth migration in lean period of each year. 

1.4. Objectives of the Assessments

The proposed consultancy includes a baseline survey including community and school disaster readiness assessments of the SAFER project in new target communities and schools which aims to promote a better understanding and analysis of the level to which communities and schools are prepared to respond to disasters before the project starts.

Community and School Disaster Readiness Assessment

The proposed community and school disaster readiness assessment aims to promote a better understanding and analysis on the baseline status of community and school preparedness towards hazards and disasters. This will be accomplished through examining community and school level preparedness in four key areas (determinants), namely, a) self-organization, b) ability to take action, c) knowledge and awareness, and d) connectivity aligned to the IFRC/AmRC’s DRC and DRS assessment tools. Specifically:

• The community disaster readiness assessment will aim to measure and compare (at the community level) progress made in each community on the four determinants that include self-organization, ability to take action, knowledge and awareness, and connectivity. 
• The school disaster readiness assessment will aim to measure and compare (at the school level) progress made in each school on the four determinants that include self-organization, ability to take action, knowledge and awareness, and connectivity. 

The Disaster Ready assessment tool for communities and schools has established a number of indicators for each determinant mentioned above to enable measurement of the preparedness status of the community and schools ultimately enabling to compare the same indicators after project intervention.  

Baseline Survey:

The baseline survey serves as a starting point against which progress and the impact of the project can be measured. The baseline assessment will help the project to plan, review, and use the information in future survey comparisons. 

• It will help identify risks and vulnerabilities and provide a detailed analysis of the potential hazards and risks faced by the community or area, including their vulnerability to these risks as well as setting performance indicators and provide a benchmark against which the project's impact can be measured.
• It will help in understanding the existing resources, infrastructure, and capacities within a community or area to cope with and respond to disasters. This includes assessing the strengths and weaknesses of local institutions, governance systems, and technical capacities.
• Baseline information will help make informed decisions about resource allocation, project priorities, and interventions needed to effectively reduce disaster risk and enhance community resilience.

Overall, the process of DRCS assessment and baseline will enable assessing the capacity of communities in relation to responding to disasters more effectively and reducing risks while also recognizing community-level strengths and weaknesses. The result of the assessments and baseline will be used to adjust project strategies and interventions (where necessary and applicable) to ensure that project activities address gaps identified from the assessments. Furthermore, results will be compared with future assessments and will also enable learning and sharing of community practices on using innovative tools and resources to help increase their safety and resilience.

II. SCOPE OF WORK OF THE CONSULTANT

The consultants/firms will be responsible for ensuring the assessments (baseline survey and DRCS assessment) utilize methodologies that meet the scientific community's qualitative and quantitative research standards. The scope of work must include the following:

• Review of secondary sources of information 
  • Collect and review relevant data, reports, and publications, both project and disaster risk reduction related, as part of the overall analysis and reporting.   
  • DRCS assessment tool adaptation (in close consultation with the project team members of Nepal Red Cross Society, American Red Cross staff will provide technical support in adapting the assessment tools (if applicable)
  • Translate data assessment tool into Nepali language (update from already existing translation). 
  • Adapt IFRC/AmRC’s standard baseline survey tool if required and translate in Nepali
• Conduct community and school disaster readiness assessments and baseline survey together with selected staff members from the IFRC/AmRC and NRCS
  • Recruit and train enumerators/facilitators 
  • Provide necessary guidance to data collectors/facilitators. 
  • Establish mechanisms to ensure data quality. 
  • Lead, coordinate and monitor data collection.
• Data management, analysis, and reporting (in consultation with the relevant people of project including IFRC/AmRC staff)
  • Perform data cleaning and consolidate findings from the community and school assessments.  
  • Perform data analysis. 
  • Prepare the a) community and school disaster readiness assessments and b) baseline survey report
  • Present the findings and recommendations to the NRCS Disaster Management Department, IFRC/AmRC Country Office, and other stakeholders as relevant. 

The consultant will be the overall lead of the assignment covering design, tool adaptation, enumerator hiring, capacity building, data collection, analysis, and report submission.  However, the consultant will work with one member from each of NRCS and the IFRC/AmRC, forming a team to undertake this assignment. 

III. ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

3.1 DRC Assessment/Baseline Survey Methodology

The proposed assessment of community and school disaster readiness as well as the baseline survey will employ qualitative and quantitative methods. In consultation with the project team, consultants are free and encouraged to be as creative as possible in arriving at a suitable methodology that will ensure the objectives of the assessments are fully met in a timely and efficient manner, provided the methodology meets the standard recommended methods and proposed sampling parameters indicated in these terms of reference. An assessment of community and school-level disaster readiness will be conducted in all of the SAFER Nepal project’s target communities. The assessment (based on a checklist measuring community/school disaster readiness) will utilize a combination of desk reviews, observation, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, selected household and school visits, as well as interaction with community/school members and the project’s field teams. The Disaster Ready Assessment tool for communities and schools is already defined tool and used by IFRC/AmRC and NRCS in preparedness projects to understand community and school readiness for disasters.   Moreover, the consultants need to adapt the baseline survey tool for conducting the baseline survey in 21 communities and 12 schools in Achham and Bajura districts.  

3.2 Sampling Parameters 

Table 2: Parameters for Sampling

IV. ASSESSMENT TOOLS

4.1 Disaster Ready Community Checklist (and School Disaster Readiness Checklist)

Consultant will utilize IFRC/AmRCs’ Community and School Disaster Readiness checklists for conducting community-level and school-level disaster readiness assessments and will triangulate the information by visiting few sampled household and school using mini HH and school tool. The Disaster Ready Assessment tool for communities and schools are pre-defined tools and used by IFRC/AmRC and NRCS in preparedness projects to understand community and school readiness to disasters.   

At the inception stage, the consultant will receive relevant onboarding/orientation to familiarize themselves with the project and the assessment tools. This will be led by the project team in close consultation with IFRC/AmRC and NRCS

4.2 Baseline survey tool 

Need to adapt from IFRC/AmRC standard household survey tool by the consultant/s

Household Survey: The community-level survey (multiple choice survey), which will be finalized by the consultant utilizing AmCross’ standard HH survey template, will collect data on knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards disaster risks within the areas and preparedness at individual and family levels.

School Survey: The school-level survey (multiple choice test), which will be finalized by the consultant utilizing AmCross’ standard student survey, will assess the understanding of students on topics related to general disasters and community-based disaster risk reduction.

V. WORK PLAN AND EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

5.1 Work Plan (indicative) 

The study period will be for a maximum of 50 days calendar days 

from the date contract signature. Moreover, we expect a total of 60 person days of consultant except time of enumerator). The consultant will be required to provide and confirm a detailed work plan during the inception period. 

5.2 Expected Deliverables 

1. Inception Report 
2. Finalized/adapted assessment tools (in both English and Nepali) (Please note that IFRC/AmRC already have tested tool which aim to orient the selected consultant. Then consultant is free to adapt if they wish)
3. Training package and training delivery for field enumerators 
4. Draft reports submission and presentation
5. Final report (2 separate reports, one for DRCS assessment and one for baseline survey). 
6. All data files in Excel 
7. Preliminary sharing of key findings to IFRC/AmRC country team before finalizing the report
8. Dissemination of Findings and recommendations: The consultant is expected to prepare and present a summary presentation of the with recommendations of the consultancy. 
9. Deliverables should be in English. 

VI. OPERATIONS

6.1 Administrative and Logistic Support

The consultant is expected to use her/his own laptop/computer; other approved administrative and logistical costs will be reimbursed by the IFRC/AmRC.

6.2 Reporting Relationship

The consultant will report to Senior PMEAL Officer of the IFRC/AmRC with attention to the Sr.Program officer, and Country Representative.

6.3 Quality Assurance and Ethics

The consultant will be required to establish mechanisms to ensure data quality and compliance with standard research ethics for the assessments which should be clearly indicated and described as part of the inception report.

VII. QUALIFICATION, APPLICATION, AND SELECTION

The required qualifications and experience of the team lead are as follows:

• Seven years’ experience conducting and leading survey research and assessments, both quantitative and qualitative, 4 of which should be with international organizations (NGOs, UN, and other humanitarian agencies) 
• Postgraduate degree, from a recognized institution, in social research with experience of qualitative studies, or monitoring & evaluation.
• Demonstrated experience in training and managing data collectors/facilitators of the qualitative study Experience with work in DRR or related sectors.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting project baseline survey and evaluations.
• Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation (preferably in DRR or related sectors)
• Excellent knowledge and skills in qualitative research methodology including data analysis techniques with Excel or other software such as NVivo; Atlas Ti
• Excellent communication skills for training and facilitation, and leadership to manage and coordinate a team of data collectors/facilitators (working knowledge of local dialects is an added advantage) 
• Excellent report-writing skill in English and Nepali language skills is highly desirable.
• Ability to work independently, ability to juggle and coordinate various tasks simultaneously, ability to prioritize tasks, well organized, reliable and trustworthy. 
• Inclusive team composition 

7.2 Application Procedures 

Interested firm area required to submit their application with a 6 pages (maximum) proposal excluding Annexes of organizational documents and CVs. We encourage you should use the following outline:

Consultant firm’s experience (detailed CVs of the consultant should be enclosed as Annex) of all professionals who will work on the assessments. This section should highlight the past experiences of the consultant in conducting assessments, preferably in developing countries. The section should mention the names, qualifications, and experiences of all persons who would be involved in various aspects of conducting the assessments, along with the level of effort.

Methods: Assessment objectives, methodology, sample design-calculation-selection, and an analysis plan. 

Work plan: The proposal should clearly describe all relevant activities to be conducted, including preparatory work, training, sampling and data collection work, data entry, data processing and analysis, results and report writing. The timeline and team responsible for each activity need to be clearly mentioned.  

Field team: Please utilize the table below as reference to provide the level of effort (in number of days) of each team member for all proposed activities: 

Training:  The consultant will be responsible for the training of data collectors/facilitators and the proposal should include information on relevant prior experience on conducting training.  Describe how the training is planned to be conducted, the topics covered, expected duration and logistic and administrative support needed from the project team. 

Quality control and ethics: Provide a section detailing the mechanisms to ensure data quality by clearly specifying steps for data validation. This section may also include supervisory mechanism for data quality and the role of field editors. Measures for compliance to standard research ethics should also be stated here. 

Data entry and processing plan: This section should clearly describe preparation and mechanism for data entry, validation checks and data processing activities. 

Data analysis: Provide details on the analyses process. 

Progress updates: This section should clearly indicate the mechanism that would be used to communicate with the project team and relevant officials to provide regular updates on overall work plan progress including about proposed field activities, coverage rate, data entry status, etc.

Proposed Budget: A breakdown of all associated costs for the 1) Disaster ready community and school assessments and 2) Baseline survey should be provided in NPR. We anticipate maximum 60 person days of input for both package (including team leader and team members) and excluding. Please do not include per diem and hotel accommodation cost of consultants which will reimbursed by the as per IFRC policy upon verification by consultancy focal person of IFRC/AmRC

Professional references: Provide three references from your previous clients.

Sample report: Provide one sample of a recent assessment (or related work) completed for another client where you are the principal researcher.

7.3 Selection Criteria

• Qualifications firms and/or experience of proposed consultants 
• Quality of proposal
• Cost
• Experience in the Disaster Risk Reduction/Management sector
• Number of Days and Timeline availability
• Team Composition

7.4 Required Documents/Certificates with the Proposal (Include as Annex):

The documents/certificates that should be submitted/attached with your proposal are -

• Copy of VAT registration certificate.
• Copy of Business registration certificate.
• Copy of TAX clearance certificate
• Brief description of your company and references of clients

Please submit your proposal in English no later than October 8, 2023, to Aliza.BAIDYA@ifrc.org. In the subject line please include name of Consultancy-Baseline survey and DRC Assessment. Only short-listed candidates will be notified and contacted for presentation of proposal. Proposals received after the deadline or incomplete applications in any respect will not be considered.

VIII. TERMS OF PAYMENT

Payment will be based on agreed on key deliverables:

• 30% of consultancy fees will be paid one week after submission of an inception report) (1)
• 40% of consultancy fees will be paid within one week after completion of data collection in field and submission of a draft report) (2)
• 30% of consultancy fees will be paid within one week after the acceptance of final report by American Red Cross) (3)

The fees will be paid by bank account transfer upon agreement with the consultant. VAT and tax will be deducted as per government policies.