Vacancy For Consultant (Proposal Development Writer) at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), 30th July, 2018

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The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, emergency food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors. The Norwegian Refugee Council has approximately 5000 committed and competent employees involved in projects across four continents. In addition, NRC runs one of the world’s largest standby rosters, NORCAP, with 650 professionals, ready to be deployed on 72 hours’ notice when a crisis occurs. We are recruiting to fill the position below:     Job Title: Consultant (Proposal Development Writer) Project Code: NGFX0000 Location: Maiduguri, Nigeria Scope: Development of full proposal for AFD, including direct deployment to NRC Nigeria Reporting to: Head of Programme, NRC Nigeria Start date: 1 August- 20 September 2018 Type of contract: Short-term Background Information The Boko Haram insurgency and military counteroffensive operations have displaced 2.2 million people across the Lake Chad Basin, with the majority settled in the two most severely affected countries: northeast Nigeria and the Far North region of Cameroon.[1]  In line with the commitments of the 2016 Abuja Action Statement made by the four Lake Chad Basin governments, there is a need to ensure that support to displaced-affected populations adopts a more durable solutions approach. This includes strengthening the engagement, collaboration, and coordination of both humanitarian and development stakeholders. As displacement continues to be increasingly protracted, authorities in both Nigeria and Cameroon are reporting refugee return movements. In both countries, conditions are not yet conducive for returns due to the absence of basic services and social infrastructure, which pose acute humanitarian and protection risks, and have resulted in most returnees experiencing secondary displacement. As many of these displacements are recurrent, the continued decline of the political and security context has increased inequality and deepened underdevelopment in the region. The majority of people who have fled their homes live among local host communities who are impoverished themselves, which in turn increase the competition for scarce resources. As the conflict enters its tenth consecutive year, there is a need for a more holistic and medium-to-long term response.  Livelihoods have been decimated, as populations in hosting areas and areas of origin are unable to earn and secure food for themselves due to disrupted trade and markets, limited agricultural production, lack of access to land, and no viable income-generating opportunities. Destruction to public infrastructure, such as health centres, schools, bridges, and roads have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from accessing basic services, such as education and clean water. Moreover, as communities remain for extended periods in return areas unable to access food and other needs, the most vulnerable populations resort to negative coping mechanisms. Women, children and youth, particularly young girls and boys are at high risk for gender-based violence (GBV) as well as forced recruitment into armed groups and suicide attacks. The conflict in both countries has affected access to civil and identity documentation. Refugees, returnees, and IDPs are not able to access complex and costly procedures and lose documentation during displacement. Women in particular have unequal access to information and resources, and can face discriminatory administrative procedures. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has been operating in Nigeria and Cameroon, respectively since 2015 and 2017 to support such needs for displaced populations, as well as vulnerable host communities who have been affected by Boko Haram crisis. In Nigeria, NRC is currently implementing activities in Borno, Yobé and Adamawa States. In Cameroon, NRC operates in the Far North, South West, and North West regions.  In both countries, NRC is providing services in Education, Food Security/Livelihoods, Information, Counseling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA), WASH, and Shelter/NFIs. To date, NRC has provided assistance to a total of 211,532 people across both countries. Objective

• Following the successful submission of a concept note in April 2018 to Agence Française de Développement (AFD), AFD has requested NRC to develop a 3-year regional cross-border programme on strengthening the resilience of displacement-affected populations in the Lake Chad Basin region.
• The overall objective of the project will be to support displaced-affected populations towards the search for durable solutions. NRC will focus on education, ICLA, and livelihoods/food security interventions in northeast Nigeria and the Far North of Cameroon.
• NRC is recruiting a Proposal Development Writer Consultant to manage and lead all stages of the proposal development process. The overall objective of the assignment will be to ensure a complete and high quality proposal package for submission to AFD.

Scope of Work

• The Proposal Writer is expected to work primarily independently and in a highly time-sensitive environment, as well as collaboratively with NRC’s teams in both countries.
• The final version of the proposal package must be written in French. A full English-language version will also be required.
• NRC Nigeria will host the consultant during the entire duration of the assignment and provide all necessary logistical support, including the provision of basic but comfortable accommodation (NRC’s guesthouse), local transport including UNHAS flights to/from Maiduguri and field sites, visa arrangements, communication, and standard security measures and protocols.
• The Proposal Writer will draft and finalize the proposal (including the project narrative, budget, logical framework, and all other documents required as part of the full proposal package) in French, as well as produce an English-language version.
• The consultant is expected to be the lead on the development of the proposal, and drive the review process in order to bring the proposal to full completion and ensure a timely and high quality submission.
• The  assignment is field-based and the consultant will be expected to work no more than 15 days from NRC Nigeria’s area office based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, liaising closely with the relevant programme teams in Nigeria, as well as remotely with the Cameroon country office.
• S/he should be prepared to travel to Abuja and Maiduguri to learn as much as possible about the context in the areas where the project will be implemented, including but not limited to conducting field visits (security-permitting), collecting data, and engaging with key stakeholders and partners to ensure the successful development of a high quality project proposal.

Major Tasks and Responsibilities

• Become familiar with NRC’s Programme Policy; Theories of Change of the key relevant core competencies; current programme strengths in Nigeria and Cameroon; compliance/regulations of AFD
• Draft/edit/finalize the proposal, in collaboration with relevant technical specialists;
• Coordinate/consolidate input and revisions of other team members into the proposal;
• Ensure that the tone, content, and design of the proposal correspond to the requirements of the donor;
• Liaise with Finance Staff to ensure coherence between narrative and budgetary elements
• Collaborate effectively and constructively with all key focal points and relevant staff, as well as regional technical specialists
• Determine all tasks necessary to prepare the proposal;
• Establish a timeline for all tasks and assign persons responsible for these tasks;
• Monitor the progress of all tasks against the timeline and make adjustments as necessary.
• Work with NRC’s finance teams to lead and finalize the budget development process and support with ensuring that the budget includes all essential project costs, as per compliance to NRC’s and AFD’s regulations.

Institutional and organizational arrangements: Critical Interfaces:

• Strategy and planning: Head of Programmes and Country Directors in both country offices (Nigeria and Cameroon); Regional Head of Programme Support at the regional office in Dakar; Institutional Partnership Advisor in Brussels
• Area operations: Area Managers, relevant technical specialists/Programme Development Managers
• NRC Core competencies: Regional Technical Advisors in Information Counseling Legal Assistance (ICLA), Livelihoods/Food Security LFS), and Education

Competencies The ideal candidate will have the following experience, skills, and competencies: Professional competencies:

• An advanced university degree in social sciences, economics or other relevant field;
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a humanitarian and international development context;
• Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in French and English; Fluent or native French speaker preferred.
• Strong organizational and coordination skills.
• Strong ability to work under pressure and short time constraints, and delivering results by deadline
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work well within a team.
• Documented experience in proposal development, grantwriting, and fundraising;
• Experience working in complex and volatile contexts;
• Experience with cross-border programming a plus
• Experience with gender mainstreaming a plus

Behavioral Competencies:

• Managing resources to optimise results
• Empowering and building trust
• Handling insecure environments

Deliverables, Timeframe, and Duties of the Consultant: Field preparations:

• Consultant receives the required briefings, background documents, and information on country contexts, donor rules and regulations, etc. required to complete tasks described above.
• Secure logistics support from the CO. The CO will also ensure that the relevant staff is present for support.
• Interviews with key local stakeholders, field programme staff, etc. in both Nigeria and Cameroon (remotely conducted)

Specific deliverables:

• First draft of the full proposal in French, including budget and logframe in donor templates
• Final version of full proposal package in French in donor templates
• Final version of full proposal package in English in donor templates

    How To Apply Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: [email protected] cc’ing [email protected] Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis so it is strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible. The full application should include:

• 1 technical offer detailing the precise combination of methods and timeframe (max 3 pages);
• 1 brief writing sample in French (max 3 pages), i.e., executive summary or abstract of a similar work previously conducted
• CV, demonstrating relevant experience/ expertise/ knowledge
• 1 financial offer (Excel) detailing all costs, including travel and time costs plus all field expenses and expenses associated with production of the deliverables (NRC will provide domestic flights, accommodation and vehicle);
• 2 references from previous clients/organizations who can testify to the quality of the Consultant’s work.
• Consultant registration number, if applicable
• Start date and mention where you found this posting.

  Application Deadline 2nd August, 2018.

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