Study on user needs, expectations, and support for the establishment of a Finance Development Competency Network and Platform

Summary description

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has worked systematically to provide support on organisational development (National Society Development - NSD) to Red Cross / Red Crescent (RCRC) organisations (National Societies).

As part of this and coordinated with IFRC, Norwegian Red Cross (NorCross), has provided peer support in Finance Development (improved financial management).

In 2019, NSD was adopted as a strategic priority by the IFRC, including a focus on financial sustainability. This includes providing support to enable National Societies to manage financial resources accountably and transparently and share data to enable effective strategic decision-making and financial risk management.

Therefore, IFRC and NorCross agreed to work together on leveraging expertise on financial management through the establishment of a RCRC Finance Development Competency Network. The network will be the central point of resources and capacity in financial management, where members of a community of practice, practitioners from across the RCRC National Societies and IFRC can interact, learn and facilitate support. Sharing will also take place through the development of a digital platform.

The intended study aims at getting insights in the needs and expectations of the future members of the network and how they can contribute to its success. The supplier is expected to gather information a.o. on user needs, how technical support can be requested and provided, identify potential contributions from members and prepare a gap analysis on identified needs and contributions, Additionally, information should be gathered on the expected user experience (“wireframe/users’ stories”) and the desired format of the digital platform.

As a part of the offer, the supplier shall submit a technical and financial proposal to describe the approach and methodology to be used for the delivery. More detailed information on the study and deliverables can be found below.

Background

Over the years the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has worked systematically to provide support [1] on organisational development (National Society Development) to Red Cross/Red Crescent (RCRC) organisations (National Societies). As part of this the Norwegian Red Cross (NorCross), in close coordination with the Federation, has focused on providing peer support to National Societies, in particular in the area of improved financial management (Finance Development).

In 2019, National Society Development (NSD) was adopted as one of the strategic priorities in IFRC’s strategy 2030 with financial sustainability as an integral part of NSD (see NSD compact). In the Norwegian Red Cross strategy Finance Development was identified as a main strategic priority for its international work.

National Societies financial sustainability refers to the ability of NSs to attract and manage its financial resources needed to run its core humanitarian services and governance and management processes. There are three interlinked areas of NSD work typically contributing to financial sustainability including 1. positioning the National Society within the national humanitarian ecosystem and designing National Society programmes and structures as part of the National Society’s mission and strategy and available resources; 2. managing financial resources accountably and transparently and sharing data to enable effective strategic decision-making and financial risk management; 3. attracting financial resources into the National Society, in particular building revenue streams that will remain stable into the future.

Finance Development relates to this third pillar: managing financial resources accountably and transparently to enable effective decision making and risk management and IFRC and NorCross share a common interest to further facilitate the development in this area. As part of this commitment IFRC and NorCross agreed to work together on leveraging expertise on Finance Development across the RCRC Movement through the establishment of a RCRC Finance Development Competency Network.

The Finance Development Competency network will be the central point of resources and capacity in Finance Development, where members of the community of practice come together to interact and learn. The network will bring together practitioners from across the RCRC National Societies and IFRC, to maximize financial management capacity and facilitate support to members. A guiding principle is that support will be prioritised to those National Societies operating in contexts of heightened humanitarian needs and facing organisational risks⁴. Practitioners can be either those providing specific expertise or those seeking advice to solve financial management issues based on their needs. Through these interactions resources and technical knowledge will be shared and produced.

Results from the FD competency network will include the development and harmonization of (global) financial management guidance, standards, tools and training which will be made available to the National Societies at large, once reviewed in close cooperation with the IFRC Secretariat to ensure quality assurance, through a digital and collaborative platform. Technical support and exchange of experiences on financial management will be provided by the practitioners’ part of the network and through peer-peer support. Coordination and mutual learning will be strengthened. Partnerships with external actors will contribute to abilities to scale support and improve expertise.

The approach for the network will be based on emerging models around communities of practice and the network will aim to be agile and flexible, while offering specialized and distributed expertise. Knowledge sharing, peer review and team collaboration will be emphasized. The network aims to be digitally connected, collaborative, and, to the degree possible, self-organizing. There will be access for all members with a specific expertise and capacity to contribute. Experts/practitioners can be ‘on call’ and can, depending on their time and expertise, work on specific requests. Support can be provided remotely or through deployments of expertise, depending on needs and requests. A service delivery model will be established and form the basis of a request system.

Study purpose and scope

During phase I (January – August 2021) IFRC and NorCross will further explore the best format and functionality for the establishment of the FD competency network and digital platform, based on input provided by the future members (users) from the RCRC National Societies. The purpose of this study is to get insights in the needs and expectations of the future members of the FD competency network as well as on how the different members can effectively support and contribute to its success. In more concrete terms, but not limited, this could include:

FD Competency Network:

• Gathering information on user needs, e.g., around the most relevant needs/themes within financial management for the competency network to be addressed.

• Gathering information on how technical support can best be requested, provided and received by members part of the community of practice (e.g., request submission, request/resource matching etc.) and quality of support ensured.

• Identifying which competencies and contributions can be made by its (potential) members (e.g. technical support, areas of expertise, tools etc.)

• Provide a gap analysis on the identified needs and available resources/potential contributions

• Gathering information on the best way of sharing resources, standards and tools among members and through the platform

• Provide recommendations/proposals on the effective, inclusive and coordinated ways to bring practitioners together in this FD competency network and its desired format and functionality

• Information on how to best link the establishment of the FD competency network to existing RCRC initiatives working in the same area of expertise (e.g., the Asia/Pacific finance network, IFRCs internal audit office, finance network, financing mechanisms such as NSIA and CBF)

Digital platform

• Gathering basic information on currently existing, similar platforms, what they are used for, how they are used, their basic functionalities and customization capacity

• Gathering information on the expected user experience (“wireframe/users’ stories”) and the desired format of the digital platform.

• Gathering information on how to best link the digital platform to other existing and under development platforms within the same area of expertise (strategic and technical level), following the definition of the users’ needs first.

In terms of scope the study would focus on practitioners (senior financial management staff, leadership/management, other relevant staff) part of the following groups:

• National Societies currently engaged directly in processes to improve their financial management (finance development)

• National Societies currently not engaged in Finance Development but who have expressed an interest to develop in this area or who have not yet been engaged but may have a need based on identified risks.

• National Societies and IFRC and ICRC practitioners who are providing or interested to provide support to National Societies in Finance Development (e.g., through direct technical support or peer-peer support, consultancy, tools etc.)

• Other relevant stakeholders

Evaluation methodology and data collection methods

The consultant proposal (see below) should include the outline of a suitable methodology and appropriate information collection methods adapted to the purpose of the study. It is free to suggest any additional methodological approaches and data collection methods and questions that are not mentioned in the ToR. The methodology for the consultancy is expected to be developed in dialogue between the commissioner and the consultant but could include a mixed methods approach, namely research on different approaches and solutions from different sectors and industries, desk review as well as quantitative (e.g., survey) and qualitative methods (e.g., focus groups and interviews). NorCross and IFRC will make all necessary documentation available and be available for discussion, provide support and linkages to the National Societies, and other activities necessary to finalise the consultancy. This work will be done mainly off-site, and majority of the work will be managed online.

Deliverables and timeline

Overall timeframe of the consultancy January – mid March 2020

In terms of deliverables, it is expected that the consultant will provide:

• An inception report with a detailed description of methodology to be used, a data collection plan, overview of information sources, a timeline for key milestones and deliverables (draft report, interim discussion etc.) and solutions to identified challenges
• Data collection and analysis based on the agreed methodology
• Draft consolidated report including
  • Summary of the collected feedback and key insights
  • Analysis report including recommendations and proposals
  • A proposal on the network and platform format (like ‘must have’ user requirements to be included in the technical solution to be developed)
  • Appropriate appendixes (e.g., list of people interviewed etc.)
• Feedback workshop (online) to present draft consolidated report before revision and final approval of the report to the members of the steering group and team
• Final report including
  • Executive summary
  • Background
  • Study methodology and limitations
  • Findings and conclusions
  • Analysis report
  • Proposal on network and platform format

The deadline for submitting proposal is 7th of January COB with estimated start-up 13^th of January. Tentative dates for key deliverables are:

• Inception report: 18^th of January.

• Data collection: mostly in January and February.

• First draft report: 26^th of February

• Final report: 9^th of March

Support to be provided to the consultant

Madelon Schneiders, NorCross FD competency network project manager, IFRC Hayfa Khalidy, National Society Development and Volunteering (NSDV) /Financial Sustainability advisor and IFRC Naomi Akamatsu, National Society Development and Volunteering (NSDV) Advisor

Study quality and ethical standards

When relevant, the reviewers should take all reasonable steps to ensure that the study is designed and conducted to respect and protect the rights and welfare of people and the communities of which they are members, and to ensure that the study is technically accurate, reliable, and legitimate, conducted in a transparent, confidential and impartial manner, and contributes to organizational learning and accountability. Therefore, the consultant(s) should adhere to the evaluation standards and specific, applicable process outlined in the IFRC Framework for Evaluation.

Consultant(s) Qualifications

The consultant(s) should have the following competencies:

• BSc in Social Sciences, organisational development, user design or other relevant area

• Minimum of 5 years proven qualitative and quantitative research skills, experience with studies on user centered design, user needs and/or networks/ communities of practice is preferred

• Experience with researching approaches for digital platforms is an advantage,

• UX/UI design expertise preferred

• Strong business and analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy

• Knowledge of statistics and experience using statistical packages for analyzing datasets (Excel, SPSS, Stata, etc.) is an advantage.

• Experience within the Red Cross Red Crescent or other humanitarian/development organizations is an advantage

• Adept at queries, report writing and presenting findings

• Strong interpersonal and organisational skills

• Fluency in oral and written English, knowledge of French and other languages is an advantage.

[1] Technical, Financial and HR support

How to apply:

Interested candidates should submit their application material by 7^th of January to: madelon.schneiders@redcross.no (Project manager Finance Development, NorCross)

If you have questions related to the ToR, please contact Madelon Schneiders. The budget for the study is in the range NOK 100.000 – 175.000. The deadline for sending in questions is 3^rd of January.

Application materials should include:

1. Technical proposal not exceeding five pages that a) demonstrates an understanding and interpretation of the ToR, b) outlines a methodology to meet the requirements in the ToR, c) proposes a timeline for deliverables, including time for IFRC and NorCross to comment on deliverables

2. Cover letter clearly summarizing your experience as it pertains to this assignment, your daily rate, and two professional references

3. A brief description of your firm or institution (for applicants other than individual consultants)

4. Curricula Vitae (CV) for all members of the team applying for consideration

5. Financial proposal itemizing estimated costs for services rendered (daily consultancy fees), stationery costs, and any other related supplies or services required for the study

6. At least one example of an evaluation report most similar to that described in this TOR

Application material are non-returnable, and we thank you in advance for understanding that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the next step in the application process. According to Norwegian tax law, NorCross can only enter consultancy contracts with companies registered as legal entities with their respective tax authorities. For individual consultants without a registered company, temporary employment contracts can be signed.