• Organization: Expertise France - French Public Agency
• Location: Al Hasakah
• Grade: Level not specified - Level not specified
• Occupational Groups:
  • Social Affairs
  • Education, Learning and Training
• Closing Date: 2023-06-30

About Expertise France:

Expertise France is a public agency part of the AFD Group, merging six agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various development and institutional cooperation fields, including safety and security reform, post-crisis/stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs, and governance.

Expertise France designs and implements projects which aim to contribute to the balanced development of partner countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of France’s external action.

3. EXPERTISE FRANCE IN SYRIA:

Since 2013, Expertise France has been implementing direct non-humanitarian assistance programmes in non-regime-held areas across Syria.

EF developed and implemented several stabilization projects targeting conflict-affected communities in Syria through local Syrian NGOs and CSOs with whom EF built strong partnerships. Expertise France’s fields of intervention cover the following sectors: health, livelihoods, early recovery, and capacity development.

Expertise France in Northeast Syria:

Expertise France has been engaged in northeast Syria since the defeat of ISIS with an aim to support the transition to stability. EF stabilization efforts pursue backing the third pillar of France’s stabilization approach that involves improving access to essential services and stimulating economic recovery and livelihoods.

To support this endeavour, Expertise France is currently implementing the second phase of the Health Recovery in Northeast Syria (HERNES) project, aiming to improve access to basic health care, including primary health care, dialysis, pediatric and gynecological care, the COVID-19 response, and training for medical professionals. The first phase of HERNES was implemented between 2019 and 2021.

Furthermore, Expertise France implements the Syria Area Based Integrated Recovery (SABIR) project since 2020 targeting multi-sectors, including improving (I) access to essential services through public infrastructures rehabilitation (II) promoting access to livelihoods and income generation through agriculture, livestock, technical and vocational education and finally (III) foster social capital by delivering tailored capacity building activities to local partners.

Supported by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Expertise France has launched the third phase of the Syria Area-Based Integrated Recovery (SABIR) project in order to respond to the protracted crisis in NES following the same integrated area-based approach, targeting a cluster of communities in specific geographic areas in the south of Al Hasskah and Ar-raqqa provinces, and taking into account the links and exchanges between sectors, local regions and stakeholders to maximize impact.

The SABIR III project was built on lessons learned from SABIR I and SABIR II, maintaining, and expanding good practices, especially the successful area-based and holistic approach to respond to the inter-related and multi-sectoral needs as a mean for stabilization, while adopting a more active community engagement and localized approach under SABIR III through forming community-based committees who would represent the targeted communities and their interests. Particular attention is devoted to mitigating climate change, prevailing environmental degradation, and water scarcity in the NES.

SABIR project's overall intended impact is to contribute to addressing the post-crisis recovery challenges to pave the path towards sustainable development. The sub-objective of SABIR III is to build more resilient local communities towards greater stabilization in the northeast of Syria.

SABIR III focus areas:

1. Support the recovery of essential services through the rehabilitation of public infrastructures.
2. Promote access to livelihoods and empower the local economy through agriculture, livestock, TVET, entrepreneurship, micro-grants, and other income-generating activities.
3. Reinforce the capacity of social capital through capacity development to partnered organizations and the Community-Based Committees.

The main activities of the project that will be supported within the first and second focus areas:

1. Rehabilitation of public infrastructure:

Activities that could improve access to essential services such as: (i) water supply for domestic and irrigation purposes complemented by climate smart techniques; (ii) electricity; and (iii) education infrastructures:

• Rehabilitation of water stations.
• Rehabilitation of irrigation networks and canals.
• Rehabilitation of small groundwater wells/equipping wells with solar energy systems.
• Rehabilitation of electricity networks/installation of new lines and transformers.
• Rehabilitation of schoolsto provide a better and safer learning environment.

2. Livelihoods and Economic Recovery:

Activities that could improve access to livelihoods and income generation for local households, including sustainable agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods through input materials, cash-for-work opportunities, climate-smart techniques, extension, and training to create an enabling environment for efficiency and sustainability of interventions:

• Provision of agricultural inputs
• Supporting the agriculture of fodder crops for piloting to cope with the water scarcity and climate change.
• Training for farmers on innovative agriculture techniques.
• Supporting environmental principles; household composting, organic farming, intercropping, crop rotation, etc.
• Provision of vaccines, veterinary care, fodder and training to livestock farmers.
• Provision of technical and vocational training/apprenticeship to increase the employability of local youth.
• Provision of small grants (in-kind) to expand startups.
• Supporting Cash for Work (CfW) activities.

3. Strengthening local capacity:

• Establishing Community Based Committees (CBCs) through SABIR II to build stronger links with local communities where the activities are to be implemented. These CBCs would ensure good coordination, outreach and communications with communities, conflict resolution during all project cycle from beneficiary selection to hand over of the implemented activity.
• Provide training to CBCs on coordination mechanisms, community dialogue, conflict management and resolution, and accountability.
• Conduct Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) benefiting to the nine implementing partners contracted under SABIR II to develop a tailored capacity building strategy and action plan to be implemented.

5. PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY / ASSIGNMENT:

Under SABIR III project, EF aims to develop and reinforce the capacity of the partnered CSOs and CBOs by assessing their current institutional and organizational capacities to subsequently implement tailored capacity-building activities. For this purpose, EF seeks to contract a reputable organization with a solid experience and capacity in this field.

The expected results of this assignment:

1. Conduct an organizational capacity assessment for four partner organizations to identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps within its operations, systems, and develop a capacity building action planfor these four organizations.
2. Review and update the existing Capacity Building Action Plan for 5 other organizations for which an OCA was already developed in the past
3. Conduct capacity building trainings for 9 partners on 3 main topics identified in the OCA. (The organization will coordinate with EF to select the topic).
4. Provide technical coaching and support to the partners during the implementation of the project activities on a set of technical and expertise issues (eg: agricultural techniques, civil engineering, irrigation, extension services, electric engineering etc).

SCOPE OF WORK:

The selected consultant/organization will be responsible for the following activities:

1. Organizational Capacity Assessment:

• Develop/Update a fully operational OCA methodology and tool. The assessment will be inclusive and participatory and will have to include a self-assessment evaluation conducted by the partner organisations.
• Review relevant organizational documents, policies, and procedures.
• Identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the organization's capacity in areas such as governance, human resources, financial management, project management and delivery, monitoring and evaluation, communication, etc.
• Deliver comprehensive reports outlining the assessment findings (both external and internal), recommendations, and an action plan for capacity development.
• Planning a capacity building strategy for four partners
• Assess the areas where EF could intervene to equip the partnered organizations with organisational support and plan a capacity building strategy.

2. Capacity Building Trainings:

• Develop customized training modules and materials addressing the identified needs within the partners capacity action plans.
• Draft training session plans and agendas.
• Design and use evaluation tools to assess the impacts of the training program (pre/post tests for instance) A final report for each training is delivered including documentation of each training (attendance sheet, photos, tribal assessment).

3. Technical Coaching and Support:

• Develop a coaching and mentoring plan based on the assessed needs. Outline the specific areas and topics for technical support in gender, agriculture, business management(Small grants), and livestock.
• Provide one-to-one or group coaching sessions to the organization's staff, addressing their specific technical needs and challenges.
• Deliver training modules or workshops to enhance staff's knowledge and skills in the specified sectors.
• Offer guidance, advice, and practical solutions to improve performance, decision-making, and project implementation in the relevant sectors.
• Design and use evaluation tools to assess the impacts of the training program (pre/post tests for instance)