Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is a politically independent membership-based Non-Governmental Organisation working in Norway and in more than 30 countries around the world. Founded in 1939 as the labour movement’s humanitarian solidarity organisation, NPA aims to improve people’s living conditions and to create a democratic, just and safe society.

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) requests proposals for a consultancy to develop a functional Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM) system for our international work, covering all our different programmes.

NPA programme work internationally covers mine action and disarmament (including demining and conflict preparedness and protection against weapons); humanitarian response (including food security and livelihoods and sexual and gender-based violence) and support to civil society. In all interventions, and in line with commitment 5 of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (communities and people affected by crisis have access to safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints), NPA currently seeks to gather feedback from the people we serve and the partners we work with. However, this process needs to be further formalised and systematically documented and to be more uniformly applied across all locations. This consultancy will draw on existing NPA experiences, policies and tools as well as those developed by other like-minded organisations to develop a new comprehensive and context-specific Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM) system and implementation guidelines. The CFM system will be informed by the Core Humanitarian Standards and the principles of Charter 4 Change, which NPA is a signatory to, while being cognisant of the unique context of NPA’s mandates and different operational areas.

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

NPA works internationally with mine action and disarmament, including demining, conflict preparedness and protection against weapons; humanitarian response, including food security and livelihoods and sexual and gender-based violence and support to civil society. In all interventions, and in line with commitment 5 of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (communities and people affected by crisis have access to safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints), NPA seeks to gather feedback from the people we serve and the partners we work with. However, this process is not formalised and systematically documented, and hence not always uniformly applied across all locations. This consultancy will draw on existing NPA experiences, policies and tools as well as those developed by other like-minded organisations to develop a new comprehensive and context-specific Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM) system and implementation guidelines. The CFM system will be informed by the Core Humanitarian Standards and the principles of Charter 4 Change, which NPA is a signatory to, while being cognisant of the unique context of NPA’s different operational areas.

A small working group including relevant country and Oslo-based staff will serve as an advisory board to the consultant, to ensure adequate anchoring of the project in the organisation. The group’s members will represent different and relevant functions to best build on existing policies and practices. Where necessary, the consultancy will propose updates to existing policies which may be required.

CONSULTANCY OBJECTIVES

Further to NPA’s newly updated Complaints Policy, the overall objective of this consultancy is to strengthen NPA’s capacity to be accountable to the people we serve and the partners we work with, through the development of a functional and context-specific CFM system and implementation guidelines. The specific objectives are:

1. To develop a formalised system and process of soliciting, receiving, processing and responding to the feedback and complaints received from the people we serve and the partners we work with including; multiple example mechanisms designed for our programme types will be the primary output, but NPA will also require other tools to be agreed including moderation guidelines for social media, FAQs, etc. NPA will require the consultant to ensure that the mechanisms and tools provided can be integrated within existing and planned operational and MEAL systems.

2. To support NPA in rolling out the CFM policy and mechanism by providing a plan including and by training key NPA staff on the CFM policy, system and the relevant implementation tools. This will include roll out in three countries, Iraq, South Sudan and Mozambique.

CONSULTANCY DELIVERABLES

• The consultancy will develop a procedure which describes how to set up a complaints and feedback mechanism in all the different types of NPA programmes. The deliverables for this consultancy therefore include:
• An assessment of current practices and gaps in NPA’s existing CFM framework following consultation with key stakeholders and policies.
• To develop a new needs-based and context-specific CFM framework and toolkit that NPA will use in operationalising a CFM system across NPA programmes including: NPA head office and country offices, NPA mine action operation locations and NPA Cooperating Partners
• To provide concrete recommendations to NPA on the structure, staffing and financial requirements needed to ensure that a new CFM functions effectively after the roll-out phase.
• Toolkit including example mechanisms designed for our programme type, moderation guidelines for social media, FAQs, etc.
• Tools and guidelines for rollout and a suggested plan.

SCOPE OF WORK

The consultancy will look at existing examples of NPA CFM and available evaluations of the same; it will seek information from NPA staff, partner staff and potentially target communities to inform the development of the CFM system – information sources to include NPA

consortium experiences, donor requirements, sectoral best practices and partner and self-implementing models. The consultancy will sample at least five different types of NPA partner organisations and target communities from at least five NPA countries. The outcome of the consultancy must take into consideration all types of context and implementation modalities used by NPA (including working with partners and self-implementation) as well as the various relevant accountability standards underpinning this work. The target countries and partners will be identified by NPA.

The consultancy will work with an internal Working Group including communications, HR and representatives from both international departments and attend a total of three meetings to track the progress of the project in 2024.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

The independent consultant/consultancy firm must demonstrate experience and expertise as follows:

• Advanced degree in Social Sciences, International Relations, Economics, or other areas of relevance to this consultancy, or equivalent experience.
• More than five years of experience working on issues of NGO accountability, protection, and CHS in developing countries. We are particularly interested in consultants with experience working with organisations that are multi-mandated and with a focus on locally-led approaches and cooperation with civil society organisations.
• In-depth understanding of AAP, CHS and CFM systems in NGO’s.
• Demonstrated experience in providing high-quality Beneficiary Accountability or Protection services for NGO’s.
• Experience conducting remote assignments in similar contexts.
• Fluency in English with excellent writing and presentation skills.
• Ability to manage work and context-related stress while maintaining high performance to achieve the consultancy objectives.

For more detailed information about the consultancy see Terms of Reference.

The tender will be conducted in accordance with the NPA’s open tendering procedures, as detailed in the NPA procurement manual, and is open to all interested applicants.