CALL FOR CONSULTANCY
Study on Sustaining Community Preparedness
BACKGROUND
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has received a learning grant from a private donor and intends to use the grant to better understand the sustainability of its disaster risk reduction (DRR) interventions by revisiting communities that previously benefited from the past interventions under the Prepared and Resilient (PAR) II or locally known as REACT (Increasing Resilience to Mitigate Impact of Climate Change) and see how they have coped and even thrived in the face of recent disaster events.
CRS is seeking an external consultant to lead the design, analysis, and reporting of this learning activity. The external consultant will work closely with CRS staff to ensure that this study will generate insights to inform current and future DRR strategies and strengthen CRS's collaborative efforts and approaches with communities, local leaders, governments, and other partners.
CRS IN TIMOR-LESTE
CRS is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States of America. In Timor-Leste, CRS is registered with the Ministry of Justice and has its main office in Dili. Its local partners include civil society organizations such as Caritas Diocesana de Baucau, the Timor-Leste Red Cross, the Justice and Peace Commission of Maliana, Knua Haberan Comunidade, as well as government ministries, including the Civil Protection Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ministry of Health, the Secretary of State for Equality and Inclusion and the Secretary State of Environment.
From 2012-2024, CRS has worked with various partners to implement five (5) DRR projects. Through these projects, CRS supports the government and communities in promoting holistic resilience, sustainable adaptation, and effective mitigation strategies. In the past twelve years, CRS has reached more than 7,939 families through its various DRR projects in the municipalities of Baucau, Lautem, and Viqueque.
PREPARED AND RESILIENT II PROGRAM
One of the DRR projects implemented by CRS was the Prepared and Resilient II, which was also locally known as REACT (Increasing Resilience to Mitigate Impact of Climate Change). It was implemented from June 2016 to May 2020.
The project's overall objective was for "households and communities to have increased capacity to mitigate and adapt to natural disaster shocks." To achieve the objective, the project implemented a three-pronged approach: [1] supporting asset building of households and communities through climate-smart agriculture interventions and community savings groups; [2] facilitating the development of community preparedness plans which includes DRR activities; and [3] strengthening local governments to improve their accountability to communities when it comes to disaster preparedness and response. The project was implemented in five (5) villages with two administrative posts (Uatulari and Uatucarbau) in Viqueque Municipality. It reached 1,131 direct project participants and about 2,000 indirectly. Most of the project participants participated only from one of the three approaches, while a few participated in at least two (e.g., member of both SILC and farmer groups).
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
The objective of this learning activity is to understand how preparedness efforts and results from PAR II were sustained beyond the project and determine the factors that influence or affect their sustainability. The learning activity will provide invaluable insights to inform current and future DRR strategies and strengthen CRS's collaborative efforts and approaches with communities, local leaders, governments, and other partners.
More specifically, this learning activity will seek to answer the following learning questions:
1. Learning Question 1: What efforts and results were sustained by target households, communities, and government institutions since the project ended in 2020? To what extent do households and communities continue to have access to adequate finance, resources, and support to sustain/continue DRR and climate-smart agriculture practices?
· Learning Question 1.1: How have local governments institutionalized project interventions and continued to provide support for DRR and CSA?
· Learning Question 1.2: What factors contributed to and/or hindered the continuation of these efforts and results? What challenges and opportunities have emerged since the project ended, and how have communities adapted to these changes?
· Learning Question 1.3: What previously formed partnerships (e.g., farmer groups, linkages government agencies, and market linkages) continue to exist? To what extent were these partnerships important and necessary for sustaining efforts and results? To what extent have previously formed partnerships been sustained and effective in supporting community resilience?
2. Learning Question 2: To what extent have the sustained efforts and results supported the resilience of households and communities in the face of disasters since the project ended in May 2020?
EXTERNAL CONSULTANT
Qualifications
To provide a more objective assessment of the learning questions, CRS is seeking to recruit an external, independent, technical consultant (individual or firm) to plan and implement the learning activity, including the development of research protocols.
The consultant (individual) or principal investigator (for firms) should have at least the following qualifications and experience. The applications will be assessed against these technical criteria.
· Master's degree required, PhD in relevant field (e.g., DRR, resilience) is preferred
· At least seven (7) years of experience with quantitative and qualitative research methods including the access and ability to use software to aid in analysis (e.g., Dedoose or equivalent)
· At least five (5) years of experience in community-led approaches in DRR and resilience
· Experience in conducting learning activities or evaluations of a similar nature
· Ability to communicate findings in a clear, concise, and engaging manner
· Strong command of the English language with proven report-writing skills.
· Ability to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders and ability to work with teams of diverse backgrounds
· Knowledge of Timor-Leste and Tetum, with experience working in rural communities and an awareness of local languages, cultural nuances, and diverse perspectives, preferred
Deliverables
The consultant will be responsible for producing the following deliverables:
1. Inception Report including data collection tools and research protocols
2. Enumerator Training Presentation
3. Survey implementation report
4. PowerPoint Presentation of Initial Findings
5. Final Report (max of 30 pages)
6. Datasets
Period and Place of Performance
CRS Timor-Leste will engage the consultant for a period of 30 days, between February 2025 and September 2025. The period for this engagement may be adjusted based on mutual consent of CRS and the consultant. Additionally, the consultant will execute the Terms of Reference remotely, if not currently present in Timor-Leste or, if present in Timor-Leste, will lead activities via an appropriate combination of remote and in-person work. Regardless of whether remote or hybrid, the consultant is expected to coordinate closely with the CRS team during working hours in Timor Leste (GMT +9).
Application Requirements
All interested applicants are asked to submit the following documents to wati.sukmawati@crs.org by January 30, 2025. The subject of the email should read: "CONSULTANT FOR SUSTAINING COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS"
• Cover letter outlining the applicant's interest and fit in the consulting opportunity
• Curriculum Vitae
• Sample of similar work undertaken as a lead consultant (Final Report)
• Daily rate
Interested applicants can request for the full Terms of Reference (TOR) for this study via the email address listed above.
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