ACTION AGAINST HUNGER BANGLADESH

Consultant for Scoping Study on Private Sector Engagement in Humanitarian Response in Bangladesh

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Basic Information:

Title of the Work:

Scoping Study on Private Sector Engagement in Humanitarian Response in Bangladesh

Duration:

July 14, 2019 to September 30, 2019

Background:

The Start Fund Bangladesh (2017-2020) is a £10 million rapid emergency response fund set up by the Start Network with support from UK aid and hosted by ACF Bangladesh. Modelled on the successful Start Fund that activates funding within 72 hours of a crisis alert, the fund has been setup to be accessible to both national and international member NGOs operating in Bangladesh to respond early and fast to under the radar emergencies in Bangladesh. These decisions are made by humanitarian actors within member agencies with all projects selected within the country or region of the crisis, while projects start within 7 days and finish within 45 days. As such, the expected impact and outcome of Start Fund Bangladesh is that “Loss of lives, livelihoods and dignity are minimised”, given that the “Humanitarian responses are rapid, informed and adapted to the need of the affected communities” respectively.

Bangladesh becoming a middle-income country strongly indicated that we would have lesser share to the global humanitarian aid. Besides, we see a decreasing trend of humanitarian aid compared to the increasing demands every year. However, we will continue experiencing disasters and humanitarian crises due to climate change and other geo-political factors. We therefore need potential, non-conventional actors playing a more proactive and complementary role in humanitarian crises e.g. resource mobilisation, technological innovation for rapid humanitarian response.

In a small developing economy like Bangladesh, the private sector has enormous power to improve people’s lives through the way in which it operates facilities, develops and markets products, provides services, and influences economic and social development, even more so in the context of humanitarian crises. As such, there is considerable scope and potential for both the sectors to have an expanded and strategic form of collaboration. While there is an increasing recognition of the contribution that the commercial sector can make to humanitarian action, and ample scope to scale up its engagement, to date it rather remains an unchartered territory. In addition, for this to occur, new ways of thinking and approaches are needed, including better evidence about the business case for both the sectors to engage with each other. As such, Start Fund Bangladesh intends to shed light on this topic of increasing interest and significance in the national context of Bangladesh given its exposure to a wide range of frequent and devastating hazards.

Objective of the work:

To explore the scope for more effective private sector collaboration with mainstream humanitarian actors in emergency response.

Key Accountabilities:
  • Review of Secondary Documents: similar studies/ research work, private sector company annual reports, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reports
  • Review of Start Fund documents: Terms of reference, proposal, theory of change, Start Fund Committee meeting notes etc.
  • Stakeholder Consultation: Representatives from humanitarian and private sector organizations, academia, government (e.g. Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief), Chamber of Commerce etc.
  • Validation of findings, lessons and recommendation: by the Start Fund Bangladesh members and Secretariat

Deliverables:
  • A brief inception report on the background, scope, objective and methodology to carry out the analysis, sources of information, data collection tools (i.e. questionnaire, checklists, interview guides etc.), limitations, timeline
  • A brief yet easily understandable, evidence based report expanding
  • A relevant stakeholder mapping
  • The need for private sector engagement in emergency response in Bangladesh
  • Disaster impact on private sector in Bangladesh
  • Legal and human rights obligations for engagement
  • Current trends of private sector engagement and CSR in emergency response in Bangladesh
  • Good collaboration models and innovations across the world
  • Business case, value addition, potential scope, drivers and modality of engagement in Bangladesh
  • Challenges and opportunities in terms of economy, scale, risks and sustainability
  • Presentation of findings and recommendations for validation by relevant stakeholders

Expected Outputs of the Consultancy:

Identify new ways of thinking and approaches to scale up and expand strategic collaboration and partnership between humanitarian and private sector organizations in disaster response

 Work Location:

Dhaka

Responsible organization and Contact Information:

ACF Bangladesh, Orin Tower, House 23, Road 113A, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

2. Estimation of days:

75 days (July 14 to September 30, 2019). A tentative timeline is given below

    • Document desk review, background work, context analysis and methodology finalization in consultation with the SFB team and relevant stakeholders: by end of July 2019
    • Primary data collection: By mid-August 2019
    • Data analysis and draft report development: By end of August 2019
    • Validation workshop: by mid September, 2019
    • Final report submission: by end of September, 2019

3. Validation of the Proposal:

All cost should be quoted in Bangladesh Taka (BDT) and will remain valid up to ninety (90) days from the date of proposal submission.  

4. Outline of the Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal should include VAT and TAX (all-inclusive and will be deducted at source during settlement of invoice as per government rule). Please note that, the amount mentioned in the financial proposal will be assessed in line with the quality of the technical proposal.

5. General condition of consultancy:

  • The consultant/s need to work with Start Fund Bangladesh team at the SFB Secretariat (i.e. hosted by ACF Dhaka office) 2-5 days/ as required at the initial stage to collect relevant documents and during methodology development period.
  • The payment will be made in three trenches. First trench of 40% upon the submission of the inception report (see deliverable A), second trench of 40% after the submission of draft report and presentation (see deliverable B and C), and the remaining 20% upon the validated final submitted report.
  • The consultant will conduct the work using own computer equipment.
  • The consultant will have to bear the transport and accommodation costs for the assignment.

6. Criteria for Selection:

We will therefore be selecting the consultant following a two-staged evaluation. For the first stage the following criteria will be used for shortlisting.

Criteria

Total Points

Knowledge skill and professional experience:

  • Experience in conducting similar action research etc.
  • Understanding of humanitarian and private sector work in Bangladesh

40%

Technical approach:

  • Overall understanding of the ToR, proposed methodology, scheduling etc.
  • Team composition and roles, management, coordination with relevant stakeholders etc.

40%

Overall Technical Evaluation Points

80%

Financial Evaluation

20%

Total

100%

The shortlisted consultant (or firm) will be then called for an interview and the final contract will be offered upon satisfactory performance.

7. Competencies Required:

The consultant (or consulting firm) we are looking for preferably meets the following competencies -

  • Proven experience of facilitating conducting similar action research
  • Understanding of the humanitarian and private sector work in Bangladesh
  • Academic degree in Disaster Management, Social Sciences, Economics, Business Administration, Research, organizational development or other relevant technical areas.
  • Excellent analytical, report writing and presentation skills.
  • Willingness and capacity to be flexible and accommodating when faced with difficult and frustrating working conditions
  • Fluency in written and spoken English, while fluent Bengali communication skills will be an added advantage

8. Supervision:

The consultant will design and conduct the assignment in consultation and coordination with the Start Fund Bangladesh team especially the MEAL Coordinator.

9. Confidentiality:

All the outputs will be treated as Start Fund Bangladesh’s property and the outputs or any part of it cannot be sold, used or reproduced in any manner without prior permission from the Start Fund Bangladesh.

10. Submission of Expression of Interest (EOI):

The consultant will confirm her/ his expression of interest and submit a proposal (2 copies of both technical and financial in printed copies including understanding of the assignment, methodology, work plan, team roles, CVs, and past track records of max 10 pages) according to the Terms of Reference (TOR) in a closed envelope clearly marked as (EOI - Urban Minimum Expenditure Basket) on or before 20 June 2019 at ACF Bangladesh, Orin Tower, House 23, Road 113/A, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh.

In case of any query please contact Fhakrul Islam (email: partnershipco@startfundbangladesh.org; mobile: +8801885997990)