Individual Consultant/firm for Assessment of RDRS Union Federation

About RDRS Bangladesh

RDRS Bangladesh is a development and humanitarian organization committed to change through empowering the rural poor. It provides development opportunities and services to around 3,415,594 underprivileged families in 29 districts, and work with 396 community-based organizations known as Union Federations seeking to empower their grassroots members. RDRS maintains a staffing of over 5,000, over 90% of whom are field-based.

About RDRS Union Federations

Forming people’s organization and providing an ‘agency’ to the disadvantaged and marginalized rural people helps to ensure effectiveness of development intervention. This action contributes to achieve sustainability of the changes that have been made through the work. The “Union Federation” is a unique community empowerment process where RDRS has invested hugely to develop people’s agency to raise the voice of the ‘unheard’ groups of the marginalized and disadvantaged section of the rural people. It involves creating a democratic space – one in which everyone’s voice is given equal weight. This needs to be actively constructed, as it does not naturally exist. As such it is counter-cultural – challenging the power relationships and stratification that have created inequality. RDRS believes that it is never easy and may never be perfectly achieved, but it should be a constant focus.

RDRS Federation approach aimed at encouraging community members to come together, deliberate, and propose solutions to issues of community concerns. The process is intended to result in communities taking ownership over their development by creating their own organization.

One of the purposes of the Union federation is to do advocacy to strengthen participation in decision making at local Union Parishad, ensure fair share of resources allocation for the poor and disadvantaged, attain membership in the lower tier of the power structure and act as god negotiator for the disadvantaged segment of the community as Active Citizen

Objectives of the Study

The study’s overall objective is to inform RDRS design/ programming approach for its signature program popularly known as RDRS Union Federations to transform them as Strategic Development Partner.

The specific objectives are:

• Document the current landscape of peoples’ organization, community based organization, farmers’ society, clubs and other grassroots level organization landscape of the country which some other organizations are patronizing to like but not limited to, Caritas Bangladesh, FAO, SKS, ESDO etc.
•  Review the by-laws of the Federation and make recommendations for necessary changes.
• Review the Federation assessment tools and suggest for its further improvement.
• Identify the gaps and challenges of the Union Federations and make policy recommendation with clearly identified prospects of investing to such initiatives to transform them as the dependable “Peoples’ Center” of the people whose voice is unheard.
• Assess Community infrastructure and available resources within the community to make the Union Federations sustainable.
• Explore potential funding opportunities/ income generating activities to make the union federation economically viable and also the identify challenges and capacity gap of the federation in this regards.
• Explore opportunities to transform Union Federations as centre for agricultural and other value chain and a resource center at the village level
• Map the organizations/institutions in the country who are supporting the initiatives of peoples’ organization similar to RDRS Union Federation
• Provide an overview of national level actors and international donors who can support with resource s to support such initiatives of Peoples Organization similar to RDRS Union Federation
• Develop a needs and gaps assessment matrix, indicating geography specific analysis with a special focus to northern Bangladesh. This assessment matrix provides a brief overview of each of the 396 union federations of RDRS to further direct/recommend RDRS on possible entry points and brief program approaches/strategies for the entry points in a comprehensive new modality of programming on Union Federation.
• Provide recommendation to inform strategic decision of RDRS
• Suggest institutional, programmatic and financial sustainability measures along with viable business plan
• High level policy recommendations including a way forward – how to form national level structure and influence the policy.

Key Competency Required

• Have significant experience in researching on community based approach, community engagement experience in working with the similar context and topic overseas will be an added advantage
• Excellent understanding in qualitative research methodology; publication in the similar filed will add value
• Previous experience working in the northern Bangladesh and experience working in union setting will be an advantage.
• Comfortable in working with tight deadlines and bearing a result oriented attitude

Expected Deliverables

• Concise and self-explanatory high quality final report, written in English addressing all the above mentioned specific objectives of the study. Report must include list of all the documents reviewed as reference.
• Brief synthesis of the report (Maximum 5-7 pages) in English
• A final power point presentation summarizing the outcome of this assessment
• High level policy recommendation

Timeline
The assessment is expected to be completed within three months of award

Guideline for Application

The proposal should comprise with the following sections and given page limit. The proposal should comprise with only the following sections and given page limit. Proposal will be accepted only through email in soft copy form (signed scanned copy). No hard copy proposal will be accepted.

Application Instruction:

Submit your letter of interest along with proposal to  ramen@rdrsbangladesh.org by mentioning subject line Assessment of RDRS Union Federation and Policy Recommendation- by 10 December, 2021.