Jobs and Careers

COMPETITION TYPE : 

Request for Proposal

DETAIL DESCRIPTION : 

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PROJECT BACKGROUND
Democracy International’s (DI) Protection, Inclusion and Empowerment activity (PIE or the Activity) aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged and marginalized populations through needed legal-regulatory framework changes, improved services, and intensified cooperation between the government and non-governmental actors to address the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Armenia has faced a series of crises, including earthquakes, food insecurity, pandemics, and conflicts. The COVID-19 pandemic and the recent escalation of conflict have had particularly severe consequences, leading to a significant number of displaced populations and an increased demand for social protection. Additionally, there is uncertainty regarding the distribution of responsibilities for social protection among the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MLSA), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI).

Within its overall Activity, DI aims to support MLSA, MTAI and MIA collaboration with other Government of Armenia (GOAM) emergency response actors to evaluate current policies, regulatory frameworks, and past performance related to providing social protection services during harsh weather events, pandemics, conflict outbreaks, and other emergencies. This evaluation will determine resource gaps and agency-specific needs at the national and local level. In the meantime, DI aims to simultaneously conduct a mapping of civil society and private sector crisis response actors to identify key stakeholders and collect recommendations for GOAM.

Within this scope of work (SoW), DI will provide targeted support to local governments (LGs) and ministries to refine social protection processes for those affected by natural disasters, pandemics, conflict, and other crises, ensuring that the crisis management system actively anticipates and accounts for constituent needs. DI will also conduct simulation exercises with community-based stakeholders by setting response standards (how to provide a gender-sensitive response, what should be in place for people with disabilities), so no vulnerable group is forgotten.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this SoW is to evaluate emergency response capacities at national and local levels, with regards to social protection services for affected people and to compile and implement recommendations on integration of social protection services into national programs, local disaster risk reduction (DRR) plans, and other regulating policies.

REQUIRED SERVICES
The organization will perform the following tasks to fulfill the objectives of the contract:
a) Work with MLSA, MIA and MTAD, in collaboration with relevant UN sector / sub-sector working groups and other GOAM emergency response actors, to evaluate national, regional, and local level capacities for social protection services during harsh weather events, pandemics, conflict outbreaks, and other emergencies.
b) Review and present recommendations on:
o refining social protection processes and establishing response standards for those affected by disasters on a national level.
o adapting the community DRR plans to address identified access and service gaps for social protection during crises, including the needs of most vulnerable groups.
c) Based on the recommendations above, refine the existing community preparedness plans in collaboration with national and local government officials and other emergency response actors to improve social service provision during crises.
d) In cooperation with the MLSA, MTDAT, MIA, and other emergency response actors, such as the Armenian Red Cross and UN agencies, implement crisis simulation exercises in the communities.
e) Present the above refined DRR plan to the national authorities as a standard template for DRR plan.
f) Map civil society and private sector actors to identify key response actors and their capacities.

PROGRAM APPROACH
This intervention is designed to identify the gaps in emergency response capacities of actors in Armenia. It is anticipated that as a result of this evaluation, DI will have an in-depth understanding of the issue as well as solutions for addressing gaps at the national, regional, and local levels and will be able to design its future interventions to increase the country’s capacity.

As part of the overall assignment, the selected firm will refine the DRR plans of five (5) communities with participation of local governments, healthcare, educational facilities, provide and public sector representatives to include Social Protection elements. Trainings will be delivered to at least 30 local actors with up to 100 participants based on the revised DRR plans and simulation exercises conducted in the selected five (5) communities, aimed at increasing preparedness of these communities’ organizations and citizens to emergencies. The selected firm should propose names of the five (5) communities, with a solid justification for selection, with the consideration that no previous similar interventions have been implemented and the communities are most prone to natural and man-made disasters. The refined DRR plan template will be presented to the national authorities as a standard template to scale up across the country.

The assessment of the civil society sector should provide DI with knowledge on the response capacities of the key actors of the country in general and selected communities in particular. Specifically, civil society’s ability to apply social protection services to the affected population, considering vulnerable groups including people with disabilities, children, elderly, etc.

DELIVERABLES
The selected organization shall be engaged over a seven-month period between April and December 2024, subject to the start date of the subcontract. Deliverables for the period will include:
1. Evaluation Report on national, regional, and local level, assessing GOAM’s capacities to provide social protection services in emergencies, including in-depth analysis identifying gaps and deficiencies in service provision, equipment, supplies, shelter, etc.
2. Set of Recommendations on adapting national, regional and community level response policies to reflect social protection services for the people effected by emergencies, including integration of response standards.
3. Based on the recommendations, refined / adapted DRR plans developed in a participatory manner with five (5) consolidated communities, including integration of response standards.
4. Capacity building events conducted for the selected communities’ key emergency actors, such as USS staff, LG, healthcare facilities, schools, kindergartens, CSOs, etc.
5. Crisis simulation exercises held in five (5) communities, based on the refined DRR plans.
6. Exemplary DRR plans presented to the MIA/MTAD for adoption and countrywide scale-up.
7. List and summary of identified key CSO actors with their emergency response capacity assessment analysis and recommendations for improving these capacities.

REQUIREMENTS : 

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING
All submissions should include an outline of the following:
- Methodology: A proposed approach to delivering the assignment;
- Organization Strength: Describe the organization’s strength and approach/methodology in collaborating with emergency actors, developing sector related policies, and delivering hands on trainings and conducting simulation exercises;
- Past Performance: Describe the organization’s past performance and experience in engaging in emergency management sector;
- Comparable Projects: Provide a detailed description of at least two comparable projects (similar in scope of services to those requested herein) which the Proposer has either ongoing or completed within the past three years. The description should identify for each project – (1) The client; (2) A description of work; (3) The duration of project; (4) The results/ deliverables of the project; and (5) The contact person and phone number for reference;
- Curriculum Vitae of the team leader and key staff that will have the primary responsibility of managing the day-to-day oversight of this activity;
- A detailed budget and budget by deliverable in USD to deliver the activities outlined in the required services above. Please use the budget template and complete both worksheets (“Detailed Budget” and “Budget by Deliverable”) attached below the announcement.
a. All subcontractors must procure and maintain Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance for the duration of the subcontract. PIE will cover the cost of DBA insurance if it is included in the proposed budget. DBA can be calculated as 0.75% of all paid wages (employee and consultant) for time worked in Armenia. Please include DBA as a line item in the budget proposal.

EVALUATION CRITERIA
An award will be based upon best value (a combination of qualifications and rates), with submissions evaluated in accordance with the following criteria:
- Proposed Methodology (20%)
- Firm Knowledge and Experience (25%)
- Qualification and Expertise of Key Staff (25%)
- Cost (30%)

APPLICATION PROCEDURES : 

Detailed responses should be emailed to: lsargsyan@democracyinternational.com no later than Monday, April 01, 2024, at 16:00 p.m. Please address all questions to lsargsyan@democracyinternational.com. If the question /answer applies to all applications, PIE will update the original posting. Please check the posting back periodically.

Please clearly mention in your application letter that you learned of this job opportunity through Career Center and mention the URL of its website - www.careercenter.am, Thanks.

ADDITIONAL NOTES : 

Please refer to the detailed Scope of Work attached to this announcement before submitting your application.

ATTACHMENTS:

RFP Budget Template.xlsx - Budget Template RFP_FINAL.pdf - Request For Proposals for The Adaptation of Emergency Response Interventions to Social Protection Needs of People Affected in Armenia