Location: Home-based, no travel expected 
Type of contract: Consultancy 
Languages required: English
Experience required: 5 years
Consultancy start target date: March 2023 
Duration of Contract: one month 

Application deadline: 19 March 2023 

About ACT Alliance  

ACT Alliance is one of the world’s largest coalition of churches and church-related organisations engaged in humanitarian, development and advocacy work. It consists of 147 members working together in over 120 countries, with headquarters in 73 countries, whose aim is to create a positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards. 64% of our members are headquartered in the Global South, 30% in the Global North, and 6% are Global members. For more details about the general work of ACT, please refer to http://www.actalliance.org/.  

ACT Alliance’s structure is unique, with national, sub-regional and regional forums that bring local, national, regional, and international church-related organisations to work together under the same principles and standards, bringing different skills and expertise to support each other and leverage collective action in humanitarian, development, and advocacy engagement. Thanks to the presence of national ACT forums in over 50 countries, and of its global secretariat in strategic locations (Geneva, New York, Nairobi, Bangkok, Amman, Brussels, Toronto, and Bogota), ACT Alliance brings local and regional concerns to the global arena.  

Terms of Reference 

The ACT Alliance Secretariat seeks to engage a consultant to review the Rapid Response Fund (RRF).  The RRF is ACT’s flagship funding mechanism for locally led response.  The fund provides funding primarily to national level ACT members with the capacity and mandate to respond to humanitarian emergencies in their localities particularly during the early phases after a disaster.  The mechanism supports life-saving activities for rapid onset, slow onset and/or complex small- and medium-sized emergencies.  RRFs are expected to be implemented within a period six-month timeframe.   

Methodology 

Work undertaken as part of the consultancy should include the following core components: 

• Desk review of RRF documents 
  • Existing policy documentation and guidance relating to the RRF  
  • RRF responses in the period 2018 – 2022: Sample review of fifteen responses against CHS commitments (with a focus on the roles of requesting members and secretariat, based on the evidence available) 
• Interviews with key stakeholders of the fund  
  • Funding and requesting members (including members involved in sampled responses), ACT secretariat staff 
• Analysis and triangulation of findings  

Deliverables 

The consultant will provide a report with: 

• An analysis of the current state of the Rapid Response Fund mechanism   
  • Its strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats 
  • Its adherence to quality standards against CHS commitments 
• Recommendations on how to improve the RRF mechanism 

Required Skills and Experience  

• More than five years’ experience in Humanitarian programme/project evaluation, including collecting data in interviews, surveys and focus groups and analysis; 
• Experience of working in humanitarian contexts and the nexus with development 
• Excellent knowledge of humanitarian quality and accountability standards 
• Familiarity with networked and faith-based organisations 
• Familiarity with faith actors in humanitarian response 
• Fluency in written and spoken English. 

Reporting  

The consultant will report to ACT’s Global Humanitarian Operations Manager and will liaise with the humanitarian staff within the secretariat. 

Tender process 

Only registered consultants or companies shall be considered. Qualified and interested parties should send their tender application titled “RRF Consultancy” to: recruitment@actalliance.org by 24.00 CET 19.03.2023. 

In your tender, please include: 

• Expression of Interest, outlining relevant experience, understanding of the TOR and suggested approach to implementation inclusive of delivery timeline up to a maximum of 25 days’ work. 
• CV of the consultant(s) and where relevant information re the company. 
• Examples of relevant previous consultancy work.  
• List of 3 professional references. 
• Financial offer: gross daily rate for the consultancy in USD, EURO or CHF – including administrative overheads, taxes and charges. 

Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.