Guidance on Situational analysis (Needs assessments) At Plan International

I. Background information

Plan International Germany (German National Office, hereinafter referred to as GNO) has a programme department with around 30 programme specialists, who manage projects implemented by staff in Plan International’s Country Offices (COs) and their Programme Units (PUs) with a focus on improving children’s rights and gender equality in development and humanitarian contexts.

The projects and programmes managed are financed by public donors such as the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (INTPA), the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and other international donors as well as by private donors such as major corporations and foundations. In October 2020, the department managed 372 active projects, while in October 2021, 340 projects were managed.

These projects are co-designed by colleagues in COs and GNO and local partner NGOs, in line with donor priorities and regulations and based on GNO and CO priority topics and guiding principles. A situation analysis and/or needs assessment should theoretically inform the intervention.

However, within the organisation, there is no guidance or common understanding of what makes a good needs assessment / situation analysis and how to develop this based on the different tools and frameworks.

The basic difficulty regarding the analyses of situations in the field is that donors tender projects and programmes with their own priorities and in addition, Plan International also follows its own strategic intervention areas, reflected in the Areas of Global Distinctiveness framework, GNO’s programme framework and the Country Strategies. COs thus usually only react to these already defined issues. Plan (COs) do approach the communities they work with, but they do so with pre-determined agendas (from donors, GNO and themselves), thus often ignoring or missing out on deeply analysing local conditions and thereby limiting an understanding of the situation.

However, it is widely accepted that both humanitarian action and development cooperation can only succeed if externally financed projects are regarded as “owned” by the local population and if the local population is thus closely involved in planning, implementing and evaluating. Ownership as a central principle of humanitarian action and development policy can foster locally-led action which can unlock, support and leverage the potential of individuals and communities and lead to more acceptance and sustainability.

The debate around ownership is stretching back as many as 50 years. In recent years we have observed a re-shift in donors’ thinking towards more ownership and an resurrecting openness to the concept.

In addition, finding adequate solutions to the respective situation is at least as challenging, especially given that situations and solutions may lay outside of the Plan focus areas or expertise.

Other – Plan internal – factors that can lead to missing or insufficient analyses are:

• Insecurity regarding the overall methodological approach to be applied (open vs. predefined), reflecting the above-mentioned debate on ownership;
• Lack of knowledge on how to conduct a situational analysis, including which methods and subsequently tools to be used;
• Lack of knowledge on how to analyse and interpret information gathered for programme design and thus to write good situation analyses that feed into design documents
• Lack of ressources (or willingness to invest them) by the COs, as needs assessments usually are not paid for by donors.

The consequences are that CO colleagues and GNO programme specialists often need to re-design projects when the situation of the project participants becomes clearer during the implementation phase. However, a (complete) re-design is challenging due to a mix of lack of analytical skills, financial and time constraints and because not all donors are flexible towards fundamental changes in project design once the implementation has started.

In addition, available relevant frameworks and tools such as the Gender, Age and Inclusion Analysis Framework and Gender transformative and Inclusive Marker are often not embedded with needs assessments and situational analysis.

Objectives of the consultancy

GNO intends to deepen its staffs’ knowledge and ability to support CO colleagues in applying the principle of “local ownership” with an open methodological approach to conduct situational analyses and to use the results to inform the project design.

With this in mind, GNO invites tenders for a consultancy with the aim of:

1.) Developing a guidance on how to conduct a situation analysis (needs assessment) including

• a depiction of the overall methodological approach;
• a specification of the subsequent methods and tools to be used with examples; including suggesting minimum standards for Plan Germany
• a description of how the information can be analysed and interpreted and fed into project design documents (such as, for example, Theory of Change, Logframe and other formats).

While applying the same overall principle for both humanitarian and developing context, the guidance should reflect differences in these. Reference to costs involved should also be made. The guidance must be based on Plan’s gender transformative and inclusive approach to programming.

2.) Developing micro-learning resources, such as a presentation or video and/or a ½ or 1 day training manual on how to conduct a situational analysis (needs assessment).

II. Scope of work

The scope of the consultancy services comprises the review of (GNO-relevant) donor regulations, familiarisation with Plan’s working areas and principles, existing Plan guidance documents and exemplary analyses carried out as well as consultation of material of other institutions, organisations, think tanks and individual experts in the field with the aim of developing a short, practical guidance as well as learning material as appropriate.

The consultant will work closely with the programme specialist on quality management at GNO and a small working group (consisting of three technical specialists and two programme specialists) that has started to work on the issues of situation analysis (needs assessment) in GNO. The consultant is not expected to travel, however, if based near Hamburg, a visit to GNOs in person is encouraged. Contact with staff, also in COs and external stakeholders can be established via Teams or Zoom.

III. Deliverables (service performance and reporting obligations)

Following the signature of the contract and a briefing call between GNO’s reference group and the consultant (team), the consultant (team) must submit a brief inception report with a revised working plan and timeline and an updated depiction of the working approach including methods to be used for carrying out the assignment.

Other deliverables to be submitted to Plan are:

• Overview of methods/ tools for this assignment
• 1^st and 2^nd draft raft guidance on how to conduct a situational analysis
• Final guidance on how to conduct a situational analysis
• Proposal for learning products
• Learning products (TBC)

IV. Contract duration

The Contractual relationship shall last from January (subject to applications received and availability) to March/April (depending on start date).**

V. Timetable and reporting period

Total duration of the consultancy =11,5-16 days

If interested, the tender documents can be requested by e-mail from fatima.haase@plan.de.

VI. Terms of payment (remuneration, expenditure and other costs)

A first instalment of xx% will be paid to the consultant (team) following the approval of the inception report, a second instalment of xx% after the discussion on and the approval of the ways forward of the 2^nd draft and the proposal of micro-learning products. The final payment will be carried out after Plan’s approval of the final deliverables. The Consultant (team) is not entitled to insurance and/ or social security payments by Plan and must possess an own laptop and other working materials that are necessary to carry out the assignment as per the Consultant’s offer to Plan International Germany.

VII. Data confidentiality and privacy

The Consultant must respect and protect the confidentiality of all information acquired as a result of or pursuant to this Term of Reference and will not, without Plan International prior written consent, disclose any such information to a third party, unless it is required to do so by any applicable law or regulation or is specifically authorized, Plan International must comply with Applicable Law and implement any additional policies or procedures as required . Moreover, other Plan International policies impose additional requirements regarding the collection, use, and protection of particular classes of Personal Data, including the requirements described in the Global Policy Safeguarding Children and Young People.

VIII. Tentative financial proposal (budget)

The maximum amount available for this assignment is 10.000 Euro gross amount (incl. VAT). The Consultant (team) must show in the offer how exactly the costs are divided.

IX. Expected qualifications & experience

• Proven practical experience of conducting or supporting situational analyses (needs assessments) / situation analysis at the local level
• Proven knowledge of a wide range of participatory methods and tools in international humanitarian and development work to conduct situational analyses (needs analysis assessment) and inform project and programme design
• Knowledge of the international and German donor landscape, and related regulations
• Experience in rights based, gender transformative and inclusive as well as participatory approaches
• Knowledge of international best practices regarding situational analyses (needs assessments and situational analysis)
• Experience in developing “easy” learning products such as guidances, handouts, trainings, etc., especially for international NGOs
• Consultancy experience with (international) NGOs
• Excellent writing skills in English or German
• Excellent analytical skills
• Being pro-active
• Ability to produce practical, clear documents