Closing date: 30 Sep 2018
CONSULTANT ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND ENGAGEMENT
SPECIALIZED ON WEAPON CONTAMINATION
External Consultancy Contract
Please note that this will be an external contract and does not entail the ICRC employment conditions. If you are not an independent consultant, the contract will be managed by an external agency partner.
Background
The end of armed conflict does not mean the end of suffering. Explosive remnants of war and other sources of contamination, including the release of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards (CBRN), continue to expose populations to life-changing risks.
The Weapon Contamination (WeC) Unit within the ICRC provides delegations with operational expertise on conventional weapons such as landmines, explosive remnants of war, stockpiles and small arms as well as CBRN hazards. The unit is responsible for activities to reduce the impact of weapon contamination on people. These may include field assessments on weapon use, clearance, risk education, information gathering and capacity building.
The WeC unit directly implements activities in the field, advises and provides technical support to other units within the ICRC, and plays a lead role within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement on issues of weapon contamination.
Rationale for intervention
The ICRC recognizes that interactive, community-led approaches – that may, or may not, include locally relevant and trusted digital platforms – are the most effective means of sharing information with and establishing two-way dialogue with people affected and/or at risk, and with staff and volunteers.
In recent years, a small number of initiatives that leveraged technologies for the aforesaid purposes – particularly around use of apps, web portal, and SMS – were launched and then stagnated or disappeared.
The WeC and the Community Engagement teams want to understand why the mine action community is not using technology more profusely to improve the effectiveness and accountability of its work, what the ICRC can learn from that, and how WeC could, potentially, better leverage technology to fulfill the vision outlined in its Institutional Strategy.
Objectives
The WeC and the Community Engagement teams want to hire an external consultant to take stock and provide cost-effective and realistic recommendations on how WeC could better integrate technology within the following areas:
• Risk education
• Information gathering
• Capacity building
Supported by the WeC and Community Engagement teams in Geneva, the consultant will:
1. Provide a brief summary on how the mine action sector, over the last 10 years, has (or has not) integrated technology to improve the effectiveness and accountability of its work.
2. Collect good practices both within WeC in the ICRC and in the larger mine action sector, on:
• How people affected and/or at risk use technology to prevent and/or report incidents.
• How mine action agencies use technology to improve one-way and two-way communication with people
• How mine action agencies use technology for training and knowledge sharing purposes with staff and/or volunteers.
While there will presumably be many examples that use low-tech channels (i.e. face-to-face, posters, radio spots…), the consultant will particularly focus on examples that leverage social media, apps, including messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram, or other digital platforms, because of their incremental use around the world.
3. Define a collective vision for how WeC can better leverage technology to improve:
• One-way (messaging) for people affected and/or at risk
• Two-way communication (dialogue) with people affected and/or at risk.
• Training and knowledge sharing with staff and RCRC volunteers.
4. Provide recommendations for WeC to better integrate technology to improve the effectiveness and accountability of its work.
Outputs
• An internal report of no more than 15-20 pages (TBC) containing the following elements:
Brief summary on tech in the mine action sector in the last 10 years.
Collection of good practices.
Vision for WeC use of technology.
Recommendations.
• The consultant will also facilitate a number webinars (TBC how many) to present the DRAFT report with the objective to share the highlights and validate it both with the WeC team in Geneva and in the field. Based on the webinars, the consultant will finalize the report.
Methodology
Desk research.
Interviews conducted remotely with key informants within the WeC team, both in Geneva and in the field. This may include launching a brief survey monkey.
Interviews conducted remotely with other demining agencies/relevant groups.
Indicative timeline: The consultant will have 24 days (TBD) to complete this consultancy.
Education and experience desired
• Minimum 5 years of experience in programme management in mine action operations. Experience with the ICRC and/or the IFRC and/or a National Society will be a distinctive asset.
• Proven knowledge of and experience designing and implementing mine risk education programmes.
• Proven experience of analysing mine action programmes and evaluating outcomes and impact.
• Proven experience of developing communication material. Experience of developing modern-technology communication tools an asset.
• Proven experience in participatory, community-based impact evaluation approaches.
• Proven experience in reviewing and assessing organizational and institutional capacity building.
Desired profile and skills
• Excellent analytical, research, forward-thinking and planning skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
• Conversant with social media and new technologies.
• Strong inter-personal, networking and convening skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver within tight time constraints.
• Strong organizational skills, ability to work independently, and prioritize different projects, issues and timelines in parallel.
How to apply:
Interested persons fulfilling the above criteria should send the following documents by Sunday 30th September COB to the attention of Silvia Pelucchi to the following address spelucchi@icrc.org:
• CV (2 page maximum).
• Cover letter (1 page maximum).
• 2-3 samples of own work demonstrating similar outputs (reports, tools, products, etc).
• Daily rate, in CHF.
• 2 professional references (candidate will be informed before references are contacted).
In the subject line of your email, please write: Consultant WeC tech: NAME SURNAME.
Only applications sent to this email address will be considered. Should you not receive a reply within one month, please assume that your application has not been shortlisted.