CARE Ukraine Organizational Assessment & Structure Review (Consultancy)

Location: Home-based with expected field visits in Lviv, Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro

Duration: 60 Working Days

Conditions: International Hire

Starting date: February 1st 2024

Focal point: CARE Ukraine Country Director

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE Germany working in Ukraine is a member of CARE International (CI) and CI is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience through its 21 Members as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses strongly on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion (GEDI) are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions.

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation of the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

CONTEXT

On February 24, 2022, Russia initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marking a significant escalation in a conflict that had been ongoing since 2014. This devastating situation continues to have a profound impact on the lives of people throughout Ukraine, spanning various levels of society. The front lines remain in constant flux, with Russian forces controlling certain regions and cities coming under siege. Aerial attacks are persistently targeting military installations and critical civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, often resulting in collateral damage to innocent civilians. This ongoing conflict has triggered the largest population displacement in Europe since World War II, with 6.24 million internally displaced individuals within Ukraine and 7.68 million refugees seeking safety in neighbouring countries. As of January 2023, OCHA has identified 17.6 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The 18-month war in Ukraine has left a devastating legacy, as at least one-third of the nation’s energy infrastructure lies in ruins. This destruction has left millions without heating and access to clean water. Furthermore, it has caused damages exceeding $135 billion to critical infrastructure, compounding the existing challenges posed by the ongoing global pandemic of gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual reproductive health issues.

These compounding issues have resulted in deteriorating mental well-being, economic setbacks, job losses, heightened food insecurity, and a pervasive sense of shame, all interconnected in a vicious cycle. These critical factors have impeded access to and the affordability and availability of essential services for vulnerable populations. As the number of people in need of humanitarian and recovery assistance continues to grow, urgent action is required.

In October, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, some of which have recently been liberated. This development further complicates the challenge of gaining access to these areas. Therefore, in addition to preparing the population for reconstruction and democratic development, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to secure access to recently liberated and recaptured areas in the East. This will enable the provision of aid to regions that were previously inaccessible and have suffered greatly as a result. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the transition towards development prioritizes livelihood recovery, healthcare, Protection, reconstruction, and the restoration of services to a standard even better than they were prior to the war.

CARE UKRAINE

CARE Ukraine places a strong emphasis on a locally led response, forging partnerships primarily with over 21 Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and, when necessary, INGOs with well-established presence in the country, including access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine intentionally and strategically fosters collaborations with local and national Women-Led and Women’s Rights organizations (WLOs/WROs), thereby enhancing the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach, which are integral to our country strategy, recently adopted partnership strategy, and a suite of partnership tools rooted in mutual respect and complementarity.

In the initial weeks following the escalation of the conflict, virtually all humanitarian aid within Ukraine was coordinated and executed by local entities. These groups, in conjunction with local authorities, continue to be the primary providers of aid, yet they are swiftly depleting their resources, including funds, fuel, and physical stamina. Consequently, a significant portion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to enhancing and bolstering the capacities of these local partners.

As of August 2023, CARE Ukraine’s forged partnerships with over twenty local and national organizations, including WLOs/WROs has raised over $45 million for humanitarian response. More than half of this funding has been directed to these local and national partners. To date, CARE Ukraine’s initiatives have effectively reached over 800,000 individuals, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and affected populations in remote areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s central office is currently situated in Lviv, we are actively engaged in a strategic expansion effort to broaden CARE’s presence and outreach. So far CARE has established one coordination office in Kyiv, as well as area offices in Dnipro (East) and Odessa (South), ensuring coverage of both the eastern and southern regions of the country.

CARE Ukraine team has grown exponentially in 2023 reaching over 75 national staff and 25 international staff in December 2023. Roles and responsibilities have evolved, internal processes have been defined. But the rapid growth led to coordination issues between Country Office and Area Offices, a large structure that might not always be optimized, and internal communication gaps.

Based on initial feedback received from the Strategy Review led in December 2023, CARE Ukraine Senior Management Team (SMT) is looking at:

• Enhancing the cost-efficiency of the internal structure based on the foreseeable fundraising capacities,
• Enhancing coordination, decision making and information sharing mechanisms within the Country Office and between the Country Office and the Area Offices,
• Focusing on the nationalization of staff, which should include empowerment, benefits and capacity building plans for Ukrainian staff,
• Fostering the decentralization of the decision power to Area Offices to enhance partnerships, program design and implementation, which should include the relocation of technical units and positions at area level.

While 2023 was a year of program growth, 2024 will be a year for consolidation and stabilization.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

The overall objective of the consultancy is to conduct an Organization Assessment and Structure Review (OASR) to identify areas for organizational and functional improvements that should lead to a better cost-efficiency and sustainability of CARE’s program in Ukraine.

The expected outcomes of the OASR will determine the purpose and direction of the needed structural and organizational changes, as well as better orient key decisions on priority investments for the year 2024.

The OASR should clearly define the change process that will lead to improvements in coordination, decision making and information sharing mechanisms at all levels of the organization. Recommendations for change should support the strategic objectives defined in the 2024 Country Strategy, essentially regarding the nationalization of the human resources and the decentralization of the decision-making process at area level to enhance program design and implementation.

It should include structural changes to be undertaken, positions to be changed/deleted/relocated, budget analysis, and indicators to measure progress towards results. The OA should be realistically formulated and tailored to available funding sources expected in 2024.

METHODOLOGY OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT and STRUCTURE REVIEW

By way of these Terms of Reference, CARE Ukraine will engage an Organizational Development expert, with the requisite skills, that include a strong understanding of the work of NGOs in conflict-affected countries, and experience of similar processes with NGO and grant-led operations.

The OA should recognize the multiple dimensions of the existing structure and the power relation between units, departments and offices. This approach should ensure that recommendations of change should go beyond individual requirements/expectations to include organizational capacity (governance, structures, processes, etc.) as well as the broader context and environment within which the organization functions.

It is expected that the consultancy begins with gaining an understanding of who we are and what we do so as to determine what organizational structure will best fit with what we currently do and our strategic objectives for the year 2024. Therefore, the OD expert is expected to thoroughly review and understand the organization by looking at the following:

1. CARE Ukraine Country Strategy 2024 and Work Plans,
2. CARE Ukraine’s current organizational and functioning structure/systems, including organization chart, management lines, Job Descriptions of managerial roles, internal decision-making, coordination and communication processes, gender-balance, etc.
3. Approved projects/grants, and projected volume of activities, budget, number of partners, etc.
4. Comparative analysis of the Master Budgets and Fundraising capacities for the years 2023 and 2024, ratio international staff vs national staff (and related costs), ratio support staff vs program staff, etc.
5. Recent SWOT analysis and evaluation reports (such as Real-Time Evaluation 2022), as well as any other relevant documents.

It is expected that the assessment will be built around self-assessment processes as well as broad consultation to help validate, expand and improve the range of information collected. The OA should therefore be participatory and must be based on a consultative methodology, such as focus groups and individual interviews with relevant stakeholders. Field visits in Ukraine should be planned, including Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa.

The consultancy will include the following 4 key processes:

1. Assessment Phase: Desk research, meetings and visits to the organization. We are open to opinions on how the prospective consultant would like to follow this process.
2. Organizational assessment report of CARE Ukraine’s structure with regard to, essentially (but not only): governance system, internal management and reporting processes; an analysis of the financial robustness and sustainability of the structure, assessment of the human structure/staffing, identification of power dynamics, etc.
3. Recommendations for structure review: produce relevant recommendations of change on all of the above to improve CARE’s structure in order to help its consolidation and financial sustainability.
4. Action Plan/change management plan: produce a guiding action plan to incorporate the recommendations and validate it with the CARE Ukraine senior management team.
5. SCOPE OF ENGAGEMENT

The consultant will report to the Country Director and work closely with the Deputy Country Directors, and the Area Managers. CARE Ukraine, through the executive coordinator, will provide the Consultant with all relevant documentation, contacts for stakeholders and relevant information to provide insight into the current organization and program operations.

DELIVERABLES

The Consultant will be accountable for the following 4 main deliverables:

1. An Inception Report: The inception report should be prepared by the Consultant before embarking on a fully-fledged review exercise. The inception report will detail the Consultant’s understanding of what is being reviewed and why, as well as proposed methods, tools, sources of data and procedures intended to answer each review question. The inception report should also include a proposed schedule of tasks, activities, timeline, milestones, deliverables and key issues. The inception report shall not exceed 5 pages.
2. A Draft Organizational Assessment Report and Recommendations for Structure Review: The Consultant will deliver a draft OASR report within the indicative assignment timeframe. CARE Ukraine and CARE Germany will provide inputs to the report, through both consultative meetings and physical reviews. The report must shed light on the indications provided in sections 4 and 5.
3. A Final Organizational Assessment Report and Recommendations for Structure Review: The Consultant will deliver a final report to CARE Ukraine Senior Management Team (SMT), within the stipulated timelines.
4. A phase-based Transition Action Plan from the current structure to the new structure must be submitted together with the final report. Follow-up with the CARE Ukraine SMT for preparing the implementation period of the proposed structure review plan: meetings will be scheduled according to the implementation where the expert is expected to provide advises on how to accompany changes.

Timeframe:

• Advertisement of ToRs – end date of applications (19 Jan 2024) COB
• Screening and short-listing of candidates, against set criteria (22-24 Jan 2024)
• Interviews of short-listed candidates and selection (25-26 Jan 2024)
• Consultant contracting (29-31 Jan 2024)
• Interviews with SMT members and delivery of Inception Report to CARE UKR SMT (1-5 Feb 2024) – 5 days
• Collect and analyze the current information on the structure (existing policies, org chart, coordination matrix…). Preparation of the field visit / security briefings (5-15 Feb 2024) – 5 days
• Field visit: Travel to Odesa then Dnipro, Kyiv and finally Lviv to conduct 20-30 individual interviews of staff and if possible partners to identify the key bottlenecks (15-29 Feb 2024) – 15 days.
• Conduct online interviews with specific partners on their evaluation of CARE Ukraine’s structure improvement needs (1-18 March 2024) – 3 days.
• Conduct interviews with Care Germany key stakeholders (online or in-person in Berlin) (1-8 March 2024) – 3 days .
• Analyze the current cost structure to identify optimization opportunities (11-13 March 2024) – 3 days.
• Delivery of draft Organizational Assessment and Structure Review report including concrete recommendations (15 March 2024) – 3 days.
• Discussions/inputs around the OASR report and final report submission (15-30 March 2024) – 8 days.
• Propose and seek for comments from CARE UKR and CARE Germany a phase-based Transition Action Plan (including timeline per recommended action) (1-15 April 2024) – 8 days.
• Final Transition Action Plan submitted and validation from ESMT / SMT / Care Germany (15-30 April 2024) – 7 days.

Total: 60 days

QUALIFICATION/REQUIREMENTS

• Experience in humanitarian context and organizations
• Background in business administration and process design
• Consultancy experience in process reorganization and strategy with humanitarian organizations
• Experience in conducting interviews, facilitating focus groups, and synthetizing information
• Ability to create a safe space and to gain staff trust
• Experience in DEI / Intersectional work and power dynamics
• Solution oriented mindset
• Neutrality
• Understanding of Care context
• Excellent English writing and communication skills.
• Ability to work and travel within disaster risk areas.