Consultancy - Real-time Response Review

Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal 2022

Call for Expressions of Interest

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) brings together fifteen of the UK’s leading aid charities to raise funds in response to major international humanitarian crises. In order to support members’ activities, harness lessons and inform real-time revisions to ongoing humanitarian programmes, the DEC Secretariat is commissioning a review of programmes funded by the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, scheduled to take place between September and November 2022, with in-country workshops to be held by October 2022 and draft reports due by early November 2022.

On 24 February 2022, after weeks of mounting tension, the conflict in Ukraine escalated, threatening the lives and livelihoods of civilians across the country and causing millions to flee. By the beginning of May 2022, more than 5.9M people have crossed Ukraine borders to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, while 7.7M people are internally displaced by the conflict in Ukraine.  

In response to the escalating humanitarian needs, the DEC launched the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal on 3 March 2022. Thirteen Member Charities have responded as part of the DEC appeal, working with partners in Ukraine and four neighbouring countries: Poland, Romania, Moldova and Hungary, and providing cross-border support from Romania and Slovakia. In addition, a regional safeguarding initiative and a regional quality assurance initiative form part of the response. 

At the time of posting, the DEC fundraising campaign has raised over £324 million including £25 million UK Aid Match funding. The thirteen member charities taking part in the appeal will spend DEC funds over a period of at least three years, split into Phase 1 (the first 6 months) and Phase 2 (the following 30 months) of the response. An initial allocation of £120 million has been made to members to support humanitarian programmes. 

Phase 1 planned response priorities for member charities and their partners: 

Health:  provision of primary healthcare services, providing items like trauma kits and first aid kits, as well as supporting healthcare facilities with oxygen compressors and vital pharmaceutical products.    

Cash:  support affected populations needs (internally displaced people, refugees, as well as members of the host communities) through multi-purpose cash delivered using a variety of approaches: pre-paid cards, digital transfers etc to meet vital basic needs and protection services. 

Food:  food assistance, hot meals or using cash transfers like supermarket vouchers. 

Water, sanitation & hygiene: safe drinking water, hygiene information and hygiene kits

Protection: psychosocial support for women, children, older people and people with disabilities, stress management training sessions.   

Shelter: bed linen, blankets, towels, kitchen sets, jerry cans, buckets for displaced people and host communities.  

Purpose of Response Review  

The primary purpose of the Response Review is to instigate collective real-time reflection and learning to inform adjustments across DEC members’ response. The review draws on the initial phase of the response in order that lessons be applied in real-time and into the second phase of the members’ programmes. Recognising the lead role played by national and local actors in the crisis response to date, and the DEC’s own commitments to strengthen localisation efforts, attention to how DEC members are establishing and scaling up their responses in ways that are complementary to and reinforcing of local humanitarian action will also be an important part of the picture. 

The Response Review and the report also serve an accountability function, both to communities and people affected by crisis, as well as to the UK public and other key supporters of the DEC appeal. 

The Response Review will: 

contribute to the identification of key areas of enquiry and evaluation questions in consultation with the DEC and members during the inception phase; 

• draw out key lessons, at operational level, that can inform real-time adjustments and be utilised during implementation of DEC Phase 2 programmes;  
• provide an overview and assessment of the response so far (against appropriate DAC criteria; Core Humanitarian Standard commitments; Grand Bargain commitments and learnings from similar large humanitarian crises such as the 1998 Kosovo war and the 2004 Tsunami in South East Asia); 
• highlight good practice in the humanitarian operations funded by the DEC; 
• where relevant identify gaps, areas of unmet needs, and challenges to the humanitarian operations funded by the DEC, from both a sectoral and cross-cutting perspective  
• draw out key learning from the response to date, to be incorporated during Phase 2 programmes. 

Expressions of Interest are invited from consultants interested in leading the response review, in order to deliver draft country reports to the DEC before 7 November 2022, followed by final reports before mid-November 2022.  

Essential requirements include: 

• Previous experience undertaking real-time evaluations of similar humanitarian programmes (supporting refugees, IDPs and host populations), including methodologies for engaging with crisis-affected people in a fast-changing context, remotely if necessary; 
• A sound understanding of the context in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Moldova and Hungary;  
• Previous experience of undertaking reviews and promoting learning across organisations; 
• A good understanding of the DEC and how it operates; 

With specifics to be confirmed in the Terms of Reference: 

• A sound knowledge of Humanitarian Principles; the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief; the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability; and Sphere Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, as well as an appreciation of key challenges and constraints to their application in this specific context; 
• Clear written English; 
• Previous experience of working in similar contexts and knowledge of relevant languages within the team is desirable; 
• Experience with a DEC member agency is a plus. 

Representatives from the DEC and its members will support and host the consulting team whilst field visits take place, but consultants should be confident that they are able to obtain the necessary visas and insurance, as required. 

To submit an expression of interest, please send an email to programmessupport@dec.org.uk by noon GMT on 30th May 2022 with the following: 

1. a succinct rationale for the selection of team members with an outline of how the Lead Consultant and members of the proposed team meet the requirements above; 
2. an initial indication (maximum 2 pages) of the proposed approach to primary data collection succinctly highlighting how the team will address main challenges or shortcomings of proposed approach; 
3. brief CVs for each team member; 
4. indicative daily rate in GBP for each team member; 
5. confirmation of availability to undertake this work, including field visits to Ukraine and/or neighbouring countries in October 2022, and to deliver the outputs on time. 

Shortlisted consultants will be contacted after 13th June 2022 and requested to submit full proposals against final Terms of Reference to include: 

6. conceptual framework and methodology for how the work will be undertaken; 
7. work plan and schedule; and 
8. indicative budget. 
9. contact details for two referees for similar type of work for the Lead Consultant. 

Questions can be raised by sending an email at: programmessupport@dec.org.uk   

If there are insufficient qualified expressions of interest submitted by the deadline, the DEC reserves the right to publicly advertise the complete Terms of Reference to ask for full proposals. All timescales and deadlines will be reviewed and confirmed at contracting stage.