The Building Resilience in Ethiopia Technical Assistance (BRE-TA) programme is seeking facilitators to prepare and deliver learning workshops as part of programme monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL). We are ideally looking for a team of two facilitators. The facilitators may have a similar level of expertise, or one may be more senior than the other. We are keen to find a team of two facilitators who have worked together before, but are also open to applications from individuals. Applicants must be based in Ethiopia and have the right to work.
The BRE-TA programme
The Building Resilience in Ethiopia (BRE) programme, funded by UKAID and USAID, includes a Technical Assistance (TA) component focused on increasing the capacity of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to lead an effective, more-self-financed and accountable response to climate and humanitarian shocks. At £26m over 41 months (2019- August 2022), the BRE-TA component is part of a much larger humanitarian business case of the same name (BRE). The managing agent contracted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) to deliver the programme is Oxford Policy Management (OPM).
The BRE-TA programme provides demand-driven TA across four workstreams – the first one frames the government’s overarching policy of reducing the impact and risk of climate and humanitarian shocks through stronger ‘Disaster Risk Management’ (DRM), the second and third workstreams provide the sectoral focus on Social Protection through ‘Shock Responsive Safety Nets’ (SRSN) and ‘Public Health Emergencies’ (PHE). The fourth workstream underpins them all as it is focused on increasing the financial resources available for preparing and responding to shocks through ‘Disaster Risk Finance’ (DRF). The government partner institutions are, respectively, for DRM the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) and the Planning and Development Commission (PDC); for SRSN the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA); for PHE the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI); and lastly for DRF the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The BRE-TA MEL system
The internal MEL system is designed to support programme design and delivery with the ultimate objective to increase the likelihood of achieving impact. The internal MEL work follows the programme cycle (see diagram below), with three main phases: (1) design (including theories of change (ToC) for the whole programme and each workstream, and an accompanying results framework; (2) implementation (the information needed to track progress against the ToCs and report against the results framework is identified and then collected at regular intervals); and (3) review of the evidence leading to adaptation (‘learn and adapt’).
We are now moving into the third phase, and are planning learning workshops to review evidence on progress towards outcomes, discuss what is working well and why, and what can be improved, in order to inform ongoing and adaptation to programme design and implementation.
Learning and adaptation workshops
There will be five workshops: one with each workstream (currently planned to last 1.5 days each) and one at programme -level (planned to last one day). Workshops are planned to be held at some point towards the end of November and into December, with one likely to be in the second week of January. Dates will be confirmed shortly. The facilitators would need to be available with some flexibility around these dates”
More detail on the workshop methodology and processes will be provided in due course.
Role of the BRE-TA MEL team
The MEL team will do the following:
· Develop the workshop methodology, for discussion with the facilitator
· Stay closely involved in all aspects of workshop planning, meet regularly with the facilitators to discuss and agree all details of workshop organisation and facilitation
· Provide analysis of evidence on progress towards outcomes
· Provide guidance and briefings on the programme, theory of change (ToC), evidence collected, participants and their roles etc
· Undertake scheduling and logistics, including location/meeting facilities, IT arrangements etc
· Debrief with the facilitators after the first workshop (including review of methodology) and at the end (to review and learn what worked well and what we might do differently next time)
Role/activities of the facilitation team
The MEL team is currently developing the overarching methodology for the learning workshops. The activities required of the facilitators may be adjusted, but are likely to include the following:
· Review relevant programme documents in order to understand the programme, ToC, expected outcomes etc
· Review and understand the evidence on progress towards outcomes
· Discuss and further develop workshop methodology with the MEL team
· Undertake pre-workshop consultations with management and workstreams (WS), as agreed
· Develop detailed workshop protocols including creative, participatory exercises etc and the necessary materials
· Conduct workshops (approximately 7 days total)
· Adjust methodology/materials etc if necessary, after debriefing the 1st workshop
· Prepare a concise report on each workshop
· Hold a final debrief session with the MEL team to facilitate learning for future workshops
Experience/Skills needed
Essential:
· Good understanding of group dynamics; active observation and listening skills; ability to guide and support group discussions in a flexible and sensitive way, to involve all participants, and to arrive at consensus/decisions when needed
· Ability to create a ‘safe environment’ for open and honest discussions, and to maintain confidentiality where appropriate
· Ability to design and incorporate creative, participatory approach/exercises, where appropriate
· Ability to keep group discussions on track and manage time well
· Ability to summarise a lot of information and identify key points for discussion during sessions
· Team player, open to collaborative approach to working with MEL and WS teams
· Ability to digest and reference a large body of evidence, as appropriate
· Ability to manage hybrid arrangements which include in-person and online participants, or to switch to fully online workshops if necessitated by covid restrictions
· Ability to work in English to a high standard (spoken and written)
Highly desirable:
· Prior experience facilitating reflection/learning workshops on a complex, adaptive programme funded by FCDO or other donors
· Prior experience working with theory of change and outcome harvesting
· Understanding of disaster risk management institutional strengthening
· Understanding of the delivery of technical assistance to governments
Timing
Detailed planning and pre-workshop consultations will need to start by mid-October at the latest. So we would like to hire the team and have them start as soon as possible and by mid-October at the very latest.
Approximate level of effort
We estimate 27 days for each facilitator. This may be increased or reduced slightly as the work develops. Depending on the prior experience of each facilitator, we may split the days differently among the facilitators.