Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) is an Italian humanitarian non-governmental organization founded in Milan in 1965. COOPI aims to help the world’s poorest to improve their access to healthcare, food, and financial security, and to overcome their special vulnerability to wars, civil conflicts and natural disasters. For 50 years of long-term support and constant presence in the field, COOPI has been engaged in breaking the cycle of poverty and responding to specific emergencies in numerous sectors, including Food Security, Humanitarian Aid, Health, Socio-Economical Services, Water and Sanitation, Human Rights, Education and Training, Migrations and Sustainable Energy.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant for Development and Presentation of Comprehensive School Safety Framework in Sokoto and Kaduna State

Locations: Sokoto and Kaduna
Employment Type: Part-time

COOPI in Nigeria

• COOPI started its operations in North-East Nigeria in July 2014 to carry out a rapid evaluation of the most relevant constraints suffered by the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) displaced by the food crisis and the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin.
• The COOPI Nigeria Field Office is located in Yobe State, in order to cover intervention LGAs in Yobe State and to provide direct assistance to the IDPs and their hosting communities, through a multi-sectorial programme covering Food Security, Social protection, Early Recovery and Livelihoods, Nutrition and Child Protection interventions.

Background

• Disaster Reduction and Social Safety (DRaSS) is a disaster risk reduction project that aims to save lives and protect the health and livelihoods of vulnerable people from the impact of climate-related disasters by improving disaster preparedness, timeliness, and quality of risk information and response actions (strengthening social protection systems) for multiple natural hazards, including flooding at ward, local, state and federal levels.
• Funded by the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) and jointly implemented by Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) and Christian Aid (CAID), the intervention is implemented in 8 rural communities across four Local Government Areas of Kaduna and the Sokoto States.

Objective and Purpose of the Consultancy

• The Consultancy seeks to hire the services of an experienced Disaster Risk Reduction expert to facilitate and coordinate the development of the Comprehensive School Safety Framework (CSSF) for Kaduna and Sokoto States.
• The proposed consultant would lead initial engagements with the state and non-state agencies responsible for disaster risk reduction and management, basic education, and child protection.
• S/he would also lead capacity strengthening efforts in the three pillars of the CSSF for selected state level and Funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid local government stakeholders, to ensure that they are equipped with the right skills to support conversations around the development of the document for each of the states.
• The proposed consultant would also engage with stakeholders from the State Disaster Mitigation Platforms, Community Disaster Management Platform (CDMP), to conduct a baseline on the efforts at achieving the CSSF that have been taken by the government or other civil society organizations or international NGOs and programs. This is to ensure that the project is building on already existing structures and efforts and not working in silos.
• The consultant will facilitate a three-day consultative meeting with all stakeholders in each of the states, aimed at developing state-specific CSSF based on the three pillars of Safer Facilities, School Disaster Management, and Disaster Risk Reduction Education.
• The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Protection Expert, who will be recruited by COOPI to ensure the integration of context-specific child protection components in the CSSF for each of the states.
• Therefore, in conclusion, this consultancy is aimed at supporting each state to develop and adapt as a policy document the Comprehensive School Safety Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Methodology

• A combination of participatory methods would be engaged; including initial meetings with the DMP and CDMP to collate information on existing efforts on CSSF in the state; initial engagements with relevant state agencies including the SEMA, Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board, Ministry of Budget and Planning (or as in Kaduna State, Planning and Budget Commission) participatory discussions on the three pillars of the CSSF and context-specific applications; group work, PowerPoint presentation, question and answer sessions, and experience sharing. There would also be role-playing depicting the experiences of children and teachers about the disaster.
• The training methodology should also explore other learning methods like pre-and post-evaluation for participants to ascertain their level of knowledge before/after the training.
• At the end of each training, the proposed consultant will follow up with the agencies and share drafts of the CSSF for inclusive input and finalizations.

Responsibilities
The Consultant will work closely with COOPI’s Protection Officer and Christian Aid’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Programme Officer to deliver the followings:

• A draft agenda for the three-day consultative meeting in each of the States; share it with COOPI and Christian Aid for approval five days before the activity.
• A proposed guide for facilitating the conversations in the consultative meetings shared with COOPI and Christian Aid will provide a direction for the conversations and will be reviewed and approved.
• Facilitate the consultative meetings at agreed venues in each state, using participatory methods as stated in section 3 above.
• Work with COOPI and Christian Aid MEAL team to design appropriate tools and techniques for measuring the outcome/impact of the consultative meetings.
• Document and submit for feedback and review, a detailed but concise training report within five (5) days after the training has been concluded.
• Submit the final report for approval.

Deliverables

• Guide for Facilitating the conversation
• Consultative meeting agenda
• Final training report
• Draft CSSF for each state
• inal CSSF for each state.

Consultancy Period:
The Consultancy will last as follows:

• Baseline will be conducted for two days in each state (desk review).
• Two days have been allotted for the development of the facilitation guide
• The consultative meeting will happen for three days in each state.
• Five days have been allotted for the development of the draft CSSF; which will be followed by three days to review and reflect inputs from the stakeholders, COOPI, and Christian Aid before a final document is submitted to the state.
• Making a total of 20 days. Consultancy days do not include travel days.

Competencies

• Master’s Degree
• At least five (5) years of demonstrable knowledge and experience in disaster risk reduction and management.
• Expertise in facilitating participatory learning and training sessions for community-based organizations and other grassroots entities.
• Demonstrate good communication skills, desirably in the Hausa Language.
• Ability to develop easy-to-understand training manuals to suit participants’ knowledge and learning capacity.
• Ability to facilitate training sessions with the full participation of trainees.
• Experience in writing comprehensive training reports.

Budget and Terms of Engagement

• Consultancy fee of thirty thousand Naira only (N30,000) will be paid for each of the consultancy days.
• Consultant is expected to agree and abide by COOPI and the Christian Aid Code of Conduct, by signing a copy of the document on engagement.
• Logistics (accommodation and transport) will be provided for the consultant by COOPI and Christian Aid. However, meals are included in the consultancy cost.
• 10% withholding tax will be deducted from the total Consultancy fee (if the Consultant is an individual or organization)
• 30% of the fee will be paid to the consultant after signing the contract agreement and the balance of 70% paid on receipt of an acceptable final training report.
• The consultant will work for a period of 17 – 20 working days.

Application Closing Date
6th May, 2022.