United States of America: Survey Design Consultancy

Background

InterAction is the largest U.S. based coalition of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with nearly 190 members working around the world in low- and middle-income countries, fragile and post-conflict states, and emerging/growth economies. Member organizations are large and small, secular and faith-based, with a focus on people living in the world’s most poor and vulnerable places. InterAction revenues come from dues, government grants, private foundation and corporate grants, and a growing fee-for-service program portfolio. Using its collective voice and convening power, InterAction seeks to shape important policy decisions and actions across a wide range of issues – including foreign assistance, humanitarian relief, development, economic equity, food security, and climate change – that advance human dignity, human potential, and self-determination.

About the Project

In March 2018, InterAction formalized its CEO Pledge on Preventing Sexual Abuse, Exploitation, and Harassment by and of NGO Staff, calling on nongovernmental organization CEOs to lead the international humanitarian and development sector in making change. To date, more than 130 CEOs have signed on and the number continues to grow. In February 2019, InterAction commenced a three-year project, From Pledge to Action. The project’s goal is that through a combination of policy, guidance, training, and practice, InterAction and its members will adopt a culture of prevention, response, and support in the face of sexual harassment and abuse (SHA) of staff, and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of beneficiaries by staff or associates of NGOs, thus making our offices and programs safer spaces for individuals and communities alike.

Through the project, InterAction has created and led a Working Group (WG) that comprises a diverse group of staff from member organizations and InterAction staff. The WG provides a platform for shared learning and action around the various components that constitute effective progress towards addressing sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation. The goal is to build our organizational capacities through identifying good practices, sharing expertise, tools and resources and engaging experts to support us as needed. The remit of this InterAction working group is to provide added value as a collective to the efforts of members and to work synergistically with others in the sector.

Objective

As part of the project, InterAction is looking for a consultant to develop two sets of survey questions and relevant guidance notes.

A staff perception survey that Working Group members will use to capture staff perceptions about their organization’s staff culture, particularly how safe they feel and how free to raise concerns or complaints. The survey should also incorporate staff member’s perceptions on their organization’s policies and procedures around preventing and responding to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, and whether they are confident in their organization’s trajectory on this issue. The questionnaire is expected to serve both as a standalone survey or be integrated into organizations’ existing surveys and questionnaires.

The survey questions will be accompanied by a guidance note that outlines how organizations can use/incorporate them, as well as how they submit to Interaction (using standardized templates). The guidance note will also outline how Interaction will collect and store responses in a confidential and anonymized manner that takes into consideration the various implementation methods organizations might choose (standalone vs. integrated) and will allow for analysis by select InterAction staff. InterAction intends to collect data periodically throughout the project period to inform priorities and guide adaptations, as well as to provide members with a better understanding of culture change and the growth of trust within the sector regarding SHA and SEA.

Develop scenario-based interview questions human resource (HR) departments and hiring managers can use in the interview processes to gauge the interviewee’s values, attitudes and competencies regarding sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. As recruitment of staff by member organizations takes place across the world, questions should be able to be tailored to different groups of staff, whether based on population with which staff engage and/or levels of seniority/management. This should be accompanied by a guidance note outlining how to incorporate/use the questions for organizations, how to interpret responses, as well as the rationale or evidence base for the questions.

Methodology

The consultant is expected to submit a methodology for design, and finalization of the survey questions, including development of guidance note and database. This should include consultation with InterAction staff on the From Pledge to Action project, as well as select members of the Working Group.

Timeline

It is anticipated that the consultancy will take place over the course of 6-8 weeks. All deliverables due by December 30, 2019. An earlier completion date would be preferable, if possible.

Key Deliverables

· Literature Review (resource compilation) of relevant existing questions and tools used in

o assessment of staff welfare, organizational culture and culture change, and SHA/SEA

o questions used in interviews to assess attitudes, behaviors, practices around SHA/SEA of an individual applicant.

From Pledge to Action staff can facilitate introductions to some organizations that have already developed some tools and questions.

· Staff Perception Survey Questionnaire

o Finalized Survey Questionnaire – comprising 7-15 questions to understand staff perception of prevention and response to SHA/SEA in their organization.

o Sample database – database for collecting responses from members that ensures confidentiality of data, allows for iterative inputs over time, accounts for multiple submission by the same organization, and facilitates analysis for collective feedback to the Working Group.

· Staff Perception Survey Questionnaire Guidance Note for Member Organizations

o How organizations should use the survey, whether stand alone or integrated into their own existing staff engagement surveys/questionnaires.

o How organizations should submit data to InterAction (cleaning data, standardized template, anonymity of responses).

o Communications strategy for explaining the survey questions to staff and how to provide feedback to participants/staff.

· Staff Perception Survey Questionnaire Guidance Note for InterAction

o Overview of how InterAction will collect and store data to ensure organizational confidentiality and individual staff anonymity, whilst retaining key characteristics of organization for analysis.

o Analysis options that will provide data on survey feedback at one point, as well as comparing across years.

· Staff Perception Discussion/Focus Group Guideline. (Optional) Supplementary qualitative tool to accompany survey questionnaire. Should include methodology, discussion questions, guidance on how to facilitate.

· Human Resources – Scenario Based Interview Questions

· Human Resources – Scenario Based Interview Questions Guidance Note

Consultant Key Requirements

· Minimum 3 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation, project management, project development, management consulting or related field;

· A proven track record of delivering similar surveys and research;

· A proven understanding and experience of consortia work and operational NGOs is strongly desirable;

· A proven understanding of organizational culture, human resources, and staff health and safety is highly desirable;

· Experience working on the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment is strongly desirable.

Stakeholder Relationships

The consultant will be supervised by the Senior Manager, From Pledge to Action.

The consultant will work with Working Group members as outlined and facilitated by the Senior Manager to solicit feedback and input.

Application Process

Interested candidates are requested to submit applications by October 3rd at 5.00pm deadline. Applications should include:

· CV/Resume (maximum 3 pages)

· Cover letter (maximum 500 words) - applications should emphasize demonstrable success against the competencies required.

· A sample of previous surveys developed would be welcome, but not essential

All applicants must submit their complete application in a single pdf file with items in the order listed above. All applications should be sent to: jobs@interaction.org, clearly indicating on the subject line “Staff Survey Consultancy 2019 – [your NAME]”