El Salvador: Urban violence proposal development for Honduras and El Salvador 2017-2020

Organization: Norwegian Red Cross
Country: El Salvador, Honduras
Closing date: 29 Apr 2017

Urban violence proposal development for Honduras and El Salvador 2017-2020

1. Background

El Salvador has for the past two years been ranked as the most violence country in the world outside a war zone. The murder rates have been on an average of 104 murders pr 100.000 inhabitants. The newly published ACAPS analysis that outlines the countries with greatest humanitarian needs in 2017 ranks El Salvador as one of them.

The causes of these alarming figures are usually accounted for by the following explanatory factors: The aftermath of the internal armed conflict (deterioration of the social fabric, extreme social differences and an enormous number of weapons in circulation), a fragile judicial system marked by an extremely high rate of impunity as well as the trafficking and sale of illicit drugs.

The Ministry of Defence in El Salvador has done a census in 14 departments of the country, collecting information about the presence of gangs, revealing a result that active gang members in the country are estimated to be 60.000, more than half a million people are indirectly involved in gang activities. This leaves an estimation of approximately 10% of the total population to be involved with gang activity. Projections by the end of the year is that it will increase to 11% of the country's total population.

A significant number of victims are involved in illegal gang activity. Nevertheless, innocent civilians are frequently affected due to being at the "wrong place at the wrong time". Furthermore, recent years have seen an increase in homicides on persons deprived of liberty or members of gangs who have needed to use health services to maintain their lives. These attacks have been perpetrated on third-level public health services as well as on Specialized units of care, affecting health service personnel who have received threats as well as regular users of the health services. There is very little formal statistics regarding the increase of violence against health care workers, although according to the NS, most people affected are afraid of reporting the incidents as its common to gain threats from the gangs with statements such as: you see, you listen, and you keep quiet. These words have become slogans for the gangs and are being drawn on street walls and schools in the country as graffiti paintings to threaten the general population to keep quiet.

Due to the deteriorating violence situation, public education institutions are becoming unsafe spaces and incidents such as extortions, threats and rapes are becoming more frequently reported in the most affected areas. Reports of incidents are low; however, school drop outs is at a 14% on a national lever, (UN numbers) explaining that the reasons are related to threats and violence from the gangs.

In Honduras, The National University's observatory of violence reported a homicide rate of 2.917 people between January 2016 and July 2016, meaning one person every two hours. These figures only include the official records, excluding homicides that are not reported to authorities, disappearances and clandestine cemeteries.

A relevant amount of people living in urban areas, are affected by the invisible barriers that limit their access to health services, and the perception about the services provided by health providers is deficient, with limited resources to respond to health problems and especially the health consequences of violence in those settings.

Providers of health services (prehospital care, psychosocial support, maternal and child health programs, etc.) are also affected by violent attacks and it is not possible to cover areas within their jurisdiction.

For sexual violence in particular, there are additional deficiencies, due to weak knowledge and response capacities, and insufficient roadmaps for comprehensively assisting survivors. Specifically, some facilities lack PEP kits to treat survivors within the first 72h of sexual abuse.

In general, the conditions in schools are also complex, where the control of gangs limits the access to education and affects many children and youth. In addition, the lack of participation of parents in monitoring the educational progress of children and young people, with realities of family disintegration and styles of relationship with violence, it is common to find parents with low educational level who do not find education as a relevant nor important factor and many youth thus lack support from their families.

2. GENERAL OBJECTIVE:

Proposal writing/development of Urban Violence package in Honduras and El Salvador, based on the concept notes and the inputs provided by Norcross teams. Two outcomes are expected from this consultancy; the proposal writing for the MFA 2018-2020 Honduras and El Salvador and the finalization of the proposal writing for the Telethon Honduras and el Salvador 2017-2020.

The design of the proposals has already started a couple of months ago. Concept notes are already drafted, and needs assessments are in progress. Norcross is heading to the final state of the full proposal development. The objective of the proposed consultancy is to finalize the process of the proposal writing of the Urban Violence program potentially funded by 2 different sources; MFA and Telethon

3. EXPECTED ACTIVITIES:

The consultant will carry out the following activities:

Review of key documents from Salvadoran Red Cross and Honduran Red Cross related to Policies on Social inclusion, Protection, Violence prevention, Mitigation of the humanitarian consequences of violence, National Development Plans, Strategic Plans and Annual Plans
Review previous documents that have been produced so far from previous grants; (MFA 2015-2017 and midterm review)
Review the progress achieved so far; concept notes, needs assessments, general outlines of both proposals, draft of the proposals that already drafted.
Interviews with key interlocutors from El Salvador and Honduras in close coordination with NorCross Delegates and focal points established by Red Cross in Honduras and El Salvador.
Work sessions with Red Cross staff, to validate the and initial findings, it is expected that there will be a significant discussion on the proposed activities and indicators.
Proposal writing MFA and Telethon using the specific formats in Spanish and in English
Coordination with the Norcross advisors during the proposal writing development to discuss about their comments.

4. EXPECTED OUTCOMES PRODUCTOS ESPERADOS:

Telethon proposal writing including log frame + indicators + source of verification and budget for El Salvador, in close coordination with NorCross Delegates and focal point established by Red Cross.
Revision of Telethon proposal including log Frame + indicators + source of verification and budget for Honduras.
MFA proposal writing including log frame + indicators + source of verification and budget for El Salvador and Honduras, in close coordination with NorCross Delegates and focal point established by partner Red Cross Societies

5. METHOLOGY

The consultant will provide a proposed workplan as part of the deliverables of the application for job opportunity. The amount of time invested in both countries might be quite similar though it is foreseen that a relevant amount of work will be desk work
The consultant will review the information provided by the Norcross Delegates and Salvadoran / Honduran Red Cross staff and she or he will analyze and transfer this info into the MFA and Telethon formats.
The consultant will carry out, work sessions with NorCross Delegates and focal points established by Red Cross in El Salvador and Honduras.
The consultant will participate during interviews with key interlocutors, to collect relevant data and validate the information provided by NorCross Delegates and focal points identified by partner Red Cross Societies.
The consultant will take all the information collected from the teams and will transferred it to the formats.
There will a session with the Norcross advisors as part of the design process. Based on these discussions some final adjustments on the proposals will be expected. The consultant will have a close and frequent dialogue with the Norcross Team and the National Societies**.**

6. VISITS:

In case it would be necessary there will be visits to the field, they will be organized in close coordination with the Norcross team and the National Societies staff. The potential visits will be in Urban areas in San Salvador and Tegucigalpa. The National Societies will provide the vehicles and will arrange the visit to the targeted areas beforehand.

7. Time frame

The consultant is expected to start up first week of May. The date to submit the final outcomes will be on June 10^th. The proposal writing will last from 4 to 5 weeks.

8. THE CONSULTANT’S REMUNERATION

The Consultant shall be remunerated for the Services performed and costs incurred in conformity with the procedure set out in this Section. All payments under this Contract shall primarily be made by Norcross by transfer directly to the bank account designated by the Consultant.

Whenever it shall be necessary to evaluate one currency in terms of another for the payment, the rate of exchange applicable shall be the selling rate of dollar our Euro on the date of invoice.

The payment shall be released according to the following products outlined in the time line:

TRANCHES

DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED

1st release/tranche

40% on submission of the first draft proposals

2nd release/tranche

30% on presentation of the revised proposals

3rd release/tranche

30% on the submission and acceptance of the final proposals

9. SELECTION CRITERIA

The consultant should encompass the following qualification:

Demonstrated experience design and proposal writing of Urban Violence project required.
Minimum qualification of a Masters or PhD with equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience in relevant topics.
It is required that the consultant brings concrete expertise on Protection and community based health programs, gender and sexual based violence as well demonstrated competence in successful proposal writing experience.
At least five years of direct full-time experience in the urban violence field
Excellent written and spoken English and Spanish required (including analysis, writing and presentation skills)
Experience working in Central Americas strongly preferred.
Experience working with representatives of the Government and Protection and Health Institutions strongly preferred;
Knowledge and experience working with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement preferred.
Demonstrated capacity to work both independently and as part of a team

10. Copyright

The copyright and the property of all documents prepared by the Consultant about the Contract rests with Norcross. Norcross shall not be liable to pay any royalties in connection with the use of such docum

How to apply:

Interested candidates should submit their application material by April 29 2017 to:

Gonzalo Atxaerandio, Norcross Regional Representative: gonzalo.atxaerandio@redcross.no

The application materials should include:

Curricula Vitae
Work plan
Financial proposal itemizing estimated costs for services rendered (daily consultancy fees)
An example of a successful proposal related to Urban Violence.