Development of IRC Kenya Strategic Plan

Background and Introduction

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been operating in Kenya since 1992, directly supporting vulnerable refugee populations and Kenyans in Nairobi, Turkana and Garissa counties. Turkana and Garissa counties are situated in vast, remote, and arid frontier areas and their population is comprised largely of nomadic pastoralists, whose movement and migration patterns are influenced by weather and available pastures. The IRC has extensive experience working in host communities and in refugee camps, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), county governments, other agencies, local partners and the communities. IRC is one of the lead agencies providing Health, Nutrition and Women Protection & Empowerment (WPE) services in the Kakuma and Hagadera refugee camps and for host communities in Turkana and Garrissa counties.. IRC also leads in disease surveillance activities in the respective refugee camps and the surrounding host communities. In Nairobi metropolitan area, the IRC is serving urban refugees and their host communities with livelihood and protection initiatives to improve their employability and increase income earning potential through interventions that develop useful skills.

Over the last five years, IRC Kenya has seen several changes which include a significant reduction in funding, scale down of operations in all field sites (excluding the Urban program) and facing a more competitive environment in donor funding. An overall global shift away from supporting countries with long term displacement problems has seen Kenya refugee programs face funding reduction while newer conflicts across the world receive more attention. This shift notwithstanding from reality that Kenya still has a considerable refugee problems with continued influx of refugees and leaving the country (give statistics of the number of refugees). A high dependency on refugee humanitarian funding in the last ten years has contributed to a workforce and country strategy that is limiting for the the country program in seeking opportunities outside this arena (refugee programming). IRC in Kenya has earned itself as a go to organization in refugee and close hosting population programming in health, nutrition and Gender Based Violence protection. Despite doing other excellent programming outside the camps it has been difficult to convince both Civil Society Organization partners and donors of IRC’s Kenya’s broader capabilities. The country program would like to change this image as well as increase its programming in the humanitarian, development and peace triple nexus to become a more relevant actor in Kenya INGO support.

Kenya government’s directive for camp closure by June 2022 and an ongoing discussion between UNCHR and Kenya government on implementing a road map that will see closure or reduction of camp population, integration of refugees from EAC (East African Countries) with Kenya communities and a possible movement of refugees to urban areas or the rest of Kenya means that IRC needs to consider how best to respond to the needs of refugees and host populations outside of operations it has been used to for a number of decades. Finally, IRC globally and in Kenya is entering a period of SAP (Strategic Action Plan) development that will culminate in a plan that will be implemented for three years. Given the above mentioned scenarios it is important that IRC Kenya goes into the SAP exercise with more foresight and considerations of how it can best achieve its objectives under the evolving operating environment.

Purpose and objective of the assignment:

The overall purpose of this assignment is to support IRC in development its 3 year strategic plan by providing recommendations to the country program and supporting with the SAP development process that does not underscore the Kenya vision 2030.. IRC Kenya has already started engaging in numerous conversations around the SAP and it will be undertaking more exercise to review its objectives, context analysis, people’s priorities, local systems capacities (stakeholder analysis), IRC added value,diversity, equality and inclusion. All these analysis will be staff driven which means the exercise will be a self reflection.

This assignment aims to build and complement this exercise by allowing an outsiders professional views to augment those that will be drawn through staff consultation, basically having an independent consultant guide the whole process to enrich the final product and ensure IRC Kenya fulfils its mandate. IRC globally has five strategic outcomes to deliver among its program, the great focus of Kenya program has been in 1 or 2 outcomes, given the vision to grow across the outcomes; it is important for the consultant to provide guidance on where IRC can be of an added value given the country, region and global expertise. IRC Kenya has been looking to engage further in ASAL counties like Kajiado, Isiolo, Samburu, Moyale, Baringo, Garissa, Wajir, West Pokot, Kitui, Tana River among others. This assignment will clarify for IRC Kenya the counties to work in the new strategy with clear justification based on different variables.

• Guiding points for the assignment include but are not limited to:
• Given the IRC’s role in country to date, what has been going well so far and what has been challenging?
• Given the different scenarios, contexts and dynamics how should IRC understand its role in the country at the moment?
• What Crisis should IRC be addressing and how should it respond to them and the people affected?
• What are the main issues that are causing harm in Kenya and how are these crises likely to evolve in the next three years?
• What are the steps the country program needs to take to make it more competitive in new bids and funding opportunities?
• Help analyze the funding and donor landscape
• What new programming areas can IRC focus on beyond what it is currently doing?
• Which new counties should the country program consider working in?
• What partnership organizations can IRC consider working in for better contribution, performance and results?
• understand the conflicts and crises dynamics that are causing harm to people, the needs and capacities of communities.
• How can we put clients at the center of our work and reach the most vulnerable people?
• What are the roles, capacities and strategies of local actors and systems and what do we need to learn to determine how we can best ‘add value’ by complementing and reinforcing local actors and systems.
• Understand the current refugee status in Kenya, consider the priority country needs through context analysis and use the findings to to support the revision strategy?
• Help IRC staff fit in ideas from this assignment into the SAP being developed at the moment. This will be discussed and agreed between IRC and the consultant.
• Summarize national and county governments strategic priorities for the period of the strategic implementation.

Methodology:

1. Hold initial reflection and scooping meetings with the country team to guide the context analysis/funding analysis/stakeholder analysis.
2. Key informant Interviews with management, staff, other CSOs, donors, Technical Unit, Regional Unit, local and national government officials
3. Literature review of existing program documents
4. National level information gathering and consultation with civil society organizations including potential local partners.
5. Staff surveys
6. Workshops for SMT plus staff from IRC during the SAP development exercise
7. Other methods deemed fit by the consultant

Deliverables:

1. The final report should be analytical and user-friendly detailing key findings and providing clear and forward looking recommendations. The report will be submitted in English and should includes: Executive summary, background (including Strategic Plan development process), context analysis,stakeholders analysis, funding analysis, vision and mission statement , strategic priorities, vision statement, target clients and geographical area profiling, gender equality and diversity equality and inclusion, outcome and scale and program modalities.
2. A summarized PowerPoint presentation
3. Final report appendixes – stakeholders mapping, donor mapping, context analysis, data analysis, clientele description and rationale, geographical areas or crisis/conflicts description.
4. Work with the SAP Coordinator and other SAP support staff in putting information together as guided.

The Contractor will submit to IRC the following materials:

• Inception report to be discussed with IRC;
• Draft report to be discussed with IRC;
• 3 years strategic plan
• Final report

Time Frame and Level of Effort 

The period of the contract may be staggered from June to August. The consultant is expected to carry out all the preparation required to roll out the as per the suggested timeframe.