Term of Reference (Oxfam GB) Study on OGBs experience in working with
05 Nov 2009 11:40:00 GMT
Deadline date: 16 Nov 2009 |
| Organisation: | Oxfam GB - UK |
| Location: | |
| Type: | contract |
| Salary: | TBA (000's USD) |
| Description: | Term of Reference (Oxfam GB)
Study on OGBs experience in working with local Governments in East Asia. Based: No set country, dependant on candidate base Salary: TBC Background Rapid growth since 1960s has brought hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in South East Asia. Today, average per capita incomes rising steadily, and states are increasingly capable of generating the resources needed for development. Yet this impressive success is accompanied by rising economic inequality, continued discrimination and social exclusion and high levels of vulnerability. At the same time, a fundamental transformation in governments has been taking place across the region. Fifteen years ago, south- east Asian governments were highly centralized. Today sub-national government is emerging as a fulcrum for much of the regions development. Causal factors are: efficiency in delivering and resourcing services, challenges of population growth, the end of central planning systems, the need to engage/protect local economies in a globalising context, demands for democratisation, issues of sustainability, and increased development/poverty targeting. Local government is increasingly responsible for delivering critical services. From a near-zero base, it now accounts for a significant share of total public expenditure. The Regional Change Strategy (RCS) proposes to build accountable and effective governments in East Asia as one of its core themes. This draws particularly on the facts that: Governments are the key to power and influence within the region. Governments have central role in the resolution of more intractable poverty, growing inequalities of wealth and access, and the vulnerability of large populations. Governments in EA have potential capacity to deal with those issues but there is a need to hold them more accountable and more effective Over the past decade, Oxfam GB in East Asia has already developed a comprehensive range of power-focused interventions to improve governance. One of the areas where Oxfam has invested in the past is to build the capacity of Local level Governments though training and exposure support, provision of infrastructure and equipment, provision of small grants, cooperation in poverty reduction effort, influencing way of working (WOW0 etc. All of these efforts had huge success in many countries, particularly in more closed countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. In some cases, we started the work due to non existence of local CSO . For instance, our work with local Education ministry of Vietnam has enabled Oxfam to change the national level Education policies and practices on learner centred teaching methodology. Similarly, our engagement with local forestry department helped us to upscale the community forestry management in Cambodia. There are even evidences that our work with local governments led to changes in national pollicises and practices. Increasing this impact will come through expanding the concept-base, methodology and ways of working to improve our work on Governance. Why the study? The RCS indicated that OGB need to create an environment that is open to innovation throughout the region. Though we had been implementing various governance interventions as mentioned above, we do not have sufficient documented evidence to expand the concept base and improve our methodology in this area of work. A thorough analysis on what worked well and what didnt work well in our past activities will help us to improve our understanding and innovate in this field of governance work. This documentation of experience will serve our learning purpose among countries within the reason. According to the Global Governance Adviser, East Asia Regional is the leader of such engagement. Thus, the documented evidences will also be a valuable experience to be shared with wider organisation. Hence, the purpose of the study is to systematically document the methodology of our interventions in our work with sub-national level Governments in East Asia. Objectives of the study: - Systematically document the programme interventions of chosen case studies where we worked with Governments at sub-national levels. - Assess the direct impact of those case studies in the lives of the poor and its influence on change in policies and practices at local and national levels. - Identify the critical factors of success or failures of these case studies in working with Government at sub-national levels. - Draw learning from the case studies chosen - Identify linkages where work with sub-national governments can have impact at national and regional levels. - Suggest a methodological framework for our future work with governments in different contexts. Scope of the study: The study will primarily focus on our work with Governments in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar. The study will select a sample of 6 to 8 programmes from those 6 countries. These countries and programmes will be chosen to understand our work in complex and difficult environment. There is also an assumption that in closed regimes we have more space to work with local government level to change policies and practices. Case studies from countries with more open environment and have vibrant civil society will be taken for a comparative analysis. This would help us to understand the work with local governments in different contexts. Methodology: Consultant is requested to develop research framework including methodologies and tools. Following are some suggested work: Review of existing documents about the selected project. (Project plans, reports, evaluations etc). Focus group discussion with core team of Oxfam staff and Govt. officials involved in the project. Interviews with various layers of govt. officials who were/ are engaged in the project. Field visits and discussions with participating families of the project. Interview with local Ngos to get their external view of the project. Regional level meeting of project members to discuss about the learning, trends and develop a new methodology. Outputs/ Deliverables; Six to eight case studies with not more than 10 page each. One final study report synthesising the learning and suggesting a new methodology - not more than 15 pages. The reports will be used by Oxfam staff across the globe. If needed and external version will be produced to share with Govt officials, donor communities, INGOs etc. The reports will be placed in intranet. The study recommendations will be presented at both regional and Oxford level management team. The out come of the research will also be published as the Programme insight series from Oxford. Skill / experience: We will look for consultant to undertake research that has extensive experience in doing research and in governance work in the region. Reporting: The study will be led by the Regional Change Lead on Governance with the support of Advisor from Programme Policy Team from Oxford and Regional Policy and Advocacy Manager. A study steering team will be created with the participation of Governance lead/focal point from all the target countries. Budget: has been provisioned for consultants cost and travel from the region knowledge management and learning project. Time frame: the research is expected to commence within November and December 2009. To Apply Please send your CV and cover note to nlhoa@oxfam.org.uk or vvolp4@oxfam.org.uk Closing date 12 noon on the 16 November 2009. |
| Name: | Oxfam GB |