ACT Consultant (Coach & Mentor) – The British Council – Lagos

Job Category: Education (non Teaching)

Introduction
This assignment is to support the ACT Programme to strengthen Civil Society Organisational Capacity through coaching and mentoring of ACT Civil Society Partners and also, to contribute to the deliverables listed in this ToR.
This Terms of Reference is a call for registered consultants who are skilled in coaching and mentoring for organizational development, to support the capacity of civil society organizations to enhance their current skills or acquiring new skills.
Consultants are expected to carry out a work place, face-to-face facilitation process with the Civil Society Organizations, regular, personal meetings. The coaching and mentoring sessions will be short-term and task-based and duration will be determined based on the need of the civil society organizations.
ACT seeks to engage the services of the coaches and mentors coaches, across 7 states in Nigeria, including FCT, Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, Edo, Adamawa, Borno and Rivers state. to strengthen CSO systems in the following areas:
The three-circle model of organisational development (Internal, programme and external capacity areas)
CSO Network/coalition development – network specialist skills required
In response to this call for expert coaches and mentors for Organisational Development, consultants are expected to be registered to operate as business entities.
Organizations/Consultants interested should send in CVs and expression of interest indicating one of the CSO system strengthening areas highlighted above and submit evidence of relevant work previously done.
State-based coaches and mentors are highly preferred, therefore organizations/consultants should indicate location in their application.

Background
The Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (ACT) programme was designed by the EU as its response strategy on the need to invest and engage more with the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in 7 states and FCT, Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, Edo, Adamawa, Borno and Rivers States).
Recognizing that strengthened Civil Society actors have great potential to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in Nigeria if their capabilities as drivers of change are enhanced, the ACT programme will implement innovative actions that will support the strengthening of institutional mechanisms, structures and processes aimed at improving the internal, external and programmatic environments of selected CSOs, networks, and coalitions.
The ACT programme is funded by the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund and is managed by the British Council. The programme will be implemented over a period of five years from July 2018, with the first 6 months serving as the programme’s Inception Phase for the development of strategies for full programme implementation and will support the EU to strengthen the voice of civil society across all its current programmes.
ACT is working with different categories of CSOs including Networks/coalitions who are different level of formation, therefore ACT would support “Emerging” CSOs- These are CBOs that provide services or support to local communities. They do not have organisational systems and processes in place, with very limited financial sources. In some cases, they are only funded by members of the organisation and they may not have a business operational space, thus making it very difficult to comply with registration or other legal requirements for its operations. There is limited evidence of gender and social inclusion mainstreaming. There is no consideration given to risk, ownership or the sustainability of activities. This category will be supported through Coaching.
ACT would also facilitate access to Mentoring support to “Developing” CSOs- These are CSOs that provide services or support to their constituents at local, state or national level; they have a system of governance in place, but may struggle to source required resources to be fully functional. There is evidence of Gender and Social Inclusion mainstreaming.
They have acceptable processes in place for management, financial records, plans and may have basic or adequate infrastructure to operate and make efforts to ensure ownership at constituent level. There is limited focus on sustainability as these CSOs may struggle to attract enough financial and human resources to remain fully functional and may lack some skills to manage and operate the CSO, or to fully mitigate against areas of potential risk. They are compliant with registration requirements but could be at risk of being non-compliant if not supported, are not always able to consider the sustainability of their CSO and are at risk of not accessing the required resources.
Another level of coaching and mentorship support is required for CSO networks/ coalitions in the states- believed to have considerable reach based on the number of NGO memberships they have. Networks are complex, difficult to manage because it involves the governing of members who are autonomous with diverse objectives and goals. Through this support, the networks should learn to build trust of their members and other stakeholders by being open and accountable. Networks must create open lines of communication among members. Networks should have strategy to build technical capacity of members. The networks should be able to coordinate policies/programs.
The Objectives of this Assignment
The objective of this assignment is to improve selected ACT CSO partners output and enhance the organizational systems and sustainability mechanisms of participating organizations through coaching and mentoring.
Approach and Activities
Consultants will be required to provide coaching and mentoring support for:
Organizations at the earliest stages of their development whose organizational development systems are in rudimentary form. These organizations do not have organisational systems and processes in place, with very limited financial sources. In some cases, they are only funded by members of the organisation and they may not have a business operational space, thus making it very difficult to comply with registration or other legal requirements for its operations. There is limited evidence of gender and social inclusion mainstreaming. There is no consideration given to risk, ownership or the sustainability of activities.
Organizations that provide services or support to their constituents at local, state or national level; they have a system of governance in place, but may struggle to source required resources to be fully functional. There is evidence of Gender and Social Inclusion mainstreaming. They have acceptable processes in place for management, financial records, plans and may have basic or adequate infrastructure to operate and make efforts to ensure ownership at constituent level. There is limited focus on sustainability as these CSOs may struggle to attract enough financial and human resources to remain fully functional and may lack some skills to manage and operate the CSO, or to fully mitigate against areas of potential risk. They are compliant with registration requirements, but could be at risk of being non-compliant if not supported, are not always able to consider the sustainability of their CSO and are at risk of not accessing the required resources.
The Consultant will work with teams and individuals on a one-to-one basis in an organization using a task-oriented methodology to enable the organizations develop specific skills and behaviours necessary to strengthen their operating systems
The consultant will be guided by the report of the capacity assessment, already conducted by ACT, to come up with an extensive plan required for the organizational coaching and mentoring.
The consultant shall provide the services and deliver the deliverables to the British Council, with reasonable skill, care and ability in accordance with the standards set by British Council in any contractual agreement associated with these Terms of Reference.

Scope of Work:
The role of the consultant(s) is to provide coaching and mentoring support on organizational development for 5 ACT supported CSOs in a state
This work will be done with the Supervision of ACT state focal persons and the ACT Component 1 team.
Deliverables

The deliverables for this assignment include:
Individual coaching and mentoring plan and targets for participating CSOs (this should come with agreed timelines)
Individual Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for measuring progress of input with participating CSOs
Redefined strategic positioning of the CSOs
Reviewed organizational systems and structure
Clear and documented sustainability plan for participating CSOs
Regular feedback and sharing of coaching and mentorship progress through reports, with the ACT team
Final comprehensive report of the mentoring and coaching process

Risks:
Risk remains with travel, we do not envisage specific risks at this stage, however, security advice will be provided on the relevant State prior to commencing the consultancy.
Monitoring & Evaluation:

ACT will monitor progress towards the achievement of the Deliverables closely

Timing and Resources:
TBD after ACT review of expressions of interest.
Management Arrangements:
The Component one Team Leader will be responsible for the day-to-day as well as oversight management of this assignment.
Requirements
This Consultancy firm has been selected on the following basis:
Registered to operate as a consultancy firm in Nigeria/Certified coaches and mentors
Having a Postgraduate Degree in Strategic Management, Development Studies or other related Social Science courses
Expert in human development and interpersonal dynamics with good advisory and mentoring skills
Expert in fostering organizational competencies by using performance management tools
In-depth knowledge of organizational change management and empowerment process.
Extensive work experience and proven record in multi-stakeholder engagement and strategic management.
Good analytical and documentation/report writing skills
Good communication and facilitation skills
Evidence of previous experience on coaching or mentoring on organisational development
Evidence of Knowledge of the CS environment (Including NGOs, CBOs & Networks)
Ability to travel (inter / intra-state).
To Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should download, fill and send the completed “ACT Expression of Interest Form” and their CV to: NG-FCR.HR@ng.britishcouncil.org using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

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