28th ALNAP Annual Meeting (2013) Information and Evidence in Humanitarian Action – Terms of Reference for Background and Meeting Papers
Overview
The Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance is a network of international humanitarian actors comprising Academics, Donors, Non-Governmental Organisations, Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations and United Nations Organisations, dedicated to improving humanitarian performance through organisational and systemic learning. The Network holds an annual meeting structured around a theme of interest to the membership: recent themes have included humanitarian response in urban environments; the role of National Disaster Management Agencies in humanitarian response; and innovation in humanitarian action. In 2013, the theme of the meeting will be ‘information and evidence in humanitarian action’.
The ALNAP secretariat intends to engage a research consultant to produce a background paper for this meeting. The background paper will be based on a literature review and is intended to: introduce the theme of information and evidence in humanitarian action; frame the broad scope of discussion; provide an overview of current good practice; and identify key questions for consideration at the meeting.
The consultant will also be expected to attend the meeting and to produce a meeting paper which incorporates the content of key presentations and discussions into the background paper.
The background paper should be completed by January 7th 2013. The meeting will take place in March 2013 and the meeting paper should be completed by June 30th 2013
Background – Why an ALNAP meeting on information and evidence?
The experience of ALNAP members over the last two decades (in areas such as community-based therapeutic feeding and cash programming) suggests that it is possible to use evidence to make radical improvements to humanitarian programming – but that it is not easy. Challenges invariably occur at several levels: the collection of robust information that has evidential value; the dissemination of this evidence across and between organisations; and the incorporation of evidence in decision making. While experience from other sectors (and particularly from development, health and epidemiology) can offer some pointers in how to address these challenges, the particular nature and context of humanitarian action means that answers from elsewhere cannot be simply transferred to humanitarian operations. Humanitarians need to address challenges of limited data, inadequate access, short operational cycles, cultural differences in what counts as ‘evidence’, and a high level of organisational risk aversion. Within the humanitarian system, and particularly within the donor community, there has been an increased focus on this topic over the past five. However, much of this work is still concentrated in specific groups or sectoral areas of the system – and particularly among GHD members and medical / public health actors, and has yet to reach a broader audience.
Objectives of the meeting
The objectives of the meeting are to:
• Share and improve understanding of, and best practice in, information collection and analysis to allow information to be used as evidence to support effective humanitarian action.
• Share and improve understanding of approaches for embedding evidence-based decision making in humanitarian organisations and across the humanitarian response cycle
• Identify system-wide actions required to improve the collection, analysis and use of evidence in humanitarian operations.
• Identify actions that individual organisations can take to improve the collection, analysis and use of evidence in their own operations.
Aim and Scope of the Documents
The background paper to the meeting is intended to: introduce the theme of information and evidence in humanitarian action; frame the broad scope of discussion; provide an overview of current good practice; and identify key questions for consideration at the meeting.
The contents of the paper will be determined by the literature review. However, at this stage we would expect the following elements to fall within the scope of the review:
• Meaning and definitions of ‘evidence’, ‘information’ and other key terms.
• Approaches to evidence (what counts as evidence, and why?) in other sectors, potentially including:
– Evidence-based medicine
– Public Health activities and ‘best available evidence’ approaches
– Social and development policy
– Legal systems
– Journalism
• Methods and approaches used to support the successful incorporation of evidence in decision-making in other sectors
• Elements of the humanitarian approach, system and context that are relevant to / define the type and quality of information that is useful as evidence, and the methods used for collection and analysis
• Elements of the humanitarian approach, system and context that are relevant to the way in which evidence is used in humanitarian decision-making
• Current good practices in ensuring the evidential quality of information in the humanitarian system, with specific reference to:
– Early warning
– Assessment
– Monitoring
– Evaluation
– Innovation
– Policy and Strategy development
• Current good practices in ensuring that evidence is used in decision making in the humanitarian system
• Current challenges
• Outstanding questions
Expected Output
The consultant will be expected to produce a final document (the background paper), ready for copy edit, of around 12,000 words, in MS Word, with bibliography, text boxes, and any appendices, tables and diagrams required.
The consultant will also be expected to produce a second copy-ready final document (the meeting paper), ready for copy edit, of around 15,000 words, in MS word, with bibliography, text boxes, and any appendices, tables or diagrams required.
Process
The background paper will be based on a literature review, possibly enhanced by a small number of discussions for clarification and key informant interviews.
At the conclusion of the literature review, the consultant will produce a zero draft for comment by the ALNAP secretariat, and will incorporate comments into a first draft.
The secretariat will then circulate the first draft of the document to an advisory group. The advisory group will provide comments, and the consultant, in consultation with the secretariat, will incorporate these comments into the background paper.
The consultant will attend the Annual Meeting, and will then incorporate key themes and discussions into the background paper to produce a zero draft of the meeting paper
The secretariat will provide any comments on the meeting paper, and the consultant will then incorporate these comments and produce the final meeting paper.
Note that papers related to ALNAP meetings do not generally give author name on front cover, and that the suggested citation of any papers is ALNAP (year), title, paper prepared by [author name].
Timing
Work to commence in September, for delivery of background paper in the first week of January.
Attendance at meeting for two days in March
Final meeting paper to be completed by the end of April
ALNAP will allocate twenty five to thirty days of consultancy fees for the contract.
Consultant Profile
We are looking for a person with:
• A demonstrated understanding of issues related to the quality and use of evidence
• Experience of using, and good knowledge of the strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative models for information collection
• Experience (in a field, policy or research position) of humanitarian operations
• Demonstrated skills in writing for a non-specialist audience
While our preferred option would be for a single author, we would also consider two authors working as a team, one looking at evidence quality, and one at use of evidence in decision-making.
To Apply
Please send:
• A short covering letter, outlining your suitability for the task
• A recent CV
• An example of your written work (ideally related to the topic of the meeting) To alnap@alnap.org
By CoB on Wednesday 29th August.
