La Coopérative logistique humanitaire (Hulo) recrute un Auteur coordinateur – Subvention et rapports basé au Burkina Faso, Liban, RCA et RDC.

La Coopérative logistique humanitaire (Hulo) recrute un Coordinateur de subvention et rapports basé au Burkina Faso, Liban, RCA et RDC.

Context of the consultancy:

The Humanitarian Logistics Cooperative, also known as “hulo”, is the first humanitarian European Cooperative Society (SCE) created in June 2021. Hulo now regroups 11 organisations: ACTED, Action contre la Faim (ACF), Bioport, the French Red Cross (FRC), Handicap International / Humanity & Inclusion (HI), INTERSOS, Médecins du Monde (MDM), Oxfam Intermón, Plan International, Première Urgence International (PUI), and Solidarités International (SI).

Its objective is to increase the impact of humanitarian aid by strengthening links and solidarity between humanitarian logistics actors and improving performance through the pooling of logistics and supply chain resources and expertise. Hulo’s “Joint Initiatives” are already underway in 4 countries (Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, DRC, and Lebanon) with more planned to open in the coming 12 months. Activities on the ground include Joint Procurement Initiatives, shared Human Resources, Joint Transport and Environmental Initiatives; and digital solutions for sharing resources and managing procurements. These initiatives save time and money, improve the quality of goods and services provided, and therefore provide more effective assistance to those who need it most.

The hulo approach is innovative and paradigm-shifting: it works as a start-up in the humanitarian sector, trying to disrupt humanitarian organisations’ silo approach and to implement new ways of working. Hulo has been rapidly growing, and is learning by doing, constantly improving, and inventing new processes, methods, and methodologies to meet arising needs and challenges.

Hulo’s activities have been developed thanks to grants coming from different donors (BHA, DG ECHO and CDCS for the moment), and with the precious support of several founding member organisations (in particular ACF & SI at this stage).

Overall scope of work expected from the Consultant:

Hulo needs the support of a multi-donor expert Coordinating Author to produce:

• High quality narratives for project management (concept notes, proposals, intermediate and final narrative reports, institutional memory reporting, ad hoc reporting).
• Policy development documents in close coordination with relevant hulo departments (support in producing, structuring, developing, and/or editing internal hulo official policies, institutional reports, and frameworks).

All content produced must be compliant with donor requirements, technically clear and accurate, and ready to be submitted to various donors (not only BHA, DG ECHO, and CDCS; but also, potentially FCDO, SIDA, SDC, private Foundations, etc.) and other stakeholders (potential members or new private partners, etc.).

The Coordinating Author’s main tasks will therefore be to coordinate and support the hulo Executive Team in writing and/or editing any required reports as needed: donor proposals and reporting (including non-financial annexes), internal Policies and Frameworks, progress reports, other reports, and documents (for communication purposes for example).

Key expectations in terms of required skills (see page 3 for more details):

The Coordinating Author needs to be:

• Proficient and expert in terms of humanitarian donors’ expectations and requirements.
• Fluent – orally and in writing – in both English and French, as he/she will have to use data proposed by the hulo Executive Team in both languages, and to produce narratives in both languages.
• Capable of taking ownership and of coordinating the writing process with members of the hulo Executive Team.
• Able to remain flexible, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively to ensure smooth grants and reports development according to internal hulo deadlines and donor requirements.

Key priorities and deliverables:

In close collaboration with the permanent hulo project teams, the Coordinating Author is expected to:

• Prepare a workplan based on all existing deadlines (donors’ and others) to coordinate the production and finalisation of all expected or needed reports (donors and internal), including a task division with the relevant technical counterparts within each partner organisation.
• Based on a predefined hulo “Donor Strategy”, communicate donor requirements on content, page count, format, templates, and then ensure the application meets these requirements.
• Structure the technical content narrative and list all the required annexes (including the financial/HR/equipment ones…), highlighting key donor requirements and adapting, when needed, to comply with donor requirements.
• Lead coordination meetings when needed, to prepare donor proposals/reports and to collect information in a streamlined and efficient way.
• Develop tools to facilitate follow-up and coordination (checklists, templates, summaries, guidelines, etc.) of proposal development and reporting.
• Draft all narrative components of all required donor documents (proposals and reports). This includes gathering information from relevant members of the hulo team; writing and/or editing all the necessary proposal sections (executive summary, technical approach, project strategy, exit plans, etc.) as well as integrating different sections of the proposal developed by other contributors.
• Edit and revise all existing content to make it clear, concise, precise, correct, consistent. Reorganize material; add or delete information; revise major sections of text; ask other contributors to address any questions and concerns, all in line with donor and internal hulo requirements.
• Propose (as needed) and/or attend technical meetings, check-ins, and other meetings to liaise with technical experts and others to ensure the accuracy of content.
• Follow-up with team for feedback and revisions, revise text based on feedback and ensure the process stays on schedule. Ensure strong version control and tracking of document throughout.
• Assemble the final texts, graphics, and supporting documents into a well-ordered and filed package.
• Support any department in structuring, writing, editing, and assembling required internal policies and frameworks, as well as documents required for external purposes (donors, communications, etc.).
• Be available to write content for donor “humanitarian stories” and other project visibility stories, in close collaboration with the hulo Communication Officer.

Management and Reporting Lines:

The Coordinating Author reports to the hulo Support Coordinator and works in close collaboration with all the hulo Coordination team members, as well as other permanent hulo staff members (such as the Communication Officer for instance) if and when relevant or needed.

Schedule & Travel:

This consultancy is targeting a maximum of 100 working days within the July 2023 to March 2024 period.

Expected consultancy contract start date: July 17th, 2023 (may be subject to change).

Required travel: annually, at least one trip to hulo HQ in France for coordination, workshop, and/or elaboration of new key proposals.

Application & Contracting process:

Hulo invites applications for the provision of services described above.

Interested candidates must submit their expression of interest (EOI) outlining their financial offer (daily rate with clarifications on other cost covering expectations, plus a proposed overall cost), proposal to meet the ToR, scheduling and CV providing information on capacity and experience.

The selected Consultant will be contracted as an “external service provider” by hulo for an initial duration of 9 months but is not expected to work full time during this period. He/She is expected to outline the main key steps of the process as part of the above mentioned EOI. These tasks can be carried out remotely.

Required qualifications for the services:

• At least 5-years of experience in humanitarian project management and coordination.
• Clear knowledge of main donor rules and guidelines (ECHO, CDCS, BHA, FCDO, SIDA, and others).
• Experience in donor representation and negotiations.
• Track record of skills, expertise and experience in writing successful donor-funded proposals in ENGLISH for large-scale, complex humanitarian interventions (in particular for BHA).
• Exceptional ability to synthesize large amounts of information and data to create engaging and compelling text while maintaining technical accuracy and adhering to strict donor requirements.
• Demonstrated conceptual, analytical, writing, and editing skills appropriate for proposal submission and policy writing.
• Excellent capacity to conceptualize strategies and approaches and build theory of change.
• Demonstrated skills in using terminologies and concepts linked to activities concerning Procurement, Supply Chain, Logistics, Information Systems, and/or joint initiatives.
• Capacity to understand and summarize key information from meetings, working sessions, and a variety of documents.
• Attention to detail is a must.
• Ability to juggle multiple demands, manage shifting priorities, and negotiate timelines.
• At least 5-years of field experience, with one or more of the hulo members and/or previous experience with hulo would be an asset.
• Ability to work in a French speaking environment.