We are seeking a highly skilled consultant to to support the design and development of the Ipas strategic and capacity building planning process. The duration of this consultancy may extend between 1-3 years.
Please see the Terms of Reference for consideration.
Terms of Reference
IPAS STRATEGIC AND CAPACITY BUILDING PLANNING PROCESS
Objective:
Ipas is initiating a request for a proposal for a consultant or consultant team to support the design and development of an Ipas strategic and capacity building planning process.
Strategic Planning Context
The following provides some context and focus areas for the strategic and capacity building planning. These are among the areas that we expect to focus our next strategic and capacity building plan
Project Goal and Scope
The strategic and capacity building plan will shape the next five years of Ipas’s growth and development. We want to clarify the path forward for the organization and lay the groundwork for the organization as it moves into the 2020s. We expect our Ipas profile to continue to grow and we want to align our global activities across functional areas and geographic regions in support of a clear and focused goal and organizational purpose. A consultative examination and refining of Ipas’s mission and vision statements will be a critical step in this process. Overall this plan will define how we prioritize our mission, goals and objectives and identify areas for improvement and change. We plan to build a costed business plan that provides for the resources necessary to support the plan.
We expect to work closely alongside the consultant(s) for up to one year, and will have a strategic and capacity building team made up of members of the Board of directors and staff in place to work with the consultant. The draft strategic and capacity building plan will be presented to the Ipas Board of Directors for approval in January 2016.
Among the items to be considered in the planning process:
Proposal Requirements
A successful proposal will include the following six outputs the sequencing of which can be discussed:
It is important for Ipas to hear from our staff their views on the strengths and weaknesses of the organization – not just programmatically, but also in terms of management and leadership. They should also contribute to the thought process for the strategic plan by diagnosing potential threats and opportunities. Ipas intends to sample widely across the organization and to have significant staff involvement in the design of the strategy. We already have some information on this already and, thus, which may simply need to be updated.
Externally, Ipas would like to hear more about how partners and donors view it and its work. We would also like to learn from other comparable organizations how they face challenges similar to Ipas’s. In an increasingly competitive landscape, Ipas wishes to learn how best to position the organization for continued success.
Ipas anticipates working through our senior team and with the Board of Directors Strategic Planning Task Force to produce an SP that will be far-reaching as well as achievable. Ideas for the process and steps to engage staff, the Board of Directors, and external stakeholders should be presented. In addition, some evaluation and lessons learned from the existing plan should be included, though the new plan is not limited by it.
The SP should plan for a future where certain programmatic areas may be strengthened, others may be reduced/eliminated, and new areas may be added. Ipas will share the plan widely, internally and externally, and will want support in making the plan an accessible and “living” document. Thus, communication of the plan will be an important component of this project.
Ipas will have a Global Directors meeting from April 18th to the 29th, 2016. We expect this meeting to be a seminal moment in the formulation of the strategic plan where country leadership, board members and key staff will convene to consider critical questions related to Ipas’s strategic direction. At minimum a rough draft of a strategic plan should be ready for consideration by the June 20th Board meeting.
A new strategy may require changes to the Ipas structure. To improve compliance, for example, Ipas may need to organize our workflows differently. To add new intervention areas, we may need to add new people or change the ways that current individuals and teams are organized. In addition, in order to make the strategic plan successful, the goals and outputs of the plan must flow down to the team and individual levels.
The consultant(s) will work with the senior team and others to make recommendations as to how structural changes can support SP goals and outputs. In addition, the consultant(s) will assist in developing team goals and outputs that contribute to achievement of the SP goals.
In order to achieve the goals and outputs of the Strategic Plan, Ipas will need to pair SP and structure work with training in management, leadership, and change management. Team building efforts will be required, to get teams working together towards common goals and a shared vision of Ipas’s future. Ipas has had formal training in management and leadership in the past. With a new senior management team and a new SP, additional training will be required. Some areas include coaching, giving and receiving feedback, etc. The primary focus initially should be on the senior management team.
While Ipas will not have the budget to train every single staff member in improved management and leadership, we would like to begin such training with a cross cutting group of leaders and managers. This training should demonstrate the kinds of capacity building work that can be rolled out more widely over time, in the Chapel Hill office and in the field. In order for Ipas’s new SP to succeed, we will need the buy-in and support of our entire staff, and will likewise require that those staff learn to function more effectively in teams and individually. This output should anticipate the kinds of training that will be most effective, and plan for ways to cost effectively roll it out to larger Ipas audiences.
Ipas recognizes that one-off consulting jobs often fail to produce desired results if they are not accompanied by regular follow-up. Given that 2016 will feature a new CEO and COO and management team, as well as a new SP and additional organizational changes, Ipas expects the consultant(s) may continue to work with the senior team and others to help with implementation of the strategy and structure and workplans, and to be a resource to the senior team.
Preferred Experience
Preference will be given to organizations that have demonstrated experience working with:
Additional Requirements.
The proposal should not exceed 25 pages, and should include a time-line, anticipated cost, list of key personnel, and references.
To be considered, applicants must send a complete proposal to kumara@ipas.org
Anticipated Timing
Proposal due by: January 29, 2016
Contract award: February 8, 2016
Planning to commence: February 9, 2016
Ipas is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending preventable deaths and disabilities from unsafe abortions. Through local, national and global partnerships, Ipas works to ensure women can obtain safe, respectful and comprehensive abortion care; including counseling and contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies.
