Consultant person or team to prepare a final meeting of two EU Aid Volunteers Initiatives

INTRODUCTION

Alianza por la Solidaridad is a foundation – it channels the effort and support of more than 50,000 people together with members, volunteers, supporters and staff members in order to fight inequalities and help protect human rights in more than 19 countries of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

In Alianza por la Solidaridad we believe that in order to change the world we have to work with people, generating alliances with those who, like us, seek and fight for social transformation and human rights. Volunteering is activism at its essence: not it only supports and disseminates the actions of development and awareness-raising that we carry out, our volunteers also engage in dialogues and participates in the life of the organization, and are committed to a more equitable and fair model of society.

Context of the project

One of the Alianza’s international volunteering modalities takes place within the framework of the European Union Initiative known as «EU Aid Volunteers«. Alianza por la Solidaridad participated in the pilot phase of this initiative and participated in the official call for proposals since 2015, with projects to deploy volunteers in countries outside the European Union as well as projects on technical assistance and capacity building aimed at sending and hosting organisations respectively.

Within the framework of the deployment projects, Alianza por la Solidaridad acts as a sending and hosting organization, and is responsible for the execution of the volunteer management cycle. This includes different phases, from the selection process, briefing, deployment, to the «debriefing» or final informative meeting.

In November 2019 two deployment projects, in which Alianza por la Solidaridad has participated as sending and hosting organization, will come to an end: VOL4HA – EU AID Volunteers Involvement for Increasing People-Centered Humanitarian Response capacity and VOLRES – EU Aid Volunteers strengthening the resilience and response capacity of vulnerable and disaster-affected communities in Middle East, Africa, Southern and Central America. Within the framework of these two projects, Alianza must organize a final debriefing in Spain for the volunteers who have returned from their deployment missions. Some of them, however, continue to be deployed in activities outside the European Union.

Objetives of the project

The main objective of this consultancy will be to prepare, create the contents and facilitate the “debriefing” or final informative meeting for the volunteers of the deployment projects led by Alianza – VOL4HA (EU AID Volunteers Involvement for Increasing People-Centered Humanitarian Response capacity and the project led by GVC – VOLRES (EU Aid Volunteers strengthening the resilience and response capacity of vulnerable and disaster-affected communities in Middle East, Africa, Southern and Central America). This stage of the volunteer management cycle is regulated by the Execution Regulation (on the EU Aid Volunteers) 1244/2014 (Art 23).

The final informative meeting is the moment of disengagement of the volunteer with its mission. It also marks the point when the mutual obligations that were formally established in the volunteer contract cease to exist. The completion of the voluntary activity is part of the natural process of volunteer management, but it is important, both for the organization and for the volunteer to have a space for joint reflection on the activities carried out, the lessons learnt and the aspects to be improved.

The final informative meeting allows us to reflect on the whole process and evaluate the participation of volunteers. It also allows, through dialogue among organizations and volunteers, to detect gaps and aspects to be amended in order to improve the results.

The EU Aid Volunteers Initiative foresees a final informative meeting, with the aim of closing the volunteer evaluation process, but above all as a support space after the mission, as well as guidance on opportunities for the volunteer to stay involved with issues related to Humanitarian Aid.

Alianza por la Solidaridad conceives the debriefing as a necessary step after the deployment mission. Volunteers should be provided with choices in order to stay engaged with these organisations or their activities, at least through informative channels.

It will take place in Segovia, during the weekend of the 23^rd and 24^th of November. The formative sessions will take place on Saturday from 10h to 14h and from 16h to 20:30h and on Sunday from 09:30 to 13:00.

For this purpose, the debriefing will allow to:

• Evaluate the process that the volunteer has lived during the mission, from the selection and preparation phase until the return using participatory methodologies and dynamics.
• Evaluate the personal and professional learning process of the volunteer trough artistic methods as art-therapy.
• Facilitate the process of re-adaptation from the cultural and psycho-social point of view with theatre methods.
• Facilitate the exchange of experiences both during and in the months after the deployment using participatory methods, from the point of view of the psycho-social well-being of the volunteer.
• Give due recognition to volunteer work.
• Encourage volunteers to remain involved as active citizens, concerned about humanitarian contexts and other global challenges, after finishing their mission as EU Aid Volunteers.
• Facilitate the exchange of information that is useful for sending and hosting organisations and allows them to keep improving their procedures and management systems for the EU Aid Volunteers Initiative.

TASKS

 The consultant person or team must:

• Devise and prepare the debriefing sessions using dynamic and participatory methodologies such as a participatory wall-mural, or social theatre, and obtaining the information that has been set out in the objectives.
• Develop the necessary tools and methodology for the sessions.
• Provide the specific materials necessary for the development and facilitation of the sessions.
• Facilitate and conduct the debriefing sessions with participatory methods as social mapping or social theatre.
• Evaluate the process and give feedback to Alianza por la Solidaridad. Prepare a report in English with all the obtained information and with the indicators provided by Alianza por la solidaridad.
• Prepare the learning systematization kit and improvement tools for the management of international humanitarian volunteers.

Alianza por la Solidaridad shall:

• Supervise and support the facilitation of the different sessions
• Provide the necessary information for the adequate preparation and facilitation of sessions and deliverables, with respect to the regulation on data protection.
• Take care of the logistical preparation of the debriefing sessions.

PERSONAL COMPETENCIES AND EXPERIENCE OF THE CONSULTANT OR CONSULTING TEAM

•  Knowledge:
• • Specific knowledge in Humanitarian Aid, Raising Awareness, and / or International Volunteering.
  • Specific knowledge in art therapy or the use of graphic arts in social activities.
  • Knowledge of evaluation techniques in volunteering, social and citizenship projects.
  • Knowledge of group dynamization techniques and participatory methods.
  • Formal education in one or several of these aspects is desirable.
• Experience:

Extensive knowledge of methodologies and work tools, mainly in the field of evaluation and participatory methods for evaluating projects and exchange of volunteering experiences and citizenship projects.

Experience in participatory methodologies as social mapping, social theatre will be an asset.

• Languages:
  • English C1
  • Knowledge or fluency of Spanish will be positively considered
• Competency profile:

Communication skills, organizational capacity, initiative and motivation. Analysis and drafting skills.

BUDGET

The maximum Budget for this proposal shall be 2.000€. This amount includes all the applicable taxes, as well as the travel costs to the location where the debriefing activities will take place.

For more information:

TdR Debriefing