Consultancy for the Internal assessment of Equality Now’s work practices

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Internal assessment of Equality Now’s work practices

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

This document provides the Terms of Reference (ToR) for an evaluation of Equality Now (EN) internal work practices.

This Terms of Reference (ToR) provides background information about Equality Now and  describes the purpose of the evaluation, its objectives and scope, and activities. It also highlights the qualifications required and  the selection criteria that will be used to identify the assessor.

ABOUT EQUALITY NOW

Founded in 1992, Equality Now is an international human rights organization that works to protect and promote the rights of all women and girls around the world. Our campaigns are centered on four program areas: Legal Equality, End Sexual Violence, End Harmful Practices, and End Sexual Exploitation, with a cross-cutting focus on the unique needs of adolescent girls.  Equality Now combines grassroots activism with international, regional, and national legal advocacy to achieve legal and systemic change to benefit all women and girls and works to ensure that governments enact and enforce laws and policies that uphold their rights. Equality Now is a global organization with partners and members all around the world. You’ll find our 80+ team across the world in places such as Beirut, London, Geneva, San Jose, New York, Nairobi, Tbilisi, and Washington DC, among others. 

For more information, visit equalitynow.org  

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of two of three Equality Now offices. Since then Equality Now has been operating as a dispersed global organization with most staff working remotely. The one remaining physical office in Africa shifted to hybrid working. The organization has also expanded organically and rapidly over the last four to six years, and remote working has enabled us to recruit staff all over the world. Also, several new roles were created and filled to deliver the policies and procedures required to sustain this bigger, dispersed organization and ensure it is effective, efficient, and operated as ONE coherent organization despite its dispersed nature. Feedback from staff members has also highlighted the need to review and improve working practices across the organization. 

To effectively operate as ONE Equality Now, the organization requires a thorough assessment of its practices in three legal entities (Kenya, the US, and the UK) and other locations where the organization’s remote staff are based:

To ensure that Equality Now is including, supporting, and working with their current staff in the best way possible and is laying the groundwork for any future employees, the organization seeks to ensure staff participation in identifying any better ways of working and new approaches that can be deployed to ensure that the organization is maximizing the opportunities and addressing the challenges that being a globally dispersed organization presents.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

The purpose of this review is to assess Equality Now’s working practices, identify improvement opportunities, and align the organization’s values, purpose, and ways of working; To determine how Equality Now can best become a competent organization in facilitating inclusive, effective, and satisfying work environments; and identify opportunities for becoming the employer of choice in the women and human rights sector.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Global HR and Administration Manager to coordinate recruitment and selection of the appropriate consultant and coordinate the implementation of the project;
• Working group consisting of Global Executive Director, Global Director of Programs, and Global Director of Finance and Administration to review and approve proposals received from the consultant;
• Selected consultant to accomplish all deliverables within the timeline provided.

KEY DELIVERABLES

• Report on Key Findings:
  • Process mapping on matrix structure
  • Relationships within departments and across the organization
  • Global connectivity across the organization
  • Assessment of workload management 
  • Creating a culture in a remote organization
  • Staff satisfaction 
• Proposal for the  implementation of improvements

ACTIVITIES TO ACCOMPLISH DELIVERABLES

• Conduct confidential interviews with all staff (employees and associates/consultants)  (45-60 min each) to explore specific (pre-approved) questions related to the organization’s culture, work structure, and connectivity as highlighted above. Design the interview schedule  with management input;
• Workplace satisfaction and workload
• Assess recruitment practices of employees and consultants, per policy in the last 5 years; 
• Assess team/line manager working practices and develop analysis by department and location;
• Conduct an in-depth review of Equality Now’s Employee Handbook and additional HR policies.

DURATION AND TIMELINE

Planned start date - June 1st, 2024

Planned delivery date - July 15th, 2024

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Experience in:

• conducting assessments of culture and practice in diverse environments;
• participatory research within an organization;
• conducting rapid organizational assessments.

Knowledge of:

• organizational dynamics and managing culture change;
• values based human resource /people management; 
• remote human resource/people management.

Skills:

• Excellent communication skills.
• Skills in human resource management.
• Excellent analytical, conceptual, writing, and editing skills and use of computer software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.).
• Fluent in written and spoken English. 
• Strong planning and organization skills and proven ability to steer and monitor progress against plans and adjust plans to deliver on set goals and results.

Values and Attitudes

• Employs confidentiality and integrity in their practice.
• Committed to feminist, anti-racist, and inclusive values and practice.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Please visit: https://equalitynow.applytojob.com/ and submit a brief proposal, budget (under three pages), and CV(s). No calls, please. 

The deadline to apply is May 20th, 2024 and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 

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