TERMS

OF REFERENCE

Moving Urban Poor Towards Resilience (MOVE-UP Project)
Call for Consultants for Resilient Livelihoods Assessment in
Selected Cities in Metro Manila


I. BRIEF PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Philippines is ranked 5th as the largest urban area in the world, with 22 million inhabitants.
Over twenty percent of its population is either under or near poverty line, with 37% living in urban
slums. People living in slums continue to face extreme social inequalities as evidenced by lack of
decent housing, disparities in standards of living, and lack of access to basic services. These are
among the factors that make slum dwellers more vulnerable during hazard events.

With the increasing urban population, the Philippines has also experienced catastrophic disasters
devastating urban areas in recent times. Typhoon Ondoy (2009) with $1.09 billion damage/747
deaths; Typhoon "Yolanda" (2013) with $2.86 billion damage/6,201 deaths. Although aware of
urban poor's contribution to local economy, there is still a need for LGUs to invest in coping
strategies/risk transfer mechanisms. Urban poor still lack the needed support in terms of
improving and systematization of their economic activities including risk transfer which remain as
a major obstacles in building resilient urban communities. The Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction
law (R.A.10121) mandates LGUs to lead DRRM planning/resilience building of communities but
experiences show that LGUs need to strengthen their efforts in fulfilling their mandate.

Based on the problems and needs identified, ACF International, Plan International Philippines and
CARE work together as a consortium to help in filling the gaps in institutionalizing urban resilience
and disaster preparedness mechanisms for urban poor in Metro Manila. The second target result of
the project focuses on resilience livelihood of urban poor to cope with and bounce back quickly in
times of natural disasters. Based on the needs assessment conducted by the consortium, livelihood
options are severely limited and often disrupted for significant periods during disasters. As such,
there is a need to identify resilience capacity and alternative resilient livelihoods within existing
value chains and systematic inclusion of it in LGU plans to reduce the vulnerability of urban poor,
including men, women and children and other vulnerable groups. At the same length, it is important
to assess the contribution of the urban poor livelihood to the overall economic activities of the cities
and local government units.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSESSMENT
The resilient livelihoods assessment in urban poor communities in the targeted cities will be
utilized as a baseline that will aid the project implementation. The output will provide a basis for
improving the identified livelihood options to make it resilient, viable and relevant to the
communities which will also be used in lobbying with the local government units. The intensive
assessment analysis and report on resilient livelihoods for the three cities specifically aims to:
1) identify existing livelihoods of urban poor which will include vulnerabilities to specific
hazards;
a. What are the different types of assets used by the urban poor and the factors
affecting the accessibility of and/or control over these asset?
b. How do they manage the assets that they own?
c. How do they access: 1) assets which they do not own? 2) - service- or transfer-
related entitlements?

d. What are their rights and entitlements? How do they access these? What threats
to access do they face, and from whom?
e. What types of risk and vulnerability do different categories of the poor face?
f. How do households (and members of households) vary in their vulnerability to
external conditions?
g. What types of livelihood outcome do they seek to achieve, how, and against
what threats? Why/how do actual outcomes differ from intended? How do
intended outcomes change over time?
2) identify existing and required coping or adaptive resilient livelihood strategies which
include support from government and private sector;
a. Do people have access to livelihood strategies that allow them to survive
changes to the vulnerability context?
b. Do the institutions have the ability, capacity, and willingness to respond to a
changing vulnerability context, especially in crisis situations?
c. What are the LGUs plans/initiatives/progress as well as bottlenecks in ensuring
resilience livelihood of the urban poor?
3) assess cross cutting issues in achieving resilient livelihoods;
a. How do vulnerable groups cope during disasters?
b. What are the mechanisms in place for vulnerable groups to have the ability and
capacity to respond to a changing vulnerability context, especially in crisis
situations?
c. To what extent are vulnerable groups able to raise their voice in the decisions
that affect their livelihoods, as well as the security and confidence to take
opportunities and adapt to changing circumstances?
d. How can gender equality be ensured in achieving resilient livelihoods?
4) identify characteristics of livelihood strategies that contribute to increased resilience.
a. How do the government, private sector and urban poor communities define
resilient livelihood?
b. How do agency and socio-economic security play a part in increasing the
resilience of urban poor communities?
c. What are existing local systems that are critical to livelihoods? How can they be
strengthened?

III. APPROACH
The teams of consultants is expected to collect data in the three cities in Metro Manila which
includes: Quezon, Valenzuela and Malabon. They are encouraged to develop or use familiar and
relevant research methods and framework of analysis, which will be presented to the Consortium
for approval. The possible research methods include:
Review of secondary information (relevant existing reports / studies and previous
livelihoods assessments in the area)
Household surveys
Key informant interviews, with relevant stakeholders (e.g. relevant national government
agencies etc)
Focus Group Discussions with special interests groups (persons from similar trade, youth,
women, etc.) to allow for systematic cross-checking of information and ensure consistency
in the data collection
Other tools for livelihood assessment (e.g. survey etc.)

A fair representation of community members must be consulted during the conduct of interviews
and focus group discussions.


IV. REPORTING FORMAT
The whole report shall not be longer than 50 pages, excluding annexes. At the minimum, the report
should follow the format below:
Cover Page
Summary Table
Executive Summary
Background Information
Methodology
Findings
Conclusions
Lessons Learnt and Good Practices (in Resilience livelihoods)
Recommendations
Annexes

V. RESPONSIBILITIES AND DELIVERABLES
The key responsibilities and deliverables of the consultant include:
Develop inception report outlining the detailed workplan for conducting the assessment
(itinerary for the project areas and selection of stakeholders to meet including local and
national government partners, community-based organizations, children/youth groups,
etc.), timeframe, methodology, protocol, tools, questionnaires and mobilization plan;
Analysis of the outcomes of the assessment ensuring linkages with other pre-existing
studies and available assessments;
Submit the final report that concisely presents the main findings and recommendations
with regards to the overall objective and key questions outlined in this terms of reference,
incorporating feedback from the Consortium;
Issuance of recommendations based on the findings of the assessment to inform project
implementation; and
Present the key findings of the assessment (in powerpoint), together with the revised draft
report (incorporating the comments).

The consortium will take care of the following:
Provide reference materials and relevant documents about the project
Provide technical guidance on the assessment and ensure independence of the process

VI. TIMEFRAME
The assessment shall take place for a period of sixty (60) days with the following deliverables and
indicative timeline:

ACTIVITY
DELIVERABLE
TIMELINE
Publication/ sending of call for Call for proposals sent
8-10 June
proposals to possible
consultants
All proposals received

17 June
Selection of consultant
Consultant selected
20 June
through bidding
Inception meeting, contract
Signed contract and related
21 June
signing and meeting with Plan project documents of the
for levelling of expectations,
consortium presented to the

review of relevant documents

available
Submission of inception
report and final research
design (including research
instruments and
methodology)
Fieldwork for data gathering
Consultation meeting and
presentation of first drafts
Submission of second draft of
report

consultant
Inception report and final
research design (including
research tools for the
livelihood assessment

27 June

Updates on fieldwork and

progress on data gathering
First draft of report

28 June 15 July

Second draft of report (with

comments from the first draft
already addressed)
Final draft of report

25 July
2 August

Submission of final draft of

10 August
report

VII. TERMS OF PAYMENT
Payments will be made as follows:
o 10% upon contract signing
o 30% upon approval of the inception report
o 30% upon submission of the draft report
o 30% upon acceptance and approval of the Final Report

VIII. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Interested parties must have the following competencies:
Has University degree (Masters Degree level is an advantage) in Development Studies,
Development Economics, Socio Economic Studies, or other related field;
Has a proven successful experience in doing project assessments, baseline studies, and
evaluation of projects;
Has competitive background in frameworks for assessing livelihoods, important concepts in
disaster risk reduction and social development in general;
Has experience in research and publication;
Has relevant experience in doing participatory and facilitative methodologies (quantitative
and qualitative) in data collection;
Has excellent diplomatic and communication skills, both written and oral;
Demonstrates ability of analytical work and excellent report writing;
Flexible to make ad-hoc changes as and when the need arises; ability to perform under
stress; willingness to keep flexible working hours; and
Proactive and able to work with minimal supervision and high degree of initiative,
reliability, flexibility, motivation, and resourcefulness.

IX. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL
Interested individuals or groups must submit their letter of intent, technical proposal, curriculum
vitaes, and proposed cost estimates (including admin and logistical costs) inclusive of Value Added
Tax. Proponents must submit all pertinent documents in a sealed envelope not later than 16 June
2016 to:

The Chairperson

Selection Committee
Plan International Philippines
4th Floor, Bloomingdale Building
205 Salcedo St., Legazpi Village
1229 Makati City Philippines

For TOR inquiries please email to:
Pamela G. Combinido
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Pamela.Combinido@plan-international.org

X. PLAN INTERNATIONALS CHILD PROTECTION POLICY
As an international child-centered development organization, committed to the wellbeing of
children and to supporting the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Plan shall not, in any manner,
tolerate any form of child abuse.

Plan works directly and indirectly with millions of children across the world and it is our duty and
responsibility to reduce the risks of abuse to those children and to keep them safe from harm. Our
Child Protection policy demonstrates our commitment to ensure that children are safeguarded in
all activities undertaken by Plan.

The Child Protection policy applies to everyone working for associates with Plan. It encompasses
the whole of Plan and includes without limitations: the staff at all levels; the board members,
volunteers, community volunteers, sponsors, consultants, and contractors and staff/or
representatives of partner organizations and local government who have been brought into
contract with children or a party to Plan child sensitive data while working for or with Plan
(referred to as Plan Associates) and also people like donors, journalists, media, researchers who
may come into contract with children through Plan (referred to as Plan Visitors).

In doing so, the consultant shall adhere to the Child Protection Policy of Plan International. Ethical
statements and behavioral protocols must be observed in doing the data collection and in the final
report as well.