The Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) is currently seeking an external evaluator to conduct an assessment of our partners in Madagascar Malagasy Lutheran Church (Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy or FLM)
The Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) is a voluntary organization, rooted in the Church of Norway. NMS is one of the largest Christian organizations in Norway, with its head office in Stavanger. The organization largely consists of voluntary involvement from people and congregations who pray, give, and collect money for the work. Its history goes back to 1842 when it started the mission and diaconal work. NMS seeks, together with partner organizations, churches, and individuals throughout the world, to work actively to equip each other to share faith in Jesus, fight injustice, and eradicate poverty. NMS has a framework agreement with Digni which means that it is responsible to ensure the quality of the applications and reports which are receiving governmental funding.
As a part of Digni’s quality assurance, risk monitoring, and capacity development initiatives, Digni member organizations and their partner organizations receiving funds from Digni are committed to undergoing regular assessments. Digni carries out such an assessment of NMS once during an agreement period between Digni and Norad. As part of this process, NMS will now assess new and current partners.
Desired Skills and Qualifications:
- Excellent analytical skills
- Experience in project management
- Experience having conducted an organizational review in some capacity, preferably in an African context
- Experience working in Africa with development organizations or churches is an asset
- Being culturally sensitive
- Being familiar with quality benchmarks working with major donors is an asset, but not a requirement.
- Excellent written and oral skills in French and English.
- Ability to work in a structured and independent way, yet to relate well with people in an interview setting
The time estimate is projected to be 10-15 days per partner over a couple of months. Initially, some preparation working together with the partners online, then a visit to Madagascar before finalizing the assessment remotely.
Expected outputs:
- A complete agreed-upon partner risk assessment template, inclusive of self-assessment done by partner, scoring, and mitigation.
- An evaluation report in English with a capacity building plan
The deadline for completion of this process is 15 May 2022
The purpose of the assessment is:
- to assess the partner’s capacity and competence to manage and implement quality development work receiving funds from Norad through Digni.
- to identify areas that need to be strengthened.
- to identify risks that need mitigation measures
- to secure compliance among cooperating partners in the Digni chain, with reference to the Grant Agreement between Digni and Norad.
The follow-up plan emerging from the assessment will be a tool for monitoring capacity and risk, in addition to serving as a basis for possible capacity development activities.
The assessment in 2022 shall provide a baseline to be assessed again in due time for partner capacity development. It is the basis for prioritizing competence.
The assessment will cover (specified in the assessment tool):
- Governance (Identity, legitimacy, strategy, policies, and systems which in EECMY affect the strategy and implementation of development projects).
- Strategy and Programs (systems for project planning, budgeting, narrative and financial reporting in compliance with Digni’s criterion).
- HR assets and management (Election, capacity, professional competence, experience, code of ethics, policies, complaint systems).
- Relations networks (local, national, municipal, and international partnerships, networks, thematic cooperation).
- Sustainability (long term financial self-reliance)
- Anti-corruption (awareness, policy, handling of cases)
- Compliance ( to local laws, internal rules, donor requirements)
- Financial capacity
- Financial management
- Logistics & procurement
Information and training in Digni’s Partner Assessment Tool is available here. **
About the organizations:
NMS has about 40 missionaries currently and cooperates with churches in 16 countries on several continents. NMS has a holistic mission understanding and works in partnership with churches and parachurch organizations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Brazil.
The Malagasy Lutheran Church, in Malagasy Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy (FLM)) is one of the most important Christian churches in Madagascar, established in 1950 by the unification of 1,800 Lutheran congregations in central and southern Madagascar. The oldest of these congregations was founded in the early 19th century with the arrival of missionaries from the Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS).
With almost 3 million members, it is the third-largest church in Madagascar and is one of the fastest-growing Lutheran churches in the world. The growth is due in part to an indigenous revival movement, known as Fifohazana, that has worked through the church since the early twentieth century. Most of the church leaders are members of the Fifohazana movement.
The FLM also boasts a health care program of nine hospitals and thirteen dispensaries. SALFA, as it is known, is a community-based primary health project with special initiatives that cover child survival, family planning, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Please contact Seth Ueland Chancy at src@nms.no or +47 40 40 60 07 for Terms of Reference, additional assessment resources for review, other information, or any questions related to this posting.
How to apply
Application with CV, diploma, and certificates should be sent to Seth Ueland Chancy at src@nms.no.
