(This opportunity does not include direct funding; only mentoring support will be provided)

1.      ToGETHER! – Towards Greater Effectiveness and Timeliness in Humanitarian Emergency Response”.

With the support of the German Federal Foreign Office and Malteser International, PHALS (Program for Helpless And Lagged Society) is implementing in a consortium the localisation program “ToGETHER - Towards Greater Effectiveness and Timeliness in Humanitarian Emergency Response”. The first phase of the program was successfully implemented over four years, from March 2020 to April 2024, across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It provided an opportunity for five local or national organizations in each of the eight participating countries to collaborate in developing and implementing capacity-strengthening and exchange initiatives. These efforts aimed to enhance their institutional and operational capabilities for more effective humanitarian crisis response.

See more information on the website: https://together-for-localisation.org

ToGETHER 2.0 (the second phase) creates space for establishing complementary partnerships and promoting local partners as leading actors in humanitarian response. Currently, the program has five Local Humanitarian Partners (LHPs), with PHALS (Program for Helpless And Lagged Society) being one of them in Bangladesh. ToGETHER 2.0 started on May 1, 2024, and will run until April 30, 2027. It focuses on operational activities that directly impact affected populations, including a mentoring component to expand outreach and local knowledge. The program is designed to be as streamlined as possible for efficient implementation. It aims to balance operational and structural aspects, emphasizing key strategic elements of humanitarian assistance such as gender, innovation, and anticipatory humanitarian action.

LHPs will mentor Peer Humanitarian Partners (PHPs) through a peer-mentoring approach. These mentoring activities will help peer humanitarian partner by enhancing their knowledge, skills, and capacities in areas such as due diligence, humanitarian networking, and coordination mechanisms, as well as through participation in LHPs training sessions. PHALS (Program for Helpless And Lagged Society) is seeking 3 (three) Peer Humanitarian Partners (PHPs) to participate in the ToGETHER 2.0 program. Selected PHPs will receive mentoring support to enhance their institutional and operational capacities.

2.      General Information on PHALS (PROGRAM FOR HELPLESS AND LAGGED SOCIETY)

PHALS is a non-government organization (NGO) based is Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh started its journey in 1992. It is formally registered with Ministry of Social welfare in 1996 and NGO Affairs Bureau in 1999. All activities of the organization are in line with the guidance provided by the Ministry of Social Welfare (MOSW) and NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB) of the Government of Bangladesh.  The principles, activities and approaches of PHALS correspond to national priorities for development and directly linked with current National Strategic Plan. PHALS’s activities have significantly contributed to attaining Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the government, particularly Goals 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8. PHALS has developed its 2nd Strategic Plan (2022-2026) to ensure that its program interventions on education, protection, disaster risk reduction, livelihood and legal aid support implemented in Cox’s Bazar district partnering with donor, development partner and government of Bangladesh that add significant values to national response for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly 1, 2 4, 5, 6, 10, 13 and 17.

PHALS has vibrant footprint in emergency response program since the influx in 2017 with several interventions aligning with sectors and RRRC office as well as government of Bangladesh. Over the last 32 years PHALS has expanded its work in the area of education, protection, disaster risk reduction and livelihood including the cross-cutting issues which complementing and contributing to the national response in these areas which are under government focus.

Since April 2021, PHALS has been implementing the ToGETHER projects and have successfully completed the 1st phase. To the sequel at this the 2nd phase of ToGETHER has started on May 2024 and been continuing in Cox’s Bazar District.

3.  Information on the application and selection process

We would like to hear from any local NGO/organisation who is interested and motivated to be part of the collaborative mentoring program. The selection of partners will take place in a two-stage process. In the first stage an initial shortlisting of organisations will be carried out based on your expressed motivation, expectations and added value for this program. The second stage will involve a participatory process to ensure that the PHALS (Program for Helpless And Lagged Society) and the identified potential Peer Humanitarian Partners (PHP) complement and support each other and are a good fit with the objectives of the program.

Please fill in the Application Form. In the Application Form, in addition to basic information on your organisation, we ask you to share with us your motivation for collaboration in this program, the expectations you place on the program as well as the added values your organisation brings to the program. These constitute the main criteria for selection. Kindly also submit the supporting documentation as stated in the Application Form.

4.    PHPs eligibility and qualification criteria

Any local NGO/organisation meeting the below programme-related criteria and administrative requirements are encouraged to submit an Expression of Interest.

·         Be a non-profit, non-governmental organization registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB) or Department of Social Welfare, or Ministry of Women & Children Affairs, working closely with the local community, with at least 5 years of experience in humanitarian response.

·         Have a presence and being active in the Cox’s Bazar District of Bangladesh.

·         Organizations representing diverse vulnerable and socially marginalized groups, such as women, youth, and people with disabilities will be given priority.

·         Have previous experience in humanitarian (or preparedness) action and/or have a double mandate in development and humanitarian action. Have experience in working with marginalized and vulnerable groups. 

·         Be willing to enter a mentorship partnership based on the principles of trust and respect; mutuality; complementarity; transparency, anti-fraud, anti-corruption; accountability. 

·         Be committed to respecting humanitarian standards: Core Humanitarian Standard, Code of Conduct for The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief, Do No Harm, Sphere Handbook, Gender and Diversity, Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), Child protection and safeguarding, Protection from Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH).

·         Share the vision of the ToGETHER! programme on localizing humanitarian emergency response.

 5. Requirements to submit the Expression of Interest (EoI)

 The application form for this Expression of Interest is available in the attached “EOI Application Template” and if you have any question about the call or ToGETHER program, please contact us by phone number +88 01676521987 during office hours.

Interested organizations are requested to submit their applications alongside the required supporting documents as laid out in the Application Form not later than 25th February 2025, 5:00 pm at [email protected] and indicating in the subject line “Submission: ToGETHER 2.0 Program”. Applications are welcome in English or Bengali languages. Applications will be considered only if meeting all basic requirements are set out in the detailed expression of interest. Shortlisted NGOs will be contacted for further process.

For Application Template Click Here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ot-yrCpo5y8Tcs_zA_E4X68ygP_0jwKoiXJ9EG_MmVw/edit?usp=sharing

N:B: Any personal communication and pursuit will be treated as disqualification.