Job Title: Capacity Assessment Consultant
Status:  Consultancy Contract.
Location:  Mokha district.
During: Short Term Service
Staff:    1

ADO Overview

Abs Development Organization for woman and Child (ADO) is a well-established national, humanitarian, developmental, non-profit and non-governmental organization, founded in August 1996 by a group of Yemeni girls to provide a better life for women, children, and youths. ADO has been operating in Yemen for more than 27 years with an outstanding coverage to the deprived rural areas located on the coast of Tehama and other various areas in Yemen aiming to get rid of poverty and infectious diseases. Since its inception, ADO has implemented over 213 developmental and humanitarian projects. According to ADO latest cumulative statistics, by end of the year 2021, a total of 6,695,412 people were benefited from these interventions. Consequently, the organization has established itself among the most effective civil society organizations in Yemen that are working on issues related to livelihood, health, education, and WASH supporting women, children, and youth. Operating from its Headquarter office in Sana’a, and through its branch offices in Al-Hodeidah, Hajjah, Abs, Raymah Taiz and Aden, ADO provides educational, health, livelihood and WASH services to urban and rural communities. As ADO believes that women are the essence of life, it has devoted all its activities and programs to empower and educate women who will lead to a modern and just state. ADO also believes that protecting and caring for children will result in a prosperous future; free from crime and terrorism. Furthermore, ADO believes that youth are the potential and driving force of any modern civil society.

Purpose     

The Service Provider shall assess the current institutional, governance, administrative, financial, technical,  and stakeholder engagement capacities of the Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative and to develop a practical,  prioritized, and actionable institutional development plan. 
The service provider will identify the Cooperative’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, risks, and development needs, 
with particular attention to its future responsibility for managing the rehabilitated landing site, solar-powered cooling facilities, hygiene systems, maintenance arrangements, user-fee collection, stakeholder coordination, and inclusive participation. 

For more details and information please refer to the attached ToR.

Reported to: MEAL Manager

Specific Objectives: 

The consultant or consulting team will be expected to achieve the following objectives:

1. Assess the current institutional capacity of the Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative, including governance, leadership, decision-making, roles and responsibilities, accountability, administrative systems, financial management, transparency mechanisms, and member services. 

2. Assess the Cooperative’ readiness to manage rehabilitated port infrastructure and refrigeration facilities, including operations and maintenance responsibilities, user-fee systems, technical supervision, asset management, hygiene management, and service delivery. 

3. Analyze the Cooperative’ relationship with key fisheries stakeholders, including fishing families, women’s groups, traders, customers, fisheries authorities, local authorities, private-sector actors, and value-chain actors. 

4. Identify capacity gaps and risks affecting sustainability, including governance weaknesses, limited financial systems, lack of transparency mechanisms, weak customer engagement, limited distribution linkages, ecological challenges, and potential conflicts over services, access, or fees. 

5. Facilitate participatory workshops and focus group discussions to ensure that the Cooperative’ institutional development priorities reflect the views of Cooperative members, women’s groups, fishing families, and other stakeholders.

6. Prepare a practical institutional development plan that includes immediate, medium-term, and long term measures for strengthening Cooperative governance, administration, financial management, technical operations, service delivery, stakeholder engagement, environmental responsiveness, transparency, and sustainability. 2 ToR of Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Plan for Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative – Fisheries Project (ADO / WHH) 

7. Reflect the development plan with the interest group structure established through Activity 1.1, using smaller consultation meetings adapted to participant availability. 

Scope of Work    

The consultant will lead a participatory institutional capacity assessment and development planning process covering the following areas: 

5.1 Institutional Governance and Management The assessment shall examine:

• Cooperative structure, mandate, internal committees, and decision-making arrangements.
• Clarity of roles and responsibilities among cooperative leaders, staff, volunteers, committees, and members.
• Leadership practices and capacity to manage shared facilities.
• Accountability to members, users, authorities, and community stakeholders.
• Use of transparent decision-making principles, including the four-eyes principle.
• Conflict prevention and internal dispute-resolution arrangements.
• Women’s participation in committees and decision-making processes and barriers to their participation in the committees and decision making process,.

5.2 Administrative and Organizational Systems The assessment shall review:

• Existing administrative procedures, records, documentation, filing, meeting minutes, and reporting practices.
• Membership registration and user records.
• Management of shift work, service access, facility use, and coordination mechanisms.
• Internal communication between cooperative leadership, members, fishermen, women’s groups, and authorities.
• Capacity to organize regular forums and coordination meetings with fishermen and the fisheries authority, as required in the MEAL framework. 

5.3 Financial Management and User-Fee Systems The assessment shall examine:

• Existing financial management arrangements.
• Capacity to collect, record, safeguard, and report income from user fees.
• Capacity to budget for maintenance, hygiene management, repairs, spare parts, and operational costs.
• Internal financial controls, authorization processes, and segregation of duties.
• Ability to apply transparent financial procedures, including the four-eyes principle.
• Capacity to prepare realistic cost-benefit calculations, which the project expects cooperative management to be able to do by January 2027. 3 ToR of Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Plan for Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative – Fisheries Project (ADO / WHH)

5.4 Technical and Operational Capacity The assessment shall examine the Cooperative’s capacity to manage:

• Rehabilitated fish landing site infrastructure.
• Solar-powered cooling system and cold rooms.
• Maintenance and hygiene plans.
• Waste management and composting systems.
• Port cleaning and minor maintenance activities.
• Shift work, shared facility use, and user access arrangements.
• Asset protection, preventive maintenance, and operational sustainability. The MEAL plan requires the cooperative to have maintenance and hygiene management plans and to implement them using collected user fees from the last project year. 

5.5 Stakeholder Engagement and Value Chain Relations The assessment shall examine the cooperative’s current and potential relationships with:

• Fishing families.
• Women’s groups.
• Small-scale fishers.
• Fish traders and processors.
• Customers and buyers.
• Fisheries authority.
• Local authorities.
• Private sector actors.
• Market and value-chain actors.
• Relevant NGOs and community structures. The project documents emphasize the need to strengthen cooperative networking, value-chain linkages, stakeholder coordination, and market-related functions. 

5.6 Inclusion, Gender, and Social Accountability The assessment shall consider:

• Women’s participation in fisheries-related activities and cooperative decision-making.
• Barriers faced by women, youth, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups, displaced fishers, and vulnerable households.
• Safe and inclusive participation mechanisms.
• Community trust and communication channels.
• Complaint and feedback mechanisms.
• Social risks linked to access, user fees, and power dynamics. The baseline and MEAL documents include explicit attention to women’s participation, inclusion, accountability, feedback mechanisms, and vulnerable groups. 4 ToR of Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Plan for Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative – Fisheries Project (ADO / WHH) 

5.7 Environmental and Long-Term Sustainability Capacity The assessment shall examine the Cooperative’ capacity to respond to long-term ecological and environmental challenges, including:

• Overfishing.
• Biodiversity degradation.
• Climate-related changes affecting fisheries.
• Sustainable fishing practices.
• Artificial reef governance and use.
• Minimum mesh-size compliance.
• Environmental awareness among fishers.
• Long-term resource management planning.

The assessment shall also translate these ecological findings into long-term planning measures for the Cooperative, including practical actions to address overfishing, biodiversity degradation, climate change impacts, and sustainable fisheries management. These measures should be reflected in the institutional development plan with clear responsibilities, timelines, and follow-up indicators. The project includes environmentally friendly artificial reefs, sustainable management of fishing grounds, and compliance with minimum mesh-size practices. 

Methodology    

The consultant shall apply a participatory, inclusive, practical, and evidence-based methodology. The process should combine document review, facilitated workshops, focus group discussions, stakeholder reflection meetings, and development planning. 6.1 Desk Review The consultant shall review relevant project documents, including:

• Project proposal and impact matrix.
• MEAL plan and indicator tracking table.
• Project workplan.
• Baseline survey design and tools.
• Technical assessment ToR for Al-Mokha Fish Landing Site.
• Relevant WHH and ADO compliance documents.
• Any existing Cooperative records, bylaws, membership lists, meeting minutes, financial records, or operational documents available.

 6.2 Participatory Focus Group Discussions: The consultant shall conduct tow focus group discussions, with an average of 8-12 participants per FGD. The FGDs shall capture the perspectives of fishing families, women’s groups, Cooperative members, and value chain actors. 5 ToR of Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Plan for Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative – Fisheries Project (ADO / WHH) At minimum, the FGDs shall include:

1. FGD with fishing families / small-scale fishers Focus: Cooperative services, expectations, access to port facilities, cooling services, user fees, constraints, and trust.

2. FGD with women’s group representatives Focus: women’s participation, barriers, leadership opportunities, fisheries value-chain roles, inclusion in Cooperative structures, and safe access to services.

3. KIIs with fisheries value-chain actors Focus: Traders, processors, buyers, demand for Cooperative services (including expected services and willingness to pay), marketing constraints, quality issues, distribution channels, customer relationships, market opportunities, and potential strategies to increase the Cooperative's revenue and long-term financial sustainability.

4. KIIs with broader stakeholder representatives Focus: relationship between the Cooperative, fisheries authority, local authorities, service users, customers, and community structures.

6.3 Capacity Assessment Workshop 1 The consultant shall facilitate a full-day capacity assessment workshop with 25 participants drawn from the stakeholder group established under Activity 1.1, including cooperative leadership, active members, committee representatives, relevant service users, and women’s group representatives. The workshop shall:

• Introduce the purpose of the capacity assessment.
• Map the Cooperative’s current functions, responsibilities, and stakeholder relationships.
• Assess governance, management, financial, administrative, technical, inclusion, and stakeholder engagement capacities.
• Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, risks, and priority gaps.
• Validate findings from the FGDs.
• Develop a preliminary capacity assessment scoring or qualitative profile.

The workshop shall be conducted using participatory tools such as institutional mapping, SWOT analysis, problem-tree analysis, stakeholder mapping, scoring exercises, and group prioritization.

 6.4 Development Planning Workshop 2 The consultant shall facilitate a second full-day development planning workshop with 25 participants drawn from the stakeholder group established under Activity 1.1, including cooperative leadership, active members, committee representatives, relevant service users, and women’s group representatives. The second workshop shall:

• Present and validate the capacity assessment findings.
• Translate the assessment into a practical institutional development plan.
• Define immediate, medium-term, and long-term development priorities.
• Identify roles and responsibilities for implementation. 6 ToR of Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Plan for Al-Mokha Fisheries Cooperative – Fisheries Project (ADO / WHH)
• Define transparent governance and financial management measures. The institutional development plan must clearly define roles and responsibilities, approval procedures, financial controls, segregation of duties, and practical application of the four-eyes principle for key decisions, payments, procurement related approvals, and user-fee management.
• Identify priorities for training, coaching, administrative systems, user-fee systems, stakeholder engagement, environmental management, and market development.
• Agree on follow-up actions to be implemented during the remaining project period. 

6.5 Reflection with Interest Group Structure After the two workshops, the consultant shall support reflection of the development plan with the interest group structure established under Activity 1.1. This reflection shall not be conducted as one large workshop. Instead, it should be organized through smaller meetings depending on participant availability. These meetings should include relevant representatives from:

• Fishermen.
• Women’s groups.
• Cooperative leadership.
• Fisheries authority.
• Local authorities.
• Traders / customers.
• Youth or community representatives were relevant. The purpose is to ensure that the development plan is realistic, locally accepted, inclusive, and aligned with the expectations of the wider stakeholder group.

More details on attached ToR  

Career Path/ Career Cluster: organizational development., Data Analysis

Experience and Qualifications    

-    The consultant or consulting team should demonstrate the following expertise:

Essential Expertise

• Organizational development and institutional capacity assessment.
• Cooperative governance and member-based organizations.
• Fisheries sector or livelihood institutions.
• Financial management systems for community-based or Cooperative structures.
• Facilitation of participatory workshops and FGDs.
• Development of institutional development plans.
• Gender and inclusion mainstreaming.
• Stakeholder engagement and conflict-sensitive facilitation.
• Arabic facilitation skills and ability to prepare professional English reports. 

Preferred Expertise

• Experience with fisheries Cooperative or producer groups.
• Experience in Yemen conflict-affected contexts.
• Knowledge of coastal livelihoods and fish value chains. 34 working days
• Experience with user-fee systems, asset management, and operations and maintenance planning.
• Knowledge of WHH, BMZ, CHS, safeguarding, and humanitarian accountability standards. 

Application Process

Required Application Documents

Consultants or engineering firms are required to follow a structured application process to ensure "best value for money" and technical compliance:

1.    Technical Proposal: including: o Understanding of the activity. o Proposed methodology. o Workplan. o Facilitation approach. o Team composition. o Relevant experience. 
2.    Financial Proposal: including: o Professional fees. o Fieldwork costs. o Workshop / FGD facilitation costs if applicable. o Reporting and deliverable costs..
3.    CVs of Key Experts
4.    Examples of Similar Activities, preferably related to Cooperative, institutional capacity assessments, fisheries, livelihoods, or organizational development.
5.     Signed Supplier Declaration, where required. 
6.    Signed PSEA Declaration, where required. Submission Details and Contact Information