I. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE
OCHA internal evaluations are requested by OCHA's Senior Management Team (SMT) as independent evaluations to be managed by EGS/PDSB. They review issues of key relevance for OCHA, and are part of
OCHA's annual internal evaluations workplan.
The evaluation will assess the effectiveness of IRIN in supporting OCHA's humanitarian advocacy mandate. This evaluation will also identify strengths and weaknesses of IRIN's products and services and provide specific recommendations regarding areas that need to be strengthened. The recommendations of the evaluation will be addressed through the Management Response Plan as per OCHA Evaluation Policy.
II. OVERVIEW OF IRIN
IRIN is an editorially independent, non-profit service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), funded entirely from voluntary contributions provided by donor governments and other institutions. It was launched in 1995 in response to the gap in humanitarian reporting exposed by the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath. IRIN is a specialized humanitarian information service designed to advance OCHA's humanitarian advocacy mandate and, at the same time, serve as a public good to the humanitarian community as a whole and to populations in need. IRIN supports the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the humanitarian community and affected populations by supplying original reporting and audiovisual material on issues and countries not well-served by mainstream media or other information sources . IRIN's principal role is to provide news and analysis on sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia for the humanitarian community.
Other services and advocacy products include:
• PlusNews, a specialist news and analysis service on HIV/AIDS
• Film and TV - documentary films and news video footage on key humanitarian issues
• Photo - print quality photo gallery
Radio services (humanitarian radio programming in partnership with local radio stations in crisis areas) have been discontinued in 2011 due to budget cuts.
These information services and tools are produced by a core team of staff based mainly in Nairobi, Dakar, Bangkok, Johannesburg and Dubai, and supported by freelance correspondents in the regions covered. IRIN services are made publicly available via its website, www.irinnews.org, through syndication and free subscriptions. Its audio materials, distributed through local radio, reach millions of people who otherwise would have no access to impartial information. Its films, video clips and publications are also widely used by advocacy groups to bring about change.
IRIN is designed to contribute to the humanitarian advocacy in four key ways:
• Decision-makers allocate resources to crisis prevention and response;
• Relief workers understand, prepare for and better react to humanitarian situations;
• The general public becomes engaged and exerts pressure for action by authorities;
• Forgotten crises are highlighted, with analysis, individual accounts, facts and reportage.
The IRIN audience can be split into three main professional groups: just over half are broadly in the humanitarian sector, followed by academia, think-tanks and researchers, and finally the media, who typically use IRIN as reference and a source of story ideas.
IRIN is an integral part of OCHA and as such is subject to the same rules and practices that govern all UN operations. IRIN's cost plans, staffing levels and geographic locations are all approved by OCHA's senior management. In recognition of the importance of editorial independence to IRIN's credibility and influence, OCHA's Senior Management Team has delegated editorial control to the Head of IRIN, who reports to the OCHA Chief (of the Communication and Information Branch) in New York. While IRIN supports OCHA's strategic goals, its reporting does not seek to promote official OCHA or UN positions, but to provide news, analysis and advocacy materials on the issues that concern the wider humanitarian community and affected populations. IRIN has cut its budget from a peak of US$ 11.2m in 2007 to a $7.6m in 2012 by gradually closing all its radio projects, removing a layer of management in Africa, outsourcing translations, centralizing administration, making more use of national staff and reducing the total volume of material produced.
Please see the attached CEI for further details on the consultancy post
How to apply:
Application Procedure
Interested evaluation teams are invited to submit an application to OCHA Evaluation and Guidance Section by May 12, 2012: ochaesu@un.org, Reference: 0512_IRIN. The application should contain the following:
• CV and UN P-11 of candidates
• Letter expressing interest and clearly identifying how the team meets each of the criteria/ skills listed above
• Sample of work in similar area
• Indication of availability
• Expected remuneration
Only short listed teams will be contacted. Individual applications will not be considered. Contracting is subject to funding.
OCHA internal evaluations are requested by OCHA's Senior Management Team (SMT) as independent evaluations to be managed by EGS/PDSB. They review issues of key relevance for OCHA, and are part of
OCHA's annual internal evaluations workplan.
The evaluation will assess the effectiveness of IRIN in supporting OCHA's humanitarian advocacy mandate. This evaluation will also identify strengths and weaknesses of IRIN's products and services and provide specific recommendations regarding areas that need to be strengthened. The recommendations of the evaluation will be addressed through the Management Response Plan as per OCHA Evaluation Policy.
II. OVERVIEW OF IRIN
IRIN is an editorially independent, non-profit service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), funded entirely from voluntary contributions provided by donor governments and other institutions. It was launched in 1995 in response to the gap in humanitarian reporting exposed by the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath. IRIN is a specialized humanitarian information service designed to advance OCHA's humanitarian advocacy mandate and, at the same time, serve as a public good to the humanitarian community as a whole and to populations in need. IRIN supports the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the humanitarian community and affected populations by supplying original reporting and audiovisual material on issues and countries not well-served by mainstream media or other information sources . IRIN's principal role is to provide news and analysis on sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia for the humanitarian community.
Other services and advocacy products include:
• PlusNews, a specialist news and analysis service on HIV/AIDS
• Film and TV - documentary films and news video footage on key humanitarian issues
• Photo - print quality photo gallery
Radio services (humanitarian radio programming in partnership with local radio stations in crisis areas) have been discontinued in 2011 due to budget cuts.
These information services and tools are produced by a core team of staff based mainly in Nairobi, Dakar, Bangkok, Johannesburg and Dubai, and supported by freelance correspondents in the regions covered. IRIN services are made publicly available via its website, www.irinnews.org, through syndication and free subscriptions. Its audio materials, distributed through local radio, reach millions of people who otherwise would have no access to impartial information. Its films, video clips and publications are also widely used by advocacy groups to bring about change.
IRIN is designed to contribute to the humanitarian advocacy in four key ways:
• Decision-makers allocate resources to crisis prevention and response;
• Relief workers understand, prepare for and better react to humanitarian situations;
• The general public becomes engaged and exerts pressure for action by authorities;
• Forgotten crises are highlighted, with analysis, individual accounts, facts and reportage.
The IRIN audience can be split into three main professional groups: just over half are broadly in the humanitarian sector, followed by academia, think-tanks and researchers, and finally the media, who typically use IRIN as reference and a source of story ideas.
IRIN is an integral part of OCHA and as such is subject to the same rules and practices that govern all UN operations. IRIN's cost plans, staffing levels and geographic locations are all approved by OCHA's senior management. In recognition of the importance of editorial independence to IRIN's credibility and influence, OCHA's Senior Management Team has delegated editorial control to the Head of IRIN, who reports to the OCHA Chief (of the Communication and Information Branch) in New York. While IRIN supports OCHA's strategic goals, its reporting does not seek to promote official OCHA or UN positions, but to provide news, analysis and advocacy materials on the issues that concern the wider humanitarian community and affected populations. IRIN has cut its budget from a peak of US$ 11.2m in 2007 to a $7.6m in 2012 by gradually closing all its radio projects, removing a layer of management in Africa, outsourcing translations, centralizing administration, making more use of national staff and reducing the total volume of material produced.
Please see the attached CEI for further details on the consultancy post
How to apply:
Application Procedure
Interested evaluation teams are invited to submit an application to OCHA Evaluation and Guidance Section by May 12, 2012: ochaesu@un.org, Reference: 0512_IRIN. The application should contain the following:
• CV and UN P-11 of candidates
• Letter expressing interest and clearly identifying how the team meets each of the criteria/ skills listed above
• Sample of work in similar area
• Indication of availability
• Expected remuneration
Only short listed teams will be contacted. Individual applications will not be considered. Contracting is subject to funding.
No comments:
Post a Comment