Request for Proposals
Consultancy – Developing Organizational Scorecard on Risk Management for NGOs
January 2023

InterAction is seeking proposals from consultants to review primary data and build an organizational
scorecard in Excel. The successful consultant will work closely with our team to identify key metrics and
performance indicators, collect and analyze relevant data, and develop an easy-to-use scorecard that
will help us track our progress and identify areas for improvement. The consultant will review primary
data from InterAction’s recent research Risk III: From Evidence to Action. Following the review, the
consultant will develop a self-assessment tool, or scorecard, that allows NGOs to evaluate organizational
strengths and weaknesses within their own risk management approach.

The project includes several key components:
• Review existing data and identify the most relevant metrics and performance categories that
best link organizations’ risk management approaches and key “risk traps” as highlighted in the
Risk III Summary Findings Report (described further below).
• Create a standard for translating qualitative data into quantitative metrics which may include
establishing a rating system or other method to convert qualitative data into numerical values
that can be easily analyzed and compared.
• Develop the organizational scorecard in Excel. This will involve creating a dashboard in Excel
using formulas and other Excel features to calculate key metrics and performance indicators. It
may also include building standardized visualizations, such as charts and graphs, to make the
data both accessible and easy to aggregate and interpret.
• Adapt the scorecard for use in Google Sheets.

Risk Management Scorecard Background and Purpose
More than 500 best practices and potential options for strengthening risk management were shared
during throughout the Risk III program. Although some were organization-specific, many were
commonly mentioned across organizations and contexts. Five key strategic changes emerged from these
suggestions, which, if implemented, have the potential to break the reinforcing cycles of the risk
management traps. These include:
1. Empower country teams to manage risk
2. Build connectivity between risk management and program planning and implementation
3. Adopt a ‘do no harm’ approach to partnering
4. Be systematic about interagency coordination
5. Advance donor policies that support responsive interventions and risk management oriented
around crisis-affected people and their humanitarian needs.

These strategic changes are highly connected and mutually reinforcing like the risk management traps.
Progress in one area can facilitate improvement in another. Actions to implement one strategic change
can have direct, positive effects on other traps in the system. These high-level strategic changes are
relevant for any organization, but the pathway to achieving them will be unique to, and dependent on,
an organization’s specific gaps, capacities, structures, culture, and context.

The scorecard should be grounded in the five strategic change areas. By having teams complete the
scorecard, it can focus an organizations efforts and resources to which strategic change areas are most
critical to improve and for which teams across an organization. The scorecard serves as a survey of sorts,
or an organizational temperature check if used in aggregate. The scorecard exercise can help
participants and organizations identify which of the five strategic changes they are weakest in and must
prioritize.

The scorecard will have several use cases, including:
• As part of a dedicated workshop on risk management, with findings later aggregated by
workshop organizers and presented to leadership for action.
• In specific team meetings by function, level, or geographies, for example, at an annual country
directors meeting, in a global technical meeting of food security or protection teams, or in a
regional meeting of program support teams such as operations, human resources, finance, etc.
• By individual teams at the country level, for example, senior management team meetings
• Distributed via email by headquarters, regional or country offices to staff within their line
management for completion and later analysis.

The scorecard content will be derived from data and findings that are captured in the following work:
1. Risk III Summary Findings Report which examines how current risk management approaches
can enable or hinder humanitarian program delivery and the implications for humanitarian
outcomes among affected communities. The research identified a set of common risk
management traps that are barriers to strong risk management practice. Detailed in this report,
with practitioner insights about breaking the traps, these include focusing on systems over
people, weak forecasting, and prioritizing compliance at the expense of program delivery. The
report offers insights on key strategic changes needed to shift to a more people-centered and
principle-based risk management approach.

2. Risk III Learning Guide, a modular learning tool that humanitarian organizations, staff, or teams
can use to assess gaps and strengths in their own risk management approaches, systems, and
culture. It is intended to support awareness and build preparedness as organizations continue to
learn and improve.

Qualifications
The successful consultant will work closely with InterAction’s humanitarian team to develop an easy-to-use scorecard that will help NGOs identify areas for improvement on risk management in humanitarian
action. To be considered for the consultancy, candidates should have the following skillsets:
• Experience conducting data analysis and building organizational scorecards
• Proficiency in Excel, including the ability to create complex formulas and use advanced features
such as pivot tables and macros.
• A proven track record of working with organizations, including humanitarian organizations, to
improve and optimize performance.

Timeline and Applications
The aim is to complete this work by by March 2023. It is expected this project will require about 3
weeks of work by the consultant, spread out over 1-2 months.Applications must be submitted no later
than January 20, 2023. Applications must include CVs of individual consultant and/or team members, a
1-2 page outline of a proposed methodology for undertaking the consultancy, and a detailed budget and
timeline for activities.

Applications will be reviewed based on:
• Key compentencies and skills
• Management, including the timetable for deliverables;
• Quality of technical proposal; and,
• Budget, ensuring value for money
Applications should be submitted to Lindsay Hamsik, lhamsik@interaction.org with the subject line “Risk
Management – NGO Scorecard Consultancy”