WORLD VISION SOMALIA-TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR ESTABLISHING TOLL-FREE HOTLINE AND INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEM

Introduction

World Vision Somalia is committed to safeguarding and promoting accountability to people affected by the humanitarian crisis as enshrined in the Humanitarian Accountability Partnerships (HAP) Standards. As humanitarian and child-focused organisation, WVS recognises and upholds the critical pillars of program accountability ranging from information provision, community participation, community consultation and feedback and response mechanisms in all our programming with focus on needs, concerns, capabilities and disposition of those we seek to serve and work with.

Over the years, World Vision has continued to grapple with the challenges of documenting, tracking and increasing timely access to community feedback and complaints. There is the absence of an integrated system for recording beneficiary feedback/complaints, tracking their implementation status and provide a dynamic dashboard and reports to inform management action. This is mainly because the previous system ‘built on speed evidence’ through Somalia Resilience Programme (SomRep) crashed and the developer (Amos Donbros) indicated the system could not be reinstated. An alternative excel based feedback tracker designed to be updated on a weekly and monthly basis across all the project locations has continued to increase but there is no system to centrally store and track these issues. In addition, the voice call help numbers that are currently used across all the three regions of Somaliland, Puntland and South West and Jubaland States are not free of charge. Beneficiaries are charged for each call they make and this discourages those who would want to provide their feedback/complaints to World Vision but cannot afford.

In order to address the above challenges, World Vision adopted Community Response Map (CRM)-a platform designed by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to enhance community engagement and two-way communication between World Vision and communities. The CRM platform facilitates online recording, tracking, compilation and visual mapping of feedback or complaints received from community members. Additionally, in order to strengthen community feedback and response system, World Vision is desirous to setup toll-free hotline and interactive voice response system to capture and record feedback from the communities, children and partners about our activities.

Objective

The main objective of this assignment is to set-up toll-free hotline and an interactive voice response system to empower communities to provide their feedback/complaints about World Vision activities. This shall be achieved through the adoption of a toll-free line, toll free shortcode and interactive voice response system that can be used by the community, children and partners across the different networks of Telesom, Golis and Hormud.

Description of the services

A three-digit shortcode will be set up and matched across Telesom (Somaliland), Golis (Puntland) and Hormud (South West and Jubaland States). Therefore, the same shortcode will be used by communities, children and partners across all the four World Vision operational areas. The table below provides a summary of services that will be provided:

Service

Description

Shortcode

Leasing a toll-free short code throughout all three telecoms while linking and configuring all of these shortcodes to the gateway so that the subscriber can send and receive feedback.

Toll Free Line

Set up a toll free line to allow beneficiaries talk directly to World Vison staff

Gateway Connectivity to networks

Set up a gateway that facilitates communication with all three telecoms and to establish a path feedback that goes back and forth.

Translation of the received feedback

Translation of the all the received feedbacks to English and classify them into different categories before submitting them to the relevant World Vision staff for response in line with the WV Somalia Accountability matrix

IVR connectivity to 3rd party application

Align a template for direct importation of community feedback into the CRM system

E1 lease

Leasing of E-1 line, 30 channels, to receive multiple calls at the same time

Maintenance and technical support

Provide technical support, regular updates when the IVR system experiences any outages. This is aimed at providing better performance and reliability to the operations of the system.

Key Deliverables

1. Securing and leasing 3 shortcodes from Telesom, Golis and Hormud
2. Provide an interactive voice response service for calls received from World Vision beneficiaries
3. 24/7 maintenance and technical support.
4. World Vision focal staff fully oriented on how to access and transcribe the voice calls received from the community, children and partners.

Timelines

The key deliverables 1, 2 and 4 are expected to be completed within one month. However, 24/7 maintenance and technical support will be rendered on a monthly basis for a period of one year.

Authority and Responsibility

WVS will establish a team to oversee all the related activities. The MEAL Manager will be responsible for the overall coordination of the Consultancy activities. The ICT Manager will also provide technical oversight throughout the project implementation.

Support from WV Somalia

World Vision will be responsible for the following:

• Recruit the external Consultant and finalise the consultancy agreement
• Share all necessary documents to the Consultant
• Ensure that input from WVS is coordinated and shared with the Consultant
• Guidance and coordination throughout the Consultancy, keeping communication with the Consultant throughout all phases
• Provide support to the Consultant throughout the Consultancy process.

The Consultant will be responsible for the following:

• The Consultant will be required to provide a detailed description of the approaches and budget for undertaking this assignment.
• Develop the inception report and have the protocol presented to World Vision Somalia for their approval.
• Develop the work schedule in consultation with WVS team
• Facilitate the training of WVS staff on the system established.
• Provide continued guidance throughout the use of the system.

Experience of the Consultant

The Consultant/Company must have a demonstrated background in setting up a Toll-free hotline and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to capture and record feedback.

The Consultant/Company must have a demonstrated experience in working with Mobile Aggregator Company for SMS and IVR connected to all the Telecom companies in Somalia.

Application Process and Requirements

Qualified and interested parties are asked to submit the following;

• Letter of interest in submission of a proposal
• A detailed technical proposal clearly demonstrating a thorough understanding of this ToR and including but not limited to the following;
  • Consultant/Company Profile
  • Description of the Methodology
  • Demonstrated previous and excellent experience in setting up a Toll-free hotline and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems
  • Proposed data management plan (collection, processing, and analysis).
  • Proposed timeframe detailing activities and a work plan.
  • Team composition and level of effort of each proposed team member (include CVs of each team member).
  • At least three IVR contracts as a service provider should be provided as proof of technical competency and experience
  • The Company profile
• A financial proposal with a detailed breakdown of costs for the study quoted in United States dollars.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

1. Mandatory Requirements

• Provide a certified copy of business registration(company/organization)
• Provide a certified copy of the tax registration
• Provide information on ownership structure – the name of directors/owners of the company(company/organization)
• Successful bidders will be required to sign the World Vision Supplier Code of Conduct form

1. Technical Evaluation

2.1 Qualifications

The consultant must have proven expertise and experience in providing customized data analysis training Computer Sciences. Proof of these is to be provided by submitting, together with the application:

• An overview of relevant works
• Working samples
• Contact details for references
• The proposed consultant’s/research team’s CVs

2.2 Requirements in detail:

1. Preliminary evaluation to determine eligibility (as described above) and administrative compliance of this Invitation to Bid.

2. Evidence of experience in this field (number of years in service and clients served)

3. Organizational governance and management structure, staff members and staff to be assigned to this project with their qualification and experience.

1. Statement of firm’s independence in executing its mandate without influence from internal and external parties, political, social, commercial etc.

5. Proposed budget, applicable taxes and any reimbursable costs to carry out the exercise. 6. Applicable commercial terms to the proposal submitted.

Proposals that do not meet the eligibility criteria (1) above shall be eliminated and shall not be considered for subsequent stages of the evaluation

1. Financial Evaluation

Provide financial proposal that includes

1. A detailed breakdown of costs associated with the delivery of the LMA exercise including Logistics Cost
2. Credit Terms
3. Payment Terms

5.0 APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Interested qualified consultancy firms are encouraged to submit their proposal with the below documents in English and by email to [email protected] on or before 30th December 2024.

Proposals should be submitted in three distinct/separate attachments, namely

1. Mandatory Requirements

2. Technical Proposal

3. Financial Proposal

NB (Bidders who will combine the three documents shall be disqualified).Bids received after the deadline shall not be considered.

Email title should be**; Technical and Financial Proposal For Toll-free Hotline and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System**

“World Vision reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid and is not bound to give reasons for its decision”

For inquiries and questions, kindly send an email to [email protected]