Job Description

Consultancy to Conduct Service Quality Audits and Community Feedback Surveys

Item	Detail
Assignment Type	Individual Consultant or Research Consultancy Firm
Duty Station	Dhobley District, Jubaland State, Somalia
Estimated Level of Effort	33 consultancy days
Contract Type	Consultancy
Assignment Duration	Approximately 33 working days, subject to the agreed workplan
Application Deadline	21st October 2026
Expected Start Date	1st November 2026

1. Background

Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) is a registered non-government and non-profit civil society organization based in Mogadishu with offices in South and Central Somalia. SSWC was founded in 1992 in Mogadishu by a group of Somali women intellectuals from cross-section of the community. SSWC core brand is the empowerment of vulnerable Somali women to regain dignity. It was established with the prime intention of addressing humanitarian gaps for women and children wellbeing in their community. Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) contribute to the creation of a safe and sustainable situation by supporting women to overcome marginalization, violence and poverty in their communities. It operates as a non-profit making organization that has the right to network with a variety of organizations that share similar values and vision. In Somalia women face a range of complex challenges that require multiple solutions. We work in the belief that women through their own efforts and in collaboration with local, national and international allies are central to transforming their own lives and the lives of their communities and population of which they are part. SSWC is women-led and women-centered organization (so its programs reflect the needs of those served) that have well-functioning management, finance and programmatic structures and systems.

SSWC is implementing Future 4 Binti programme which aims to eliminate harmful practices including FGM/C, CEFM/U, and to advance gender equality for girls and young women. Future4Binti aligns with the Dutch MoFA Focus Framework (2026–2030), the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, national policies, and SDGs related to health, equality, reduced inequalities, and strong institutions. The programme integrates gender equality, inclusion, climate resilience, conflict sensitivity, digital innovation, and follows a strict Do No Harm approach. To improve access to quality, responsive, and accountable services for targeted communities effective accountability requires regular assessment of service quality and meaningful opportunities for community members to share their experiences, concerns, and recommendations regarding the services they receive.

As part of this commitment, the organization intends to conduct service quality audits and community feedback surveys to assess the accessibility, responsiveness, appropriateness, and quality of services provided under the project. The exercise will also examine whether community members understand available feedback and complaints mechanisms, feel safe using them, and receive appropriate responses to the concerns they raise.

The findings will help identify service delivery gaps, strengthen engagement with communities, and inform practical improvements in service provision and accountability. The organization therefore seeks a qualified consultant or consultancy firm to conduct the audits and surveys, analyze the findings, and provide actionable recommendations.

2. Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this consultancy is to independently assess the quality and responsiveness of project-supported services and gather feedback from community members on their experiences, satisfaction, access barriers, and perceptions of accountability. The assignment will generate reliable evidence to guide corrective actions, improve service delivery, strengthen community participation, and ensure that feedback informs project decision-making.

3. Objectives of the Assignment

1. Assess the quality, accessibility, availability, responsiveness, and appropriateness of services supported by the project.
2. Gather feedback from community members on their experiences, satisfaction levels, and perceptions of the services received.
3. Assess community awareness, accessibility, and confidence in existing feedback and complaints mechanisms.
4. Identify barriers that prevent women, adolescents, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups, and other at-risk populations from accessing services or providing feedback.
5. Examine how service providers and relevant project stakeholders receive, document, respond to, and act on community feedback.
6. Identify service delivery gaps, accountability concerns, and opportunities for improvement.
7. Provide practical recommendations and an action plan to strengthen service quality, community participation, and accountability.

4. Scope of Work

4.1 Inception and Review of Project Documents

• Review relevant project documents, implementation plans, service delivery standards, monitoring frameworks, previous assessment reports, and existing accountability mechanisms.
• Consult the project team to understand the services being assessed, target communities, implementation locations, and key accountability concerns.
• Develop an inception report outlining the proposed methodology, sampling approach, assessment tools, workplan, and quality assurance measures.
• Submit the inception report and data collection tools for review and approval before commencing fieldwork.

4.2 Development of Assessment Tools and Methodology

• Develop appropriate tools for service quality audits and community feedback surveys, including questionnaires, interview guides, and observation checklists as required.
• Establish assessment criteria and indicators for measuring service quality, accessibility, responsiveness, community satisfaction, and accountability.
• Ensure data collection approaches are inclusive, gender-sensitive, age-appropriate, disability-inclusive, and culturally appropriate.
• Incorporate confidentiality, informed consent, safeguarding, and data protection measures into the methodology.

4.3 Conduct Service Quality Audits

• Assess selected project-supported service delivery points against agreed quality and accountability criteria.
• Examine service availability, accessibility, timeliness, responsiveness, staff conduct, communication, privacy, and appropriateness of services, as relevant to the project.
• Assess whether service users receive adequate information about available services, eligibility requirements, referral options, and complaints mechanisms.
• Consult relevant service providers and stakeholders to understand service delivery practices and operational challenges.
• Document gaps, good practices, and areas requiring corrective action.

The specific service delivery points and assessment criteria will be agreed with the organization during the inception phase.

4.4 Conduct Community Feedback Surveys

• Conduct structured surveys with selected community members and service users in the agreed project locations.
• Gather information on community experiences, satisfaction with services, access barriers, perceived service quality, and confidence in accountability mechanisms.
• Explore whether community members know how to submit feedback or complaints, feel safe doing so, and believe their concerns are addressed.
• Ensure appropriate representation of women, young people, persons with disabilities, and other relevant population groups.
• Where appropriate, conduct key informant interviews or focus group discussions to obtain additional perspectives and explain survey findings.
• Record feedback accurately and securely, ensuring personal or sensitive information is not unnecessarily collected or disclosed.

4.5 Data Management and Analysis

• Ensure data quality through appropriate supervision, validation, and consistency checks.
• Clean and analyze quantitative data using suitable analytical tools.
• Analyze qualitative information to identify recurring concerns, community priorities, service delivery gaps, and good practices.
• Disaggregate findings by relevant characteristics, such as sex, age group, disability status, location, or service type, where feasible and appropriate.
• Compare findings across locations or service delivery points where the methodology permits.
• Identify gaps between community expectations, service standards, and actual service delivery.

4.6 Validation and Presentation of Findings

• Present preliminary findings to the project team and relevant stakeholders for discussion and factual validation.
• Facilitate a validation meeting or workshop, as agreed with the organization.
• Incorporate relevant feedback into the final report without compromising the independence or integrity of the findings.
• Present key findings, priority concerns, and recommendations in a clear and accessible format.

4.7 Recommendations and Accountability Action Plan

• Develop practical, prioritized recommendations addressing identified service quality and accountability gaps.
• Propose corrective actions, responsible stakeholders, and suggested timelines for addressing findings.
• Identify improvements needed in community feedback channels, complaint handling, communication, referral arrangements, and response processes, where applicable.
• Recommend measures to ensure that community members are informed about actions taken in response to their feedback.
• Highlight issues requiring immediate attention by the organization or relevant service providers.

5. Expected Deliverables

Deliverable 1: Inception Report and Assessment Tools. An inception report presenting the methodology, sampling strategy, assessment framework, data collection tools, quality assurance procedures, safeguarding measures, and implementation schedule.

Deliverable 2: Completed Data Collection and Cleaned Dataset. Completed assessment records, cleaned quantitative datasets, relevant qualitative data, and supporting documentation in agreed formats, with appropriate safeguards for confidentiality and personal information.

Deliverable 3: Preliminary Findings and Validation Presentation. A presentation summarizing the main findings, emerging service quality concerns, community feedback, accountability gaps, and proposed areas for improvement.

Deliverable 4: Draft Service Quality Audit and Community Feedback Report. A draft report detailing the methodology, findings, analysis, conclusions, and preliminary recommendations.

Deliverable 5: Final Report and Accountability Action Plan. A comprehensive final report incorporating relevant comments and presenting clear, prioritized recommendations. The report should include an action matrix identifying proposed actions, responsible parties, and suggested timelines.

Deliverable 6: Final Presentation and Supporting Materials. A presentation of final findings and submission of all agreed assessment tools, datasets, analysis files, and other assignment materials.

All deliverables must be submitted electronically in editable formats, including Word and Excel where applicable. Personal or sensitive data must be handled and transferred securely.

6. Methodology

The consultant is expected to propose a robust, participatory, and context-appropriate methodology combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Methods may include desk review, structured community feedback surveys, service delivery point assessments, key informant interviews, focus group discussions where appropriate, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and validation of findings with relevant stakeholders.

The consultant should propose a sampling strategy appropriate to the assessment objectives, project coverage, available resources, and target population. The methodology must ensure meaningful community participation, inclusion of marginalized groups, confidentiality, informed consent, and safe handling of complaints or sensitive disclosures.

7. Duration and Location

The assignment will be completed over 33 working days, commencing on 1^st November 2026. The duty station is Dhobley, Somalia, and the assignment will cover the agreed project-supported service delivery points and communities in Dhobley. The consultant should provide a realistic workplan allocating adequate time for document review, tool development, fieldwork, data analysis, validation, report preparation, and finalization.

The final schedule and access arrangements will be agreed with the organization at the start of the assignment.

8. Reporting and Supervision

The consultant will report to Head of Programmes, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager and the Project Manager. The consultant will coordinate with the project team and relevant technical staff to facilitate access to project information, service delivery points, and community stakeholders. The organization will review and approve the Inception report, data collection tools, and final deliverables. The consultant remains responsible for the technical quality, independence, and timely completion of the assignment.

9. Ethical Considerations, Safeguarding, and Confidentiality

The consultant must adhere to the organization’s safeguarding policies, code of conduct, data protection requirements, and applicable ethical standards throughout the assignment. The consultant will be required to:

• Obtain informed consent from all participants before collecting information; participation must be voluntary.
• Respect participants’ right to decline questions or withdraw from the exercise.
• Protect the confidentiality and privacy of respondents and avoid collecting unnecessary personally identifiable or sensitive information.
• Use secure systems for storing, transferring, and managing collected data.
• Ensure participation does not expose respondents to retaliation, stigma, discrimination, or other harm.
• Apply appropriate safeguarding procedures when engaging with children, adolescents, survivors, and other at-risk groups, including required consent and assent procedures.
• Avoid promising services or assistance that cannot be guaranteed.
• Report safeguarding concerns through the organization’s established reporting channels.
• Disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest relevant to the assignment.

Where feedback raises serious protection or safeguarding concerns, the consultant must follow agreed referral and reporting procedures without compromising confidentiality or participant safety.

10. Required Qualifications and Experience

The assignment is open to qualified individual consultants or consultancy firms with demonstrated experience in service quality assessments, community feedback surveys, accountability, and monitoring and evaluation.

Essential Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Public Health, Statistics, Research Methods, or a related field. A relevant postgraduate qualification is an advantage.
• At least five years of relevant professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, research, assessments, accountability, service quality reviews, or related assignments.
• Demonstrated experience designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative assessments.
• Proven experience developing data collection tools, managing field data collection, analyzing findings, and preparing comprehensive assessment reports.
• Strong understanding of community accountability, participation, feedback and complaints mechanisms, and inclusive service delivery.
• Experience engaging community members, service providers, local authorities, and civil society organizations.
• Strong analytical, report-writing, and presentation skills.
• Proficiency in relevant data analysis tools, such as Excel, SPSS, Stata, Kobo Toolbox, ODK, or comparable platforms.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Knowledge of Somali and experience working in Somalia will be a strong advantage.

Additional Competencies

• Strong planning, coordination, and time-management skills.
• Ability to work independently and deliver high-quality outputs within agreed deadlines.
• Commitment to ethical research, impartiality, safeguarding, and confidentiality.
• Ability to communicate findings clearly and translate evidence into practical recommendations.
• Sensitivity to gender, age, disability, cultural context, and the needs of marginalized communities.

11. Application Requirements

Interested individual consultants and consultancy firms should submit:

• A technical proposal outlining understanding of the assignment, proposed methodology, sampling approach, data collection strategy, quality assurance measures, and workplan.
• A financial proposal with a clear breakdown of professional fees and other assignment-related costs, including fieldwork and data collection expenses where applicable.
• Updated CV(s) of the proposed consultant or key team members, highlighting relevant qualifications and experience.
• Relevant samples of previous work, such as service quality audit reports, community feedback assessments, accountability reviews, or similar assignments. Confidential client information must be protected.
• At least two professional references from previous clients or organizations for which similar assignments have been completed.
• Registration documents, where applicable, for consultancy firms.

Applications should demonstrate a clear understanding of the assignment and provide evidence of the applicant’s ability to deliver credible, practical, and high-quality findings.

12. Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be assessed against the following indicative criteria:

Evaluation criterion	Weight
Understanding of the assignment and quality of the proposed methodology	30%
Relevant qualifications and experience in similar assignments	25%
Data collection, analysis, and reporting capacity	20%
Workplan, feasibility, and quality assurance arrangements	10%
Financial proposal and value for money	15%
TOTAL	100%

The organization may conduct reference checks or request clarification from shortlisted applicants before making the final selection.

13. Submission Procedure

Interested applicants should submit their technical and financial proposals, CV(s), and supporting documents electronically to hr@sswc-som.org CC ahmednasir@sswc-som.org and ayan@sswc-som.org,  using the subject line:

Application – Consultancy to Conduct Service Quality Audits and Community Feedback Surveys

The application deadline is 21^st October 2026. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. The organization reserves the right to accept or reject any application in accordance with its procurement and recruitment procedures.

14. Ownership of Deliverables

All reports, datasets, assessment tools, presentations, and other materials produced under this assignment will remain the property of SSWC. The consultant may not publish, share, or otherwise use the assignment’s findings or data without prior written authorization from the organization. All information obtained during the assignment must be treated as confidential.

SSWC is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk. The selected consultant will be required to comply with applicable safeguarding, child protection, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, and organizational code of conduct requirements.