Terms of Reference ACB Team Building and Retreat Consultancy – African Constituency Bureau for the Global Fund (ACB)
Consultancy and Training, Social Sciences and Community
African Constituency Bureau for the Global Fund (ACB)
Background
The African Constituency Bureau (ACB), established in 2012 and operational since 2017, plays a crucial role in supporting African representatives on the Global Fund Board, which focuses on combating AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The ACB brings together representatives from the East & Southern Africa (ESA) and West & Central Africa (WCA) constituencies, collectively representing 46 African countries that benefit from the Global Fund’s resources. By unifying these regions, the ACB amplifies the African voice in vital governance matters, enhancing the continent’s ability to influence the Global Fund’s policies and ensuring they are aligned with African priorities. The bureau enhances the effectiveness of African perspectives in the policy-making process by boosting the capacity of African Board members to navigate and influence health policy and systems challenges. The ACB is strategically housed at the headquarters of the Africa CDC and operates on a ‘hub and spoke’ model with five staff based in Addis Ababa and five others dispersed across Africa.
In 2022, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and L’initiative conducted independent evaluations of the ACB. These evaluations offered several recommendations to enhance the governance and management of the ACB. These included measures to broaden ownership among African Constituents and to develop a more sustainable and diverse funding base. Such steps would enable the ACB to continue and consolidate its work, evolve its brand, governance, and operational performance, and ultimately build a platform for expansion to support African Constituencies at other Global Health Initiatives (GHI) Boards. The ACB secretariat and its Board have jointly developed a transformation agenda and roadmap to address the findings of the evaluation.
Purpose
Following the ambitious transformation agenda initiated from the 2022 evaluations, the ACB recognizes the critical need to pause and reflect. This period of introspection is essential for reassessing the progress of the roadmap’s implementation, refining strategies for its successful execution, and rejuvenating the team. This need is particularly pressing as the ACB prepares to embark on new grant cycles with the BMGF and L’initiative. To address these objectives, the ACB has planned a 3-day retreat designed to bolster team strength, enhance cohesiveness, foster collaboration, and boost overall morale, ensuring the team is energized, trusts one another, and communicates effectively to achieve optimal performance.
The primary goal of this consultancy is to guide the ACB team through a series of team-building exercises. These activities will be meticulously chosen to enhance staff productivity and performance within the workplace, while also fortifying the spirit of teamwork, trust, and cooperation among team members. The focus will be on change management, cultivating effective communication, resolving conflicts efficiently, fostering accountability, and elevating team morale through a blend of enjoyable and challenging tasks.
Scope of Work
- Collaborate with the ACB retreat planning committee to organize the team-building retreat.
- Design and present specific team-building activities that align with the retreat’s goal of relaxing, refreshing, and re-strategizing, detailing each activity’s objective and methodologies.
- Participate in pre-retreat check-in meetings to ensure readiness for the activity’s overall implementation.
- Lead the team-building retreat, engaging all members to foster team spirit, trust, and collaboration for achieving high-level results.
- Enhance the team’s interpersonal communication, people skills, emotional intelligence, and related abilities.
Deliverables
- Provide a comprehensive yet concise report of the retreat, including actionable next steps.
Level of effort (working days)
Number of Workdays: Seven (7) Days– this consists of:
- 1 day (8 hours) for planning meeting
- 2 days (16 hours) for preparation
- 3 days for facilitation team building retreat
- 1 day for report writing
Key Competencies
- Advanced degree preferably in Organizational Psychology/Organizational Development/Human Resource management
- At least 10 years of experience in organizational change management, organizational development, and team building with Masters in a relevant field
- Demonstrated knowledge and advanced skills and at least 8 years of previous experience in the preparation of Team Building, knowledge sharing, and conducting sustainable team-building activities for INGOs Excellent facilitation, Cultural sensitivity, and communication skills in English (oral and written)
- Strong organizational skills
- Excellent rapporteur and analytical skills are necessary for capturing the reviews and suggestions that will emerge from the interactive sessions during the exercise
- Flexible nature and ability to adapt to changing directions/thinking that may occur during the Retreat
- Excellent interpersonal skills
