Consultant to develop LHRC’s investment policy

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LHRC’s INVESTMENT POLICY CONSULTANCY.

1.0 Background:

The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) is a private, autonomous, voluntary non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit sharing organization committed to a just and equitable society through empowering the people of Tanzania and advocating for reforms of the laws, policies, and practices. LHRC works to promote, reinforce, and safeguard human rights and good governance across Tanzania.

LHRC’s Vision: “A Just and Equitable Society” where – the three arms of state (parliament, judiciary, and the executive) as well as non-state actors practice accountability, transparency and there is rule of law; and where there is public awareness, respect and engagement for human rights and good governance; and where justice and respect for human dignity are reality.

LHRC’s Mission:  To empower the public so that they can promote, reinforce and safeguard their rights and this we do through legal and civic education and information, sound legal research and advice, monitoring and follow-up of human rights violations; and advocacy for reforms of policies, laws and practices in conformity with international human rights standards.

2.0 Rationale for the Investment Policy:

The development funding landscape is changing drastically; key donor governments are inclined to make funding decisions based on their government’s internal national policies and foreign policies due to the changing internal and external global political and economic dynamics. It is also important to note that the world is still under economic recovery post Covid-19; the Russia-Ukraine war is causing a substantial impact on the global economy and financial markets, with significant spillovers to the other countries including the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

In many countries, the crisis is creating an adverse shock to both inflation and activity, amid already elevated price pressures. Monetary authorities will need to carefully monitor the pass-through of rising international prices to domestic inflation, to calibrate appropriate responses. Fiscal policies will need to support the most vulnerable households, to help offset rising living costs. This crisis will create complex policy tradeoffs, further complicating the policy landscape as the world economy recovers from the pandemic crisis.

In 2019, LHRC adopted its fourth strategic plan (2019 – 2024) and complimentary to this, Operational Plans 2019-2021 and 2022 – 2024. LHRC is currently implementing the second phase of its Strategic Plan and has completed the first year of the 2nd Operational Plan (2022 – 2024).

LHRC Strategic Plan was developed in view of collective reflections from key governance stakeholders, recommendations from the evaluation report for 2013 – 2018 and in view of the national and international context. LHRC has further refreshed its theory of change and adopted a results-oriented framework to define and measure the impact of her past and current programs.

Complimentary to this, LHRC developed a Resources Mobilization Strategy and Complimentary action plan (2021 – 2025) for the main purpose of defining and creating a roadmap towards the organization’s resources mobilization agenda in view of securing sustainable resources to achieve committed development results and in the long run, the overall sustainability of the organization.

In view of the changing global and national development funding landscape, LHRC is therefore, seeking for a development sector investment expert who will support LHRC to develop an investment policy and complimentary action plan.

The investment policy should be developed in view of LHRC’s Strategic Plan (2019 – 2024) and Complimentary Operational Plans and beyond 2024.

The Expert will review the following supporting documents and propose LHRC’s investment implementation plan:

1. LHRC Strategic Plan 2019 – 2024
2. LHRC Operational Plan 2022 – 2024
3. LHRC Resources Mobilization Strategy and Action Plan (2021 – 2025)
4. Resources Mobilization (RM) Tools (local donor mapping matrix tool; private sector pipeline tool and RM action plan)
5. LHRC Constitution

This assignment is part of the broader strategic support for LHRC’s resources mobilization strategy and securing diverse funding partners to realize the organization’s objective and delivery of committed development results. As the investment consultant, you will be required to provide LHRC Management with guidelines and appropriate mechanism for the engagement and resource mobilization for sustainable investments from both the private and public sectors.

3.0 Key deliverables of the Assignment

The aim of LHRC Investment Policy is to provide the organization with tangible guidelines, policies, and eligible securities related to all current assets and potential assets held by LHRC primarily for investment purposes (‘institutional funds”).

The Consultant is therefore required to develop an investment policy that takes into account the following: a) LHRC Resources Mobilization Strategy and plan  b) LHRC’s existing institutional funds and assets and 3) the global and national investment context – tapping into investment strategies best practices from Non-profit making Organizations (NGOs and INGOs) globally and in Tanzania.

The policy should deliver the following:

• Document clearly investment decision making processes including roles, duties and responsibilities for the effective and efficient management of the LHRC Investments.
• Clarify the delegation of duties and responsibilities concerning the management of institutional funds.
• Identify the criteria against which the investment performance of the organization’s investments will be measured.
• Communicate the objectives to the Board of Directors, Senior Management Team (SMT), staff, finance department, brokers, donors, and funding sources that may be involved.
• Confirms policies and procedures relative to the expenditure of institutional investment funds.
• Should demonstrate how it will serve as a review document to guide the ongoing oversight of the management of the organizations’ investments.

 

4.0 Specific Tasks:

1. Review LHRC’s current strategic plan and complimentary operational plan; annual work plans, resource mobilization strategy and tools to better understand the needs and help position the organization for securing investment funds.
2. Consult LHRC Senior Management Team (SMT), Sustainability and Compliance Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and Programme Teams to better understand the organization’s mission, vision, and programmatic priority areas.
3. The policy should clearly define roles and responsibilities of the following: a) Board of Directors; b) Management; c) investment oversight committee complimentary to this, clearly defined delegations of authority.
4. Develop a SMART investment plan of action for LHRC. The proposed investment plan of action should take into consideration the following:
   1. general economic trends and conditions;
   2. possible effect of inflation or deflation;
   3. expected tax consequences, if any, of investment decisions or strategies;
   4. the role that each investment or course of action plays within the overall investment portfolio;
   5. expected total return from the income and appreciation of investments;
   6. other resources of the organization;
   7. Risks and returns per specific proposed investment portfolio
   8. the operational and programmatic needs of the organization;
   9. an asset’s special relationship or special value, if any, to the organization’s purposes; and,
   10. LHRC core donor funders’ policies and restrictions on investing donor funds.

1. Develop guidelines for investing (income and appreciation) and complimentary recommendations.
2. Advice LHRC on the best social enterprises models, tapping into lessons learned and best practices of non-profit organizations who have successfully established social enterprises.
3. Orientation of LHRC staff on Investment Policy.

 

5.0 Duration of Service

• The Consultant shall conduct the assignment within a 3-month period after signing the contract (with the possibility of extension).

6.0 Reporting.

The consultant will report to the Executive Director and/or her designate.

7.0 Requirements.

The consultant will be selected based on their proven experience, qualifications, and ability to deliver a quality product in a timely and efficient manner. Minimum qualifications and experience of the person/firm will include:

• Thorough knowledge on the donor landscape in relation to funding on programmes of support in the following (but not limited to) development thematic areas; a) good governance; b) access to justice and rule of law and c) human rights in the sub-Saharan Africa. Notably, cross-cutting issues include gender mainstreaming; anti-corruption and climate change should be observed.
• Experience in supporting African CSOs develop and implement effective investment strategies and plans.
• Established intelligence and understanding of donor investment policies and preferences.

7.1. Consultancy relevance

• The relevance of the proposal to LHRC’s strategic objectives and priorities in view of the organization’s resource mobilization and partnerships agenda.
• Clarity of work plan and specific assignment/task activities.
• Demonstrated experience in developing investment strategies, plans and policies.
• Demonstrated understanding of the donor landscape in relation to funding for good governance and human rights thematic programmes of support.

Capacity to deliver.

• Demonstrate the capability and capacity to meet the requirements in terms of the specification.
• Detailed CV of the Team Leader and key Project/Assignment team members.

Experience and expertise:

• Masters degree in finance, accounting, economics, or a related discipline.
• 5–8 years' experience in a finance position and investment
• Expertise in United Republic of Tanzania tax financial regulations and laws.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Confident decision-making abilities.
• Analytical mind with good problem-solving skills.

Financial Proposal: Clarity, relevance, reality to market value/ value for money of cost for the assignment (inclusive of any applicable tax)

Submission of proposals should be made to LHRC through sending an email to lhrc@humanrights.or.tz  not later than 31st March 2023.

To learn more about LHRC, please visit our website:  www.humanrights.or.tz