Scope of Work for

Partners Financial Capacity Building in QuickBooks Management

Title: QuickBooks consultancy for the Enhancing Partners’ Institutional Capacity (EPIC) Project.

Locations: Monrovia Liberia

Report To: Sr. PCS Coordinator

Duration: 6 days

Start Date: April 22^nd – 29^th, 2024.

About CRS Liberia:

Catholic Relief Services is an esteemed humanitarian organization that represents the Catholic community in the United States. With a noble mission to promote human development by responding to major emergencies, fighting against poverty and diseases, and strengthening national partners’ capacity.

In Liberia, CRS is committed to supporting the government and the people of Liberia and its implementing partners to overcome the challenges in their journey towards local leadership and sustainable development. Our most important differentiating element for our Vision 2030 strategy is Local Leadership.

The rationale for advancing Local Leadership starts with the Catholic guiding principle of subsidiarity which recognizes that human well-being is best handled at the level closest to the affected persons. At CRS we, believe that investing in people helps build healthy institutions, local governments, organizations, and communities that can lead their development. The dynamic nature of today’s development environment has clarified that local ownership of development programming is key to sustainability. To handle their growing responsibilities, indigenous organizations need innovative, professional partnerships and capacity-strengthening support. Increasingly, both donors and the international development community seek to empower local government and civil society organizations to chart their path forward.

About the Project:

Enhancing Partners’ Institutional Capacity (EPIC) is a capacity-building and strengthening project for sub-recipients that are implementing for the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Liberia program. CRS believes that as institutions are formed or get established, grow, and change, they are in a constant process of developing systems, structures, and the environment needed to reach their goals and have an impact. Our Institutional strengthening looks at the different organizational functions that are often represented by departments within an organization and can involve work on organizational principles, minimum standards, best practices, business processes, references, and tools deemed important for effective, efficient, and sustainable organizations. CRS Institutional Strengthening approach is a reference for organizations that wish to develop or improve existing institutional strengthening systems and processes. It presents principles, minimum standards, best practices, business processes, references, and tools for effective, efficient, and sustainable organizations.

EPIC project approach to capacity strengthening has three elements: 1) Capacity building – supporting individuals and teams to build knowledge, skills, and attitudes in key capacity areas; 2) Institutional strengthening – supporting those individuals and teams to strengthen their organizations by developing or improving systems, structures, and policies to function more effectively and achieve goals; and 3) Accompaniment – providing consistent follow-up to ensure mastery of new skills and/or consistent application of organizational changes.

CRS’ approach to capacity strengthening also supports policy solutions that advance locally led development and humanitarian response in aid policy. By helping build the evidence base for effective localization, increasing engagement on the topic with donors and policymakers, and working to amplify local partner voices in policy discussions, we seek to operate our localization commitments in practice and our advocacy efforts. This approach puts our partners in a position to mobilize resources so they can achieve our shared goal of being catalysts for long-term and transformational solutions to reducing poverty, inequality, and human suffering.

The Objective of the Consultancy:

The proposed consultancy aims to facilitate the procurement and installation of QuickBooks software on desktop computers at three partner organizations’ offices. The objective is to provide a comprehensive training session for staff members on utilizing the QuickBooks application for efficient financial documentation and quality reporting. The deployment of QuickBooks will offer the partner organizations a user-friendly financial tool to generate high-quality financial reports. The training will focus on augmenting financial capacity, with an emphasis on payroll management, invoice creation, check issuance, payment processing, and other related tasks. The end goal of this project is to ensure accurate and proficient financial reporting and documentation.

Deliverables:

The key deliverable for the consultant is as follows:

• Procure the QuickBooks suite.
• Install the QuickBooks application on three partner organization computers.
• Train partner staff on the usage of the application and submit a training report after the consultancy.

Timeline for deliverables:

The period of this consultancy is expected to be 6 days. The level of effort and timeframes are estimates and subject to change.

Evaluation:

75% and above will be considered technically qualified.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Sr PCS Coordinator, Finance team, and Head of Programs.

Period of Performance:

The total period of performance for the work to be accomplished of this SoW will begin on April 22^nd – 29^th, 2023.

Consultant Selection Process:

Qualifications and skills:

• Minimum of five years’ experience Managing and working within QuickBooks
• Strong understanding of the application source requirements and version to be used.
• Expert in the field of financial management
• Availability during the scheduled time frame

The closing date is on the 19th of April 2024 at 2:00 pm. All applicants should channel their applications to: liberiaprocurement@crs.org with FY2421 as the subject of the email.