Terms of Reference for People Policy Harmonisation and Staff Handbook Programme
Background and Organisational Context
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is one of the world's largest and most influential sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) organisations, operating through a federated model comprising a Global Secretariat and a network of Member Associations and Collaborative partners worldwide.
Each office operates under distinct legal jurisdictions, employment law frameworks, and in many cases — different compensation structures, benefit packages, and HR processes that have evolved organically over time.
While this diversity reflects the breadth of IPPF's global footprint, it has created significant inconsistency in staff experience, compliance risk, and the administrative burden borne by both the People, Organisation and Culture function and local office managers.
IPPF is committed to a fair, transparent, and globally coherent employment framework. This project seeks to address this gap by harmonising globally the people related policies, procedures and systems and encapsulate these within a Unified Secretariat Staff Handbook – structured, layered policy and guidance resource that clearly distinguishes between globally applicable standards and locally required adaptations.
Purpose and Objectives
The objective of this project is to develop and support the implementation of a Unified Secretariat Staff Handbook that:
1. Establishes a harmonised set of global core policies, principles and standards aligned to IPPF’s values and competency framework.
2. Develop jurisdiction-specific Country Annexes for statutory and local requirements.
3. Strengthen consistency, equity, transparency and employee experience across the Secretariat.
Scope of Work
The project covers all staff employed directly and indirectly (via EoR and Hosted arrangement) and individual consultants hired by IPPF across all duty stations. It does not extend to Member Associations or national affiliates, though the handbook may reference the federated relationship. The scope of work includes:
1. Map the existing policy and HR landscape across all offices, identifying what documentation currently exists, where it is held, and what gaps exist.
2. Develop a two-tier architecture handbook: with a Global Core and jurisdiction-specific country annexes.
3. Identify, document, and present for decision all material differentials in pay, grading, benefits, COLA methodology, benchmarking approach, and recruitment process.
4. Recommend and implement a harmonised framework for the specific decision areas identified in Section 5 of this ToR.
5. Deliver a publication-ready Unified Staff Handbook and supporting implementation materials.
6. Delivery AI enabled chatbot/ agent enabling ease of extraction of relevant information for all staff and governance across IPPF secretariat.
7. Establish a governance and review mechanism to maintain the handbook going forward.
Key Deliverables
The Unified Secretariat Staff Handbook will cover a global core content and jurisdiction-specific Country Annexes that will include inter-alia the list of topics are listed in the full Terms of Reference.
The key deliverables are listed below:
- A unified Global Secretariat Staff Handbook comprising a global core and country annexes. This will harmonise people policies, procedures and practices where appropriate, while ensuring compliance with local legislation.
- An accessible digital handbook, including an AI-enabled search capability.
- Training and communication materials to support rollout.
A minimum of three training – using a train the trainer approach – which will be recorded by IPPF
Key Decision Areas — Differentials to be Surfaced and Resolved
Offer and Pay-on-Hire Practice
Standardisation of offer-making and joining practices including onboarding, starting salary positioning within grade, manager discretion limits, and approval levels.
Recruitment Process Standards
Agreement on a common global recruitment process (stages, approval gates, assessment methods, diversity requirements) with documented local adaptations where statutory or operational requirements differ.
Benefits Principles
Establishment of global minimum benefits principles (e.g. healthcare access, retirement provision) above which country-specific benefits operate, with a classification framework distinguishing 'global floor' from 'local enhancement'.
Contracting process
Standard terms and conditions that:
- must be included for any individual joining IPPF.
- must be included to comply with the local laws in the country of placement and
- must not be included, as may lead to conflict with local legislation or greater discretionary benefits to employees.
Project Risks and Mitigation
Please see the full Terms of Reference.
Governance and Oversight Mechanism
Please see the full Terms of Reference.
Project Methodology and Phased Workplan
Please see the full Terms of Reference.
Scope of External Consultancy Engagement
Proposals are invited from qualified individuals or consulting firms with demonstrated expertise in international HR policy development, employment law, and global compensation. The consultant(s) will be expected to fulfil the scope outlined in the full Terms of Reference.
Project Success Criteria
The assignment will be deemed successfully completed upon:
- approval of the unified staff handbook, which includes complete Country Annexes;
- validation of legal compliance across all jurisdictions;
- publication of the handbook including its online version with AI capability launched.
- trainings successfully delivered.
Acceptance of each deliverable will be subject to written approval by the Project Lead following review by the CIG.
Consultant Skills and Experience Required
Proposals should demonstrate:
- Significant experience in developing similar staff handbooks, HR frameworks, or people policy documents for international organisations or complex multi-jurisdiction employers.
- Strong working knowledge of employment law in at least four of the current jurisdictions covered; access to qualified legal resource in remaining jurisdictions.
- Demonstrated expertise in organisational change, policy harmonisation, governance, project management, legal coordination, and executive-level facilitation. Experience beyond employment law and HR policy is essential.
- Experience in global compensation design, salary benchmarking, and COLA methodologies.
- Familiarity with international development sector pay practices.
- Demonstrated ability to manage complex stakeholder environments and facilitate governance-level decision-making.
- Excellent written English; additional languages (French, Spanish, Arabic) an asset.
Proposed Engagement Model
The consultant will be engaged on a fixed-fee basis with milestone-linked payments tied to delivery of the major outputs listed above. The estimated level of effort is in the range of 120-150 person-days over a [7]-month period plus time required to publish the book online, with chatbot capability. The bidders are invited to propose their own level of effort with justification. The engagement is remote-first with a requirement to attend (virtually) all POC and CIG meetings, and one all-hands stakeholder session. Expenses in relation to travel, will be managed/ covered by IPPF as per IPPF travel policy.
Indicative Timeline (Selection of Consultant)
Request for Proposals issued to market: 27th Aug 2026
Proposal submission deadline: 14th September 2026
Consultant selection and contracting: 30th September 2026
Project kick-off; Country Focal Points briefed: 7th October 2026
Budget and Financial Parameters
Bidders are invited to submit a fully costed proposal against the deliverables listed in Section 9.1. The budget should be presented as:
- Bidders shall submit a fixed fee for the complete assignment, inclusive of professional fees required to deliver all deliverables specified in Section 9.1 in the full Terms of Reference.
Proposal Evaluation Criteria
Please see the full Terms of Reference.
Post-Publication Review and Ongoing Governance
The Handbook will be a living document. The following ongoing governance arrangements will be established as part of the project:
- Annual review cycle: The CIG will convene annually (or more frequently if legislation changes require it) to review the Handbook and flag required updates.
- Trigger-based review: Any significant change in applicable employment law, IPPF organisational structure, or grading framework will trigger an ad hoc review of the affected sections.
- Version control: All updates will be version-controlled with a clear change log. Staff will be notified of material amendments through an established communications channel.
- Accountable owner: HR team will retain ownership of the Handbook. Country Focal Points will serve as first-line monitors of local compliance requirements.
- Periodic benchmarking: COLA methodology and pay scale reviews will be conducted in accordance with the schedule agreed during the project (minimum every two years).
Proposal Requested
The interested bidders shall submit their proposals in response to this Terms of Reference (TOR) in accordance with the requirements outlined herein. The proposal shall include a Technical Bid and a Financial Bid, prepared strictly in accordance with the formats specified in this TOR. Bids that do not meet the technical evaluation criteria may be rejected. Incomplete submissions or proposals not prepared in the prescribed formats may also result in rejection of the bid.
Technical Bid Format
Please see the full Terms of Reference. Note: The Technical Bid should not exceed 15 pages, excluding annexures. Bidders may submit any supporting documents as annexures to the Technical Bid.
Financial Bid Format
Please see the full Terms of Reference.
Disqualification
The proposal/ bid is liable to be disqualified in the following cases:
- Proposal not submitted in the formats prescribed in this document.
- Revision of quotes, during validity of the proposal, or its extended period, if any.
- The proposal is conditional upon terms and conditions not contained in this TOR or otherwise deviates from the terms and conditions of this TOR.
- Proposal is received after due date and time unless specific waiver sought from and granted by IPPF.
- Information submitted in bid is found to be misrepresented, incorrect or false, at any time during the processing of the proposal/ contract (no matter at what stage) or during the tenure of the contract including the extension period, if any.
- Bidder tries to influence the proposal evaluation process by unlawful/corrupt/fraudulent means at any point of time during the bid process.
- In case any bidder submits multiple proposals or if common interests are found in two or more bids/bidders, the bidders are likely to be disqualified, unless additional bids are withdrawn upon notice immediately.
Clarification On TOR
A prospective bidder requiring any clarification on the TOR may notify IPPF by e-mail. They shall submit any queries related to the TOR document in the following format in excel or word format only to hroffice@ippf.org by 1st September 2026. The responses (explanation of the query but without identifying the source of the inquiry) to these queries shall be uploaded on the website of IPPF (www.ippf.org) for ready reference of all prospective bidders. Please see full Terms of Reference for more details.
Submission Requirements
All proposals must include the following:
- Technical Proposal (maximum 15 pages): understanding of the assignment; proposed methodology and workplan; team CVs and relevant experience; at least two references from comparable assignments.
- Financial Proposal (separate document): fully itemised budget in US$.
- Conflict of Interest Declaration: a signed statement confirming no conflict of interest with IPPF, its Member Associations, or any current contractors.
- Organisational registration documents (if applicable): evidence of legal entity, VAT/tax registration.
Proposals should be submitted by email to hroffice@ippf.org with the subject line:
“IPPF Secretariat Staff Handbook — Proposal Submission — [Organisation/Individual Name]”
Submission Deadline: 7th September 2026
Queries: Please direct all pre-submission queries to hroffice@ippf.org by 1st September 2026.
Ownership of Outputs
All documents, data, analyses, draft materials, country annexes, AI configurations and final deliverables produced under this assignment shall remain the intellectual property of IPPF. The consultant shall not reproduce or distribute any project materials without prior written approval from IPPF.
