Description

Background:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Apolou and Resilience Challenge Fund (RCF) aims to Improve Food and Nutrition Security amongst 310,000 direct participants targeted in Moroto, Amudat, Kotido, Karenga and Kaabong districts of Uganda. The program interventions are designed across four purpose areas which include: 1) Governance; 2) Maternal Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN); 3) Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH); and 4) Livelihoods. In addition, the program emphasizes cross-cutting issues such as social behavior change, gender mainstreaming, adolescence, and resilience.

Purpose / Project Description:

Now in its wind-up phase ahead of Program Closure by September 30, 2023, Apolou needs a series of compelling communications products, bound by common messaging, which collectively tell the success story of the program for a diverse set of audiences. This set of products (e.g., compelling written pieces, captivating videos) will draw on multiple sources—from beneficiary narratives and unified programmatic language to research and documented outcomes. Mercy Corps now seeks the support of an experienced resilience communications strategist to collaborate with the Apolou/RCF team and the Communication Specialist to develop this unified messaging, communications products set, and guidance and training to support the program team in adopting longer-term resilience storytelling practices. This will be conducted in line with the Apolou/RCF Communication strategy which has the following specific objectives.

1. Engage all key stakeholders to ensure a shared understanding and awareness of APOLOU’s goals, objectives, results, and successes.
2. To support the durability of the results achieved by involving the targeted communities and support knowledge and ownership transfer.
3. Contribute to the communication, dialogue and knowledge transfer around key Resilience and Adaptation approaches for Karamoja.
4. Ensure visibility of Mercy Corps and USAID/BHA contributions to improve the lives of people in Karamoja.
5. Support internal communication and knowledge transfer and sharing.

Consultant Objectives:

• Provide remote and on-site support to strengthen the Apolou/RCF team’s capacity in communication.
• Develop key, strategic prototype resilience communications products for immediate external impact.
• Provide templates, prototypes, and on-going guidance in developing a range of additional key resilience communications products.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

1. Communications planning: collaborate with the Communication Specialist and the Apolou/RCF team to complete the following:
   1. Goal setting and product selection: Identify goals regarding staff learning and influence to determine which communications products will be most beneficial for promoting the program.
   2. Unified messaging: Deploy clear, concise, and compelling language to describe program foundations. This will include collaboration with a graphic designer to develop one or more graphics illustrating some of the key program themes (e.g., integration, layered interventions, systems thinking, interconnectedness).
   3. Dissemination and repackaging strategy: Come up with a strategy for disseminating the selected products and repackaging them to increase their value over the coming months.
2. Communications and storytelling training and resource development: Collaborating with the Communication Specialist to develop clear storytelling Processes: A series of activities and questions aimed at facilitating resilience storytelling practices that are mutually beneficial for communities and the Apolou/RCF program in line with existing Apolou RCF Communication strategy.
3. Development of specific products

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will:

• Five (5) Nexus case study: One example case study documenting program success at the intersection of at least two sectors (5 draft stories are already available for review and finetuning).
• Four (4) Videos: Facilitate discussion to determine higher-level story framing, provide the Communication Specialist with feedback regarding story selection, and two rounds of feedback on the scripts.
• Apolou/RCF landing Page: Work with the Communication Specialist to develop one stop shop for program materials and other Communication products.
• Photo essay: Collaborate with the Communication Specialist to create one example photo essay to pair with nexus case study.
• Provide guidance: provide technical input to product being developed by communication specialist. i.e Brochure, post card, blogs etc.

Timeframe / Schedule:

• This is 40 day contract is scheduled for July 1^st , 2023, to September 30, 2023.

The Consultant will report to:

• The technical Director.

The Consultant will work closely with:

• Chief of Party (Apolou/RCF), Regional Resilience Director (Technical Support Unit), Monitoring and Evaluation Director (Apolou/RCF), Implementation Director, Communication Specialist (Apolou/RCF), Apolou/RCF Collaborative Learning and Adaptation Lead and Component Managers (Apolou/RCF)

Required Experience & Skills:

• Master’s degree in communications, International Relations, social science, political science, or related field
• At least 5 years of experience working with NGOs on community development, particular expertise on Strategic influence, resilience communication, and advocacy.
• Demonstrated field experience in story collection, photography, documentation and show casing of project gains.
• Experience in organizing visibility and facilitating communication processes in high level multi-stakeholders Learning event.
• English fluency required.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.