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.

The Technical Support Unit (TSU) houses subject matter experts that help set agency strategy and provide consultation, supporting program development, assessment and design, project implementation and learning, and fostering knowledge sharing. The Resilience TSU stewards and improves application of the resilience approach across the organization, partnering closely with country teams and other technical sectors to infuse resilience thinking into programming to further sustainable impact. The Climate, Environment and Water Security TSU leads and supports the organization’s technical approaches related to climate adaptation, water security and energy and strengthens application of these approaches working with country/program teams.

Purpose / Project Description:

The Resilience TSU and Water Security subteam within the Climate/Environment/Water TSU teams will engage an experienced Resilience and DRM technical expert to support several activities associated with roles that are vacant or need to be backfilled temporarily. The consultant will provide advising support and lead projects associated with Mercy Corps’ overall resilience approach (applied across all program types) as well as specific climate resilience-related approaches.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will serve as a senior technical advisor working closely with Mercy Corps’ Resilience and Water Security TSU teams on the following activities:

1. Proposal Support: Support up to four Mercy Corps proposal or concept note efforts with technical inputs related to resilience (inclusive of both overall resilience and climate/DRM resilience approaches). This may include travel to Mercy Corps locations to participate in design workshops and proposal development. Technical inputs may include: design workshop planning / development and review of supporting materials, program logic/theory of change inputs, reviews/inputs into proposal-related context assessment tools, writing sections of the narrative, or other related proposal inputs. The support roles anticipated are:
   1. Technical Lead role on at least one proposal
   2. Medium to High effort on an additional two to three (max) concept notes or proposals
2. Technical Advising: Provide technical guidance, review and advising on Mercy Corps’ overall resilience approach and DRM-focused approaches. This will entail:
   1. Review and inputs into TSU technical approach documents
   2. Ad-hoc program implementation technical advising (consultations/meetings, resource/tool review and inputs, knowledge sharing)
3. Technical Briefs: Review program documents and consult country, regional and global technical and program team members to document current and recent program examples; write technical briefs. The two briefs will be focused on topics related to: resilience measurement for water security, disaster risk management, early warning, anticipatory action and community-based disaster preparedness. This work will be conducted remotely, drawing on program examples across multiple contexts, and will result in one or two written syntheses (technical briefs) which are anticipated for both internal (primary) and external (secondary) audiences.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will:

• Proposal design inputs for two to four proposals or concept notes related to Mercy Corps’ resilience technical approaches, including as required in person participation in design workshops
• Review and written feedback from a resilience technical perspective on up to three TSU technical approach/capacity statement documents
• Resilience technical advisory consultations with programs on resilience approach implementation
• Two technical briefs on Mercy Corps’ program experience/institutional capacity and learning related to the topics listed above

Timeframe / Schedule:

This consultancy is for maximum 52 days total. All deliverables must be completed by April 30, 2024, with an expectation that the consultant and Mercy Corps will arrange an agreed upon regular weekly schedule of working hours, with flexibility to surge as needed to complete time-sensitive deliverables. Deliverable dates for proposals will be determined for each individual bid. A detailed workplan will be developed with the consultant which will include key milestones and associated dates.

The Consultant will report to:

• Global Resilience Director, TSU
• Senior Director, Environment and Climate, TSU (secondary)

The Consultant will work closely with:

• Director – Water Security
• Other members of the TSU and program teams

Required Experience & Skills:

Concurrent Engagement:

• Application to Mercy Corps’ Consultant – Using Earth Observation for Resilience Analysis (Pending Donor Approval) – Remote and ability to perform concurrent engagement

Experience:

• Master or Bachelor in Development, Disaster/Climate Change, Water Resource Management
• 5 years minimum experience in program design and management of programs focused on resilience building, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation.
• In addition to a very good understanding of the resilience framework and its application in different contexts and in relation to different sectoral development outcomes (e.g. food security, water security, economic opportunity, peace), the consultant needs to have demonstrated technical experience with program design and implementation of components related to:
  • Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation
  • Early Warning Systems, Use of Climate Information, and Anticipatory Action
  • Practical applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in problem analysis and program evaluation
• Proposal development experience in relevant technical areas (design and writing)
• Strong analytical skills to analyze cross sectoral/thematic linkages to design program approaches/strategies within a resilience framework
• Good skills and experience documenting program examples and technical approaches in Resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation
• Ability to facilitate successful remote collaborations with multicultural teams and strong coordination/communication skills

To Apply

Applicants should submit their CV and Cover Letter detailing their related experience. Applicants must also apply to the separate Mercy Corps posting titled Consultant – Using Earth Observation for Resilience Analysis (Pending Donor Approval) – Remote. Applicants must apply to both postings to be considered.

Evaluation Criteria

• Required relevant experience will be evaluated with a weighting of 75%
• Cost by Daily Rate x Maximum Days (52) will be evaluated with a weighting of 25%

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.