Niger: Consultant - Proposal Pre-Positioning - Niger and Burkina Faso

Background:

Mercy Corps is planning to bid on the expected Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced II from USAID (undetermined RFA or RFP). It is anticipated that RISE II will be a number of individual solicitations covering specific technical areas. This Scope of Work covers preparatory pre-positioning duties (for the expected proposal development response).

Purpose / Project Description:

The Consultant will work closely with Mercy Corps Niger and Headquarters/Regional teams to articulate the best strategy for Mercy Corps' response to RISE II to ensure that our ultimate proposal is highly competitive and successful. The consultant's work will include a combination of research on MC and USAID approaches to a subset of components included under the RISE II framework, as determined in a prepositioning workshop in Niamey, evaluation of potential partners and competitors in both Niger and to a lesser extent Burkina Faso, conducting and participating in meetings to formulate potential partnerships, and development of relevant documents to prepare the ground for a successful response by MC.

Support Provided by Country Team/Mercy Corps HQ:

The Consultant will work under the guidance of the MC Niger Deputy Country Director and the designated member of the MC New Initiatives team, and receive additional support from MC TSU, regional technical staff and other MC Niger program and operations team members.

Consultant Activities:

• Review the RISE II Technical Approach Paper alongside Mercy Corps' institutional capacities and strategic objectives in Niger to generate a competitive analysis and narrow the prepositioning research focus on key information gaps
• Participate in a prepositioning workshop in Niamey with Mercy Corps staff and refine prepositioning priorities and activities based on workshop outputs
• Review relevant literature (research, case studies, etc.) produced by USAID, Mercy Corps and others over the last five years on priority technical areas under the RISE II framework, likely to include: pro-poor market systems strengthening, off-farm and non-farm livelihoods development, natural resource management, agroecological approaches, early warning systems, financial services, alternative energy, women and youth empowerment, and other resilience-related themes
• Review primary and secondary assessment information and critical documentation on relevant Mercy Corps and USAID approaches and programs relevant to RISE II (including RISE I documentation that may be available)
• Review Government of Niger and Government of Burkina Faso policy priorities to identify potential entry points aligned with the RISE II framework
• Work with country office to generate list of relevant meetings in Niger and Burkina Faso based on the priority technical areas/themes identified in the prepositioning workshop and to develop a brief list of questions to ask during in-country stakeholder meetings designed to elicit information relevant to our proposal strategy development
• Conduct/participate in meetings with Government officials, members of other local and international NGOs, donors, contractors, private sector, research institutions, associations and other relevant parties to understand the opportunities and constraints related to priority technical areas/themes
• Develop a stakeholder mapping detailing actors and interventions (other NGO implementers, private sector, public initiatives, etc.) that could align with/complement Mercy Corps' bid
• Develop the skeleton of key components of proposal strategy based on information collected
• Prepare draft teaming agreements, letters of intent to partner with international or local organizations, scopes of work for other consultants, position descriptions for key staff, etc.
• Collect “stories from the field” for use in text boxes

Consultant Deliverables:

1. Written summary of research and findings, bibliography
2. Completed proposal Partnership and Competitor Matrix for Niger/Burkina as part of the broader stakeholder mapping
3. Short written synopses of best programmatic approaches/ideas/concepts for each priority technical area based on Mercy Corps' experience, RISE I lessons and research of past resilience programming by USAID and others in Niger/Burkina
4. Recommended proposal strategy with key technical components outlined/summarized, including any outstanding information gaps and recommendations for additional assessments critical to Mercy Corps'
5. Detailed notes of meetings in-country including:
   1. highlights of relevant information,
   2. Annotated contact list,
   3. Findings as relevant for proposal strategy,
   4. Recommendations for next steps in relation to each meeting or contact.

Contract Dates:

This contract runs between May 14, 2018 and June 30, 2018, for up to 15 days with possibility of extension.

The Consultant will report to: Mercy Corps Niger Deputy Country Director and a to be designated member of Mercy Corps New Initiatives team

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PI102383862

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