Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development organization that exists to alleviate suffering and poverty by helping people build secure, productive and sustainable community driven changes. Mercy Corps helps people turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve. Driven by local needs, our programs provide communities in the world’s toughest places with the tools and support they need to transform their own lives and livelihoods. Mercy Corps Ethiopia is operating in Somali, Oromiya, Addis Ababa, and SNNPR in the sectors of Water and Sanitation, Economic Development, Livelihoods, Capacity Building, Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition and similar sectors.
Purpose/Project Description:
Mercy Corps is an implementing partner under Catholic Relief Services for a USAID Food For Peace-funded Development Food Assistant Project (DFAP) for Ethiopia. The DFAP-Ethiopian Livelihoods and Resiliency Program (ELRP), intends to improve food access and incomes through agriculture and other livelihoods initiatives; enhance natural resource and environmental management; combat under nutrition, especially for children under two and pregnant and lactating women; and mitigate disaster impact through early warning and community preparedness activities. The ELRP is intended to build resilience in populations vulnerable to chronic hunger and repeated hunger crises, and to reduce their future need for ongoing or emergency food assistance. The program is a 5-year program, commencing in October 2016.
Consultant Objectives:
Mercy Corps seeks an experienced individual in Youth Barrier Analysis (BA) Design; assessments of Community, Implementing Partner and Government-staff youth-related perceptions and experiences; life skills curriculum development and training; and who has previously served as an Advisor to full-time, locally-based implementing staff. The candidate or choice will be responsible for working with the Senior Youth Manager (SYM), who will be implementing partners in resilience building in pastoral and agro-pastoral sectors, including GoE, IP, youth and gender agency, development, and empowerment.
The key role of the Consultant will be to lead the design of the BA and three types of Assessments dealing with knowledge, perceptions and experiences in youth behavior; to contextualize Mercy Corp’s TSC+; and train Mercy Corp youth team and IPs on the curriculum.
The work of the Consultant will support the following purpose/objective of DFAP-ELRP:
- Cross-Purpose 1: Women and youth have increased access to and control of community and HH resources
- IO X.1.1: Rural women and youth have increased their ability to make meaningful decisions and choices for their lives
- IO X.1.2: Community systems and structures increased participation of women and youth in equitable decision-making
- IO 2.1.3: Young adults are gainfully employed.
The woredas for the DFAP implementation are as follows:
- East Haraghe Zone, Babile; Deder, Melka Belo and Midega Tola woredas
- Dire Dawa
- Arsi Zone, Zeway Dugda woreda
- West Arsi Zone, Shala and Arsi Negele woredas
Consultant Activities:
The Consultant will:
- Develop one Assessment questionnaire each, for Community, Implementing Partner and Government of Ethiopia related to knowledge, perceptions and experiences in youth development and engagement.
- Develop Barrier Analyses questionnaire to be implemented by Senior Youth Manager and team and analyze results upon completion of all BAs, in collaboration with said team.
- Develop one or more contextual transferable life skills curriculums using Mercy Corps Transferable Skills Curriculum+ as a template, incorporating results from the BAs and all Assessments.
- Train Mercy Corps Youth team, IPs and GoE in Ethiopia-specific TSC+ methodology(s).
Consultant Deliverables:
The Consultant will provide the following deliverables:
- Questionnaire to assess community perceptions of youth equity, agency and empowerment, and previous experience in youth development and engagement.
- Questionnaire to assess IPs perceptions of youth equity, agency and empowerment, and previous experience in youth development and engagement.
- Questionnaire to assess GoE perceptions of youth equity, agency and empowerment, and previous experience in youth development and engagement.
- Barrier Analysis questionnaire to assess individuals perceptions of youth knowledge, equity, agency and empowerment and previous experience in youth development and engagement.
- Contextual-specific TSC+ training curriculum(s).
- Reports on BA and all assessments results.
- Reports on MMA and BA trainings.
Timeframe / Schedule:
- October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017: 15 days to develop Barrier Analysis, Community, IP and GoE Assessment questionnaires.
- October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018: 45 days to develop training curriculum(s), report on analyses/assessments, provide training, and report on training.
The Consultant will report to:
Ethiopia Mercy Corps Country Director
The Consultant will work closely with:
Mercy Corps Portland-based Senior Youth Development Advisor; Ethiopia-based Senior Youth Manager, Barrier Expert, Data Collectors and Technical Experts; CRS counterparts; Implementing Partner counterparts; and Government of Ethiopia counterparts.
