🇸🇱 Job Vacancy @ Mercy Corps – FICCARS Coordinator
Description
Project/Consultancy Title: FICCARS Coordinator – Sierra Leone
Project Location(s): Freetown, Sierra Leone
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.
About Energy 4 Impact
At Mercy Corps, we understand the pivotal role of universal energy access in shaping a more sustainable future — one defined by thriving economies, stable food and water supplies, and peaceful, effective governance. To realize this vision, we are addressing critical challenges at the intersection of energy access and climate-resilient development through our platform, Energy 4 Impact (E4I).
Our localized approach begins by building inclusive energy markets, and then leveraging them as a catalyst for sustainable development and humanitarian assistance. We offer multidisciplinary expertise, local know-how, and systems-centred approaches, coupled with global best practices in energy innovations, technologies, and business models. Having successfully implemented this model across Africa, positively impacting the lives of over 20 million individuals through enhanced energy access, we now aim to amplify our global influence. Our mission is to uncover innovative, transformative means of utilizing energy access to enhance the well-being of all people on our planet.
Purpose / Project Description:
E4I is implementing a three-year program called Financial Inclusion for Clean Cooking Access in Rwanda and Sierra Leone (FICCARS). The program seeks to address the challenge of access to finance and clean cooking among women living in cities, particularly in urban informal settlements and slums in these two countries.
In Sierra Leone, E4I is implementing the programme with the Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA), as the local implementing partner.
Consultant Objectives:
The FICCARS programme seeks a seasoned individual consultant, based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to support both E4I and CODOHSAPA teams with quality programme delivery and stakeholder coordination. By the end of the contracting period, the consultant should have ensured a good working relationship between the FICCARS team, the FICCARS commercial partners, and key public and private sector stakeholders in the enabling environment.
Please note that Sierra Leone nationals will be prioritised for this opportunity.
Consultant Activities:
The Consultant will:
- Map the policy and stakeholder landscape in Sierra Leone, in the thematic areas of gender, financial inclusion, clean cooking, and urban development.
- Facilitate partnerships with key stakeholders with a strong focus on FICCARS thematic areas. Examples include, but are not limited to, partnerships with UNCDF, Restless Development International, Bank of Sierra Leone, Ministry of Gender, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Environment, Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre, the Environmental Protection Agency, key academic and/or research institutions, Renewable Energy Association of Sierra Leone, Women in Energy SL, key local organisations active in the urban space, among others. This will also involve leading the signing of memoranda of understanding between these stakeholders and CODOHSAPA and/or E4I.
- Maintain relationships with these key stakeholders by representing FICCARS in key on-going activities/events organized/facilitated by the stakeholders. This may include participating in technical working groups, workshops, and other events organized by the stakeholders.
- Set up and manage an advisory group made of key focal persons to provide updates on programme progress and to receive suggestions on effective programme delivery and collaboration. The advisory group will, at the least, meet once a month to discuss progress. The scope also includes disseminating the programme newsletter and knowledge products developed by the FICCARS team.
- Under guidance from the E4I team, organise and co-facilitate events and workshops related to FICCARS. The nature of these workshops will range from programme learning events, to capacity building workshops, and community engagement workshops. This scope also includes identifying thematic topics for the events, supporting the development of materials for co-facilitation, mobilising participants and keynote speakers, mobilising organisations to co-host the events with where possible, and populating activity reports from the events and workshops.
- Be the first point of contact for FICCARS commercial partners on the ground, and co-ordinate effective collaboration between them and CODOHSAPA in programme activities and stakeholder engagements. This may also include representing FICCARS in progress meetings with the commercial partners.
- Support the CODOHSAPA Project Manager with quality oversight on work planning, stakeholder management and engagement, and programme reporting.
- Support E4I with verification of deliverables from commercial partners to enable payment of milestones achieved.
Consultant Deliverables:
The Consultant will deliver the following, against the activities above:
- Map the policy and stakeholder landscape in Sierra Leone:
- A comprehensive database (Excel) of key stakeholders in the thematic areas of gender, financial inclusion, clean cooking, and urban development. Due September 2024.
- Facilitate partnerships with key stakeholders with a strong focus on FICCARS thematic areas.
- Formalised partnerships with at least 6 key stakeholders in the FICCARS thematic areas. Due December 2024.
- Additional partnerships following the initial stage. Due quarterly, starting March 2025.
- Maintain relationships with these key stakeholders by representing FICCARS in key on-going activities/events organized/facilitated by the stakeholders.
- Stakeholder management database, updated monthly with engagements with key stakeholders, including action points and forward-looking events/activities. Due monthly, starting September 2024.
- Newly engaged stakeholders, updated in the stakeholder management database. Due monthly, starting September 2024.
- Changes to focal persons, updated in the stakeholder management database. Due monthly, starting September 2024.
- Set up and manage an advisory group made of key focal persons to provide updates on programme progress and receive suggestions on effective programme delivery and collaboration. The advisory group will, at the least, meet once a month to discuss progress. This scope may also include co-ordinating field visits to showcase FICCARS’s work in programme communities.
- Fully set up advisory group, including platforms of regular engagement (e.g., MS Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, etc.). Due January 2025.
- Monthly meeting updates and action points from the advisory group. Due monthly, starting January 2025.
- At least 2 field visits co-ordinated. Due June 2025
- Under guidance from the E4I team, organise and co-facilitate events and workshops related to FICCARS.
- Up to four (4) events and workshops co-facilitated. Due June 2025.
- List of confirmed attendees to events and workshops. Due at least one month prior to each event.
- Materials prepared for the events and workshops (in PowerPoint format). Due at least two weeks prior to each event.
- Activity reports for each event and workshop. Due one week after each event.
- Support the CODOHSAPA Project Manager with quality oversight on work planning, stakeholder management and engagement, and programme reporting.
- Attendance and participation in monthly FICCARS co-ordination meetings. Due monthly, starting September 2024.
- Quality assurance of M&E indicators. Due Monthly starting September 2024.
- Where needed, support E4I with verification of deliverables from commercial partners to enable payment of milestones achieved.
- Confirmation of commercial partners’ deliverables as needed. Due at the end of delivery milestones.
Timeframe / Schedule:
Level of effort: Maximum 60 days between 19 August 2024 and 21 July 2025.
The Consultant will report to:
The FICCARS Programme Manager (E4I). This includes submitting all deliverables and invoices.
The Consultant will work closely with:
The CODOHSAPA team; E4I’s Head of Energy Research and Innovation, the FICCARS Deputy Project Manager (E4I), the FICCARS MEL team (E4I).
Required Experience & Skills:
- At least 5 years of experience in partnership building, particularly at policy level.
- At least 3 years of technical experience in one or more of the fields of financial inclusion, gender and social inclusion, clean cooking, community engagement.
- Demonstrable experience with event planning and facilitation.
- Experience in project management.
- Experience working in or consulting for an international development organization is mandatory.
- Good command of English (written and spoken).
- Highly organised, with experience coordinating teams.
- Experience working with CODOHSAPA or with one or more of FICCARS’s target stakeholders is advantageous.
- Experience with business development is advantageous.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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