Background:

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

Mercy Corps has been partnering with communities in Liberia since 2002, with over 20 years of experience engaging communities themselves and local organizations, including community-based organizations, community-based enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, and government ministries, among others. In Mercy Corps’ EU-funded Supporting Effective Advocacy in Liberia program, 24 civil society and community-based organizations were engaged to improve their internal control systems and carry out community and nationwide advocacy efforts on a variety of topics, including behavior change.

Mercy Corps continues to position itself as a key and credible partner with many donors, government authorities, and civil society partners, enhancing our ability to empower people to survive through crises, build better lives, and transform their communities for good. Well-versed in global practices and abreast of sector-specific trends, they represent Mercy Corps with donors and other strategic partners and inform and influence both internal approaches and global understanding on how to bring a transformative approach to some of the most intractable humanitarian and development challenges of our time.

Purpose / Project Description:

The Urban Fabric Initiative (UFI) is a 2-year Agence Française de Développement (ADF)-funded pilot project designed to develop/upgrade small-scale public spaces in three communities in Greater Monrovia. The UFI is a key component of the Monrovia Integrated Development Project (MIDP), which offers Mercy Corps a unique opportunity to leverage both global and local expertise in community-based urban development. This initiative aims to facilitate quick wins, ensuring the MIDP gets off to a strong start across the targeted communities of Lakpazee, Woodcamp, and Shoe Factory. The UFI seeks to achieve the overall objective of improved access, utilization, and management of public spaces resilient to the effects of climate change.

Consultant Objectives:

The consultant’s primary function is to conduct desk review of Community Management Board (CMB) establishment training reports, develop and train CMB in resource mobilization and financial management, social business model development, and climate risk mitigation and adaptation, and develop one-year consultative strategy for the Community Management Boards of the Urban Fabric Initiatives in three communities (Lakpazee, Wood Camp, and Shoe Factory communities).

Consultant Activities:

Desk Review

• Review activity reports for the need assessments and training reports of the leadership and establishment of Community Management Boards
• Synthesize key insights from the reports to inform the design of training materials and contents, and the one-year strategic plan
• Conduct additional needs assessments of CMB members where necessary to inform activities designs.

Training

• Develop training content and materials based on the established needs of the desk review and assessments aligned to the objectives of this SoW for the community management boards
• Conduct training for CMBs in three core areas: 1. Resource Mobilization and Financial Management, 2. Social-Business Model Development and concept, and 3. Climate Risks Mitigation and Climate response adaptation
• Prepare a comprehensive training report with annexed attendance and training evaluation

Development of One-year Strategic Plan for CMBs

• Develop draft framework and templates for community management boards strategic plan.
• Facilitate plenary discussions and validation of the strategic plan for the community management boards
• Submit a comprehensive report of the community management boards with approved strategic plans annexed.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant deliverables are broken down into three milestones below.

Timeframe / Schedule:

The entire consultancy is expected to last for 19 days.

NOTE: Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered. Mercy Corps reserves the right to contract as many Consultants as necessary to implement this project or none at all.

The Consultant will report to:

UFI Team Leader

The Consultant will work closely with:

MSD Team Leader, UFI Project Assistant, Community Mobilizers, and Operations Team.

Required Experience & Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree in management, social science, sociology, or a related field.
• Demonstrated knowledge of conducting training and capacity-building exercises for community structures and groups
• Experience in conducting capacity needs assessments and developing content to address capacity gaps identified
• Experience in financial management and local resource mobilization preferred
• Experience in the application of Social Business Models preferred
• Experience in climate risks, mitigation and adaptation preferred
• Minimum five years developing, implementing training, and working with community structures
• Experience in providing similar capacity-building services/work to development/civil society organizations preferred
• Experience in project or program management and demonstrated ability to oversee multi-stakeholder engagement processes.

Submission:

All interested individuals should kindly submit the following documents below one Portable Document Format (PDF), with the subject line “Capacity Building and Development of Strategic Plans for Community Management Boards” to lr-tenders@mercycorps.org before 4:30 pm Local time on March 10, 2025

Submission Documents

1. Cover Letter
2. Proposal to conduct Capacity Building and Development of Strategic Plans for Community Management Boards
3. Resume of key personnel (s)
4. A copy of past report of training conducted

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.