Back Program Advisor – Market Systems Ukraine and MENA/Europe

Description

Background: Two years after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine started, more than 6.3 million refugees have left the country and there are nearly 3.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine. The economic costs of the war have been tremendous: the industrial, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors have all suffered due to the destruction of property and disruption of domestic and international trade routes. Ukraine’s vital agricultural sector has been heavily impacted by the ongoing war, including for the predominant smallholder producers, leaving producers to salvage harvests, find new markets for their products, and plan for future growing seasons amidst uncertainty and incomplete information. Mercy Corps has been supporting affected household, small and medium-sized agricultural producers since the beginning of 2023 in Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava oblasts. Support includes cash grants to farmers designed to support them in adapting their agribusinesses to the new reality they face. In addition, in November 2023, Mercy Corps launched the Ukraine Agriculture Support Program (UASP), which aims to increase economic stability and self-sufficiency, and facilitate early recovery for smallholder subsistence farmers and small and medium sized farming enterprises in 12 oblasts of Ukraine, out of which 5 eastern and southern oblasts (Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson) are priority areas. In parallel to direct aid provision, Mercy Corps will guide and inform evidence-based programmatic design and implementation through ongoing agricultural research, operational and applied learning, context analysis, and specific market assessments, leading to further employing market systems development approaches. Purpose / Project Description: Through collaboration with the Technical Support Unit (TSU), UASP seeks to understand market system dynamics across conflict-affected areas of Ukraine by identifying constraints and opportunities to enable market systems to strengthen economic coping, facilitate market recovery, and increase livelihood opportunities for conflict-affected communities. Consultant Objectives: The consultant will help UASP’s transformation from an early recovery programme to a more markets-based intervention to provide systemic interventions in Ukrainian agriculture and business sectors, thus contributing to long-term recovery and development of the Ukrainian economy. The role supports market systems analysis, research, program development and implementation, with a focus on supporting the evolution of Mercy Corps resilience programme portfolio applying market systems principles in the Ukraine response and supporting learning through this process. The position will provide senior advisory support to the UASP program and ensure the synthesis of market systems analysis and evolution of technical approaches across grants within the resilience portfolio. The position has the explicit mandate to support the team’s ability to conduct analysis, design, and in time, implement market system approaches. S/he provides a supportive role to programme leaders to help maintain technical quality and builds capacity of the program team to deliver the intended results. S/he also ensures that lessons from these programs are documented and inform programming in other geographies as well as the global strategy. Consultant Activities:

• Provide close technical assistance to target projects to ensure that they apply market systems principles in their analysis and evolve program implementation strategies on the basis of evidence from studies and MEL data;
• Partner with Resilience Program Lead, PaQ unit and UASP Programme Manager to translate program learning into tangible adjustments to intervention strategies. Review and support the development of core documentation (SOWs, market analysis plans, tools, reports, concept notes, etc.) of (programs) to ensure quality and support improvement;
• Serve as technical quality assurance focal point, ensuring quality standards and experimentation, and working with leadership to improve plans and deliverables as needed;
• Provide leadership and strategic vision to technical components of (programs) as relevant including workplan development, market analysis, strategy development, and/or program/intervention (re)design.
  • Provide training for incoming staff on MSD and tactics for applying market systems principles in fragile contexts;
  • Identify ongoing opportunities for staff upskilling and work with project leaders to implement professional development initiatives;
  • Coach, advise, and support program staff and intervention managers, in collaboration with program leaders;
  • In close partnership with program leaders, create a work atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development of MSD skill sets at all levels.
  • Support the development of learning agenda and key research questions for UASP, building on existing internal and external evidence base;
  • Support and co-develop plans for market systems analysis and research products in line with the Ukraine market systems learning agenda and research questions, including methods and methodological considerations;
  • Provide linkages between researchers and individuals across Mercy Corps and more globally, on Market Systems Development (MSD), bringing in knowledge from MSD practitioners, expanding the UASP team’s ability to triangulate and compare evidence and identify key gaps;
  • Where additional external consultants or contractors are engaged, provide support to the MSD Technical Coordinator in the development of Scopes of Work, selection of consultants or contractors, review of deliverables and advice on progress and results, among other possible areas of support.
  • Provide technical oversight, backstopping, and quality control to market systems analysis and research products, also ensuring these follow ethical standards;
  • As needed, lead write up of briefs, blogs, and other content for both internal and external audiences;
  • Provide key support and input into the UASP Evidence Steering Committee.
  • Ensure that lessons, experiences, and tools from target projects are fed back into Mercy Corps’ Global Strategy and tools related to Markets in Crisis.
  • Support outreach and dissemination of lessons learned to internal and external stakeholders in Ukraine and globally;
  • Encourage systematic opportunities to use data for learning and improvement, and to focus on learning lessons throughout the life of the program.
  • Support the promotion and showcasing of the UASP project across Mercy Corps
  • As needed, leverage lessons from UASP to provide targeted support to other Mercy Corps programs Consultant Deliverables: The consultants deliverables will include: