Consultant – Team Leadership, Afghanistan Analysis – Remote

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. Now, and for the future.

Program/ Department Summary

Mercy Corps’ Crisis Analytics teams aggregate and analyse data to improve decision making and access in complex crises. The teams support our programming in Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and other locations. The teams directly contribute to data-driven decision making by layering information from primary sources, open sources and responders’ programmatic data, where it is analysed by subject matter experts and data scientists. This analysis is grounded in Mercy Corps’ status as an operational NGO, keeping products constructive and relevant.

Typical products and services range from informal briefings to weekly products, contributions to risk assessments, in-depth assessment of the political economy of a defined geography, deep-dives on specific thematics, etc., ranging in themes from conflict to market systems to governance, in line with programmatic needs.

Mercy Corps has been present in Afghanistan since 1986. Our work seeks to enable Afghans to improve their quality of life by strengthening their sustainable, equitable and legitimate livelihoods, with the ultimate goal to support Afghanistan to evolve from a fragile to a strong state. We focus our interventions on Agribusiness, Youth Skills Building, Natural Resources Management, Renewable Energy and Humanitarian Response. With funding from USAID, EC, Department of State – Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration, KfW Development Bank, and Aga Khan Foundation. In the last 5 years our efforts have benefitted approximately 300,000 program participants per year. Our team is comprised of a 314 Afghan Nationals and 6 expats. We work hand in hand with the Afghan government and in partnership with national and international stakeholders present in our sectors of work. Mercy Corps Afghanistan implements its programs in 10 provinces of the country through offices in Kabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Badakhshan, Helmand, Samagan, Baghlan, Takhar and Herat.
Purpose / Project Description:

In response to the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Mercy Corps is expanding its analytical capacities to ensure effective support, not only to MC Afghanistan’s operations, but the wider humanitarian community’s response in Afghanistan. The Consultant will be an integral part of Mercy Corps’ operations in and understanding of the Afghan security and humanitarian context by delivering products that map the factional conflict and its key political stakeholders, as well as, assessing the relationship between social and economic factors impacting local communities.

The Consultant will take responsibility for ensuring that the analytical products meet the needs of Mercy Corps and its partners. The consultant will engage with the key internal and external stakeholders to develop a clear strategic scope, analytical methodology and presentation of data and findings with a focus on products that enable and enhance MC Afghanistan’s programmatic and operational capacity.

The Consultant will ensure MC Afghanistan’s capacity to adapt and effectively implement its humanitarian and development programming in Afghanistan, including its multi-year early recovery, peace and development programmes. The consultant will have strong experience and expertise in conflict analysis and be able to interpret their own expertise and contextual knowledge into effective outputs.

Consultant Objectives:

The Consultant has responsibility for the effective functioning of the team as a support function to the country programme. The Consultant is responsible for day-to-day management of workflows, alignment of products & services with country programme priorities, quality control of products, and developing a process of continuous improvement within the team.

The Consultant provides an advisory role to senior leadership, and leads external representation (for peer organisations, donors, partners, etc.) of the team’s findings. The Team Leader will be expected to cultivate appropriate networks to improve data collection and impactful dissemination.

The Consultant will have a strong understanding of the humanitarian and development sector, and meaningfully engage with the MC programmes and HQ teams to identify relevant and valuable trends to monitor and research. The consultant will ensure outputs are at a high standard and is able to distil quantitative and qualitative research into operationally relevant and clear analytical outputs. This quality will come from an experience in analysis, data collection, local networks, and a collaborative and open-minded approach to problem solving. The Consultant will have a flexible approach and be familiar in using non-traditional tools and information sources in order to generate insights within a dynamic environment.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

• Manage the growth and strategy of the team, in close collaboration with relevant Mercy Corps senior leadership, ensuring alignment with the current and future needs of MC Afghanistan.
• Support the systematic use of analysis in programmatic decision-making.
• Manage workflow and workload of the team to maximise impactful output.
• Proactively seek opportunities to introduce new methodologies and technologies where they add value.
• Ensure the team’s size and skill set remains suitable to deliver against the mandate, including through recruiting and securing resources via proactive business development.
• Lead the production and drafting of regular time-sensitive, data-driven analytical products to support programmatic and operational decision-making.
• Ensure outputs meet the unique needs of its target audiences, and meet Mercy Corps’ minimum standards for Crisis Analysis work.
• Have final responsibility for quality control of products.
• Draft regular analytical products that meet the current and future information needs of identified audiences.
• Engage with the review process of all outputs
• Coordinate with field researchers to ensure data collection is efficient to the team’s requirements and suitably disaggregated.
• Contribute to presentations and briefings as directed.
• Develop and maintain an awareness of humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and Mercy Corps’ culture and values.
• Any other tasks that may be required.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will:

• Identify relevant trends and new areas of focus that would meet the current and future information needs of the target audiences.
• Draft high quality reports on a regular basis. Undertaking the relevant research and data collection.
• Respond to comments and questions in a timely and receptive manner during the review process.
• Provide feedback on all outputs.
• Contribute to internal and external briefings and presentations, ensuring that information is presented to meet the needs of the audience.
• Create flash reports, which may be requested at a short notice regarding major incidents.
• Contribute to MC overall strategy in the region and country.

Timeframe / Schedule:

Position to be filled as soon as possible for an initial period of 6 months, with possible extension depending on availability of funds.

The Consultant will report to:

Senior Director, Crisis Analytics

Consultant will work closely with:

Country Director, Afghanistan; Security Staff; Global Crisis Analytics Team; Data for Impact Advisor;

Experience & Skills:

• MA/S or equivalent in international development or other relevant fields.
• Experience in managing remote team in a high intensity environment.
• Extensive experience in conflict analysis, investigative journalism, humanitarian programming, research or a related field.
• 3 years’ field-based experience in complex and insecure settings, and preferably a conflict environment.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain networks of information sources across different sectors, groups and locations.
• Able to demonstrate extensive experience in a variety of formal and informal approaches to data collection and analysis.
• Demonstrated capacity for analysis that supports decision making.
• Strong understanding of the Afghanistan context and the Afghanistan aid sector.
• Demonstrated high capacity for writing in English on technical subjects.
• Able to convey complex information to a variety of audiences.
• Ability to build and maintain networks of information sources across different geographic locations, sectors, and perspectives.
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment with high-levels of collaboration.
• Willingness to work and travel in often difficult and insecure environments.
• Competency in internet and Microsoft Office systems including Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Competency in social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp.
• Understanding of humanitarian principles and the humanitarian system at national and international levels.
• Experience working within the intelligence cycle.
• Experience working within the development/humanitarian sector.
• Knowledge of Dari and Pashto preferred.

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.