consultancy - Document Lessons Learned Commodities - Uzbekistan

Description

Project/Consultancy Title: Document Lessons Learned from the Commodities Distribution and Management in Preschools of Uzbekistan

Project Location(s): Uzbekistan

Duration: 2 month - May and June 2025

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.

To enhance food security, alleviate hunger, and promote literacy and primary education to foster self-reliant and productive societies, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided funding for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (McGovern-Dole 2019) in the Republic of Uzbekistan. This initiative aims to support the Preschool Education System Development Concept of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The program seeks to aid the implementation of the government's Preschool Education System Development Concept, reaching 42,700 preschool children across 294 preschools in 22 districts spanning two regions, namely the Republic of Karakalpakstan and Surkhandarya.

Purpose / Project Description:

The purpose of this consultancy is to document lessons learned from managing the supply chain and distribution of food commodities to 294 preschools. The interventions provide valuable insights into what worked well, and the challenges faced. By identifying past challenges and the adaptations implemented to overcome them, the consultant will document issues, solutions and lessons that can improve similar issues in the future cycles of programs within Mercy Corps in the sector writ large. The finding of the study will be directly used for final evaluation of the program.

The consultant will be in close coordination with Uzbekistan team (CoP, DCoP, MEL Manager, technical team, as well as relevant colleagues from HQ MEL team) to know existing design, implementation practice. The consultant is required to travel to the field for the observations of the warehouse.

Consultant Objectives:

• Identify and document key challenges, successes, and failures encountered during the supply chain, warehousing, and distribution process.
• Provide actionable insights and lessons to inform future operations and decision-making.
• Analyze bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and risks within the commodity management processes in context of Uzbekistan.
• Verify the quality standards (Mercy Corps and Government of Uzbekistan) and assess the extent to which they were considered, applied in the program for commodities management.
• Identify gaps in collaboration between different stakeholders
• Analyze how risks (e.g., delays, losses, or spoilage) were managed or mitigated in the supply chain and distribution process.
• Document how the team adopted to changing environment in the food supply change and continuous learned and improved

Consultant Activities:

• Develop a study methodology and relevant protocols
• Identify, collect and analyze the primary and secondary data where and as relevant to the study objectives
• Perform desk review and come with qualitative inquiries required and identify the people to interview
• Conduct and oversee primary data collection through KII’s
• Develop the first draft of the study, circulate for feedback,
• Address feedback from the key stakeholders, finalize and submit final report.
• Conduct a debrief with the Mercy Corps team in the country, region and HQ.

Consultant Deliverables:

• Data collection and management protocol
• Sampling framework for primary data informants
• Soft copy of data analysis
• Draft Report
• Final report (not exceeding 20 pages) with high use of infographics

Timeframe / Schedule:

The assignment is planned to be conducted through May-June 2025. This study will rely heavily on secondary data, in addition to some KII’s and field observation. Detailed timeline against specific tasks will be available in the study Terms of Reference.

The Consultant will report to:

CoP and MEL Manager Uzbekistan

The Consultant will work closely with:

Collaborate and work closely with the Regional Managers, Sr. Commodity Management Specialist, MEL team for data collection and analysis.

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience in relevant technical field (required)
• Extensive experience with study design, implementation
• Technical knowledge and understanding of supply chain management of commodities and preference will be given to those who have already worked for USDA.
• MA and higher level of education in social sciences and related areas.

Team Efficiency and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out different backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

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.