Consultant - Carbon Finance Project Scoping - East Africa region

Description

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.

Mercy Corps has just finalized its new 10-year strategy:  Pathway to Possibility (P2P).  Highlights from the strategy are summarized in Top Five Takeaways, while this Strategy Summary Map is a simplified visual representation of the strategy. A key element of P2P is the ‘Climate Smart’ commitment, with the aim of enhancing our impact on and in the face of the climate crisis. Mercy Corps recently created the position of Chief Climate Officer to help drive this agenda and to help raise awareness and understanding of climate change within the context of our work.

Purpose and Objectives:

The purpose of this consultancy is to assess the potential for developing carbon finance projects within typical Mercy Corps program designs. The objective is to conduct a scoping exercise of a small number of ongoing Mercy Corps development programs to ascertain the potential relevance of these activities for carbon finance, and to advise on ways these designs might evolve to better position for carbon finance in the future.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

• Review background documents for 3-6 ongoing projects to select those with best potential to assess in more detail.

• Virtual or in-person visits to 2-3 projects sites, interview team members, and observe project activities to develop an understanding of the program objectives, approaches, and metrics.

• Debrief with country and/or regional leadership to ensure clear understanding of the program.

• Develop scoping reports for each project that:

• Identify the activities with the highest potential for carbon project development.

• Identify potential carbon methodologies and advise on which is best suited

• Advise on changes to approaches or techniques that would be needed to align with carbon project methodologies or standards.

• Model carbon credit generation potential

• Model the basic economics for a carbon project, including (1) certification costs, (2) operating costs, (3) carbon revenue and (4) minimum viable scale.

• Describe potential project co-benefits

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will deliver:

• A scoping report for each project assessed covering the key elements above.
• A debrief call with regional and global leaders to discuss the findings and recommendations

Timeframe / Schedule:

February – June 2024. Precise timelines to be agreed in consultation with the consultant.

The Consultant will report to:

Deputy Regional Director, Africa

Will consult closely with Chief Climate Officer

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5 years of experience in carbon project development and / or other environmental attributes
• Deep knowledge of working in frontier markets and fragile states
• An understanding of development project design and implementation
• Track record of supporting mission-driven organizations.
• Excellent writing/editing skills; ability to “translate” technical language into compelling content for wide-ranging audiences.

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.

Keywords

carbon financeproject scopingEast AfricaMercy Corpsclimate changedevelopment programscarbon methodologieseconomicsco-benefits