Mennonite Economic Development Associates is hiring a
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) invites applications for a Consultant to join our dedicated and talented team on our mission to create business solutions to poverty!
Background
In December 2023, the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) launched the initiative Opportunities for Circular and Inclusive Diversification in Agriculture (OCIDA). OCIDA is a five-year initiative funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) that has the goal of improving the socioeconomic wellbeing of diverse women and youth producers in the Dry Corridor of Honduras. The OCIDA project expects to increase prosperity and decent job opportunities for 7,000 women and youth small-scale producers and 80 micro-SMSs enterprise’s through developing more environmentally sustainable, equitable, inclusive, and profitable cacao and coffee market systems in Honduras.
Starting in 2024, MEDA is conducting an inception process with the aim of updating the background information on the project and gathering additional data to support the development of the OCIDA Life-Of-Project Implementation Plan (PIP). As part of this process, MEDA is looking to identify a Honduras-based specialist – consultant or consulting firm – to assist with the development of the project’s Environmental and Climate Change strategy.
Environmental considerations are integral to the OCIDA project's goals. OCIDA will create opportunities that support producers and enterprises to diversify products, markets, and income streams through circular economy strategies, by adopting from a variety of activities to efficiently use inputs and natural resources, ultimately buffering the effects of climate change, and becoming more environmentally and economically resilient.
The country’s extreme vulnerability to climate change due to its high exposure to climate-related hazards such as hurricanes, tropical storms, floods, droughts, and landslides continue to have devastating impacts on crops as well as critical infrastructure. High adaptation efforts are required to keep coffee and other crop production active and sustainable in Honduras. Thus, the project will promote circular business models in the coffee and cacao sectors to contribute to the Honduran economy’s movement away from a linear economic model based on “extraction, production, consumption and waste”, to a circular model that turns waste into resources and builds resilience to climate change.
OCIDA’s Environmental and Climate Change Strategy feeds back into MEDA’s market-driven approach, through which MEDA emphasizes shifting the behaviors and attitudes of market actors to move food market systems toward greater environmental sustainability, equity, and inclusivity. As such, OCIDA’s environmental analysis and strategy design will be carried alongside the development of MEDA’s Integrated Markert System Analysis (IMSA) for the project.
The IMSA is a market systems analysis that integrates economic, social, environmental, and financial assessments. The IMSA was initiated at MEDA to bring together disparate assessments and contribute to technically cohesive analysis. IMSAs include value chain assessments but go beyond the value chain to examine the supporting functions and enabling environment of a specific market system. It also examines the system level challenges underlying cause of market failures.
Purpose of the Assignment
This assignment aims to contribute to the development of a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the food market system in Honduras, focusing on environmental and climate change challenges and constraints faced by women and youth involved in the cocoa and coffee value chains in the targeted geographies, as well as opportunities for to address these challenges through women and youth’s involvement in circular economic models.
In parallel, the ECC specialist will contribute to the development of the project’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP), taking into consideration the analysis on the overall environmental context, the key risks and potential impacts identified that can affect (and/or derive from) the project, and the recommendations on the appropriate intervention strategies to achieve the project goals – including monitoring of environmental risks and risk mitigation strategies.
The ECC Specialist will work in coordination with the Market Systems Specialist and the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Specialist based in Honduras to incorporate environment and climate change considerations into MEDA’s Integrated Market Systems Analysis (IMSA).
MEDA’s technical team will provide guidance and support to the EEC specialist in the deployment of the IMSA framework and tools to ensure consistency of data collection and integration of the environmental considerations into the analysis.
The ECC Specialist will work in coordination with MEDA’s team to ensure the project’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP) meets all donor and MEDA requirements.
Scope of Services
The scope of work covers two phases:
1- During the research phase, the following activities are to be conducted:
Research phase deliverables will include an executive IMSA report covering the results of the above analyses co-developed with the Market Systems (MS) Specialist and the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Specialist.
2- During the project implementation plan (PIP) design phase:
DELIVERABLES AND EXPECTED DURATION
*dates subject to change
Activity
Expected Completion: March 22, 2024
Deliverable
Activity
Expected Completion: April 19, 2024
Deliverable
Activity
Expected Completion: April 30, 2024
Deliverable
Activity
Expected Completion: May 20, 2024
Deliverable
KEY QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE FOR THE ASSIGNMENT
The ECC Specialist – consultant or consulting firm – must have strong capacity, knowledge of, and experience in environment and climate change related issues relating to production and agribusiness in the coffee and cocoa sectors in Honduras. The ECC specialist should have the following minimum qualification criteria:
REPORTING
The successful consultant or consulting firm will report directly to MEDA’s Global Program Operations Manager and will work closely with MEDA’s Technical team – MEDA’s Sustainability & Inclusion Director, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Specialist and Business Value Creation Director.
TIMELINE AND REMUNERATION
The assignment is expected to be completed by the end of May 2024.
The consultant will be reimbursed for the professional services provided based on the agreed value proposition.
In addition, the consultant will be reimbursed for direct costs within budget, that are preapproved, invoiced, and properly documented. These can include: internal travels expenses required to conduct the field research.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
The interested consultant or consulting firm is required to present:
1- a value proposal in USD, indicating the number of days in which expect to complete the overall assignment – and/or each of the activities outlined – within the timeframe provided, and their daily rate.
2- an updated resume (no more than 3 pages) demonstrating key qualifications and experience.
A remote video interview may be part of the selection process.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Wednesday, March 13, 2024 by 4:30 pm Eastern Time