Mennonite Economic Development Associates is hiring an
Terms of Reference:
Environment and Climate Change (ECC) Consultant
Expected start date: October 15th, 2024
Application Due Date: September 30th, 2024
Expected duration: Six months
BACKGROUND
MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development Associates – is an international economic development
organization that creates business solutions to poverty. For nearly 70 years, MEDA has been creating
business solutions to poverty that are sustainable, scalable, measurable and replicable.
Our goal is to provide decent work opportunities for a half million people by 2030. We do this by co-creating
programs that support business growth and job creation along with wider economic, social, and environmental impact with local partners will be invited for interviews.
Our regional and partnership model of delivery leverages technical expertise in four complementary areas namely:
1. Inclusive Market Systems (IMS) which focuses on increasing access to markets for producers and businesses in agri food systems
2. Impact Investment and Innovative Finance which aims to address access to finance constraints for producers and businesses in agri food systems
3. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) which focus on making agri food systems more inclusive of women, youth and other marginalised populations
4. Environment and Climate Change (ECC) which ensures that agri food systems are resilient and sustainable.
MEDA is seeking an Environment and Climate Change consultant for six months to develop, refine and standardize MEDA’s ECC Technical Toolkit and to contribute to MEDA’s ECC Thought Leadership. The consultant will report to the Acting Sr. Director for Technical Areas. The assignment will be for 6 months with an expected start date of October 15th, 2024.
PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
MEDA’s Green Growth and Climate Action Framework promotes climate change mitigation and adaptation through Environmentally Sustainable Agricultural Practices (ESAP) and Environmental Management Plans (EMP). Through investment and technology partners, we promote climate finance solutions (e.g. carbon credits). We also acknowledge the intersections between gender and climate change, and health and the environment through community-level interventions led by local partners. In addition to our technical
assistance, MEDA has developed a range of tools to facilitate our work which include assessment tools (e.g. biodiversity assessments), environmental screening tools, scorecards and action plans. The consultant will be expected to review MEDA’s existing toolkit and update it in line with international standards and donor guidelines.
Recently, MEDA has completed an assessment of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at corporate level and the GHG impact of its projects. The results of this assessment will be used to develop tools and training for future measurement and monitoring. These tools will also form part of MEDA’s ECC toolkit. The consultant will be expected to adapt GHG measurement and monitoring tools to MEDA projects and to champion the use of these tools by project specialists through capacity building, troubleshooting support and relevant resources or materials.
The consultant will also contribute to MEDA’s thought leadership through research, technical briefs, training or other materials/media aimed at an external audience. This will be done in collaboration with MEDA’s regional technical leads, impact and knowledge management specialists, communications team and strategic partners.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
The scope of services to be provided falls under two main areas:
1. ECC Technical Toolkits and
2. ECC Thought Leadership
ECC Technical Toolkits: The objective is to review, refine and/or update MEDA’s ECC tools in alignment with international standards and donor guidelines and to ensure that these tools are user-friendly and easily accessible by regional project teams. Key focus areas include climate smart agriculture (CSA), climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity, carbon capture and carbon pricing and circular economy models with an immediate focus on GHG emissions and impact monitoring. Activities to be undertaken under this area of work include, but are not limited to the following:
a. Introductory meetings, interviews, exchanges with regional and project ECC experts
b. Review of MEDA ECC tools and assets, and relevant local partner reports and tools
c. Recommendations on how to strengthen MEDA ECC tools and where possible to leverage
technology or digital solutions for efficiency and accuracy
d. Refinement and updating of existing tools, including local partner tools where relevant
e. Creation of new tools where necessary
f. Development of training materials and provision of training as required by project teams
Main deliverables: Updated ECC toolkit with at least 5 updated assessments, scorecards, screening and/or action planning tools created, updated or revised with a focus on the following sub-toolkits:
• GHG emissions and impact monitoring toolkit
• Biodiversity assessment toolkit
• Circular economy toolkits
• Carbon capture and pricing toolkits
• Environmentally Sustainable Agricultural Practices (ESAP) toolkit
2. ECC Thought Leadership: The objective is to showcase MEDA’s expertise to both internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders include MEDA regional teams responsible for project delivery and MEDA’s regional technical specialists supporting project delivery. External stakeholders include donors such as Global Affairs Canada, USAID, MasterCard Foundation as well as strategic local partners and the public. This will be done in collaboration with MEDA’s regional technical leads, impact and knowledge management specialists, communications team and strategic partners. The outputs are expected to be short technical pieces (10 pages max) as opposed to long research papers. Key themes include biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation and circular economy. Activities to be undertaken under this area of work include, but are not limited to the following:
a. Leveraging existing project materials to draw out technical insights, innovations, lessons learned and/or regional applications that would be of interest to either internal and/or external audiences
b. Supplement existing material with secondary research
c. Draft short documents (max 10 pages), blog articles or social media posts (as directed by the Communications team)
d. Draft interactive presentations (max. 20 slides) for internal and external presentations to showcase new insights
e. Draft technical assets (max 2 pages) based on insights, to guide MEDA’s business development efforts in collaboration with MEDA’s Partnerships and Business Accelerator (PBA) team.
Main deliverables: Produce three original ECC-themed thought leadership pieces
KEY QUALIFICATIONS
The ECC specialist or consultant must have strong capacity, knowledge of, and experience in environment
and climate change related issues relating to agriculture and agribusiness in general. Specific knowledge about ECC trends and issues in MEDA regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean) and value chains of interest (rice, maize, soyabean, aquaculture, groundnuts, coffee, cocoa) as well as key environmental practices and standards (e.g. climate smart agriculture, GHG emissions monitoring standards, circular economy models) should be demonstrated. The ECC specialist should have the following minimum qualification criteria:
• Advanced University degree in environmental science, climate change, or a related field required.
• Minimum of five (5) years of professional experience, three (3) of which must be environment and climate change-related in an international development setting.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experienced on Global Affairs Canada and USAID environmental frameworks
• Demonstrated understanding of environment and climate change issues and needs related to agriculture such as Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) or climate mitigation and adaptation approaches. Familiarity with gendered approaches to environment and climate change will be appreciated.
• Demonstrated experience conducting environmental analysis and climate change adaptation programming, including on-the-ground participatory approaches
• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing Environmental Management Plans and/or Environmental Impact Studies for development programs.
• Familiarity with value chain and market systems development concepts.
• Strong analytical and report-writing skills, in English. Proficiency in French and/or Spanish preferred.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Interested candidates are asked to apply through MEDA’s website (Careers page) by 12:00 AM on September 30th, 2024. Applications must include a CV or resume (max 3 pages) and may include a brief cover letter (max. 1 page). Examples of previous work (e.g. thought leadership pieces or toolkits developed) would be welcome. Successful candidates will be invited for interviews.