National Cash Consultant

Scope of Work for a Cash Consultant (national start-up support)

Background:

Mercy Corps is starting a new program to enhance food and nutrition security, reduce future humanitarian caseload and improve the resilience of communities to recurrent shocks in the Karnali Province in Nepal, on or around October 1, 2020. The program will be a Multi-Year Emergency Food Security Activity funded by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs, and implemented in 6 districts (Mugu, Jumla, Kalikot, Surkhet, Achham, and Dailekh, with cluster hubs in Surkhet and Jumla) in the Karnali River Basin area. The new program, called “Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (Bhakari)”, builds upon many of the successes of the Nepal team’s previous Food for Peace program which ended in January 2020, the PAHAL program, but with some new districts and a much heavier emphasis on emergency response through cash transfer programming. Parallel to the emergency cash programming are emergency-prevention components of agriculture and market systems, disaster risk reduction, water for productive use, natural resources management, and a large emphasis on a gender and social inclusion approach, all with a highly integrated multi-sectoral approach.

Purpose / Project Description:

The purpose of this Consultancy is to work with our Bhakari team - including the Emergency Response Senior Manager and the Cash Transfer Advisor - to set up the processes and systems for cash transfer programming in Bhakari in partnership with a Mercy Corps International Short-Term Assignment. This includes leading or supporting the development of several products to launch the cash transfer component’s basic infrastructure, listed below. 

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

• Conduct or Update Existing Cash Transfer Regulatory Review 
• Conduct transfer service provider scoping to determine the landscape of transfer service providers, including products, services, coverage, and cost.
• Develop SOW for tender/procurement process, based on information in the TSP scoping.
• Finalize Contract with using MC template or approved supplier contract
• Contextualize and Draft Cash Distribution Plans (with finance/ operations) and related Forms
• Develop Training Plan for program team and participants on cash transfer mechanism 

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant deliverables include:

• Narrative of Regulatory Review on Cash Transfer Regulations in Nepal
• Transfer Service Provider Scoping narrative
• SOW for Transfer Service Provider
• Finalized Contract with Transfer Service Provider
• Cash Distribution Plan and related forms
• Training Plan and related tools for program team and cash transfer recipients 

Timeframe / Schedule: 

TBD - entire works should be completed within 2 months. 

The Consultant will report to: Bhakari Chief of Party

The Consultant will work closely with: Bhakari Emergency Response Senior Manager, Bhakari Emergency Response Cash Advisor, Mercy Corps Global Food Security and Cash Transfer Technical Advisors, Global Cash Quality Program Manager, Technology for Development Advisor

Required Experience & Skills:

• MA/S or equivalent in Food Security and Livelihood, Humanitarian Response, Economic development, International development, or other relevant degree preferred
• 5 - 7 years’ experience in humanitarian relief in Nepal
• Extensive experience setting up and managing cash assistance programs in Nepal
• Experience in emergency market mapping, value chain analysis, and other relevant market assessment tools;
• Experience in identifying and developing local partnerships, including with the private sector in Nepal
• History of working effectively and respectfully with Nepali government, INGO and NGO partners
• Demonstrated ability to support complex programming and meet tight deadlines
• Excellent oral and written English skills required

Required Documents for Submitting the Proposal:

Qualified firms can send their application to np-procurement@mercycorps.org with the Title “National Cash Consultant“ along with the following documents by 20 November 2020

• Financial proposal
• Company Profile
• Relevant Past Experience list 
• Firm Registration & Renewal certificate
• Copy of VAT Registration Certificate
• Latest Tax clearance certificate