Social Protection Consultant

Social Protection Consultant

Terms of Reference

Location: Dhangadhi, Sudurpaschim Province 

Position Status:  Social protection consultant 

Current Team Member: N/A

About Mercy Corps 

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. Now, and for the future. Mercy Corps has been operating in Nepal since 2005, implementing programs in food security, agriculture, market development, financial services, girl’s education, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. We take a systems-based approach in our programming, with the aim of improving the lives and potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across Nepal. 

Program Summary 

Mercy Corps is currently implementing Resilience Plus, a 13-month  £2.87 million emergency response programme funded by FCDO through the Nepal Emergency Response Fund in consortium with Mercy Corps and Plan International as technical leads and Mandwi (Dhanusha), NEEDS (Kailali), Kailali, Rural Development Centre (Rautahat), National Environment and Equity Development Society (Kanchanpur), Rural Society Development Forum (Sunsari) and Banke UNESCO Club (Bardiya) as implementing partners.  The Resilience Plus programme is designed to ensure that COVID-19-related resilience of vulnerable households is strengthened and maintained into the monsoon season through coordinated emergency assistance with integrated access to improved nutrition and protection services and linkages to safety nets, reaching approximately 56,000 people (11,233 households) across Provinces 1, 2, 5 and 7 through three objectives:

• Objective 1: Vulnerable households are able to meet their basic food and non-food needs through the receipt of emergency assistance
• Objective 2: Improved awareness on Covid-19 prevention & mitigation, nutrition, hygiene practices, key protection messaging, information on social protection schemes and referral services 
• Objective 3: Strengthening social protection pathways & access to services including government social protection schemes to ensure effective shock responsive social protection support in disaster prone community
• Output 4: Increased capacity of humanitarian stakeholders and local government to create a supportive environment for shock responsive Cash and Voucher Activities (CVA) and better support shock responsive social protection initiatives in disaster prone.

Assignment/consultancy summary

Mercy Corps is looking for a consultant to support activities under Objective 3 of the programme based in the Dhangadhi field office. The Consultant will work directly with the Team Leader, Technical Program Manager the Senior Project officer and other Consortium partner staff toeffectively carry out social protection related activities under Objective 3 and support for the project close out process and documentation of the social protection process, and related outputs. The Consultant will collect necessary information from project team, partners and stakeholders and compile those information as the hand over report. The program hand over activities will be conducted in coordination with the Consortium team members, local humanitarian actors, and local government officials. In addition to this, the consultant will help collecting and compiling progress report required for final donor reporting. 

The Consultant will work from the office wherever possible and in adherence to Mercy Corps’ COVID-19 safety policy, and carry on daily work based on MC working hours and holidays list. The Consultant must be able to complete agreed upon deliverables by 31 May 2021.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Contractor shall deliver the following deliverables in accordance with the Scope of Work and Activity Implementation below:

1. Consultant will effectively carry out social protection related activities under Objective 3 and support for the project close out process and documentation of the social protection process, and related outputs.
2. The Consultant will collect necessary information from project team, partners and stakeholders and compile that information as the hand over report.
3. Consultant will identify barriers to social protection enrollment and develop checklists, support plans, for their enrollments. 
4. Consultant will develop process protocols for referral to local government schemes and carryout awareness raising regarding these procedures. 
5. Consultant will support the program hand over activities conducted in coordination with the Consortium team members, local humanitarian actors, and local government officials. 
6. The consultant will help collecting and compiling progress report required for final donor reporting.
7. Consultant will support analysis and understanding of post-distribution monitoring survey and project end line survey to assess shock responsive social protection project outcomes.

Scope of Work and Activity Implementation

The Consultant will conduct analysis of social protection mapping information collected by local partners and develop referral guidelines to support partner and protection committee referrals for government social protection services. The consultant will also support partner capacity building and mobilization of support and counseling of beneficiary families eligible for government social protection schemes. The consultant support includes:

• Identify barriers to social protection enrollment (checklists, support plans, etc.)
• Process protocols for referral to local government schemes
• Coordination with protection coordination committees at Palikas and Provinces
• Establish Case documentation and progress tracking to be implemented by partners and palikas
• Documentation of on line social protection enrollment procedures and awareness raising regarding these procedures
• Coordinate with local disaster committees and palika officials to develop pre-enrollment and early response systems for vulnerable households who are dependent on social protection services and vulnerable to monsoon related localized disasters.
• Coordinate with other social protection services and actors at local level with emphasis on Kailali and Kanchapur as part of unconditional cash card pilot distribution. 
• Support implementation and monitoring  of Social Protection support work plans

Project close out:

• Support field team for collecting project documents, reports and information from the partners and project team and document that in the form of project hand over and donor’s report. 
• Support to carry out project close out events with humanitarian actors, local government, and provincial government and acknowledgement letters from local governments, and other stakeholders.
• Coordination with local and provincial government for completion of remaining activities for sustainability of good practices.
• Support analysis and understanding of post distribution monitoring survey and project endline survey to assess shock responsive social protection project outcomes.

Timeline/duration of assignments: 1.5 months- as per Mercy Corps working hours and calendar (by the end of May 2021)

Reports Directly to: Team Leader

Works Directly with: Team Leader, Technical Program Manager, Senior Project officer, MEL Manager and local partner organisations, Dhangadhi office operation and finance team and other program stakeholders as assigned

Knowledge and Experience 

• At least a Bachelor level degree in social sciences, development studies/management, or any related discipline  
• Ability to think critically and work collaboratively with Project staff to determine most relevant information, including key project learnings. 
• Good understanding of local government social protection schemes and disaster response mechanisms
• Ability to work collaboratively with local partners and local government officials
• History of working effectively and respectfully with national government, L/INGOs, contractors and other partners.
• Previous experience and background knowledge of the far western region context, good understanding of local social exclusion issues and concerns of marginalized populations,  and knowledge of the wider development landscape is highly preferred
• Demonstrated capacity to work remotely and coordinate effectively with other team members working remotely
• Very good in written English and Nepali required. Knowledge of the local language is an advantage. 

Per Diem, Accommodation and Transportation 

Per diems, accommodation and transportation will be managed as per MercyCorps policy and accommodation on actual expenditure basis. 

Accountability to Participants

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our participants and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging participant communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Ethics and Integrity

All Mercy Corps staff members, consultants and volunteers are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate the highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination

Required Documents for Submitting the Proposal:

Qualified firms/Individuals can send their application to np-procurement@mercycorps.org with below relevant document clearly mentioning the tile Social Protection Consultant. by 18 April 2021 COB.

1. Financial proposal
2. Company Profile/ CV
3. Relevant Past Experience list 
4. Firm Registration & Renewal certificate (for Firm)
5. Copy of VAT Registration Certificate (for Firm)
6. Latest Tax clearance certificate (for Firm)
7. Copy of Pan card (for Individual consultant)