Consultant for Advisory Support and Impact Assessment

Project background:

Protracted conflict in Yemen has not only caused widespread damage & displacement, but also significantly reduced livelihood opportunities & food security. Weaknesses within community institutions & local authority have eroded the social contract between them, whilst marginalization of communities' further limits access to services & social cohesion. Local & community institutions are under resourced & under capacitated, limiting access to basic services. Communities are also subject to environmental shocks & threats at a time when coping mechanisms, strategies & assets are significantly depleted. Exposure to environmental stressors exacerbates the existing precarious situation & requires risk reduction strategies to mitigate the potential for further disaster. The combination of these hardships not only leads to increasing vulnerability to the point of famine, but also further weakens social cohesion & leads to inter community conflict. With critical levels of acute malnutrition, Taiz lowland & Hajjah lowland were in IPC AMN phase 4 during the period of January to July 2020. While these two zones remained in IPC AMN phase 4, the acute malnutrition situation was projected to further deteriorate & the following zones were projected to move to IPC AMN phase 4 during the period of January - March 2021, Abyan lowland, Lahj lowland, Hodeidah highland, Hodeida lowland. Over 2.25 million cases of acutely malnourished children are estimated to require urgent treatment for acute malnutrition in 2021. The four zones with the highest numbers of global acute malnutrition cases are respectively, Hodeidah lowland, Taiz highland, Sana'a city & Hajjah lowland. These four zones account for over 40% of the total expected cases of acute malnutrition in the country. In terms of severity based on the prevalence of global acute malnutrition, the following seven zones are the worst affected: Hodeidah lowland, Hodeidah highland, Abyan lowland, Lahj lowland, Taiz lowland, Hajjah lowland & west Dhamar. The combined global acute malnutrition prevalence is at or above 20% in these seven zones. The combined global acute malnutrition prevalence in the Hodeida governorate (both lowland & highland) exceeds 30%, indicating very severe conditions. Given the projected trends of the contributing factors & other contextual information, the situation is likely to further deteriorate. Income generating activities, small businesses, both formal & informal employment opportunities continue to be profoundly impacted by the conflict, as well as the impact of COVID - 19. Many households, especially female headed, the poorest, IDPs & the marginalized, lost their source of income due to damage to infrastructure, the collapse of the local economy & closure of businesses, including but not limited to the agricultural sector which the World Bank (using ILO data) identifies as employing 28% of target communities (42% for women) & 48% of the population in vulnerable employment. Employment & care services are affected for women workers in general & particularly for informal & domestic workers. The COVID - 19 outbreak profoundly impacted women's ability to maintain their livelihoods, quarantines significantly reduce economic, subsistence activities & disproportionately affect employment generating sectors that are predominately female, such as care services & trade. In this context, the risks of social & domestic challenges that women & girls face increase exponentially. As per a study on the "impact of COVID - 19 on MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises)" by our client, women who own MSMEs face challenges in sustaining their enterprises, more than 37% of female owned MSMEs experienced revenue losses of 40 - 60%. In terms of access to markets, the general pattern from the findings shows a stronger association between COVID - 19-related restrictions & sales constraints than with input constraints. The ERRY III interventions are designed to contribute to the below goals & outcomes:

• The overall objective of the joint program (goal) is to strengthen resilience of the population in the most vulnerable governorates in Yemen.

• The specific objective / outcome of the joint program is improved management of local risks & shocks in crisis affected communities of the most vulnerable governorates in Yemen.

The program aims to achieve four intermediate outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Increased local institutional resilience management & community social cohesion in crisis affected communities.

• Outcome 2: Broadened access of vulnerable population to sources of energy & job opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

• Outcome 3: Increased sustainable production & productivity of crop & livestock in crisis affected communities.

• Outcome 4: Improved access of women, youth & other vulnerable groups to food & income opportunities.

ERRY III joint program targets the most vulnerable groups including youth, women, the unemployed, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), stressed host communities & people with disabilities, using inclusive, participatory & conflict sensitive tools to mobilize & involve them in the program activities. The program targets 17 of the highly vulnerable districts within the abovementioned seven governorates. Under outcome 4, ERRY provided emergency employment for women, youth & rehabilitation of market & productive asset. The activity supported the targeted beneficiaries in meeting their daily needs through emergency employment opportunities. Two weeks of employment with a daily cash rate was provided to the beneficiaries for the rehabilitation / construction of market & productive asset. Moreover, ERRY developed skills & income opportunities for rural women & youth by providing training & capacity building program. Potential income projects would receive financial assistance in addition to technical support following establishment. ERRY partnered with five implementing partners to implement short employment activities & rehabilitation of community assets in 6 governorates namely Lahj, Abyan, Taiz, Hajjah, Al Hudaydah & Al Mahwit.

Objective & purpose of the position:

Our client seeks to recruit 4 consultants to provide direct businesses advisory for potential to grow microbusinesses in the targeted districts. Consultants will report to ERRY Enterprise Development Analyst & coordinate with related responsible parties to perform business development services. The positions will be in the project following location    s:

The consultants will work closely with the livelihood team & report to the Enterprise Development Analyst to support the activities implementation & perform the following tasks:

Grant distribution & project establishment:

• Select 50 most potential microbusinesses from each targeted district.

• Develop a communication method to provide complete financial & non financial advisory. The delivery of advisory support for targeted microbusiness should include direct field visits, phone calls, whatsapp groups, support sessions & linkage to MSMEs platform.

• Follow up the changes in microbusinesses' operation following each round of advisory.

• Identify microbusinesses & link beneficiaries to lending institutions including National Microfinance Foundation & other MFIs.

• Provide special advisory to all beneficiaries on financial literacy & ways to access capital after the closure of ERRY interventions.

• Conduct special digital literacy for targeted beneficiaries to leverage their understanding of tools & techniques to access financial & non financial contents. This should be done in coordination with ERRY MSME platform.

• Develop data gathering information tool to assess impact of ERRY interventions on livelihood & income generating activities.

• Measure the impact of livelihood interventions by surveying key stakeholders, government institutions, unions, MFIs & community committees to quantify changes in income, employment & access to resources

Conduct a general impact assessment on the MSMEs established with focus on providing recommendations on the following:

• Training levels & priorities to be considered in the upcoming interventions.

• Factors influencing practicability of vocational & business training in rural areas.

• Rural business & productive value chains targeted by ERRY & recommend most potential sectors to be targeted especially in rural environment.

• Microcredit channels for rural businesses with focus on MFIs & FIs.

• Enhancing the use of ERRY developed solutions & technologies like the MSMEs platform & its impact on business creation & growth.

• Methods of cash disbursement & impact of business development in addition recommended changes.

General activities:

• Listen to beneficiaries & identify relevant issues & grievances in the project & report them to the appropriate personnel.

• Regularly conduct surveys & focus group discussions to determine beneficiary’s understanding for all financial & non financial output developed by ERRY to support MSMEs sector.

• Assist in the implementation of the plan of action, review achievements, constraints & provide feedback accordingly.

• Assess & provide advisory to renewable energy businesses established by ERRY projects in the targeted areas.

• Assess the impact of livelihoods cash for work & community assets development & maintenance.

• Perform other related duties as required.

Using the ERRY templates, the consultants should submit the following:

• List for all potential to grow businesses selected & supported including personal & business information.

• A comprehensive report covering impact assessment for covering the scope of business support delivered & its resulting impact on targeted businesses & sectors.

The consultant will report to the Enterprise Development Analyst.

• University degree in social sciences, social work, economy, political science, administration or any other related fields linked to humanitarian or economic activities.

• A minimum of 4 years of working on economic empowerment activities, livelihood, MSMEs, grants projects, women projects or microfinance.

• Experience in working or evaluating similar projects.

• Experience in working with NGOs & the private sector.

• Experience in field monitoring & evaluation in rural areas.

• Good information technology skills, including Microsoft Office software packages (Word, Excel, Power Point etc.) & web based sharing platform & applications.

• Familiar with the local community's habits, values & be able to demonstrate respect for them in their work.

• Willing and be able to travel freely throughout the district without restrictions.

• Strong interpersonal skills, courtesy, tact & ability to work effectively with people of different national & cultural background.

• Ability to interpret & analyse a wide variety of project issues & statistical information & to maintain accurate & precise records.

• Ability to communicate in a team with people from different cultural & ethnic backgrounds to achieve common goals.

• Ability to work systematically, use initiative, good judgment & to communicate complex matters both orally & in writing.

• Use of own discretion to address unforeseen situations seeking advice from & / or reporting to supervisor as applicable.

• Experience in preparation of reports, overviews & documenting field missions.

• Fluency in Arabic (oral & written) is required & advanced English knowledge is a strong asset.

• Ability to work in rural areas & collaborate with different stakeholders.

• Understanding of rural income generating activities, their needs & challenges.

• Demonstrated ability of analytical & drafting work.

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive & constructive attitude.

• Ability to work under pressure & to meet deadlines.

• Demonstrates excellent oral & written communication skills.

• Demonstrates openness to change & ability to manage complexities.

• Self reliant & able to work as a part of a multi cultural team in a stressful situations.

• Demonstrates strong safeguarding ethics & integrity

• Demonstrates corporate knowledge & sound judgment.

• Demonstrates self development & initiative taking skills.

• Acts as a team player & facilitates teamwork.

• Strong learning & sharing knowledge & encourages the learning of others.

• Well informed & transparent decision making skills.

This role has no team management responsibilities.

• Consultant fees are paid in two installments, one at the end of month one & the second upon reports submission, approval & CTG timesheet verification.

• Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for this role.