JO01 – RFP – PR138313 – Community Resilience Assessment Consultancy for Floods and Heatwaves – Tabeaa Project

Consultancy Title: Community Resilience Assessment – Floods and Heatwaves

Project Locations: Jordan (Azraq, Deiban, Mlaih, Shobak, Wadi Musa)

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. Mercy Corps has worked in Jordan since 2003 to implement a variety of programs funded by global public institutions, as well as private donors to meet the urgent needs of vulnerable populations, build cohesive and civically engaged communities, and increase inclusive economic opportunities. MC’s current portfolio in Jordan focuses on three domains: resilient individuals, strong communities and governance, and environmentally sustainable and inclusive economic growth. MC integrates cross-cutting themes of youth, gender equality and empowerment, governance, natural resource management, and technology.

About the Project

As one of the world’s most water-scarce countries, Jordan is at a critical juncture, grappling with escalating climate-related disasters, that pose a critical challenge to its humanitarian efforts, economic stability, and environmental integrity. Based on the 4th National Communication on Climate Change, in recent years, flash floods and heatwaves have become two of Jordan’s major hazards affecting the country’s water resources, agriculture, and economy.

Mercy Corps Jordan’s project, Tabeaa: Strengthening Climate Resilience in Jordanian Communities, is funded by the Z Zurich Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The project will bolster efforts under Mercy Corps’ ongoing Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (the Alliance) aligning with MC’s vision of fostering resilient communities capable of thriving amid climate challenges. The Tabeaa project will work at both the national and local community levels. On a national level the project will drive systematic changes through engaging key stakeholders in localizing and enforcing Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies. On the local level, the project will focus their initiatives in five communities from various governorates, selected for their high vulnerability to flash floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity. The project’s approach is multi-faceted, concentrating on three main areas: enhancing the adaptive capacity of Jordanian communities, promoting the effective localization and enforcement of national climate policies, and fostering a supportive culture for increased investments in climate resilience initiatives.

About the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (‘the Alliance’)

The Alliance is a multi-sectoral partnership, powered by the Z Zurich Foundation. The Alliance draws from the humanitarian, NGO, research and private sectors, including; Concern Worldwide, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Mercy Corps, Plan International, and Practical Action, as well as research partners the International Institute for Applied Systems and Analysis (IIASA), the London School of Economics, and the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International (ISET). The Alliance is focused on enhancing resilience to climate hazards in both rural and urban communities. Formerly the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, the alliance has over a decade of experience in generating evidence of communities’ current levels of climate resilience and identifying appropriate solutions. The alliance aims to achieve its overarching vision by implementing solutions, promoting good practice, influencing policy and facilitating systemic change.

The Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities (CRMC):

The CRMC is a data-driven process which helps communities to evaluate and measure how resilient they are to climate hazards. Using the results, they can identify and implement resilience-building interventions and run additional measurements to track improvements.

The CRMC comprises two parts: 1) the Alliance’s framework for measuring community resilience to climate-related hazards; and 2) an associated tool for implementing the framework in practice. For the Alliance, community resilience to climate hazards goes beyond infrastructure. Therefore, community climate resilience is defined as “The ability of a community to pursue its development and growth objectives, while managing its climate risks over time in a mutually reinforcing way”.

The CRMC framework, also called the 5C-4R framework, combines a series of indicators – so called sources of resilience, on five complementary ‘capitals’ (5C) as well as four properties derived from resilient system-thinking (4R), that can help people on their development path and also provide capacity to withstand and respond to shocks. The 5Cs comprise human, social, physical, financial and natural capital. The 5Cs provide greater richness of data about a community’s sources of resilience than any single metric such as average income. Each capital group contains a set of generic and discrete sources of resilience, which can be thought of as sub-indicators. Across the 5Cs there are a set of sources, each specifically defined. There are 52 sources if CRMC is applied for flood only, 50 sources if applied for heatwaves only, and a total of 76 sources if applied for both flood and heat.

The second component of the CRMC – the tool – is a practical hybrid software application comprising an online web-based platform for setting up and analysing the process and a smartphone- or tablet based app that can be used offline in the field for

data collection. To measure each source of resilience in a given community, data can be collected in four different ways (i.e. household surveys, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and through the use of secondary sources) according to context and need.

The CRMC provides up to date information that can be leveraged to inform decision-making. It does not create interventions, but it highlights opportunities and critical issues and helps to identify possible areas of interventions. The data generated through the CRMC process at first requires a thorough analysis and discussions with the community. Including the community in this important process and taking their perception, priorities and possible concerns into consideration, is a crucial step toward community ownership of their path to being more resilient to climate hazards.

Review this document to learn more about the CRMC process.

Consultant Overarching Objectives:

Mercy Corps Jordan (MCJ) through the Tabeaa project is seeking to hire a consultant(s) to conduct the CRMC process for floods and heatwaves in 5 communities in Jordan, objectives include:

• Leverage the CRMC tool to collect and document primary and secondary data from target communities, establishing a baseline of their climate resilience status.
• Evaluate findings from the CRMC tool to identify and tailor climate resilience needs, related to floods and heatwaves, for each community.
• Organize interactive community sessions to share the CRMC results and identify key strengths and weaknesses in resilience resources, prioritizing the most urgent needs in each community.
• Develop and document the process of using the CRMC tool to generate evidence-based conclusions on the resilience assessment of each community, aligned with the specific hazard for which the tool was applied.

CRMC tool will be applied in 5 communities as per the following:

Community

CRMC application for:

Wadi Musa

Floods

Azraq

Floods & Heatwaves

Shobak

Floods & Heatwaves

Deiban

Floods & Heatwaves

Mlaih

Floods & Heatwaves

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant(s) will carry out the below key activities:

1. CRMC Set-up and Preparation

• Familiarization with the CRMC tool – This includes reviewing all relevant documentation related and project materials related to the study.
• Attending training sessions – to ensure effective use of the CRMC tool and the Alliance’s CRMC platform for data collection and analysis.
• Setting up the study for each community – work with MCJ team on the platform to assign data collection methods for each source of resilience.
• Assign data collection enumerators and train them – The consulting team will receive training on the proper utilization of the tool and related processes (under Activity 1.b). Following this, the consultants will be responsible for training the data collection enumerators to ensure consistent and accurate use of the tool during the data collection phase.
• Submit a data collection work plan

1. CRMC Data Collection and Analysis

• Conduct a literature review of available online secondary documents relevant to the CRMC study.
• Collect primary data from a representative sample of target communities using the CRMC tool to capture relevant climate resilience information:

**** The breakdown provided below represents a forecast of potential target ranges. However, the final target within this range will be determined after the tool is set up in collaboration with the consultant.

• 2-4 FGD in each community
  • 17-20 KIIs in each community
  • 600-700 Household Surveys in total
• During the CRMC study data collection process, additional primary data will be gathered in parallel. This data will be used to establish baseline values for specific indicators and will be collected using MC-developed tools. These tools will be uploaded onto MC’s ONA platform, with the consultant’s responsibility being the accurate entry of data into the platform following data collection.
• Maintain data quality and integrity throughout the data collection process.
  • Implement data quality verification methods, report findings of these verifications, and confirm there are no discrepancies in the gathered data.
• Input field-collected data into the Alliances’ CRMC platform to create a structured database for analysis.
• Assess resilience gaps in different communities by using the platform to conduct grading and analysis of collected data.
• Draw conclusions and summarize findings based on the analysis.
• Develop a comprehensive report summarizing the data collected, the analysis, and key findings in English.
• Develop presentation materials that effectively convey the findings derived from the CRMC tool, to be used for disseminating insights to relevant stakeholders in both Arabic and English.

1. CRMC Results Dissemination and Prioritization (Interactive Community Events)

• Develop materials for organizing and facilitating interactive, innovative dissemination sessions of the CRMC results, including presentations, handouts, and resources for activities in Arabic.
• Facilitate community dissemination sessions to present the CRMC results in all five communities.
• Prepare an activity report documenting the dissemination sessions.
• Develop materials for organizing and facilitating the prioritization sessions, including presentations, handouts, and resources for interactive activities.
• Facilitate community prioritization sessions to present resilience gaps and collaboratively identify priority sources of resilience in a creative and interactive way for key stakeholders in all five communities.
• Prepare a final report documenting the outcomes and insights from the community prioritization sessions in English and Arabic.
• Summarize the findings from the report in a visual presentation of the results in Arabic and English.
• Collaborate with the project team by actively participating in pertinent decision-making meetings, where necessary, and communicate important findings.
• Examine and revise documents in accordance with feedback provided by the team.

The consultant(s) will be responsible for organizing their own logistics for data collection (screening and contacting participants), MC will assume a supervisory role throughout the entire process, offering feedback and direction as and when necessary.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant(s) will deliver:

• Inception Report outlining the methodology, action plan and approach for conducting the study.
• Raw databases containing the primary data collected from the field.
• Completed data entry, analysis, and grading uploaded onto the CRMC platform.
• Final report and summary presentation detailing key findings, conclusions, and major takeaways from the analysis of the CRMC results in English and Arabic.
• Relevant materials package for conducting the dissemination and prioritization session activities in Arabic.
• Activity reports covering the actions undertaken during the dissemination and prioritization sessions in English.
• Final report and presentation summarizing the outcomes of the prioritization sessions, including key insights and resilience priorities for each community in English and Arabic.

Timeframe / Schedule:

• Attend a kick-off meeting with the project team to establish a clear work plan and agree on roles and responsibilities, as soon as the contract is signed.
• Set Up and Planning – Review project documents and tools, and complete training on the Alliance’s CRMC platform; to be completed by end of January 2025.
• Data Collection – Conduct qualitative and quantitative data collection, ensuring data quality checks; to be completed by end of February 2025.
• Analysis and Reporting – Input data into the Alliance’s CRMC platform, analyze according to the grading structure and develop the report and summary presentation; to be completed by March 2025.
• Community Events (Dissemination and Prioritization Sessions): Prepare relevant materials, organize, and facilitate the events; to be completed by May 2025.
• Documentation of Events and Activities – Complete activity reports, final report, and presentation of all activities conducted by the consultant(s); to be completed by end of June 2025.

The consultancy is expected to begin in January 2025 and should be completed by June 2025.

Required Experience & Skills:

• Proficiency in English and Arabic.
• More than 5 years of experience in research, data collection and reporting
• Experience working with international organizations;
• Experience collecting quantitative and qualitative data;
• Prior experience working with government agencies.
• Previous interactions with the communities in which we operate.
• Demonstrated experience in organizing innovative and creative sessions with community members.
• Preferred familiarity and experience with Climate Change programming and climate resilience

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected] ).