Local Consultant - Environmental Review and Compliance Specialist at Mercy Corps

Locations: The consultancy will require travel to Abuja, Plateau, Katsina, Kogi, Benue, Kaduna and Kano states
Employment Type: Contract
Proposed Start Date: August 2022, with end date January 31 2023
Reporting Line: The Consultant will report primarily to Conflict Technical Advisor (CTA)
Work closely with: Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP) Program & M&E Team

Details

• Mercy Corps is implementing the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP) program. CIPP is a five-year project funded by USAID and implemented by Mercy Corps in partnership with Pastoral Resolve (PARE), Interfaith Mediation Centre (IMC), Savannah Centre for Diplomacy Democracy and Development (SCDDD), African Radio Drama Association (ARDA) and Social Justice and Human Development for Peace Initiative (JDPC).
• The program is mitigating violent conflict in at-risk communities in six states of Nigeria’s North West (Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina States) and North Central (Kogi, Benue and Plateau States) through an integrated, multifaceted program that (1) empowers communities to prevent and respond to violence and violent extremism by strengthening key skills and relationships, and (2) fosters an enabling environment for peace through policy advocacy, media outreach, and linkages to development programs.
• CIPP is deliberate in its effort to implement a project whose outcomes will live past the duration of the project and thus sustain the gains of peace in areas of implementation.

Purpose / Project Description

• Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) are small-scale, low-cost projects that are planned and implemented within a short timeframe. In peacebuilding programs, quick impact projects are usually local initiatives jointly identified by conflicting groups to promote cooperation and strengthen relations. QIPs respond to the needs expressed by local communities.
• As a result, they cover a wide range of programmatic activities from refurbishing a school to providing women with safe water access points. QIPs are mainly implemented through collaboration between local actors, local authorities, non-governmental and grassroots organizations. As such, the implementation of QIPs projects help build their collaborative management capacities while broadening CIPP outreach at the local level.

Consultancy Summary

• Mercy Corps is seeking a short-term consultant to support the effective implementation of USAID Environmental Procedures. The Environmental Compliance Consultant will be responsible for facilitating all necessary environmental screenings and reports, including the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE), Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (EMMP), Environmental Review Checklists (ERCs), Climate Risk Management and Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safer User Action Plans (PERSUAPs). The Consultant ensures plans and reporting are prepared as applicable and approved in accordance with USAID and Mercy Corps regulations and processes.
• The purpose of the role is to identify and assess potential environmental impacts of the planned activities with a view to eliminate or reduce them through appropriate mitigation measures and monitoring protocols, and ensure monitoring indicators are received from the subrecipients for all environmental assessment activities where applicable.
• Close coordination with relevant government agencies and local counterparts to provide guidance on government and USAID environmental compliance requirements is critical.

Consultancy Key Activities

• Review the existing and other relevant documentation to acquaint with USAID and GoN Environmental Compliance requirements
• Conduct various meetings with key actors to understand the context and sites where the QIPs are located.
• Identify Environmental Impacts of various QIPs
• Develop mitigation and prevention measures on all reasonably foreseeable adverse environmental impacts associated with the mechanism.
• Prepare the PERSUAP, EMMP, and ERCs for all activities and subawards, working in close coordination with local counterparts.
• Advise CIPP team at the inception phase of all activities on Climate Risk Management considerations per ADS 201, including actions eligible for categorical exclusions in accordance with 22CFR 216.2(c).
• Coordinate with relevant technical and monitoring and evaluation teams to integrate required environmental monitoring into the M&E system, and integrate data collected into reports and deliverables, as appropriate.
• Train CIPP team on the process and products such as EMMP etc
• Other tasks activities as assigned by the CIPP CTA or Chief of Party.

Expected Deliverables

• Inception Report from the Consultancy
• Physical site assessment reports
• EMMP and if applicable the PERSUAP and ERCs, for submission to USAID
• Response reports to USAID queries on submitted documents such as EMMP
• Meetings on Environmental Reviews facilitated/attended
• Final environmental review and compliance report
• One workshop for CIPP on Environment Compliance

Mercy Corps Responsibilities

• Provide all relevant documentations and reports
• Mobilization of participants/stakeholders
• Accommodation for consultant
• Review Draft Reports
• Approve final reports

Basic Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required
Education:

• Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in relevant field (such as Natural Resources Management, Environmental Studies, Environmental Planning, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Management, Chemistry, International Development).

Required Experience and Skills:

• Minimum of three (3) years’ relevant technical experience working in USAID or other international donor-funded technical assistance projects, with previous professional experience completing USAID ERCs/EMMPs/PERSUAPs.
• Advanced knowledge and understanding of environmental and social impact analyses.
• Experience working with subrecipients; through knowledge USAID environmental regulations required.
• Proven ability to manage and implement work using tools offered by Microsoft Office 365 Suite of programs.
• Fluency in English, Hausa and Pidgin with expert-level report writing capabilities.

Evaluation Criteria
The complete technical proposal (including support documentation) will be evaluated according to the criteria described below:

• Motivation Letter outlining how the applicant meets the requirements of this assignment and Curriculum Vitae (CV) of the applicant (30%).
• Technical proposal detailing understanding of the task and outlining how they propose to undertake this assignment including a work plan (30%).
• Financial Proposal (use the template provided) 20%
• Two previous reports on similar or related work (10%)
• Three referees’ names and contacts related to similar work and successful completion of past project (10%)

Note: Financial proposal guidelines:

• The financial proposal shall include professional fee, travel, per diems, for anticipated number of days (7 working days and QIPs (15) (see below table).
• Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon specific delivery per unit QIP.
• Submit your duly signed Financial proposal separately from Technical Proposal in a PDF FORMAT

Payment Terms

• Mercy Corps will make payment based on agreed schedule through bank transfer. Mercy Corps will deduct WHT in line with government regulations.