Consultant - Refine & Implement Framing and Sensemaking Consultancy for Graduating to Sustainable Agriculture, Income, Nutrition, and Food Security

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. Mercy Corps partners 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 400 people working in Eastern DRC, with the overall country goal being to support vulnerable communities through crises while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps' national office is in Goma, with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. Mercy Corps DRC's key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs to 1) Improve water service delivery and ensure equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas; 2) Improve food security and nutrition; 3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development; 4) Support peacebuilding and local governance. Mercy Corps DRC's humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo.  Background  In September of 2023, Mercy Corps signed an agreement with the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA-USAID) to implement the Graduating to sustainable Agriculture, Income, Nutrition, and food Security (GAINS) Program. GAINS is a five-year, USD 105.7 million Resilient Food Security Activity (RFSA) to sustainably improve Food, Nutrition, and Economic Security (FNES) in Kasai through two Purposes and five Sub-Purposes.  

• Purpose 1: Strengthened Livelihoods and Increased Incomes

SP1.1: Improved usage of credit and capitalSP1.2: Increased profitable, diverse enterprises and IGAsSP1.3: Increased sustainable agricultural production  

• Purpose 2: Improved utilization of quality food among vulnerable people

SP2.1: Improved maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behaviors (MIYCN) SP2.2: Improved WASH behaviors  The GAINS theory of change emphasizes pathways for building resilience, including increasing access and use of resilience capacities to address climate and conflict shocks and stresses for improved food, nutrition and economic security. The Mercy Corps-led GAINS consortium includes four international (World Vision, AVSI, and IITA/CIP) and five local (Action Paysanne, APC, Inter-Actions, SDC, SANRU) organizations. The design of GAINS is guided by four foundational principles: locally-led and people-centered, sensitivity to power and conflict dynamics, and landscape vision for climate adaptation at scale. GAINS will be implemented through a multi-sectoral, climate and conflict sensitive and gender transformative approach to support food, nutrition and economic security. Specific attention will be paid to resilience, social inclusion and power dynamics considerations across the program’s various sectors of intervention.   Objectives of the ConsultancyGAINS is conducting six formative research studies as part of the Refine & Implement (R&I) period during the first 12 months of the program. These studies are exploring the complexity around market, labor, and seeds systems, GYSI, nutrition and WASH behaviors and how they are impacted by climate and conflict shocks and stresses in the Kasai. See below for a list of the formative research studies that are being conducted.  

• GYSI Analysis (formal study)
• Behavior Barrier Analysis & Sanitation Marketing Options (combined assessment based on a roadmap)
• Youth-led Systems Labor Market Assessment (formal study)
• Seeds Security System Assessment (formal study)
• Systems Network and Stakeholder Assessment
• CATALYSE - community mobilization and consultations

 GAINS would like to use a common framework to analyze the findings from these studies (i.e., joint analysis framework) and apply the analysis to refine its existing Theory of Change, interventions, strategies and approaches. To do this, GAINS is seeking to recruit a consultant to design a joint analysis framework and methodology and apply it to the formative research studies with the GAINS team to recommend adaptations to the GAINS Theory of Change and design.  Specific Objectives and Deliverables of the Consultancy:  Activity 1: Develop a Draft Joint Analytical Framework 

• Task 1.1: Read and understand the GAINS program and ToC
• Task 1.2: Review different resilience analysis frameworks provided by Mercy Corps and any other secondary data/resources that will provide a theoretical basis for developing the joint analysis framework.
• Task 1.3: Become familiar with the R&I studies and assessments’ findings first by reviewing tools used, reading through the results/findings, and conn