CEDIS Sector Diagnostic Study Bulawayo
Ngo & Social Services Jobs
- Mercy Corps
- Expires 28 Mar 2025
- Bulawayo
- Contractor
Job Description
Background:
With funding from the Embassy of Sweden, Mercy Corps is implementing the Catalysing Economic Development through the Informal Sector (CEDIS) program. The 4-year programme, which started in 2022, aims to improve incomes, working conditions and resilience to shocks and stresses of 30,000 vulnerable young women (70% aged 18-35) in the urban and surrounding rural areas of Bulawayo, Mutare, and Harare through sustainable informal and micro-enterprise livelihoods. The CEDIS program is committed to contributing to greater women’s economic empowerment by achieving improved incomes, better working conditions, and greater economic resilience.
Purpose / Project Description:
Taking a facilitative approach, the CEDIS program is centred on strengthening the roles of women and women-led enterprises across three main sectors (agro-processing, small-scale manufacturing and waste management), while also addressing strategic cross-cutting market constraints. Such constraints include access to finance, energy and equipment, as well as rules and norms. The program seeks to enable the informal sector system to function more inclusively for women, particularly young women, for increased productivity, employment and income opportunities. In the end, we expect that by having access to better opportunities in the informal sector, women would have greater economic empowerment; thereby having stronger agency and decision-making power towards their economic activities as well as policy-making processes. Therefore, women’s economic vulnerability in the informal sector will be reduced and resilience will increase.
The program’s intervention logic entails:
Goal: Improved incomes, working conditions and resilience to shocks and stresses for 30,000 young women (70% aged 18-35yrs) in the informal economy.
Outcome 1: Female employees and female suppliers earn more through increased quantity of work or increased rates of pay.
Outcome 2: Women-led enterprises experience improved business performance.
Outcome 3: Young women and women-led enterprises experience an improved business environment.
Ethics and Integrity
All Mercy Corps staff 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 that may lead to termination. Diversity, Equity, and 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
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. 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 based on 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 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 (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org)
Safeguarding Risk Rating: Level 3
Duties and Responsibilities
Consultant Objectives:
The main goals of the sector diagnostic study are to pinpoint key opportunities for the private sector and identify critical sectoral and cross-cutting constraints that must be addressed to unlock its potential. Additionally, the study will offer recommendations to help mitigate these challenges with due emphasis on creating opportunities that allow for growth of the sectors and creating employment for women.
Specifically, the consultant(s) will:
1. Identify key sectoral opportunities and constraints for the three main target sectors.
2. Identify prospects for value addition and integration.
3. Provide evidence of interest from private sector to work with women in the informal sector.
4. Identification of cross-cutting constraints
5. Provide recommendations for addressing the constraints and help improve women’s inclusion in the sectors. The recommendations should include suggested activities/interventions and/or partnerships.
Consultant Activities:
The Consultant will:
● Design the study methodology focusing on the study objectives.
● Develop data collection tools that align with the methodology of the study
● Conduct field data collection - conduct interviews with market actors (private and public including policy makers) and program participants to obtain primary data on key study questions. Based on discussions with the program implementation team, potential target groups and market actors will be identified for in-depth interviews. These respondents will be selected purposively for optimal responses.
● Compile the sector diagnostic study report that meets the standards as required by Mercy Corps
Consultant Deliverables:
The consultant(s) will report progress regularly to the CEDIS MEL Coordinator. It is expected that the consultant submit four (4) reports as follows:
1. Inception report and workplan: the consultant will have a meeting with the CEDIS Program Management Team (PMT) to understand the program and to access required documents such as the proposal, market systems assessment reports and other documents as may be required. The consultant will also engage with the PMT to come to a consensus on the study methodology, field visit plan, and so on. The draft inception plan should include a detailed methodology including a stakeholder map, data collection tools, study framework, quality assurance mechanism of data collected, sampling, deliverables, work plan and division of labour (if it is a team of consultants).
2. Brief presentation after the field work on preliminary findings: consultant will present the preliminary findings of the field work to the PMT.
3. Draft report: consultant will submit the preliminary results of the diagnostic study of data gathered and data/information analysis.
4. Final report: the final report will be submitted after presenting the results of the study to the CEDIS team and incorporating feedback which is received during the presentation. The final report should include the completed analytical framework of the baseline study. Review and revision process from the draft report stage to the final report should not exceed two (2) weeks. The final report should include the following:
- Acronyms
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Methodology
- Limitations
- Findings
- Conclusion and Recommendations
- Appendix
The consultant(s) will submit both the electronic and hard copies of all the reports and data collected. A PowerPoint presentation of the findings will also be expected from the consultant(s).
Timeframe / Schedule:
It is expected that the consultant(s) work over a 60-day spread (April - June) as follows:
1. Document Review and Inception Report (3 days)
2. Data Collection (21 days)
3. Debriefing after data collection (1 day)
4. Data Analysis and draft report (18 days)
5. Review, quality assurance (7 days)
6. Finalization of the report and evaluation brief (10 days)
The due dates for each of these will be set based on the contracting dates.
The Consultant will report to:
MEL Coordinator: CEDIS
The Consultant will work closely with:
The CEDIS MEL Team, MSD Regional Coordinators and Team Leader
Qualifications and Experience
Required Experience & Skills:
Education:
At least an advanced degree in marketing, business management, agriculture economics, agribusiness, economics, or a relevant social science degree.
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years in research and evaluation with experience in data collection, analysis and reporting.
- Professional experience in market systems development, market linkages, value chain analysis and/or development.
- Strong analytical skills.
- Able to work independently with efficiency and competence.
- Excellent written and oral skills.
Language:
● Excellent written and spoken English and Ndebele
Consultant(s) will report progress regularly to the PMT. The diagnostic work will be done in close conjunction with the CEDIS MEL Team.
How to Apply
Application Instructions:
Send a Cover Letter, Resume and a detailed proposal to conduct the sector diagnostic study outlining the consultant(s) understanding of this task, proposed methodology, work plan, budget and sample of similar work before application deadline 28 March 2025 via zw-procurement@mercycorps.org . In the case of applicants being a group or a consulting firm, kindly include CVs of the individuals that will be involved in the diagnostic study clearly stating their roles in the proposal and registration documents (including tax clearance certificate). While submitting your application, be sure your email subject line is CEDIS-SDS-EOI- (Your Name)
Important Note:
● A candidate applying only by sending CV to the designated email will not be considered.
● Please group all your documents into one (1) PDF.
● A signed consultancy agreement and Scope of Work will be the main documentation required in consultant contracting.
