1. Their understanding of the assignment and approach
2. A workplan
3. Day rates and total costs
4. CV

Closing date: Apply by end of day March 6th 2026

Location: remote - there is no country restriction on the location base of the consultancy

Background

The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (the Alliance) works to strengthen climate resilience and reduce disaster risk by combining community programming with systems‑level change. In 2026, Mercy Corps’ Alliance team is conducting a strategic review to inform adjustments in Phase 3A (2024-2027) and to shape the direction and design of Phase 3B (2028–2031).

Within this process, Mercy Corps’ role in leading the global influencing work of the Alliance requires a dedicated review. This focuses on the work of the 3.5 person Alliance HQ team.

The role of the HQ team encompasses four, interconnected functions:

1. Direct influencing: the HQ team conducts influencing activities, including producing reports, engaging with decision-makers, and participating in global policy processes on climate adaptation and finance.
2. Leadership of Alliance global influencing: the HQ team leads and coordinates global influencing across Alliance members, including developing shared strategies (e.g. for events like COP), producing common messaging and materials, and facilitating collective engagement.
3. Enabling country teams to engage in global influencing: the HQ team supports country teams from across the Alliance to participate in global processes (e.g. through a learning group and webinars).
4. Supporting country teams to deliver national-level influencing: the HQ team supports country teams from across the Alliance in strengthening their influencing strategies at national level, including through written guidance, webinars, and targeted support.

The review will assess these roles as delivered by the HQ team at Mercy Corps; it will not review the performance of other Alliance members.

The Alliance's global influencing follows a broad theory of change aimed at strengthening global policy and practice on climate adaptation, and in particular adaptation finance. Within this framework, specific objectives and priorities are set on an annual basis to align with the policy cycle of international processes, particularly those under the UNFCCC.

Objectives and research questions

Overall objective: Identify what the HQ team’s global influencing work (delivered directly by the HQ team or through its support to other Alliance partners) has plausibly contributed so far and present realistic options for Phase 3B, both for global influencing and for supporting influencing across the Alliance.

Specific objectives:

-          Strengthen HQ team and Alliance global influencing in Phase 3A

• Review how effective the HQ teams’ direct global influencing activities have been over the past two years, particularly on adaptation finance.
• Review the effectiveness of the HQ team’s role in coordinating and leading Alliance-wide global influencing.
• Identify the Alliance’s added value (USP) in global influencing.
• Surface key opportunities and risks for the remainder of Phase 3A.
• Assess the strengths and limitations of the HQ team in delivering global influencing.
• Provide recommendations to strengthen the value and focus of global influencing for the remainder of Phase 3A.

-          Strengthen enabling support to country teams on influencing in Phase 3A

• Review the effectiveness of HQ team’s support to country teams to engage in global influencing.
• Review the effectiveness of HQ team’s support to country teams in strengthening national-level influencing.
• Identify opportunities and risks for the remainder of Phase 3A.
• Assess strengths and limitations of the HQ team in providing such support.
• Provide practical recommendations to strengthen this support.

-          Define options for influencing in Phase 3B

• Identify options for global influencing, aligned with donor priorities.
• Identify options for supporting country-level influencing in Phase 3B.

Research questions for the strategic review

1. How effective has HQ team's global influencing been over the past two years?
   1. How did the HQ team contribute to shaping global policy discussions, decisions, finance, or practice on adaptation and climate resilience?
   2. How effective has the HQ team been in coordinating and leading Alliance-wide global influencing?
   3. Which influencing tactics (publications, partnerships, events, bilateral engagements) have helped us progress towards our influencing objectives, which did not, and why?
   4. How useful have shared strategies, messaging, and other joint activities been for Alliance members?
   5. What external or internal factors most influenced results (enablers and constraints)?
2. What is the Alliance's added value in global influencing on climate resilience?
   1. What is the Alliance's distinct value in global influencing on climate resilience to date (comparative strengths, approach, relationships, resources, etc.)?

1. What adjustments should the HQ team make in the remainder of Phase 3A to its global influencing work?
   1. What near-term opportunities can the HQ team leverage for global influencing? (e.g. influencing moments, partnerships, targets, etc.)?
   2. What risks could constrain the HQ team’s impact?
   3. What adjustments would help the HQ team capitalise on opportunities and mitigate risks?
2. How effective has HQ team’s support to country teams on influencing been, and what adjustments are needed for the remainder of Phase 3A?
   1. How effective has HQ teams’ support been in enabling country teams to engage in global processes?
   2. How effective has HQ team’s support been in strengthening country teams’ influencing work at national level?
   3. What types of global support have proven most and least useful, and why?
   4. What bottlenecks or gaps limit the effectiveness of HQ team’s support to country teams?
   5. What adjustments could strengthen support to country influencing for the remainder of Phase 3A?
3. What options should the HQ team consider for Phase 3B for global influencing and for supporting country influencing?
   1. What viable strategic options exist for the HQ team’s global influencing in Phase 3B, in line with donor priorities, and what are their benefits and drawbacks?
   2. What options exist for the HQ team’s support to country-level influencing, and how might global-level activities most effectively enable country-level outcomes?
   3. What are the recommendations for designing Phase 3B, based on Phase 3A lessons learned and answers to questions 5a and 5b?

Scope

This review is focused on the work of the 3.5 people in the Mercy Corps Alliance HQ team who focus on influencing.

Direct influencing – this includes:

-          Engagement with decision-makers in the Global North and Global South. Primary targets are UK, the Netherlands, and the European Commission, but the HQ team also has considerable engagement with a range of negotiators and decision-makers in other governments.

-          Development of new evidence, in particular our yearly Global Report and the Fair Shares report series.

-          Engagement in COP processes and other external events with a view to influence. This includes written submissions, speaking at events, and running our own events.

-          Communications, including social media, media, blogs, and other external outputs.

-          Coordinating with a wide range of partners, including for information sharing, collaboration, amplifying our work, and gaining access to new spaces and targets.

Leadership of Alliance global influencing - this includes:

-          For Adaptation Governance and adaptation finance: the development of a 4-year Theory of Change and an annual influencing strategy.

-          For influencing across the Alliance: the development of an annual workplan and monthly coordination meetings.

-          For major events (COP and Bonn): the development of the Alliance’s strategy and messaging; coordination of Alliance partners and facilitating collective engagement.

Enabling country teams to engage in global influencing – this includes:

-          Organising webinars on adaptation finance to support learning.

-          Creating and running the COPtimist group.

-          Providing direct support related to COP (e.g. the COP clinic).

-          Supporting the creation of policy briefs.

Supporting national-level influencing – although the majority of this work is undertaken by organisational leads, the HQ team has supported this by:

-          Creating an Influencing Primer.

-          Developing and running the Influencing Learning Journey.

-          Strengthening country influencing strategies by reviewing documents, leading workshops, and other types of ad-hoc support.

Methodology

The global influencing review should use a light-touch, mixed-methods approach, combining:

1. A desk review of available programme documentation, including:

• AdaGov annual strategies, COP strategies, Influencing and AdaGov workplan
• The HQ team’s global influencing indicator tracking sheet.
• Outcomes of HQ teams’ quarterly and annual review sessions.
• Outcomes of the Alliance's After Action Reviews for specific events and processes.
• HQ teams’ reporting to the donor, including progress reports and Outcome Harvesting.

2. Key Informant Interviews (20-25), including with:

• HQ team plus other key Mercy Corps staff (4-5)
• External partners (5-8), who have directly interacted with HQ team on global influencing under the Alliance.
• Alliance partners (3-5), who have directly interacted with HQ team on global influencing.
• Influencing targets (2-3), who have directly interacted with HQ team on global influencing.
• Alliance country teams (3-5), to assess the usefulness, gaps, and priorities for global support on influencing under the Alliance.

The interviews will be semi-structured, guided by the overarching research questions. The findings from the desk review and interviews will be triangulated to identify HQ teams’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks on global influencing and providing support to country teams; surface lessons learned for Phase 3A adjustments; and consolidate insights needed for Phase 3B design.

To understand the impact of influencing, the consultant could consider demonstrating success along the advocacy pathway, or a similar framework (see below).

Research outputs

The consultant will produce the following deliverables:

1. Inception note (3-4 pages), including a refined SoW, analytical framework, interview plan, and refined workplan and timeline.
2. Preliminary outcomes note (5-10 pages) with preliminary results, to be used for the UK strategy meeting on 28-30 May 2026.
3. Slide deck with the results and recommendations to be used at a sense-making workshop and the strategy refresh meeting (see below).
4. Narrative report (10-15 pages) with results and recommendations.

The consultant may also be asked to present the results during a strategy refresh meeting in the UK (28-30 May 2026).

Timeline

The assignment will start as soon as possible, latest by 1 April, and will run until 1 July, with the following schedule:

Consultant profile

The consultant should demonstrate the following qualifications:

• Strong expertise in global advocacy and policy influencing, preferably related to climate resilience, climate finance, adaptation, or DRR.
• Good understanding of international climate policy processes, including those under the UNFCCC.
• Proven experience in conducting strategic reviews, evaluations, or learning exercises of initiatives focused on advocacy, influencing, or systems change.
• Experience working with NGOs, alliances, or international organisations.
• Strong qualitative research, analysis, and synthesis skills.
• Ability to produce concise, strategic, decision-oriented outputs.
• Ability to engage effectively and diplomatically with diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to deliver high quality work within tight timeframes.

How to apply

Interested consultants should submit a brief proposal (max 4 pages) including:

1. Their understanding of the assignment and approach
2. A workplan
3. Day rates and total costs
4. CV