We recently conducted a review of influencing strategies and country-level influencing capacity across the Alliance to inform future capacity-building efforts and identify the resources needed to strengthen country-level influencing. The review generated a number of recommendations, including priority topics where teams would benefit from additional guidance and practical resources. 

Purpose / Project Description:

This short-term consultancy will design and deliver an influencing learning journey on key topics, identified through a recent review of influencing strategies and country-level influencing capacity across the Alliance. The review highlighted where colleagues would benefit from additional guidance, practical tools, and opportunities to practice and strengthen core influencing skills. 

The learning journey aims to increase the confidence, capacity, and effectiveness of Alliance colleagues in planning, delivering, and assessing their influencing strategies, contributing to stronger and more impactful country-level influencing efforts. The learning journey should combine interactive online learning with practical resources that colleagues can apply in their day-to-day work. The consultant will be expected to propose an appropriate approach and format, drawing on the findings of the review and existing Alliance resources.  

The learning journey will include four sessions on the following topics: 

• Strategic communications: media training and guidance on how to influence public opinion; 

• Stakeholder engagement: support, guidance, and opportunities to practice pitching to key decision makers and partners; and 

• Partnership skills: coalition building, convening, and how to maximize partnerships for greater influence.  

• Measuring influencing impact and understanding how to assess, capture, and learn from influencing outcomes. 

Consultant Objectives:

The Consultant will be expected to design and deliver an informative, engaging, and participatory influence learning journey which should be accompanied with tools, templates, and other resources that colleagues can use to support their influence planning and activities.  

The Consultant should develop the influence journey with guidance and oversight from the hiring manager, who will share the findings of the influence review and other available resources, in order for the consultant to tailor the journey to the appropriate level and focus for Alliance colleagues.  The Influence Training Journey will be made available to colleagues across all 19 Alliance country programmes and should be designed with global participation in mind. As such, each session should be delivered twice to account for varying time zones. 

Consultant Activities: 

The Consultant will:

• Review relevant Alliance materials, including findings from the influencing review and existing guidance notes. 

• Design the content and facilitation approach for a series of four interactive workshops that allow opportunities for skills practice 

• Develop accompanying materials to support participants in applying learning beyond the workshop, such as usable tools such as message templates, stakeholder mapping templates, media briefing notes, case studies, and audience segmentation guidance. 

• Deliver each of the three webinars/online workshops twice to accommodate participation across multiple time zones. 

All activities will be in partnership with Mercy Corps colleagues.  

Consultant Deliverables: 

The Consultant will deliver:

• Initial outline of the approach to the three learning journeys 

• Six online sessions (each workshop delivered twice)  

• Workshop materials (slides, exercises, facilitation notes) for the three topics, as well as recordings for the sessions 

• Resource packs and practical tools accompanying each workshop 

Timeframe / Schedule:  

• August-September: Review existing materials and findings of the review, plan outline, and design content. 

• October: Workshop 1 and associated materials 

• November: Workshop 2 and associated materials 

• January: Workshop 3 and associated materials 

The Consultant will report to: 

Policy Advisor 

The Consultant will work closely with:

Other members of the ZCRA team, including Senior Advocacy Advisor 

Required Experience & Skills:

• Demonstrable expertise in advocacy, influencing and campaigning, with a strong understanding of the principles, strategies and approaches that make advocacy effective across different audiences and contexts. 

• Extensive experience designing and delivering engaging online advocacy training for a range of participants, with the ability to adapt content to different levels of knowledge and experience. 

• Proven ability to develop high-quality, practical online learning resources and guidance that are accessible, engaging and easy to apply in practice. 

• Strong facilitation skills, with experience of delivering interactive virtual workshops that encourage participation, discussion and skills development. 

• Experience working with charities, NGOs, membership organisations or the public sector, with an understanding of the opportunities and challenges of advocacy in these settings. 

• Excellent written and spoken English. Additional language skills relevant to the Alliance, particularly Spanish, would be an advantage. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear, concise and engaging resources for a range of audiences. 

How to apply 

• To apply for this assignment, please submit your CV, along with a short technical proposal (1-2 pages maximum), in which you outline your understanding of the assignment, your proposed approach to the learning journey, how you would ensure the sessions are interactive, relevant to diverse teams, and accommodate different levels of experience. This should also include a financial proposal, with your daily rate, number of days proposed, and any assumptions.  

Team Engagement and Effectiveness  

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work. 

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.