Consultant – Sprout Platform Business Development and Partnership, Mercy Corps

Background:

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, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Drawing on Mercy Corps’ experience implementing the AgriFin Mobile, AgriFin Accelerate and AgriFin Digital Farmer programs, GIZ has engaged Mercy Corps to understand how young technology innovators can be supported in scale and operational viability by engaging with emerging models of digital platforms. The GIZ smart development hack is a six-month, €1,300,000 initiative to work with cohort of partners in Kenya and Nigeria to develop digital solutions that address challenges in the agriculture sector especially brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the complex fragility of many countries, highlighted most clearly in the interplay of public health, markets and food systems. Early warning signs are emerging that the continent is on the brink of an unprecedented food security crisis. In Kenya it is estimated that there are sufficient strategic reserves for three months, but disrupted food systems, logistics and evidence of food hoarding may shorten that timeline, particularly as the largest desert locust invasion in 70 years.

This project aims to promote zero contact and prevent the spread of COVID-19 by utilizing technology to expand access to food, improve distribution of agriculture outputs by consumers through support farmers utilize updated agriculture extension information to bolster production, cultivation, marketing and distribution of food in Kenya.

Purpose / Project Description:

Sprout, The Open Content Agriculture Platform, a project of Mercy Corps Agrifin (MCAF), is partnering with KALRO to provide a content marketplace/exchange for expert content developers to offer high quality digital-ready, farmer-friendly content that can be used free of charge by content distribution partners. The goal of Sprout is to enable MCAF partners to cost effectively, acquire and use this content is to build productivity, earned income and resilience of farmers at scale.

Consultant Objectives:

The consultant will support the Sprout Platform expanding into markets and geographies. To support this effort, the consultant will identify new partnerships and opportunities to extend Sprout offerings.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

• Maintain current partner relationships and identifying areas for potential engagement
• Contact and engage with potential content providers and FFO partners to identify content needs and ensure they are able to properly leverage Sprout
• Communicate Sprout Platform vision and mission to partners, and be able to effectively communicate how to leverage Sprout services to ensure partners are able to efficiently utilize the Sprout Platform and expand the reach of the platform to markets and geographies
• Plan and oversee marketing initiatives, that include digital marketing, through Sprout Newsletter, social media and Conferences/webinars
• Identify organizations and partners that can contribute and/or leverage the Sprout Platform, and update Sprout Platform Content Priority Spreadsheet.
• Lead in the Sprout Platform find new funding opportunities via proposal writing and development.
• Contact potential partners to establish relationship and coordinate follow up meetings to gather content and service/product needs.
• Actively contribute in product development meetings and engagements

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will:

• Coordinate and conduct Sprout Platform introductory meetings to a minimum of 10 unique and new partners, capture their partner information, content needs, and update information into the Sprout Partner Spreadsheet
• Capture and document pertinent information from new partners and organizations meetings and share with the Sprout Team, and input new requests into the Sprout Partner Spreadsheet.
• Gather partner requirements and coordinate with content transformation team for content acquisition and transformation
• Develop and socialize June/July/August Newsletter

Timeframe / Schedule:

The consultant will be engaged for a period of 40 billable days and the timelines will be as follow:

• Sprout partner content needs spreadsheet – Due July 31th 2022
• Meeting minutes from Sprout Partner follow up calls and needs assessments – Due July 31th 2022
• Develop and socialize June/July/August Newsletters – Due August 30th 2022
• Meeting mins from Sprout Platform introductory calls – Due August 30th 2022

The Consultant will report to:

AgriFin Elias Nure – Sprout Lead

The Consultant will work closely with:

The Agrifin Technical team

Required Experience & Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business or a similar area
• About five years of proven sales experience in business or a related area
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal, in order to express technical and nontechnical concepts clearly and concisely
• Technical skills required to create proposals and find solutions to meet client requirements, such as using software programs and machines
• Excellent organizational skills to meet goals and set priorities
• Be proactive, organized and handle work under stressful and uncertain environments
• Previous experience working with MC AgriFin, and their network of 150 partners highly preferred
• Previous experience supporting partners integrate, port, and leverage the Sprout Platform and the Sprout Learning services
• Able to manage team and clients remotely

Required Application documents:

• Resume with additional supporting documents of the Daily rate quotation in USD & Passport

Diversity, Equity & 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
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 on the basis of 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 team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.