Consultant - COMITAS Briquette Training at Mercy Corps Nigeria

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 collaborate to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within, now and for the future. In Nigeria, Mercy Corps works in 13 states within the key thematic areas of humanitarian response, conflict mitigation and adolescent girls’ empowerment.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant to Facilitate COMITAS Briquette Training

Locations: Numan, Demsa, Lamurde, Mayoblelwa and Girei, Adamawa 
Employment Type: Contract
Timeframe / Schedule: 5th Aug 2024 - 16th Aug 2024
Total Level of Effort: 10 days facilitation

Background

• Mercy Corps has been present in Nigeria since 2012, focusing its interventions on humanitarian assistance, economic recovery and development, and conflict mitigation and peacebuilding.
• Considering the protracted conflicts between farmer and herder communities in Adamawa State, Nigeria, competing claims to land, water and other natural resources are at the root of these growing tensions.
• Indeed, pressure on natural resources have increased due to demographic growth, expanding human settlements, privatization of land, year-round farming practices, environmental degradation, and climate change.
• In many instances, traditional conflict resolution mechanisms that play significant roles in mitigating these resource-based conflicts locally have become overwhelmed.
• Besides, low levels of trust in authorities by communities due to widespread inaction, impunity and perceived biases or reactive responses by government to shared natural resource conflicts complicate the tensions further.
• Through funding from the EU, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Search for Common Ground (Search), and Mercy Corps have designed a comprehensive and integrated approach (COMITAS) that builds on the comparative strengths of each organization to contribute to the mitigation of conflicts over natural resources between farmer and herder communities.
• This program is developed around 4 interconnected objectives: strengthen traditional conflict resolution; improve trust in authorities; enhance collaboration on natural resource management and; improve intra and inter communal perceptions.
• Mercy Corps is leading the implementation of objective 3, which focuses on enhancing collaboration on natural resource management.
• Mercy Corps aims to build the capacity of local government authorities in natural resource management (NRM) to facilitate their collaboration with communities towards sustaining concrete natural resource initiatives that communities will develop.
• The collaborations that the program is enabling between communities and authorities will improve communities trust and confidence in government, promote collaborative natural resource management and governance, enhance livelihoods, and improve social cohesion and conflict management between farmer and herder communities.

Objective of the Facilitation:

• Climate changes due to global warming add considerable complexity to dealing with flooding, since increases in average temperature alter the patterns and intensity of precipitation.
• Climate variability and climate change related shocks and stresses that has directly and indirectly raise the risk of conflict, caused fluctuations in key social, economic and ecological dynamics like population growth and environmental degradation which also complicates conflict.
• In current reality, these shocks and macro trends have compounded to rise in food prices forced immigration, livelihood insecurity, loss of yield and forced displacement to mention few.
• Due to this growing concern and need. In order to improve local-led solutions to negative impact of climate change, Mercy corps will seeking a seasoned and experience team of facilitators to train COMITAS Participant from implemented communities on the making of briquette block using readily accessible materials from communities.
• This training aims to build the capacity of the community members on briquette making and create alternatives for cooking energy against the usual practices of use of firewood or charcoal. T
• his will also create a perception change and community preparedness toward climate change resiliency.
• The collective-community approach will also demonstrate the benefits of collaboration between and among communities, increased social cohesion within and between divided groups and enhance trust and support that will improve, resource use and management.

The training will propagate the following objectives.
Reduced Deforestation:

• Briquettes are made from biomass materials that would otherwise be discarded or burnt inefficiently.
• By using briquettes as a substitute for traditional fuel sources like firewood or charcoal, there is less pressure on forests, leading to reduced deforestation and habitat destruction.

Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

• Burning briquettes produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional fuels like coal or wood.
• This helps mitigate climate change by reducing the carbon footprint associated with energy consumption.

Energy Efficiency:

• Briquettes have a higher energy content and burn more efficiently than raw biomass materials.
• This means that less fuel is required to produce the same amount of heat, resulting in lower overall energy consumption and reduced environmental impact.

Waste Management:

• Briquettes offer a way to utilize agricultural residues, sawdust, and other waste materials that would otherwise contribute to pollution or landfill accumulation.
• By converting these waste products into a valuable energy source, briquettes promote sustainable waste management practices.

Climate Change Adaptation:

• In the face of changing climate patterns and extreme weather events, access to reliable and sustainable energy sources becomes crucial for communities to adapt and build resilience.
• Briquettes provide a stable energy supply that can withstand disruptions caused by climate-related disasters.

Economic Benefits:

• The production and use of briquettes can create economic opportunities for local communities, especially in rural areas where traditional biomass is the primary source of energy.
• This can help improve livelihoods and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts.

Scope of services:
The training facilitators shall support the following activities as the scope of this Facilitation:

• The Consultancy Firm(s) shall develop a training curriculum for the briquette making in community settings.
• Provide all the necessary raw materials necessary for the briquette making.
• Develop a detailed facilitation guide and presentation for the full training.
• Support communities to develop briquettes from the basis to the final product of making of briquette.
• Work with Mercy Corps’ focal monitoring and evaluation person, to perform individual pre and post-surveys/assessments to measure knowledge acquired and the quality of the services provided.
• Clarify queries related to this facilitation as they arise

Deliverables:
The Consultancy Firm(s) will help support the following deliverables:

• Submit a detailed presentation/ facilitation guide.
• Facilitate (10) days training, full workshop each day and report development.
• Assist to prepare a post-training action plan and in some instances providing technical guidance for its implementation when called upon.
• Prepare a final report on the assignment which should also include identifying areas of improvement for the future.

Application Closing Date
1st August, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested individual consultant or consulting firm should send their Detailed Work-plan and CV, Evidence of similar work conducted in Briquette making training, Company profile and Budget Proposal to: [email protected] using “RFQ 081_Consultancy Firm to Facilitate COMITAS Briquette Training” as the subject of the mail.