Consultant - Market Systems Development (MSD) Capacity Strengthening - RLP Program Team, Africa

Project / Consultancy Title Market Systems Development (MSD) Capacity Strengthening through Targeted Coaching and Technical Support for the RLP Program Team

Project Location(s) Remote and Travel to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somali

Timeline & Estimated LOE Up to 40 days spread out over four (4) months

Estimated start date March 15, 2026

Risk Level Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data.

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.

Now, and for the future. Mercy Corps has been implementing market approach-based livestock program in Horn of Africa (HOA) for over a decade.

The Program / Department / Team The Regional Livestock Programme (RLP) is a 12 year programme designed to leverage growing consumer demand for animal source foods (ASF) and the associated rise in livestock production and trade in ASAL economies.

RLP aims to increase incomes of agro pastoralist and pastoralist households and economically empower peri urban and rural women and youths engaged in the livestock sector across the semi arid and arid lands (ASALs) of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. The program targets four live animal trade corridors (i.e., Togwajaale, Galkayo, Afmadow and Moyale) and Wajir camel milk trade corridors. The programme is funded by the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in three 4 year phases. Phase I () is implemented in a partnership between Mercy Corps with Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD) and Helvetas with their partner Welthungerhilfe (WHH).

Purpose / Project Description The Regional Livestock Program (RLP) is designed to implement through a market systems development (MSD), facilitative approach to achieve sustainable and inclusive changes within the livestock sector and relevant sub sectors. Effective management and successful implementation of this approach requires strong technical capacity within the program team.

In particular, the program team must possess solid skills and competencies in market systems development principles, diagnosis of critical systemic constraints, strategic intervention design, facilitation and negotiations skills and the ability to adapt theory into contextual realities. These competencies are essential to address underlying market constraints while leverage market opportunities and stakeholder innovation to catalyze lasting, systemic changes across livestock market systems with specific facilitation methods.

Recognizing this need, RLP aims to strengthen the technical expertise of its program team by developing in house MSD and private sector development specialists. This will be achieved through the facilitation of targeted capacity building initiatives, including structured training on MSD, guidance in the use of relevant analysis, negotiation, and partnership tools, as well as ongoing coaching. These efforts will equip the team with appropriate analytical skills, facilitation techniques, and adaptive management tactics, enabling them to design, implement, and manage effective MSD interventions that address opportunities and weaknesses within functional roles, informal and formal operating norms and rules to deliver lasting impact.

Consultant Objectives The objective of this consultancy is to strengthen the technical capacity of the Regional Livestock Program (RLP) team in the application of the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach. Specifically, the consultant will support the program team to build a strong, practical understanding of MSD principles, including market systems analysis, identification of systemic constraints, intervention design, and facilitation strategies, with the aim of improving the quality and sustainability of RLP interventions.

To achieve this objective, the consultant will provide context specific MSD training and structured coaching support that is directly linked to the program's ongoing interventions. The consultancy will combine introductory MSD training to establish a shared conceptual foundation with focused, small group or 1:1 coaching and applied learning that allows team members to apply MSD tools and approaches to real program activities. Capacity strengthening and practical skills development will be anchored in selected interventions from each targeted corridor instead of every intervention across all corridors. This ensures that capacity development is practical, relevant, and responsive to implementation realities specific MSD training and structured coaching support that is directly linked to the program's ongoing interventions.

Through this approach, the consultant will mentor at least eight (8) selected program team members, preferably organized around four priority intervention themes, with one intervention selected from each corridor. By working closely with the team to analyze, refine, and facilitate these interventions, the consultancy will enhance individual and team level competencies, strengthen adaptive management practices, and enable the RLP team to independently design and manage MSD interventions that drive lasting systemic change in livestock market systems.

Activities of the Consultant To achieve the objective of strengthening the Regional Livestock Program (RLP) team's technical capacity in Market Systems Development (MSD), the consultant will undertake the following key activities. These activities are designed to be practical, context specific, and closely aligned with the program's ongoing interventions across targeted corridors. Much of the coaching and technical support will be conducted remotely. One trip to each corridor is proposed during the first phase of the consultancy.

Phase I

• Portfolio Review and Capacity Needs Assessment - Hybrid/TBD - The consultant will have an initial engagement with the RLP management and program team to develop a clear understanding of the program context, ongoing interventions, targeted corridors, and existing team capacities. This will include reviewing relevant program documents, intervention strategies, and monitoring data, as well as holding consultations with key team members. After the initial document review, the consultant will spend approximately two weeks visiting RLP program teams in each of the target corridors. During this time, the consultant will hold discussions about team meetings related to the programs' strategies, interventions, and management systems. The visits will have dual focus on providing advisory and coaching support to the team as well as building shared understanding and trust between team members and the consultant. Based on this assessment, the consultant will identify priority capacity gaps and learning needs related to MSD knowledge and practice, which will inform the design of the training and coaching approach.
• Develop Team MSD Capacity Building Approach/Strategies - Remote - Drawing on the findings of the initial assessment, the consultant will design a tailored capacity building plan that combines targeted MSD training with focused coaching support. The approach will be adapted to the livestock sector and relevant sub sectors in the drylands context of NE Kenya, Eastern Ethiopia, and Somalia/Somaliland. The training will be aligned with RLP's strategic objectives, intervention themes, and corridor specific realities. The consultant will define learning objectives, training content, coaching modalities, and practical application methods linked to real program interventions oriented, using examples from the livestock sector and from RLP's own interventions to ensure relevance and applicability.
• Selection and Analysis of Targeted Interventions - On site - In collaboration with the program team, the consultant will identify specific ongoing interventions from each targeted corridor to be used as learning cases for coaching. Preferably, four intervention themes will be selected, with one intervention drawn from each corridor. The consultant will support the team to adapt and to conduct deeper market systems analysis of these interventions, examining system actors, incentives, relationships, leverage points, and systemic constraints.

Phase II

• Delivery of Targeted MSD Training - TBD - The consultant will deliver targeted training sessions for the RLP program team to establish a shared understanding of MSD concepts and best practices, aligned with the specific activities and priorities the team faces in implementation. The training will cover topics such as analysis tools and diagnosing sector constraints as well as bottlenecks during implementation, intervention design, facilitation tactics, approaches to address rules/norms, partnership identification and negotiation, partnership mechanisms, results based agreements, and adaptive management via results chains. Training sessions will be interactive and practice oriented, using examples from the livestock sector and from RLP's own interventions to ensure relevance and applicability, and will link to the team's work streams.

Phase III

• Provision of Focused Coaching Support - Remote - The consultant will provide hands on, structured coaching and individualized support to at least eight targeted program team members . click apply for full job details