Consultant – Offsite Facilitator and Organization Development Specialist – Remote/Guatemala

Background:

Mercy Corps is a global team of humanitarians working together in more than 40 countries around the world to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities.

Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV) invests in and catalyzes venture-led solutions to increase the resilience of underserved individuals and communities. Founded in 2015 as the impact investing arm of global development agency, Mercy Corps, we’ve supported 47+ early-stage ventures to scale, reach 10.7 million users with impactful products and services, and raise over $333 million in follow-on capital. Our portfolio centers around solutions in adaptive agriculture and food systems, frontier fintech, and climate smart technologies, so that those living in frontier markets can withstand disruption and plan for the future. Through capital and support, piloting new approaches, action-oriented insights, and rigorously managing impact, we catalyze the ecosystem towards smarter, more impactful investments.

For more information, please refer to our 2023 Annual Impact Report, Medium Blog, and About page.

Objectives:
We are a fully remote global team, with 15 people across multiple countries (Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Colombia, México, Panamá, US, Sweden). We are meeting as a team for a series of in-person workshops in Antigua, Guatemala in May and are seeking a part-time consultant to support us in the design and facilitation of 1 to 2 days of in-person workshop sessions focused on one or more of the following: team culture, trust building, conflict management and giving and receiving feedback. We are a collaborative team, and are looking to co-create the specifics of the workshop sessions with the selected consultant.

Consultant Activities:

We expect the consultant to collaborate and openly share with the MCV Management team on a regular basis progress, findings, and next steps.

At a high level, the consultant should carry out the following activities:

• Planning phase
  • Co-create a project plan for the planning, drafting, execution, and follow-ups of the offsite sessions. Sessions will focus on topics such as culture, team-building & trust, ways of working, providing effective feedback and specifics of the sessions will be co-created with the selected consultant.
• Design and Prepare workshops and sessions
  • Complete preparation and planning for the workshop: identify key objectives of each session, design agenda, prepare materials. This will be done with input and regular updates to the MCV Management Team
• Facilitate sessions in-person
  • Facilitation of in-person team workshops (1-2 days) in Antigua, Guatemala between May 6 through 10.
  • Flexible to adapt and respond to team dynamics while ensuring we reach key objectives
• Post-offsite follow-ups
  • Provide key insights and recommendations for next steps based on workshops.
  • Complete workshop follow-ups and evaluation of workshop as needed.

Deliverables:

The consultant will deliver the following:

• Week-by-week 2 month plan for input gathering, preparation, delivery, and follow-ups from the workshop
• Detailed workshop agenda, with up to 2 days of sessions including framework to use, rationale for using it, definition of key objectives of each session and proposed activities and methodologies to meet objectives
• On-site facilitation of workshop agenda
• Short document with key insights and recommendations. To be submitted maximum 7 days after the workshop concludes
• Evaluation of workshops and follow-ups

Required Experience and Skills:

• Minimum of 10 years relevant professional experience in organizational development, with specific experience on culture, people, and values-related topics
• Preferred experience working with early and growth stage organizations
• Preferred experience working with organizations operating in private equity, venture capital, or impact investing; or with startups
• Preferred experience working with global multicultural and diverse teams
• Strong communication skills; written and oral fluency in English required

Other Requirements

• We have a high preference for candidates based in Guatemala but are open to global candidates. If required, we will provide travel, accommodation, and per diem according to Mercy Corps policy to the selected consultant as needed
• The consultant will be required to facilitate the workshops in-person in Antigua (or close to it), for 1-2 days between May 6 and 10

Timeframe / Schedule:

• The consultancy will begin in March 2024 and will have a 3-month duration
• The consultant will be required to join our team offsite in-person in Antigua, Guatemala between May 6 through 10 2023 (exact departure and arrival dates to be determined – consultant not needed on site for full 5 days)
• The consultant will be required to facilitate up to 2 days of sessions at the offsite.
• MCV will work with the consultant to determine availability, work schedule, and ways of working.
• We aim to select and contract a candidate by March 22, 2024

The consultant will report to:

• Senior Director of Strategy & Operations

The consultant will closely coordinate with:

• Mercy Corps Ventures team and management team

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.