Consultancy Humanitarian Energy Advocacy Advisor

Location: Remote / All locations globally

Background:

Mercy Corps is a global team of humanitarians working together on the front lines of today’s biggest crises to create a future of possibility, where everyone can prosper. In more than 40 countries around the world, over 5,400 team members work side by side with people living through poverty, disaster, violent conflict, and the acute impacts of climate change. We’re committed to creating global change through local impact — 84% of our team members are from the countries where they work.

We bring a comprehensive approach to every challenge, addressing problems from multiple angles. And we go beyond emergency aid, partnering with local governments, forward-thinking corporations, social entrepreneurs, and people living in fragile communities to develop bold solutions that make lasting change possible.

Purpose / Project Description:

The Humanitarian Energy Advocacy Advisor will be embedded in the Transforming Humanitarian Energy Access (THEA) program, which will deliver transformative action on clean energy access in humanitarian settings, working with the FCDO’s Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform to mainstream energy access in humanitarian settings and provide expert advice on the energy needs of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) for UK and international energy access partners. The programme aims to build and share evidence of existing best practices for replication and scaling, support new refugee-inclusive policies and partnerships, outline key barriers to scaling energy access in refugee settings, test innovations, and help raise additional funding/finance for the delivery of sustainable energy solutions in humanitarian contexts. The action-oriented research will be used to advocate with key donors, UN humanitarian and development agencies to remove barriers for quicker deployment of sustainable humanitarian energy solutions.

Consultant Objectives:

Reporting to the THEA Program manager and coordinating with the Global Platform for Action (GPA) Coordination Unit team management, the Humanitarian Energy Advocacy Advisor will advise the THEA consortium on influencing the uptake of alternative business models for inclusive energy access in situations of displacement. The Advisor will engage with key stakeholders across the humanitarian and energy spaces, highlighting entry points and bridging opportunities. The aim is to drive systematic change in how energy access is delivered in displacement settings and how operations are powered within the UN system and among other humanitarian partners, through strong collaboration with private sector stakeholders.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

1. Lead on the delivery of key sector-wide research outputs on the topic of humanitarian energy, such as the Humanitarian Energy Update Briefing Notes and the State of the Humanitarian Energy Sector report.
2. Lead on stakeholder mapping exercises, consultations, and engagement activities.
3. Support advocacy and partnership development efforts and represent THEA at conferences and events.
4. Lead on the establishment of a Humanitarian Energy advocacy group and act as co-chair.
5. Produce a research report and deliver a workshop series on procurement barriers for clean energy systems for humanitarian agencies.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will achieve the following deliverables:

Y1 and Y2 deliverables (December 2024 – December 2025)

1. WP 1 (Research): Leading on establishing an impact reporting framework developed for the yearly Humanitarian Energy Update briefing notes (with MEL specialists).
2. WP 3 (Advocacy): Initial consultation with 10 GPA Steering Group organisations to determine synergies and connections with THEA and ongoing humanitarian energy programming.
3. WP 3 (Advocacy): Setting up the systematic consultation with TEA partners – stakeholder engagement and analysis on humanitarian mainstreaming opportunities within the TEA portfolio.
4. WP 3 (Advocacy): Advocacy or partnership development at a relevant energy, climate, or humanitarian sector event, or through intentional stakeholder meetings.
5. WP 3 (Advocacy): Lead on Mapping and engagement with key stakeholders (humanitarian, development, donor and refugee-led partners) to establish the “THEA: Evidence to Action” group.

Timeframe / Schedule:

1 December 2024 – 30 September 2026

Required Experience & Skills:

• Proven expertise in advocacy vis-à-vis UN and INGOs is required.
• Previous experience working with UN and INGOs in procurement, energy or humanitarian teams is highly recommended.
• 6+ years required providing technical support in the field of humanitarian response and/or sustainable energy access.
• Grant writing, research, and proposal development.
• Writing and publishing articles and blogs.
• Stakeholder engagement and influencing.
• Combining strong theoretical and applied knowledge of the field of expertise.
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning.
• Bachelor’s degree required. A Master’s degree or equivalent in a field related to humanitarian response, international development, sustainable development, energy access, and/or energy or environmental engineering is preferred.
• Fluency in English is required; fluency in another language preferred.

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.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all.

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.