Estimated Duration: 7 months, between September 2025 and March 2026

Project Locations: Jordan National level & Local level (Azraq, Dieban, Mlaih, Shobak, Wadi Musa)

** this opportunity is only open for individual consultants. Companies are not eligible to apply

This consultancy seeks to generate evidence on the impacts of floods and heatwaves on water infrastructure, ecosystems, and institutional responses. The analysis takes a national lens, it places particular emphasis on three climate-vulnerable communities, including Azraq, Dieban, and Shoubak. The findings will inform practical, context-specific recommendations to strengthen Jordan’s water system resilience and guide climate adaptation strategies at both local and national levels. Below is the full ToR:

About Mercy Corps

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. Mercy Corps has worked in Jordan since 2003 to implement a variety of programs funded by global public institutions, as well as private donors to meet the urgent needs of vulnerable populations, build cohesive and civically engaged communities, and increase inclusive economic opportunities. MC’s current portfolio in Jordan focuses on three domains: resilient individuals, strong communities and governance, and environmentally sustainable and inclusive economic growth. MC integrates cross-cutting themes of youth, gender equality and empowerment, governance, natural resource management, and technology.

About the Project

As one of the world’s most water-scarce countries, Jordan is at a critical juncture, grappling with escalating climate-related disasters, that pose a critical challenge to its humanitarian efforts, economic stability, and environmental integrity. Based on the 4th National Communication on Climate Change, in recent years, flash floods and heatwaves have become two of Jordan’s major hazards affecting the country’s water resources, agriculture, and economy.

Mercy Corps Jordan’s project, Tabeaa: Strengthening Climate Resilience in Jordanian Communities, is funded by the Z Zurich Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The project will bolster efforts under Mercy Corps’ ongoing Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (the Alliance) aligning with MC’s vision of fostering resilient communities capable of thriving amid climate challenges. The Tabeaa project works at both the national and local community levels. On a national level the project sets to drive systematic changes through engaging key stakeholders in localizing and enforcing Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies. On the local level, the project will focus their initiatives in five communities from various governorates, selected for their high vulnerability to flash floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity. The project’s approach is multi-faceted, concentrating on three main areas: enhancing the adaptive capacity of Jordanian communities, promoting the effective localization and enforcement of national climate policies, and fostering a supportive culture for increased investments in climate resilience initiatives.

About the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (‘the Alliance’)

The Alliance is a multi-sectoral partnership powered by the Z Zurich Foundation. The Alliance draws from  the humanitarian, NGO, research, and private sectors, including Concern Worldwide, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Mercy Corps, Plan International, and Practical Action, as well a research partners the International Institute for Applied Systems and Analysis (IIASA), the London School of Economics, and the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International (ISET). The Alliance is focused on enhancing resilience to climate hazards in both rural and urban communities. Formerly the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, the alliance has over a decade of experience in generating evidence of communities’ current levels of climate resilience and identifying appropriate solutions. The alliance aims to achieve its overarching vision by implementing solutions, promoting good practice, influencing policy and facilitating systemic change.

Background and Rationale

Jordan faces severe and growing water scarcity, driven by chronic structural deficits and intensifying climate change impacts, particularly heatwaves and flash floods. These climate extremes strain water availability, degrade water quality, and frequently disrupt fragile infrastructure, posing risks to both ecosystems and communities. They also test the responsiveness and coordination of institutions tasked with water governance. Despite the urgency, there is a lack of localized evidence to understand how these hazards, individually and in combination, affect water systems and management practices. This limits the ability of policymakers and practitioners to design effective, risk-informed interventions at both national and local levels. This consultancy seeks to address that gap by generating evidence on the impacts of floods and heatwaves on water infrastructure, ecosystems, and institutional responses. While the analysis takes a national lens, it places particular emphasis on three climate-vulnerable communities, including Azraq, Dieban, and Shoubak. The findings will inform practical, context-specific recommendations to strengthen Jordan’s water system resilience and guide climate adaptation strategies at both local and national levels.

Consultant Overarching Objectives:

Mercy Corps Jordan (MCJ) through the Tabeaa project is seeking to hire a consultant to:

• Examine the impacts of floods and heatwaves when they are compounding and or individual on water infrastructure systems, including but not limited to - damage to or disruption of water supply, storage, and treatment infrastructure, and the implications for access and service continuity across different regions in Jordan, with a focus on three of the communities in which the project operates; Azraq, Dieban and Shobak.
• Assess how institutions respond to heatwaves and floods, and how these responses influence the availability and quality of water. This includes but is not limited to - exploring whether institutional actions during and after climate shocks, such as emergency water allocations, infrastructure repairs, coordination mechanisms, or current flood and drought risk management frameworks lead to temporary or long-term shifts in water management practices.
  • Identify the impacts of climate-induced water scarcity on water management practices and decision-making at both national and sub-national levels, leveraging the results captured by the Water Policy Analysis conducted by the project.
• Analyze the environmental impacts of floods and heatwaves on water ecosystems, including surface water and groundwater systems. This includes examining how these hazards influence river and wadi flows, lake levels, spring discharge, water quality (e.g., sedimentation, pollution), and groundwater recharge.
• Quantify the combined and individual effects of floods and heatwaves on water scarcity using available data and expert insights, identifying regional differences and trends across the three target communities.
• Provide practical, evidence-based recommendations for context-specific interventions and policy actions to improve water system resilience, support effective water governance and climate adaptation in both local communities and national planning.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will carry out the key activities below:

Inception Phase

• Participate in a kick-off meeting with the project team to align consultancy’s objectives, methodology, timelines, and deliverables.
• Conduct a comprehensive desk review of secondary sources, including
  • National climate and water policies and strategies related to heatwaves and floods in Jordan;
  • International and national assessments related to flood/heatwave response in Jordan
  • Scientific and grey literature on the environmental, social, and infrastructural impacts of heatwaves and floods in Jordan;
  • Tabeaa project research and resources, including but not limited to the Water Policy Analysis, Policy Analysis, Heat Scoping, Context Analysis, and Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities (CRMC) assessment results.
• Based on this review, identify key gaps and refine the research questions and methodology to ensure alignment with the consultancy objectives.
• Submit an inception report detailing the research matrix, technical approach, timeline, and data collection plan.
  • Finalized methodology,
  • Research matrix,
  • Data collection tools,
  • Timeline,
  • List of key informant/stakeholder mapping,
  • Field logistics and planning.

Primary Data Collection

• Recruit and train local enumerators (if needed) and oversee ethical, safe, and inclusive data collection.

• Design, plan, coordinate, and conduct fieldwork and data collection across the three target communities (Azraq, Dieban, Shobak), with national-level inputs as needed.
• Use a mixed-methods approach to capture institutional, infrastructure, household, and ecosystem levels impacts, including:
  • Key Informant Interviews with stakeholders from national and sub-national institutions (e.g., MoWI, MoEnv, NCSCM, local authorities, service providers);
  • Focus Group Discussions with community members, disaggregated by gender, age, and vulnerability groups (youth, women, persons with disabilities);
  • Site-level assessments of water infrastructure, surface water bodies (wadis, dams), and flood/heat exposure points;
  • Environmental observations of ecosystems impacted by climate stress (e.g., sedimentation, dried springs, damaged channels);
  • Household surveys/interviews to understand water use behaviors and access during climate events.
• Develop and maintain a live tracker to monitor progress of data collection across sites.
• Submit a Data Quality Assurance Plan, and report on quality control measures, including preliminary finding notes and any changes made to the methodology based on field realities.
• Ensure all data is ethically collected, anonymized, securely stored, and submitted in raw form:
  • For qualitative data: full transcripts and audio recordings.
  • For quantitative data: raw datasets in Excel or CSV format.
• Submit a preliminary report summarizing early findings from the primary data collection phase.

Data Analysis and Reporting

• Analyze all data collected using appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods to assess:
  • Characterize how institutions respond to floods and heatwaves and how those responses shape water availability, access, and quality.
  • Assess the condition and resilience of water supply infrastructure and its vulnerability to climate events.
  • Identify household- and community-level changes in water use, coping strategies, and access constraints during heatwaves and floods.
  • Evaluate environmental effects of heat and flood events on surface and groundwater systems, including quality and recharge.
  • Quantify the cumulative and individual contributions of heatwaves and floods to water scarcity across different sites.
• Produce GIS-based maps and visuals to present key research findings spatially.
• Draft a comprehensive analytical report and presentation integrating findings, methodology, visual outputs, and case examples.

Recommendations and validation

• Based on the analysis, formulate a set of evidence-based, context-specific recommendations that:
  • Enhance the resilience of water systems to climate stress.
  • Inform infrastructure investment, institutional reforms, and local-level adaptation planning.
  • Highlight priority areas for intervention and potential funding opportunities.
  • Strengthen institutional preparedness and coordination,
  • Inform strategy to reduce infrastructure vulnerability, support household and community adaptation, and improve ecosystem and surface water resilience.
• Present findings and recommendations in a validation workshop with relevant stakeholders and document findings.

• Incorporate feedback and inputs from the workshop into both the report and presentation, and submit a revised deliverables that reflect these changes.
• Develop a concise, visually engaging brief knowledge product (up to 5 pages) that summarizes the main findings of the study, designed for easy dissemination.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant(s) will deliver:

• Inception Report outlining the research questions, methodology and research matrix (linking objectives to indicators, methods, and data sources, action plan and approach for conducting the study).
  • Data collection tools including the final versions of all tools that will be used in English and Arabic.
• Raw datasets:
  • Qualitative data (full transcripts and audio recordings from KIIs and FGDs.)
  • Quantitative data (cleaned raw dataset in Excel format with variable explanation)
  • GIS/Mapping Data if available: Shape files, location coordinates, and other data collected during the site assessments.

• Draft report presenting preliminary key findings, conclusions, and major takeaways from the results analysis.
• Validation workshop materials including but not limited to: a slide deck summarizing key findings and recommendations, including handouts, prepared in both English and Arabic for stakeholder engagement.
• Activity report documenting the validation workshop proceedings and outcomes.
• Final report (English and Arabic) incorporating feedback and revisions from the validation workshop.
• Final presentation reflecting the updated findings from the final report, revised based on workshop input.
• Visually designed brief summarizing the study’s key findings, produced in line with Tabeaa branding guidelines, suitable for publication in both English and Arabic.

Timeframe / Schedule: 

• Kick-off meeting to be held immediately upon contract signature.
• Inception phase to be completed by end of September 2025.
• Data collection (qualitative and quantitative), including data quality checks, to be completed by early December 2025.
• Preliminary analysis and reporting by mid-January 2026.
• Recommendations and validation workshop by early February 2026.
• Final report and presentation by end of February 2026.
• Visual summary finalized by end of March 2026.

The consultancy is expected to begin in September 2025 and should be completed by March 2026.

Application: 

Interested applicants must submit their applications including the following:

1. Technical Proposal
   Interested consultant(s) must submit a technical proposal covering but not limited to the following:

• Consultant experience and qualification: Brief about the applicant and CVs of the team members/researchers, if any, who will be part of the assignment.
• The methodological approach that will be followed by the applicant throughout the assignment, including the way in which the consultant intends to carry out activities to achieve the objectives mentioned throughout this ToR.
• Clear work plan with a detailed breakdown of tasks, LOE and dates as per the deliverable/ schedule identified above. Including a clear outline of the roles and responsibilities of the team members (if need be) that will be engaged throughout this assignment.
• Examples of former relevant work conducted by the applicant

1. Financial Proposal
   Applicants must provide details of the financial offer as a lump sum amount per deliverable, tackled under the proposed work plan including any cost of resources, travel expense, communication, and venues for holding the events/data collection activities. The consultant will be responsible for covering all operational, logistical, and administrative costs necessary for the successful completion of the project. Offers will be evaluated against the MC's cost-effectiveness and efficiency standards.

1. References
   The consultant (s) to share the information of three Recent References including; name, email, phone number, and address for similar assignments.

The Consultant will work closely with: The Tabeaa Research Team and The Regional Water and Climate Advisor

The Consultant will report to:  Policy Research and Evidence Specialist and Project Manager

Required Experience & Skills:

1. Proficiency in English and Arabic.
2. More than 5 years of experience in research, data collection and reporting
3. Experience working with international organizations;
4. Experience collecting quantitative and qualitative data;
5. Prior experience working with government agencies.
6. Previous interactions with the communities in which we operate.
7. The consultant should be a water expert with demonstrated experience in water resource management, governance, or policy.
8. The consultant should be able to quantify and assess how climate extremes, such as flash floods and heatwaves impact water availability and quality.

Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org ).

How to Apply

Please submit the below documents by email at jo-procurement@mercycorps.org, mentioning the consultancy title in the subject line. Offers must be submitted maximum by Sunday 31^st August, 2025 at 4:00 pm Amman time:

1. All the documents requested in the “Application” section above
2. A copy of your Jordanian ID or passport
3. A filled & signed copy of the NIC Data Form in this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yfAQEDCFVxr7mITyZx_MQ8RlztTtQzBG?usp=drive_link

** Mercy Corps has the right to disqualify any late offers.