Consultant - eLearning Experience & Content Specialist, MicroMentor - Middle East / N Africa

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.

MicroMentor is a growing initiative within Mercy Corps and functions much like a technology start-up. Through a proprietary online mentoring platform, MicroMentor provides a technology solution that connects small business owners and entrepreneurs with skilled volunteer business mentors on a global scale. We strive to overcome geographical limitations and deliver business resources at scale to under-resourced communities around the globe, in one-to-many mentoring forums and meaningful one-on-one relationships. Entrepreneurs matched with a mentor have shown significant results in terms of improved job creation, business survival, and revenue growth.  Since inception, MicroMentor’s community has grown to more than 270,000 entrepreneurs and 85,000 mentors across 180 countries. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, MicroMentor has a growing community of more than 26,000 entrepreneurs, and 8,400 mentors.

With MicroMentor’s community expansion and engagement success, MicroMentor has developed a Virtual Training System and has created content (in text written format only) for its first training course called the Mentor Masterclass. This training course consists of three modules (approximately a 1 hour training) targeted towards mentors on the platform, and currently is available in English. This year, MicroMentor aims to launch the Virtual Training System for users in the MENA region by contextualizing, translating and redesigning an improved and engaging eLearning experience for its signature Mentor Masterclass course through its Learning Management System on MicroMentor’s online platform.

Purpose / Project Description:

The purpose of this project is to contextualize, translate and design an engaging eLearning experience for MicroMentor’s Mentor Masterclass training course to be launched for users in the MENA region by the end of this consultancy. The eLearning experience developed during this consultancy will reflect best practices for eLearning in virtual training systems to drive faster adoption, greater utilization, and deeper proficiency of the implemented systems and processes by business mentor to increase benefit realization, value creation, ROI, and the achievement of entrepreneurs’ desired business outcomes.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

• Evaluate existing content, identify gaps in subject content and build a content development plan and curriculum, including how the eLearning experience will be interactive and engaging and an evaluation of the best methods for presenting content that will engage MicroMentor’s community
• Using MicroMentor’s Mentor Masterclass written curriculum, the consultant will design and develop the eLearning content and experience to include various formats including, but not limited to quick reference guides, videos, instructor-led training, micro-learning, digital adoption, and focused eLearning course materials in various delivery methods based on adult learning principles, visual design standards and learning delivery best practices to ensure a successful e-learning experience.
• Create/record videos, animations, and any other materials that are contextually relevant for users in English and Arabic
• Ensure translation and contextualization of materials are available in English and Arabic (Currently the Mentor Masterclass is only available in English)
• Ensure development work has the ability to be scalable into different languages, and is mobile-accessible, user friendly, and accessible for low-bandwidth environments; build content that is for multilingual audiences.
• Translate the learning course so that it is fully available in both English and Arabic
• Work with MicroMentor’s Product team to integrate eLearning course materials and content into MicroMentor’s Learning Management System (Wagtail in-house software) using knowledge and best practices of LMS capabilities to ensure a rich, meaningful and dynamic end-user experience
• Run demos of the system and provide training to the MicroMentor team
• Help capture data on success metrics to monitor learning success
• Work closely with MicroMentor’s Product team to provide Virtual Training System enhancement suggestions

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will:

• Clear and measurable learning objectives
• eLearning Content Development Plan for MicroMentor’s Mentor Masterclass
• A testing and evaluation report of the eLearning Mentor Masterclass course
• At the end of the consultancy, the Mentor Masterclass course (including all 3 modules) should be fully developed and tested in English and Arabic on the MicroMentor platform, and launched live for users to engage with
• The SCORM compliant eLearning course files will be fully uploaded on the LMS as a multi language training, to which Mercy Corps and MicroMentor would have full rights and ownership to all assets and the ability to modify the courses themselves in the future without re-engaging the consultant

Timeframe / Schedule:

MicroMentor aims to have the Mentor Masterclass translated and launched for users by May 2023.

Applicants will be shortlisted, and will be requested to share a proposal for how they will conduct the project, including time estimate and their daily rate.

A final timeline will be developed in consultation with Mercy Corps at the beginning of the consultancy to establish clear deadlines for submission of deliverables.

The Consultant will report to:

Senior Program Officer - MicroMentor

The Consultant will work closely with:

Programs & Innovations Manager - MicroMentor

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5-10 years of relevant technical experience
• An expert in Learning and Instructional Design
• Experience with developing technology-based learning experiences, including video, interactive, virtual and in person instructor-led modes
• Experience with advanced learning development software
• Verbal and written fluency in English and Arabic
• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree in related fields a plus (Ex. Organizational Development, Instructional Design, Learning Experience Design) or at least 3 years of specialized experience
• Learning certification or designation desired; ATD Certification a plus; knowledge of Articulate Storyline 360 or other dynamic course development software that will export SCORM files.
• Experience with large-scale organization learning efforts, international experience a plus
• Ability to take complex concepts and processes and translate them into easily learnable slices
• Understanding of how people learn and build skills to adopt new ways of working
• Incredible communication skills – both written and verbal
• Excellent active listening skills
• Ability to document complex processes and translate into easy-to-understand visual and verbal content
• Able to clearly articulate messages to a variety of audiences, including executive leadership
• Flexible and adaptable; able to work in ambiguous situations
• Resilient and tenacious with a propensity to persevere
• Strong visual design and development skills are a plus
• Experience in developing entrepreneurship training content or business development content is a plus

We expect the candidates will provide samples of their previous work such as: course samples, reviews, testimonials, sample curricula, or case studies, and a list of references.

**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 OpportunityWe 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 & EthicsMercy 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.