Remote Energy Access Consultant (Africa)

Location:

Remote - Open to various locations within Eastern Africa (Burundi, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) or Southern Africa (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe).
Applicants must hold independent right to work for the country of hiring.

The Consultants will be retained for a period of 24 months during which a variable level of effort will be attributed. Some assignments may also be short (5 days or less) or long (several days per week for multiple weeks to months) to support a particular area of expertise required across various projects.

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.

Energy 4 Impact is Mercy Corps’ market systems delivery and advisory platform, specialising in clean energy and productive use. We work to build inclusive, resilient energy markets that deliver sustained clean energy access, increased incomes, and climate-resilient livelihoods in underserved regions.

With a strong track record across priority African markets, we operate at the intersection of policy and institutions, enterprise growth and finance, ecosystem coordination, and evidence and market intelligence. Our work addresses five systemic barriers that prevent energy access markets from functioning: regulatory uncertainty and weak policy implementation, limited investor confidence and perceived market risk, demonstrator success without clear replication or scale pathways, fragmented ecosystems and weak coordination, and insufficient decision-grade market evidence.

We tackle these barriers through three outcome pathways. We support governments and regulators to provide clearer, more predictable market rules that improve investor confidence. We accelerate energy enterprises from demonstration to commercial viability, building the pipeline of investable opportunities that markets need. We generate and disseminate the market evidence that donors, investors, and governments need to make better allocation, policy, and investment decisions.

Across all three pathways, we convene and align governments, enterprises, financiers, donors, and delivery partners to address systemic barriers no single actor can solve alone.

Energy 4 Impact’s comparative advantage lies in harnessing donor ambition to deliver strategic, market-credible solutions. We have a distinctive capacity to blend the advisory capabilities of a specialist firm with the geographic presence and community reach of an NGO.

Our signal of success is sustained private sector investment flowing into previously high-risk energy access markets. When that happens, the market conditions we helped build are working.

Energy 4 Impact is building a roster of consultants to provide specialist services in our advisory projects in Africa. Assignments range from policy analysis and advisory, to enterprise-focused technical assistance and investment facilitation, data analytics, evaluation, and knowledge management.

Whilst consultants’ specific objectives will depend on the assignment, the following are expected across all:

• Deliver high‑quality, evidence‑based insights and recommendations to project teams and assigned clients.
• Produce high‑quality deliverables on time and to specification.
• Strengthen project outcomes through targeted technical expertise.
• Support the identification of innovative, practical, and commercially viable solutions that strengthen market systems and improve the long‑term sustainability of project outcomes.
• Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships.
• Contribute to learning, knowledge capture, and continuous improvement in Energy 4 Impact’s programming and advisory services.
• Contribute to business development through building up of project design and concept.

Consultants’ tasks will…