Strategic Foresight and Scenarios Consultant(s)

Organization: Search for Common Ground Type: Consultant Application Deadline: 01/05/2025 Region: Global Location: Global Theme: , ,
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Job Description:

Context

In 2025, Search for Common Ground (Search) will embark on a process to develop its new, five-year global strategy for the organization, including all its entities. We aim to develop a strategy which is dynamic and future oriented, enabling the organization to be agile and adaptive to a rapidly changing global context. We will ensure Search’s relevance in the future and ensure impact in the coming five years and evolve our planning and resource allocation processes to drive that adaptive decision making. We are looking for a consultant or group of consultants to support us in this process.
This position is remote and does not need to be based in DC.

 

Objectives of the Consultancy

The objectives of the consultancy include:
  • Co-designing a scenarios and strategic foresight process as a central component of strategy development for the organization, in collaboration with the Vice President (VP), Strategy, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), along with senior leadership of Search.
  • Training Search leadership in strategic foresight and scenarios approaches to strategy.
  • Developing and utilizing tools to do strategic foresight and scenarios processes to ensure our new global strategy is future oriented;
  • Facilitating a strategic foresight and scenarios exercise with a broad set of internal and external stakeholders, including an in-person gathering with key global leaders from Search; and
  • Working with the VP Strategy, the CEO, the President, and Senior Leadership of Search to adapt our strategy execution and planning processes to make it more agile, capable of adaptive planning to respond to change quickly, based on foresight.

Geographic Locations

The consultancy is global, with engagement with Search’s staff and stakeholders across the globe. The main interlocutors of the consultant(s) will be based in Washington, DC and Brussels, but stakeholders included in the process are based in over 30 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the United States and Latin America. The consultancy can be conducted remotely, but will include one in-person workshop for approximately five days, in a location to be determined (e.g. Johannesburg, Dubai, Nairobi, etc.).

 

Methodology

Applicants are required to propose a comprehensive methodology on how they would achieve the four aforementioned objectives for an international peacebuilding organization working in 62 offices in 29 countries, with over 730 staff and 670 partner organizations and 196 projects active in 2023.

 

Deliverables

Search expects the following deliverables from the applicant:
  • An inception report detailing a proposed methodology for the overall process, including proposed key milestones.
  • Development and roll out/utilization of relevant scenario-building tools, a methodology, and a process to use them to inform Search’s strategy process.
  • Facilitation of exercises to utilize scenario and strategic foresight tools to inform strategy.
  • Production of written products to capture core insights including a core scenarios report.
  • Development of relevant tools to use scenarios or other strategic foresight approaches going forward as part of Search’s strategy adaptation, planning and execution, using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

Requirements of the Consultant(s)

The applicant must possess the following qualifications and capabilities to successfully undertake the consultancy:
  • Expertise and experience in designing and rolling-out strategic foresight and scenarios processes, supporting leaders in analyzing potential future situations, looking ahead to anticipate future trends, and developing strategies that can adapt to a range of possible outcomes, particularly in uncertain environments;
  • Expertise and experience in supporting the development of organizational strategies for international organizations with a global footprint;
  • Expertise and experience in facilitating participatory, interactive workshops with a set of global leaders;
  • Ability to consider multiple perspectives and capture key insights from a diverse set of stakeholders;
  • Ability to work in cross-cultural settings and to foster the inclusion and participation of diverse staff across countries;
  • Ability to travel internationally;
  • Languages: Proficiency in English (written and spoken) required, proficiency in Arabic, French, and/or Spanish preferred.

How to Apply:

Timeline and Budget

Applicants are requested to submit a detailed budget alongside their narrative application. Search foresees a part-time engagement that will start approximately in early February 2025 and end in approximately September 2025. Search plans to conduct the in-person workshop the first week of June 2025.
To apply, interested consultant(s) are requested to submit the following documents:
  • A technical proposal outlining the methodology (including the proposed timeline) for the process;
  • A financial proposal;
  • A curriculum vitae for each consultant;
  • Contact information for 3 recent references of former or current clients.
Note: Up to 6 documents can be uploaded to the system.
Applications must be submitted by January 5, 2025.