1. CONTRACTUAL DETAILS OF THE EOI
Key proposal dates
Submission of technical and financial proposal: 16th August 2023 by 5.00 p.m.
Expected Start Date: 22th August 2023
End Date: 22nd Dec 2023
Language of the assignment
English
Work plan & Timetable
SN
Activity Description
Number of days
1 Training of County staff and VSLA champions - 3 days per county
2 Training of VSLA groups - As suggested by consultant based on curriculum
3 Monitoring and mentorship of the VSLA groups - 5 days per month per county
4 Report writing - Monthly short progress reports and end of task report
2. DETAILS OF THE PROGRAMME
Name of the Programmes:
- Integrated emergency and recovery response to vulnerable communities affected by effects of climate change in Isiolo, Mandera and West Pokot Counties
- Rethinking drought management to build the resilience of affected communities in West Pokot and Isiolo Counties, Kenya,
Location:
West Pokot and Isiolo counties
2.2. Programme Overview
Action Against Hunger was established in 1979 and provides humanitarian relief in over 40 countries worldwide in the sectors of nutrition, health, water/sanitation, and food security. In Kenya, the organization established the mission in 2006 in order to support the Government of Kenya in implementation of nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive actions that are geared towards ending malnutrition and mitigating the underlying causes as well as protecting the maternal and child nutrition.
In Kenya Action Against Hunger contributes to fight hunger in ASAL (West Pokot, Isiolo, Samburu and Mandera) and Western regions (Kakamega, Busia, Trans Nzoia and Bungoma) of Kenya with a view of eliminating hunger.
About the program
Action Against Hunger is implementing emergency and resilience building interventions in isiolo and West Pokot Counties targeting vulnerable communities with the aim of improving their livelihoods. The County is facing myriad of challenges such as poverty, low literacy levels, limited livelihood sources coupled with recurrent shocks eroding the community’s capacity and resilience to multiple shocks. Action Against Hunger intends to train the county government staff, VSLA champions and VSLA groups in value added VSLA groups with overall aim of assisting the groups participate in meaningful economic activities that boost their incomes, improve nutrition status, invest in value added community projects ultimately getting out of poverty and improving their well-being. Action Against Hunger will target already established VSLA groups (a total of 20- 8 in West Pokot and 12 in Isiolo)..
Action Against Hunger is seeking for a highly competent consulting company mentor and train the county staff, VSLA champions and VSLA groups on value added VSLA approach.
AIM OF THE ASSIGNMENT
To diversify options for finance access for the smallholder farmers and complement already established formal credit access pathways from FIs, MFIs and Fintechs, ACF intends to build the capacity of local county based village savings and loans associations. The scope of this task will include conducting a needs assessment of pre-selected village savings group (20 groups have been identified, 8 in West Pokot and 12 in Isiolo counties). The broad objective is to mould these groups into efficient, reliable and sustainable affordable finance access options for the smallholder farmers with practices that can be scaled.
Counties of focus: Isiolo and West Pokot
Scope of the Evaluation
The consultant will support ACF to design a value added VSLA module aligning to the relevant county and national policies, train 20 VSLA groups, 20 VSLA champions and government officials and monitor the performance of the whole VSLA approach for 3 months.
In the execution of this assignment, the consultant will:
- Assess what makes an effective VSLA in the Kenyan context and how to best avoid the groups breaking down.
- Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment for each of the 20 VSLAs, identify gaps and provide recommendations on where to build capacities.
- Create a VSLA training curriculum and timelines focusing on (but not limited to) group savings, credit and debt management, leadership and financial literacy.
- Together with the groups, county and champions define what a value added VSLA is
- Hold trainings for the identified VSLAs, VSLA champions and government officials in all counties.
- Map out roles and responsibilities of VSLA group members.
- Develop saving targets with the VSLA groups.
- Identify investment options, saving options and assist groups to begin working towards the investment and saving
- Develop a monitoring and mentoring program for the VSLA groups.
- Suggest the best financial institutions with VSLA friendly products with which this VSLAs can be linked to
- Recommend suitable digital tools for use by VSLAs to increase their performance.
- Submit to ACF a comprehensive end-line report outlining performance against KPIs, learnings, future recommendations and training materials.
Expected Deliverables
- 90% of VSLAs effectively collecting savings and lending credit to farmers for input and related agricultural service access.
- Over 95% repayment for VSLA loans
- Improved VSLA reform rate
- Improved record keeping for the VSLAs
- All VSLAs effectively setting investment and saving objectives and demonstrating timelines to achieve the objectives
- VSLAs formally linked to financial institutions
3.1. Learning workshop and Validation Workshops
The result of this evaluation should be presented in a written report and through briefings with ACF Kenya mission, at the county and national level. Reviews from the teams will be included in the final report. The report will include but not limited to best practice, information for fund raising and advocacy.
3.2. Methodology
The consulting company will be expected to conduct trainings anchored on lessons learnt from successful VSLA models in and outside Kenya. S/He will conduct residential trainings for government officials, VSLA champions and VSLA groups, equip them with the necessary tools to function effectively and efficiently.
3.3 The proposal
The format of the proposal shall include consultants’ interpretation of the scope of work, the proposed methodology, proposed value add to the exercise and examples of previous work done.
3.4 Debriefing with ACF Kenya Mission
The consultant should provide a debriefing with the relevant respective ACF staff and key stakeholders on the draft report, and on the main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the proposal development process. Relevant comments will be incorporated in the final report.
PROFILE OF THE CONSULTING COMPANY
- Staff with relevant qualifications
- Demonstrated equivalent experience in designing, training and monitoring VSLAS
- Significant experience in coordination, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes
- Company with the ability to handle digitization of VSLAs highly preferred
- Good communication skills and experience of workshop facilitation
- Ability to write clear and detailed reports (will be required to produce examples of previous work)
- Fluent in English (and Swahili would be a bonus)
- Understanding of multiple donor requirements.
- Ability to manage the available time and resources and to work to tight deadlines
- Independence from the parties involved
- Has/constitute a multi-disciplinary team that is relevant to the nature of the project being evaluated.
RIGHTS
The ownership of the draft and final documentation belong to the ACF and the funding donor exclusively. The document, or publication related to it, will not be shared with anybody except ACF before the delivery by ACF of the final document to the donor.
ACF is to be the main addressee of the evaluation and its results might impact on both operational and technical strategies. ACF is likely to share the results of the proposal with the following groups:
- Donor(s)
- Governmental partners
- Various co-ordination bodies
Intellectual Property Rights
All documentation related to the Assignment (whether or not in the course of your duties) shall remain the sole and exclusive property of the ACF.
TRAVEL AND INSURANCE
The consultant is responsible for personal insurance during the evaluation. The consultant will also provide any necessary materials (including laptops) required for the evaluation. Accommodation and transportation within Nairobi is the responsibility of the consultant. ACF will ONLY cover for the expenses for accommodation in the field as per ACF guidelines and policies.
SUBMISSION
a) i) 1-2 page Technical proposal detailing understanding of Terms of Reference, proposed methodology, experience ,work plan and summary budget
b) Financial proposal detailing various specific budget items ( all-inclusive budget with all costs on consultant. ACF may however negotiate on part or whole of the budget depending on the prevailing circumstances)
c) A commitment statement that the consultant awarded the contract will be the one to conduct the evaluation.
d) Other mandatory documents below:
- Must submit a copy of updated Valid Tax Compliance Certificate issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority (Will be verified on the KRA TCC Checker)
- Must submit copy of KRA pin/VAT Certificate.
- Up to date CV
Email address for submission
Note that the financial and technical proposal should be presented on separate documents on the same email.
Prospective applicants should send their detailed applications on or before 16/08/2023 at 5.00 p.m. to tenders@ke-actionagainsthunger.org
Action Against hunger reserves the right to accept or reject any bid in part or whole and is not bound to give reason(s) for its decisions.
How to apply
Note that the financial and technical proposal should be presented on separate documents on the same email.
Prospective applicants should send their detailed applications on or before 16/08/2023 at 5.00 p.m. to tenders@ke-actionagainsthunger.org
https://jobcenterkenya.com/tor-for-the-training-of-government-staff-vsla-champions-and-vsla-groups-on-value-added-vslas/
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