Request for Proposal to conduct Gender and Youth Assessment in Northern Mozambique (m/f)

TechnoServe is recruiting for a Request for Proposal to conduct Gender and Youth Assessment in Northern Mozambique (m/f), to be based in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa, Mozambique.

Description

• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) anticipates funding the five-year Promoting Market Systems, Innovation and Resilience (PREMIER) activity in Mozambique. The PREMIER activity will facilitate the development of an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable market system to boost agriculture-led economic growth in the Nacala corridor of northern Mozambique. The activity will use a market systems approach and will focus on minimizing barriers that disadvantage the vulnerable, women and youth and exclude them from economic opportunities within the agriculture sector. This activity is anticipated to cover a combination of staple and high value crops. The activity will implement solutions including:
• Enhancing access to finance across sectors for the rural poor and SMEs
• Enhancing risk mitigation management
• Building the capacity of smallholder producers and agribusinesses
• Increasing incomes for smallholder farmers
• Establishing strong and transparent relationships between actors
• Expanding employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, especially for youth and women

General Requirements & Scope of Work

• The objective of this consultancy is to conduct a gender and youth assessment that enables USAID Premier to understand the current gender and youth dynamics among the project’s targeted beneficiaries and provide the project with a roadmap for supporting economic empowerment of women and young people during the implementation and monitoring of the project. The gender and youth assessment will identify the constraints and opportunities facing women and men, of different ages, at and beyond production stages of different agricultural value chains in Northern Mozambique. The assessment will support the identification of key issues that will limit women’s and men’s participation in and benefit from a growing agriculture sector, as well as opportunities that can support employment and entrepreneurship for young people and women. A strong understanding of the project’s design and M&E plan is important to understanding the areas where the project will have influence and the appropriate strategies for advancing the economic empowerment of women and young people through a market systems development approach
• The gender and social inclusion assessment will identify:
• The opportunities that exist for promoting women and young people’s greater participation as entrepreneurs, farmers, and/or employees, including potential private sector companies, government actors, or other partners who can support the program’s gender and youth targets:
• How do women and young people participate in the targeted value chains, at and ‘beyond production’ levels?
• What value chains offer opportunities to an increase in women’s and young people’s economic participation ?
• What activities (e.g., production, processing, etc.) along different value chains offer opportunities to advance women’s and young people’s economic participation?
• What opportunities exist for the private sector to address the constraints facing women and young people in the agriculture sector? Who are key government and private sector partners? What opportunities exist at different levels of the targeted agricultural value chains to women and young people to pursue employment or entrepreneurship activities?
• The constraints women and young people face to increase their economic participation and their root causes:
• What barriers (e.g., norms, rules, policies, etc.) exist for them to participate as owners/managers, entrepreneurs, or employees in the agriculture sector in the targeted areas?
• What resource challenges (e.g., financial, productive, knowledge, etc.) do women entrepreneurs face
• The potential risks associated with greater economic participation and examples of successful strategies to mitigate those risks
• What are the greatest risks (e.g., time burden, gender-based violence, lack of control over income, etc.) to women’s economic participation and empowerment?
• What are the greatest risks (e.g., time burden, gender-based violence, lack of control over income, etc.) to young people/s economic participation and empowerment?
• How can USAID Premier mitigate risks?
• Recommendations for USAID Premier to ensure women and young people benefit from program activities:
• What are successful interventions and examples and the key success factors for the successful inclusion of women and youth in PREMIER targeted commodities and intervention areas?
• What strategies are needed to meet or exceed FTF Premier’s 40% target to reach and benefit women beneficiaries? How can the project best reach women and youth in the intervention areas? How can the project measure the impact of USAID Premier’s on women’s economic empowerment?
• What other public, private or project initiatives to support women and/or youth are implemented in the PREMIER intervention areas and in which ways PREMIER can partner with or leverage these initiatives?
• The assessment should rely on existing data and literature, including project information (e.g., baseline), complemented by new information gathering such as through key informant interviews to inform the analysis
• Data collection and analysis will include, but not be limited to the following:
• Review published sex-disaggregated data, available research, and other data on men’s and women’s participation in the cashew value chain, particularly in processing, in West Africa
• Review of existing tools from donors, TechnoServe and implementing agencies regarding working with the private sector to increase gender and youth inclusion in market systems development activities
• Interview potential women and youth beneficiaries in the targeted provinces and intervention areas
• Key informant interviews with women and youth representatives and supporting organizations and projects, TVET, Universities and other education institutions, private sector, government actors, finance institutions, and other stakeholders in the targeted geography and sectors
• Interviews with key USAID Premier project and other TechnoServe staff
• The deliverables include:
• An inception report that details the revised methodology, questionnaires, interview guide, target audience, and revised implementation plan within the agreed-upon timeframe by October 15
• Draft report of findings and preliminary recommendations by November 20
• Final gender and youth assessment including a strategy that describes how the project can address the findings of the gender and youth assessment across the project’s four activities, with a detailed action plan by November 30
• A 2-3 page standalone brief in both English and Portuguese, presented to project staff, and potentially USAID and other stakeholders
• Training with DCOP and MEL Manager who will be responsible for training project technical staff on outcomes of the gender assessment throughout the course of the project

Period and Location of Performance

• The recruited consultant(s) will carry out the mission in Mozambique, mainly in the north, in the Nacala corridor. Pre/post field work may be conducted remotely. The candidate should propose their recommended approach. The ideal start date would be on October 10 2022. The project team will facilitate the consultant’s logistics and contact with the various actors in the project geography

Requisites

• A competitive bid for the contractor (individual and/or team) role will demonstrate:
• Bachelor’s degree in gender & development, rural development, economics or other relevant field with at least
• 7 years’ professional experience in development, economics, or other relevant field including proven experience in the field of women’s economic empowerment, or Master’s degree with at least 5 years’ experience
• Proven research and analytical skills and experience in conducting gender &/or youth assessment studies
• Demonstrated analytical skills on issues related to gender mainstreaming, women’s economic empowerment, youth employment, rural development
• Understanding of market systems development and private sector-focused development programs
• Ability to facilitate and relate to stakeholders at multiple levels
• Sensitivity to cultural/historical context in the data collection process
• Proven ability to work within limited time constraints in the preparation of high quality documents
• Previous experience in developing programmatic documents for governments, international organizations or civil society organizations on women’s economic empowerment
• Proficiency in Portuguese and English required
• Previous experience in Mozambique preferred

Submission Process and Evaluation of Proposals

• Form and Content of Response:
• Candidates meeting the aforementioned criteria and interested in being considered for this consultancy should submit one word document (with a maximum of 12 pages) with the following contents:
• A maximum one page cover letter summarizing the applicant’s interest and capacity to implement the assessment
• A description of the recommended methodology and approach to the scope of work that demonstrates an understanding of USAID Premier’s expected impact and implementation approach, and the context of the agriculture sector in Northern Mozambique
• Sample workplan with project milestones that details how and when the contractor proposes to deliver the Scope of Work
• CV(s) and a summary of the contractor’s experience in gender and social inclusion in the development sector, especially in specific areas relevant to the project such as food processing or agriculture product transformation, enterprise development, investment fund management
• List of three professional references we may contact who can attest to your experience and expertise in gender and youth empowerment and/or market systems or private sector development. Include contact information (daytime phone numbers and email contacts)
• List of the three most recent relevant assignments that you have undertaken, including a description of why these are relevant to this RFP and what learnings were drawn from that assignment
• Detailed budget to deliver the scope of work
• *Optional, outside of the page limits, applicants may choose to submit one example of a relevant assessment report recently completed or any other document that demonstrates strong writing ability as a separate attachment. All documents will be handled with the utmost confidentiality
• All proposals shall also:
• Remain valid for a period of 90 days from submission
• Be in the English language
• Provide requested payment terms and conditions
• Include a contact name, email address, and telephone number to facilitate communication between TNS and the submitting independent consultant/organization
• If applicant is an organization, provide a brief outline of the organization and services offered, including:
• Full legal name, jurisdiction of incorporation and address of the company
• Full legal name and country of citizenry of company’s President and/or Chief Executive Officer
• Year business was established

Criteria for Selection

• The evaluation of each response to this RFP will be based on the criteria set out below. At the sole discretion of TechnoServe, the top proposals may be selected for follow-up questions
• Experience and past performance (as demonstrated in the applicant’s proposal and based on the reference check) – 35%
• 302 (tailored to Premier’s unique design and context) – 35%
• Cost proposal – 30%

Deadline for submitting proposals

• The Request for Proposal is not and shall not be considered an offer by TechnoServe
• All responses must be received on or before the date and time indicated above. All late responses will be rejected
• All unresponsive responses will be rejected
• All proposals will be considered binding offers. Prices proposed must be valid for entire period provided by respondent or required by RFP
• All awards will be subject to TNS contractual terms and conditions and contingent on the availability of donor funding
• TNS reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal or cancel the solicitation process at any time, and shall have no liability to the proposing organizations submitting proposals for such rejection or cancellation of the request for proposals
• TNS reserves the right to accept all or part of the proposal when award is provided
• All information provided by TNS in this RFP is offered in good faith. Individual items are subject to change at any time, and all bidders will be provided with notification of any changes. TNS is not responsible or liable for any use of the information submitted by bidders or for any claims asserted therefrom
• TNS reserves the right to require any bidder to enter into a non-disclosure agreement
• The bidders are solely obligated to pay for any costs, of any kind whatsoever, which may be incurred by bidder or any third parties, in connection with the Response. All responses and supporting documentation shall become the property of TNS, subject to claims of confidentiality in respect of the response and supporting documentation, which have been clearly marked confidential by the bidder
• Bidders are required to identify and disclose any actual or potential Conflict of Interest
• We encourage all qualified individuals and organizations who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply. Candidates based within the region are encouraged to apply
• With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability, and all other protected classes

Notes

• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
• TechnoServe reserves the right to award the contract to the consultant or firm whose proposal is deemed to be in the best interest of TechnoServe and the Donor. The consultant or firm with the winning proposal will be notified in writing. Applicants who are not selected will also be notified
• TechnoServe will not award a contract to any bidder where there is indication of a lack of business integrity