Consultancy on Develop of Programme Intervention Strategy Using Systems Approaches for Host & Displaced Population in Remote & Camp Contexts in Kenya 105 views0 applications

Terms of Reference (TOR) for Making Systems Work for the Displaced

Development of Programme Intervention Strategy Using Systems Approaches for Host & Displaced Population in Remote & Camp Contexts in Kenya

Who is the Danish Refugee Council?

Founded in 1956, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading international NGO and one of the few with a specific expertise in forced displacement. Active in 40 countries with 9,000 employees and supported by 7,500 volunteers, DRC protects, advocates, and builds sustainable futures for refugees and other displacement affected people and communities. DRC provides protection and life-saving humanitarian assistance; supports displaced persons in becoming self-reliant and included into hosting societies; and works with civil society and responsible authorities to promote protection of rights and peaceful coexistence.

DRC presence exists throughout the displacement cycle from emergency response to acute displacement needs to working towards durable solutions for those in protracted displacement or returning to their places of origin as well as working towards prevention of displacement.

DRC has been operational in Kenya since 2005 and has been working with refugee and host communities to build self-reliance through small business ownership. DRC is present in Garissa (Dadaab & Garissa), Turkana (Kakuma, Kalobeyei & Lodwar), Nairobi and Mandera counties. Kenya hosts a population of 561,836 refugees and asylum seekers, predominantly of Somali and South Sudanese origin. The vast majority reside in Dadaab, Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps, with around 88,884 living in Nairobi and other urban towns.

Purpose of the consultancy

This consultancy has TWO LOTS that the Consultant can apply to. The Consultant can choose to apply for both lots simultaneously and we strongly advise any Consultant doing so provide a comprehensive workplan and team for how they will manage, resource and quality assure both pieces of work concurrently.

DRC have two programmes, based in Garissa and Turkana respectively with their inception periods happening concurrently. For each programme, the chosen Consultant will be expected to not only produce analysis but to design the interventions and prescriptive next steps for implementation, clear results chains for interventions and supporting MRM systems, and local actors/partner engagement strategy.

The Consultant will be expected to work in partnership with DRC management and field teams to build their capacity through a ‘learning by doing’ approach to adopt a new mindset to designing programmes applying a systems approach.

It is envisioned for this work to build DRC Kenya buy-in and capacity in using systems approaches to identify intervention opportunities for longer-term investment. As such, DRC Kenya are determined to conduct a thorough systems analysis and develop a systems intervention plan and ToC in order to begin piloting interventions within these current programmes with the ambition to identify future funding opportunities to continue interventions (or start later sequenced ones) supported by robust and up-to-date field evidence.

The Consultant can design their proposal to work on inception activities sequentially as long as work can be delivered within the required time period otherwise activities will for both programmes will be expected to be done in parallel with the Consultant providing a clear workplan, team composition and quality assurance methodology to deliver this.

An extension to the Consultancy will be considered if the Consultant delivers satisfactory deliverables and support to the DRC Team. The addendum would be long-term retainer for backstopping support of ongoing implementation activities, in particularly co-design, facilitation engagement, monitoring and adaptive management of interventions throughout the programme implementation period.

Contextual Background

Geographic Context and Target Population

DRC Kenya seeks to address protracted displacement through efforts to identify long-term durable and resilience solutions to displacement that promote self-reliance of the displaced and social cohesion with host communities. Achieving these objectives has been challenging to date in certain contexts in Kenya due to restrictions on rights to work and movement for displaced populations and working in underserved remote environments subject to nascent/thin/last-mile systems which are vulnerable to climatic stress. Short-term humanitarian funded programmes have also limited the ability to pursue programming approaches to achieve long-term change towards addressing systemic issues. Interventions have often been limited to direct resource transfers and aid-funded services conditional on grants to be maintained. There has been limited incentive to change behaviours of local systems (and the actors within it) to expand and sustain access to goods, services and livelihoods to serve these population groups.

• Programme A is based in Garissa County. In January 2022, the estimated population of Garissa County was around 841,353 people. This comprises of both refugees and host communities. The establishment of Dadaab camps was made in the 1990s, following the civil war in Somalia and is home to 42% of Kenyan refugees with the rest comprising of Somali and Ethiopian refugees. Dadaab camp is a closed camp meaning movement in and out of the camps is restricted by the Kenyan Government. Over time the population in Dadaab has rapidly increased resulting in generations of refugees being born and raised in the camps. The main income-generating activities in these areas are livestock rearing, agriculture, trade and commerce and remittances as well as dependency on aid transfers.
• Programme B is based in Turkana county which has a population of 926,976 people. Kakuma and Kalobeyei camps are the second largest settlement in Turkana County after Kakuma town. The rest of the population is sparsely spread across the vast county. For more than 30 years, the closed camp policy has also limited socio-economic integration of refugees. Self-reliance markers remain low, with heavy reliance on aid in food and money to cushion businesses. The county is situated in an arid region making agriculture not feasible with heavy reliance on pastoralism mainly by the host community resulting from the limitation of movements for the refugees. Unemployment is high amongst refugees and host communities, resulting in most refugees living under the internationally recognized poverty line of a daily average income of USD 1.98 per person per day, with the same being true – and even worse – for the host communities: in Kakuma 37% of host communities live under the poverty line, compared to 58% of refugees. There are continued high unemployment rates (only 28% of host communities are employed and 20% of refugees). The county’s informal economy is estimated at 95.5% of the economy, making a significant contribution to employment creation and income generation, both for refugees and host communities.

Shifting Humanitarian Programming to Building Durable Solutions

Displacement exists beyond the boundaries of humanitarian and development aid architecture and whilst Kenya may be moving towards durable solutions, displacement challenges will persist. Finding a hybrid approach to programming that serves immediate humanitarian needs without undermining progression towards longer-term durable solutions is needed.

DRC Global is investing heavily in shifting its programming to accommodate improved use of systems approaches and localisation within its work and is looking at exploring its niche in bringing systems thinking to displacement-affected contexts. Of importance for this consultancy are:

• Making Systems Work for the Displaced (S4D) – DRC is beginning to institutionalise systems approaches beyond CVA and market-based programming traditional to humanitarian programming to reflect the need for adopting systems thinking to achieve durable solutions and resilience outcomes. Recognising that adopting systems approaches for displacement-affected communities requires adaptation of pure market systems development to work in fragile contexts, with marginalized communities and working in both economic and social systems to achieve this, DRC acknowledges this internally as ‘Making Systems Work for the Displaced or S4D’. DRC has not created its own way of working but merely acknowledges that although the principles of market systems development may apply, there may need to be adaptations to work within the contexts and groups DRC serves
• Nexus Programming – DRC naturally works in nexus environments given the nature of displacement. Understanding how to prepare or respond to support systems that may come under strain due to likely shocks or stresses should be systematically understood in any programme. Thus understanding the vulnerability of the systems we are working, and which target groups they affects, is important.
• Integrated or Holistic Technical Expertise – DRC has technical expertise to support activities in five sectors – CCCM, Shelter & Settlement (including Housing and Land Rights), Protection, Economic Recovery (Food Security, Financial Services and Livelihoods), and HDP (Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding). Systems interventions often require holistic solutions, particularly in fragile contexts, combining many sector specialisms rather than one sector.

Objective of the consultancy

This Consultancy is an investment to showcase the potential of utilising a systems approach to supporting durable solutions and resilience outcomes for the displaced-affected communities in fragile contexts in Kenya.

In order to do this, the main objectives of this Consultancy are, for each programme:

1. To lead the set-up of the programme implementation strategy, following the completion of a good quality systems analysis, and required programme plans, systems and team competencies to facilitate the implementation once the Consultancy is complete;
2. To showcase the holistic application of, where appropriate, different intervention modalities working with local actors and systems, given the fragile and nascent/thin market system context in which the programme is being implemented;
3. Compare the intervention strategy it proposes vis-à-vis the proposal defined activities to provide evidence-based justification for the changes suggested and work with each programme management team to adapt the recommended approach to something that works within the proposal parameters. Noting that whilst some adaptations to the proposed intervention strategy may need to be adapted to deliver under the current programming requirements it is recognised that work in these contexts will take time to realise long-term outcomes and require subsequent investment. As such the work delivered by the Consultant, in particularly results chains, will also be used to inform future proposals, business development and intervention design.
4. To coach/mentor the DRC core team through the programme setup and handover process to build local team capacity and confidence in applying their contextual experience to using systems approaches and adapt their practice to new modes of systems analysis and implementation methods (e.g. facilitation tactics and adaptive management)

Programme Overview

Moving Programmes Towards Durable Solutions

Programme A and Programme B are both based in similar contextual environments (historically ‘closed’ or ‘restricted’ camp contexts in remote areas) with both host and displaced populations as target groups (as per description in section 3).

Both programmes are in their start-up or inception phase requiring analysis of the situation to inform the programme interventions and how they are implemented and through which local actors to achieve the desired outcomes for the target group.

Both programmes are multi-year but have proposals with interventions suggestions that use a direct or indirect delivery approach which, ultimately, have the disadvantage of maintaining dependency on aid support for these sustaining these activities beyond the lifetime of the programme.

In light of the changes in Kenyan policy environment for refugees and donor push for localization and durable solutions*,* there may now be a more favourable environment to adopt are more facilitative and systems change/strengthening approach to some of these intervention proposals.

Displacement exists beyond the boundaries of humanitarian and development aid architecture and whilst Kenya may be moving towards durable solutions, displacement challenges will persist. As such, DRC Kenya is seeking to transition towards longer term outcomes realisation with application of systems approaches whilst acknowledging that direct and indirect support may still be required to fill gaps in access to goods, service and livelihoods or to support extremely vulnerable populations that may continue to be marginalised in spite of improvements in system inclusion for some displaced groups.

Finding a hybrid approach to programming that serves immediate humanitarian needs without undermining progression towards longer-term durable solutions is needed.

DRC Kenya seeks to work with a Consultant to bring their expertise in application of systems approaches in challenging, traditionally humanitarian dominated contexts to see if there may be opportunities to re-engineer some of the proposed intervention activities to achieve more sustainable outcomes (noting that timeframes of programmes may mean we could reach intermediate outcomes but follow-on programming may be required to continue activities to achieve the sustained change required). Recognising the need to be pragmatic in terms of what is possible in these contexts, DRC believes in using a systems approach to identify this hybrid intervention approach where a mixture of direct, indirect and facilitative actions, dependent on the state of systems, can be explored. The end goal being to find a way to play as minimal role as possible in how a system (economic or social) functions to meet the needs of people of concern.

DRC Team Support

The Consultant can expect to start with a seasoned management team that has been introduced to the concept of systems approaches. The field and project teams have limited systems experience but know their working contexts well. They will requires guidance to on how to apply the concepts to field programming, following a sequenced programme methodology, adapting it to a fragile context and learning to manage uncertainty and designing intervention strategies (where previously teams have been used to following programme designs determined at proposal stage with minimal opportunity for iteration). The Consultant will help the DRC Team move from investigating the symptom of a constraint to the cause of the constraint and how different interventions supporting systems vs changing systems address them with differing levels of sustainability.

LOT A – Programme A Research Requirements

Location – Garissa Country, Dadaab Camp and Surrounding Host Communities

The goal of this programme is to improve decent employment opportunities for at least 8,000 host or displaced person(s). There is a particular focus on youth employment to foster social cohesion within the target group and female employees (including those at risk or survivors of GBV).

The analysis component of this work will seek to identify how to either create new decent work opportunities and link target groups to newly created or existing employment opportunities. It is expected that the Consultant will (although it is expected for the Consultant to propose the best course of action once presented with all relevant inception materials):

• Conduct a rapid labour market assessment to select the key sectors most relevant and feasible for growth of employment opportunities and/or linking to existing employment opportunities currently for target groups in order to direct deeper systems analysis
• For selected sectors, from a supply side (e.g. employee), conduct a labour market system assessment (not a labour market assessment) to understand the constraints to which different segments of the labour force have to accessing employment opportunities and/or retaining employment in order to identify system intervention activities:
  • the assessment should be show effort to segment research with different target population groups (e.g. creating segmentation such as host vs refugee, Somali vs South Sudanese refugees, women vs men, youth) to understand how systems work or create barriers to enter the workforce
• For selected sectors, from a demand side (e.g. employer / business), use a value chain analysis and systems analysis of the relevant employment sectors to understand the root causes of constraints to job creation and retention of the target group (it is expected that sector vulnerabilities to shocks and stresses in and outside the camp such as seasonal weather variations, fires, livestock disease etc may a factor) to identify system intervention activities

Additional considerations for the Consultant are:

• This programme is in its second phase. There will be a lot of secondary data already available but also expectations set with local partners and behaviours with local communities. Any changes to direct support will require a period of transition and discussion with communities and local partners.
• Whilst we may be looking at these local systems, we recognise that in thin market linkages to local actors/capacities in at the meso-level may be of importance for growth of value chains and job creation or access to services and welcome Consultants to explore this as necessary.
• There is a donor interest to have some of the interventions addressing vocational skills development This will ensure that vocational skills offered at the tertiary level is driven by demand at the market place.
• Any intervention designs should be informed by complimentary assessments happening in-situ to show integration of learning from separate assessments being conducted on:
  • Conflict sensitivity assessment particularly
  • Sharia financing products assessment
  • Power dynamics of different tribal influences in camp settings and how this influences access to livelihood opportunities
• Consultant should show understanding of adapting intervention strategies for working in thin/nascent environments
• Consultant should show understanding of what ‘self-reliance’ indicators are and consider these in how progress towards target group self-reliance is monitored in the MEAL framework

LOT B – Programme B Research Requirements

Location – Turkana Country, Kakuma Camp and Kalobyei Settlement and Surrounding Host Communities

The goal of this programme is to improve the self-reliance and resilience of the target group through the expansion and inclusivity of three core systems – climate-smart agriculture, WASH and livestock pastoralism.

Due to its size, this is a consortium led programme. DRC will be responsible for improving inclusivity of livelihood opportunities; income growth and climate-resilience for the livestock sector and MSMEs.

It is expected that scalable interventions will be identified in the core and supporting systems such as financial inclusion, skills development, market linkages, natural resource management and conflict mitigation, land access, documentation and so forth.

It is expected that the Consultant will (although it is expected for the Consultant to propose the best course of action once presented with all relevant inception materials):

• Conduct an analysis of the core sectors to shortlist additional secondary/cross-cutting sectors to then conduct a systems analysis to understand their constraints
• Conduct a gendered value chain analysis of the livestock/pastrolist sector to identify the root causes of constraints to income growth, employment creation as well as understand vulnerabilities, impact and coping mechanisms to climatic events to inform intervention opportunities.
• Conduct a gendered systems analysis of MSMEs to understand the root causes of the constraints to their start-up, growth and resilience and opportunities for intervention.
• Conduct a labour market systems analysis to understand the constraints of the labour force in accessing employment to identify interventions. Note, whilst we recognise that ‘skill development’ is only one competent of a labour market systems assessment, there is the need to ensure that focus is made on this compotent in the analysis due to donor interest. The work will need to assess the appropriateness of training centres and curriculums vis-a-vis market demand for skills (and conversion of skills development into successful sustained employment or improved income for self-employed).

Additional considerations for the Consultant are:

• This programme is jointly being delivered by two consortiums in the same geographic area with the same target groups. DRC leads one consortium. There will likely be crossover of reseach and learning requirements (e.g. WASH for pastoralism and vice versa) and interviewees so upfront coordination to minimise duplication and interview fatigue will be required with the consortium manager.
• There will be a lot of secondary data already available but also expectations set with local partners and behaviours with local communities. Any changes to direct support will require a period of transition and discussion with communities and local partners.
• Whilst we may be looking at these local systems, we recognise that in thin market linkages to local actors/capacities in at the meso-level may be of importance for growth of value chains and job creation or access to services and welcome Consultants to explore this as necessary.
• Analysis should take into consideration vulnerabilities of local systems to climatic events and some interventions seek to build resilience outcomes and/or provide anticipatory action interventions for local actors / DRC to take to mitigate negative impacts and protect development gains (see PRIME’s Ethiopia Livelihood Project)
• Consultant should show understanding of adapting intervention strategies for working in thin/nascent environments

Scope of Work and Methodology

Activity 1 – Inception and Secondary Data Review

Given this Consultancy requires work on two programmes (research requirements noted in Section 5) within the same working period, the inception period will be key to:

1. Reviewing all secondary information for each programme and context to inform the most appropriate research approach and understand the requirements for primary research to support lead times on field research planning and logistics
2. Working with DRC management teams to understand the programme backgrounds, opportunities and limitations to align deliverable outputs to something that is appropriate for use
3. Working with DRC management teams to understand the field capabilities of both teams in terms of understanding of systems approaches, field research for systems analysis and research logistics support
4. Co-creating a combined workplan for both programmes identifying whether activities will be performed sequentially or in parallel for each programme with clearly stated lead times for activities, milestones and team compositions. Where DRC teams need to be contributing data or logistical support to support activities these need to be clearly marked to align all parties on expectations on timeframes and interdependencies of work

The Consultant will be able to consult with incumbent DRC teams and Regional/Global Technical Support teams during this period.

This activity will result in an Inception Report that will:

• For each programme, define the research methodology vis-à-vis the programme overview and secondary data provided. There will be clear logic explained for sector selection for investigation and over-arching research questions to help structure the research required for each respective programme.
• Share the co-created workplan. Any risks to workplan delivery will be noted and mitigations proposed. In addition, any key upskilling requirements with the DRC team will be noted and incorporated into the workplan as either standalone training activities or, preferably, as ‘learning-by-doing’ activities.
• Explain how the Consultant will partner with DRC management and field teams to capacity build them through the process in a ‘learn by doing’ approach
• Propose appropriate timing/stage gates for quality assurance / workplan reviews with DRC Technical Advisors. If work is being done by any subcontracted parties this must be written into the proposal and clear quality assurance and accountability mechanism produced as part of the proposal.

Activity 2 – Fieldwork Preparation and Delivery

For each programme, the Consultant will be expected a systems analysis methodology, supporting tools (for KIIs, FGDs and observations as required) and iterative research plan (e.g. ensuring that primary field data is reflected upon during the data collection process and new lines of enquiry are identified and followed up as required.

The DRC team will work with the Consultant in identifying data gaps, development of the tools (including digitalisation where required), logistics and field data collection.

For each programme:

• The fieldwork must be participatory and conflict-sensitive with an emphasis on gender inclusion. This should not only be reflected in who we talk to but also in terms of the questions asked and the methods employed to reach certain groups respectfully and safely.
• Rather than treating the target group and local actors as homogenious groups, the Consultant will be expected to do a segmentation of the marginalised target group. This will help us to identify which groups may be served through adoption of systems approaches to increase access to decent livelihoods and/or improve incomes versus those that may require sustained direct/indirect assistance.
• The Consultant will also be expected to include lines of enquiry regarding vulnerabilities of the systems to known/likely shocks and stresses (these can include environmental, social and economic) to identify potential resilience building and crisis modifier intervention activities required to protect development gains and minimise negative coping strategies should we work in these sectors given the fragility of the context. For example, taking best practice from PRIME’s Ethiopia Livelihood Project.

For supporting the DRC team in their learning the Consultant will:

• Show the team how to prioritise their investigations on priority constraint areas for each sector selected for investigation and how to use demand and supply side data collection to inform further data collection on priority supporting infrastructure, rules and norms.
• Educate the team in how to identify new lines of enquiry such as new questions to ask and/or new actors to meet as a result of what they are hearing from the field rather than conduct a ‘static’ data collection where tools are not iteratively updated).
• Coach on how to rapidly analyse qualitative and quantitative datasets from the field data as a team leaning on answering the key research questions whilst not missing key unexpected findings, patterns and, importantly, key people-centred design requirements for the interventions gathered from the target group and local actor groups.
• Coach teams on how to prepare themselves to speak to non-familiar actors e.g. private sector

Activity 3 – Data Analysis & Report Writing

For each programme, the Consultant will lead the team through additional analysis and knowledge management exercises such as root cause analysis, stakeholder mapping and listing key design requirements for interventions.

The Consultant will be expected to summarise the analysis into a report that is digestible for future use by DRC colleagues as well as wider circulation internally and to the donor. The DRC Team can support the Consultant in writing parts of the report as part of learning but the lead writer is the Consultant. The report is expected to provide the research questions, methdology, sector background, segmentation, findings and outcomes of root cause analysis, and intervention opportunities with links to Annexes for tools, raw data collected, and references to secondary materials.

The report should try not exceed 20 pages per sector. The analysis report should serve as a reference point only to inform intervention designs. For DRC the more important outputs will be Activity 4 which use this analysis to develop the interventions.

The report may be updated later (or second report created) to include outputs of follow-on activities determining the sustainability vision, theory of change, intervention choices, results chains and local actor engagement strategy.

Activity 4 – Proposed Intervention Strategy and Workplan

The Consultant will produce an intervention strategy with a sustainability vision, ToC and results chains for each intervention area.

The Consultant will be expected to create criteria for down-selecting and prioritising the most appropriate interventions for DRC to support the target group and/or showcase the potential for systemic change:

• A mapping of hybrid system interventions modalities will be needed to help DRC Teams understand how they are intervening in systems and why as well as understanding the sustainability risks of doing so and how/when to transition away from direct/indirect support and/or employ direct/indirect support to minimise impact of shocks/stresses on development gains.
• There should be inclusion of ideas on how to begin addressing distortion or dependency behaviour from years of humanitarian assistance within the target area potentially bringing in the skills of HDP colleagues and/or learning from elsewhere prior to or included within each intervention area strategy
• Where intervention activities may be indirectly supported or impacted by ongoing activities by other humanitarian or development actors or policy changes, this should be noted also
• Use previous learnings on working in nascent or thin market systems to inform intervention requirements and expected timeframes

The intervention strategy will:

• Show prioritisation, sequencing, layering and integrating as required to support working on nexus programming.
• Have prescriptive, not subjective, intervention descriptions with clear next steps and specific design and implementation considerations for field teams
• Provide evidence-based justifications when interventions they may differ from the original proposals. The report must provide a short explanation as to why these interventions are being designed and delivered differently and how learnings from prior implementation activities have been incorporated into the revised design.

Activity 4 – Programme Team Management Review of Proposed Intervention Strategy

The Consultant will present outputs of Activity 3 for both programmes to relevant DRC management teams to discuss findings and agree on pathways forward to inform direction for Activity 5 and 6. During this presentation of outputs there may be iterations to the proposed strategy due to programming, contextual or operational limitations. The Consultant will provide an addendum to the outputs of Activity 3 work in light of these discussions and use it to inform actions in Activity 5 and 6.

It is noted that the timeframe for realising systemic change within programme timeframes in fragile contexts is limited and as such showcasing potential will be sufficient alongside a longer-term results chain to support continuation of an intervention area should pilots be successful and further funding secured. Where these interventions exist they should be discussed with the management team on how what might be able to be achieved during these programme timeframes and may need subsequent funding in the future if certain changes have been observed and sustained.

Activity 5 – Local Actor Identification and Engagement Strategy

Systems approaches are anchored in localisation but localisation can mean something different in the humanitarian sphere. The majority of localisation takes place through procurement or formal partnerships where services are tendered or a time-bound agreement made on how to work together to deliver a certain set of activities with resources directly transferred to a local partner. This is counter to the facilitation approach applied within market systems development practices.

The Consultant will need to work with the DRC Team and Localisation specialists (whom may have already started mapping potential key actors to engage with on this programme, although the Consultant has license to work on developing and critiquing this list based on their analysis and experience) to:

• Identify potential local actors to work with vis-à-vis the prioritised interventions to implement
• Coach DRC Team through will/skill/risk appetite to identify appropriate local actors
• Apply previous learnings on working in nascent or thin market systems to inform local actor selection
• Educate the DRC team about the difference between procurement vs. partnership vs. facilitation and the different types of facilitation tactics
• Educate the DRC team on different requirements for engagment, co-design and building of trust with different types of stakeholders e.g. local government vs MNCs vs smallholder farmers etc
• Set expectations with DRC team on how working on facilitation is different to delivering humanitarian outputs (work through examples) and timeframes to realise change will differ

The resulting output of this work will be a local actor engagement strategy, as required, for each intervention area mapped to the most appropriate engagement approach. Where partnerships rather than facilitation tactics are applied, there must be justification (e.g. they are for discrete activities only rather than system changes) to avoid sustainability risks.

Activity 5 – Development of MEAL / MRM Systems and Adaptive Management

Understanding and using results chains will be fairly new to the DRC Team as well as practices of adaptive management. They may have been taught the theory but have yet applied the techniques. The Consultant will be expected to coach teams on the rationale for these monitoring, evaluation and learning practices to monitor systemic change and how they apply even in fragile contexts.

Work with DRC Team and MEAL teams to develop theory of change, results chains and indicator frameworks for intervention areas. The MEAL teams will also require system risk monitoring tools to identify change requirements not only for interventions but also for shocks/stresses to trigger any crisis modifier requirements to support systems. The MEAL teams will require support in understanding how ‘self-reliance’ indicators could be monitored for improvements.

It will be pertinent to educate teams on how to collect data from local actors safely and respectfully (e.g. avoiding overloading local actors with data requests but attempting to align to data they may already be, or should be, collecting).

The teams will need excellent knowledge management / reporting tools in place to document intervention designs, activities undertaken and learning acquired that inform any changes from the initial intervention designs such the adaptive journey can be clearly articulated to internally and to donors (particularly for use for continuation of intervention activities beyond the lifetime of this current programme).

The resulting outputs of this activity area are a theory of change, results chains, indicators framework, risk monitoring framework, and templates for documentation.

Activity 6 – Handover

The Consultant will provide a handover of the programme setup and implementation strategy to the DRC Management Team, Regional and Global Technical Coordinators. The Consultant will be expected to guide the team through key next step requirements, risks and mitigations for the implementation phase of work and any other value-add suggestions to support implementation phase.

The Consultant will be asked to provide a max 4 page end of consultancy organisational learning document on working with the DRC Team to apply Systems Approaches and the cultural, programmatic (team structure and technical understanding) and operational readiness opportunities and challenges endured through the process.

The Consultancy period initially is expected to be full-time.

LOT A – The estimated LOE is 63 days over a 6 month period starting April with all work to have been completed by end of Sptember 2024.

LOT B – The estimated LOE is 69 days over a 6 month period starting April with all work to have been completed by end of September 2024.

Programme A and B Timelines

The applicant needs to provide tentative schedule of activities required to complete the overall scope of the work. The Consultant can revise the workplan and LOE based on the project team they propose and experience in delivering projects of this nature with justification. Any workplan will be expected to provide the same Deliverables as a minimum. The applicant is invited to make suggest amendments to the workplan and activities with justification to the value-add to the programme and quality of the deliverables.

All proposals will need to articulate whether ongoing remote mentorship support after this consultancy is a service they can provide in support of their proposal application although this will not affect the overall submission scoring.

Bidders are eligible to apply Lot A or B independently or both

1. Composition of Team

It is expected that this Consultancy will require a strong lead Consultant with experience with systems approaches in fragile contexts and adaptability. As DRC want to co-deliver and design this work with the Consultant as part of the learning approach, it is not envisioned that the Consultancy proposal should propose a large team and that a singular Lead Consultant accompanied with ad-hoc context/sector specialist support may be more appropriate.

DRC is flexible to the Consultancy structure proposed to deliver this work and welcomes applications from both singular international and local Consult ants as well as a hybrid of both. Where a hybrid approach is proposed, the quality assurance mechanisms of the Consultancy will need to be clearly articulated in the proposal as well as detailed distributions of work activities / LOE between international and local Consultant within the team.

DRC welcomes applications that may have a combination of remote and in-country support as long as the proposal of how to deliver remotely is well justified in the proposal. The proposal must state when the Consultant team proposes to work in-country versus working remotely. Please note that any Consultant applying must be able to travel to Kenya and obtain a multi-entry visa.

The Consultant is expected to provide the list and composition of the team with their experience and expertise as per the requirement of TOR.

There is a preference for the Consultant to have more generalist technical experience in Systems Approaches and application of the methodology and programme setup, as well as some experience in training and/or coaching teams rather than specific technical experience in certain systems given the broad scope of this Consultancy. It would be advisable for the Consultant to showcase how they might leverage specialist input on specific sectors (e.g. agricultural sectors, financial systems, labour market systems) to support their work.

Eligibility, qualification, and experience required

Essential:

Applicant, organizations/institutes or firms, with individuals specialized and highly experts in market system development with proven experience of MSD work, with at least two experiences in fragile contexts or protracted crises.

The proposed team for this assignment is expected to have strong technical expertise and practical experience required to deliver the scope of work and deliverables tailored to needs and professional capacities of the target group. The consultancy service provider should have:

Eligibility:

• Demonstrated capacity of understanding the organisational constraints of applying MSD/M4P techniques in nexus programming / humanitarian organisations
• Demonstrated experience in leading market systems analysis in complex / fragile environments
• Demonstrated capacity through experience of working with private sector and public sector actors in MSD programs.
• Strong facilitation and capacity development techniques proven through previous training or coaching activities
• Proven experience of innovation in product/services, business design, financial modelling for challenging environments and marginalised groups

Qualification:

• Individuals with a minimum Master’s degree in business management, economic development, social-sciences, development studies or equivalent relevant experience (a Bachelor’s degree will suffice if significant work experience provided in substitute)
• Qualified and certified in MSD and/or M4P

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of proven experience in market system approaches (MBP, MSD, M4P) in humanitarian/development programming
• Significant experience in planning and leading market systems analysis in person and remotely
• Proven experience of 5 to 8 years in providing coaching and mentorship to programs with MSD approaches.
• Experience in value chain development, business model development, and/or human-centred design in thin/nascent market systems and/or working with marginalised population

Skills and knowledge:

Strong technical skills and experience on MSD programs, institutional capacity building and organizations system development, and provision of technical assistance.

• Expertise and proven capacities in designing MSD toolkits comprised of all necessary tools required in entire MSD program cycle. An indictive list of tools to be part of toolkit to be provided in the proposal.
• Evidence of past similar assignments, particularly working in thin/nascent market systems and/or with marginalised/displaced populations
• A good understanding of Kenyan / Great Lakes economic and political context
• Demonstrated technical skills and knowledge of MSD data analytics, both quantitative and qualitative.
• Individuals with proven capacity and experience of developing successful business models in MSD programming.

Language requirements:

• Written and spoken fluency in English
• Working knowledge of Kiswahili is an advantage

Desirable (not essential):

• Experience in climate-sensitive agriculture
• Familiarity with the local context, climate change and security situation in Kenya

Technical Supervision & Quality Assurance

The Consultant will work directly with the following DRC Team members on the programme:

1. Head of Programs
2. Program Development and Quality Manager
3. MEAL Coordinator
4. Program Managers

The selected consultant will work under the supervision of:

1. Kenya Market Systems Advisor as the focal point of contact for all technical matters
2. Regional Economic Recovery Advisory or Innovative Financing Advisor
3. Global Inclusive Markets Advisor

Location and support

The Consultant can be delivered full-time in country by an Kenyan resident and/or through a hybrid of remote and in-country work.

Travel

Following travels will be required for this assignment:

• Field work will to Nairobi, Garissa and Turkana
• Certain activities could be supported remotely

The Consultant will provide her/his own computer and mobile telephone. For work in-country and field work in area of assignment, DRC will provide the transportation, lodging, and other field and logistics arrangements.

The Consultant will cover cost of international travel, visa fees, insurance, in country food and transport cost for personal use. Therefore, consultants are expected to make adequate provision of these cost in the financial proposal which should indicate all taxes are inclusive or exclusive .

Evaluation of bids

This will be a two-stage process.

Written proposals will be evaluated based on the technical criteria provided in the Invitation to Bid for Lots A and B individually. Those candidates who submitted a joint proposal for Lots A and B will also be evaluated with the same technical criteria. Candidates submitting for only one Lot will not be at a disadvantage.

Shortlisted candidates will then be contacted to present their proposal to the evaluation team prior to final selection of the Consultant.

Technical Evaluation

To be technically acceptable, the bid shall meet or exceed the stipulated requirements and specifications in the TOR. If a Bid does not technically comply with the TOR, it will be rejected.

Requirements

Score (Max)

Key personnel that will work on this assignment should be:-

1. Seasoned Lead consultant with evidenced 10 years MSD programming experience and proven experience of over 5 years in providing coaching and mentorship to programs with MSD approaches.
2. MEAL with Proven experience in designing systems that measure impact
3. Technical specialist in MSD programing

Note: If awarded, staff proposed by the firm on the proposal will be the ones to carry out the assignment. Any replacement of the proposed staff during assignment execution will need validation of their qualification and experience by DRC.

Note: Proposals failing to meet the minimum requirements stated above will not be considered further.

Note: DRC is a VAT Withholding agent appointed by KRA

Financial proposal – should be all inclusive of any cost associated with this consultancy and be itemized where possible. Also note that the total cost of financial offer will be indicated in annex A.2 form, and the fees should be quoted in USD and should account for 20% withholding tax for non-residents and 5% withholding tax for Kenya residents.

Please find complete bidding documents in the link.