Terms of Reference
End-of-Project Evaluation: Catalyzing Multilateral Development Banks Financing for Energy access in Africa
1.0 Background and Context
For the past 3 years (2024-2026) Christian Aid with support from Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has been implementing a project whose goal is to inform transformative Africa Development Bank policies, practices and investments to support a rapid shift away from fossil fuel dependency towards low carbon alternatives while guaranteeing universal access to clean and affordable renewable energy.
The project focused on; (a)strengthening civil society engagement with AfDB and other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) for enhanced just and accountable financing of decentralized sustainable renewable energy in Africa, and (b) Increased di-investment of public finance away from fossil fuels and uptake of locally led sustainable renewable energy systems.
To achieve this, the project implemented strategic and interlined activities including Policy research, multi-stakeholder dialogues, capacity building, engagement in AfDB annual and CSOs forums, advocacy at country and regional levels especially on the Country Strategy Papers, Mission 300 Energy Compacts among others. The project has been implemented with support of two national civil society organizations namely the Kenya Climate Change Working Group (KCCWG) and the Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) and intended to deliver the following results:
- The policies of the AfDB incorporate greater coordinated civil society actions and inputs to shift their programme and policy choices around investment in energy
- Decision-makers consider shared positions of multiple stakeholders to promote increased investment in renewable energy rather than fossil fuels
- Greater prioritization of energy needs of communities in the AfDB strategies
- The policies of the AfDB are improved by the evidence from the research and use it to inform their programme and policy choices around investment in energy
- Increased media coverage on DRE and demand for DRE by various actors.
2.0 Purpose of the Evaluation
The purpose of the end-term evaluation is to assess the extent to which the Energy Access Project has achieved its intended objectives, outcomes and results, and to generate evidence-based learning to inform future programming, advocacy, partnerships and engagement with the Africa Development Bank.
The evaluation will provide an independent and evidence-informed assessment of the project’s contribution to shifting policy, finance and public narratives away from fossil fuel dependency and towards decentralised renewable energy solutions in Africa. Specifically, the evaluation will examine the impact, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and emerging learnings of the project, with particular attention to how Christian Aid and its partners have strengthened civil society coordination, supported evidence-based advocacy, influenced engagement with the African Development Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks, and elevated community-centred energy access priorities within policy and financing spaces. It will also assess the extent to which the project helped build shared civil society positions, improve advocacy capacity, generate useful knowledge products, increase visibility of decentralised renewable energy, and contribute to stronger accountability for public finance decisions.
Findings and recommendations will be practical, forward-looking and useful for Christian Aid, implementing partners and wider civil society actors seeking to strengthen future advocacy on energy access, public finance, MDB reform, fossil fuel phase-out and locally led renewable energy solutions. The evaluation will therefore serve both an accountability function, by assessing what was achieved against planned results, and a learning function, by identifying what worked, what did not work, why, and how future interventions can be improved.
3.0 Specific Objectives of the Evaluation
The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess the extent to which the project achieved its intended outputs, outcomes and objectives. Specifically, the evaluation will:
- Assess the project’s contribution to the development or review of AfDB-related policy frameworks, including Mission 300 Country Compacts and AfDB Country Strategy Papers.
- Analyse the project’s contribution to strengthening civil society coordination, advocacy capacity, knowledge generation and policy influence.
- Assess the effectiveness and efficiency of civil society and faith actors’ engagement with AfDB, including value-for-money of engagement modalities
- Assess how gender equality and social inclusion were considered in project design, stakeholder engagement and results.
- Identify key lessons, enabling factors, challenges and risks affecting the sustainability of civil society and faith actor engagement beyond the project period.
- Document key lessons, good practices, challenges and actionable recommendations for Christian Aid, partners and civil society coalitions on future programming and engagement with the AfDB and other multilateral development banks.
4.0 Scope of the Evaluation
The evaluation will cover the full project implementation period from January 2024 to December 2026. It will assess activities implemented under both project objectives, including civil society convenings, multi-stakeholder dialogues, policy analysis and research, engagement with AfDB annual meetings and Country Strategy Papers, side events, learning platforms, and efforts to identify and mobilise influential champions for decentralised renewable energy among others. The evaluation will cut across all the partners involved in implementing the project in Kenya and Malawi, the government departments as well as relevant institutions and stakeholders involved in the project.
5.0 Key Evaluation questions
The evaluation is structured around the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, a Theory of Change validation question, and a GESI cross-cutting lens, as set out below. The consultant should treat this as the core evaluation matrix, to be elaborated with sub-questions, indicators and methods in the inception report.
Effectiveness: To what extent were the project’s results (per the Theory of Change) achieved against the indicators and targets set out in the logframe? Which interventions were most effective in influencing AfDB policy and advocacy processes, substantiated with evidence? Where did results exceed or fall short of targets, and why?
Relevance: How well did the project fit the priorities, capacity needs and advocacy opportunities of African CSOs, coalitions and faith actors on energy access, DRE and just transition and how well did it adapt as AfDB and MDB priorities shifted over the project period?
Coherence and partnership: Internally: How well did the project’s workstreams such as convenings, dialogues, CSO positioning, AfDB engagement, learning platform, reinforce one another? Externally: How well did the project align and avoid duplication with other AfDB and MDB advocacy coalitions, national energy policy and NDC processes, and other donor-funded energy-access initiatives?
Sustainability and learning: What results, partnerships, advocacy outcomes, knowledge products or coordination mechanisms are likely to continue beyond the project period? What lessons should inform future work on energy access/decentralised renewable energy, public finance, AfDB engagement and just transition advocacy?
Efficiency: Were project resources (funding, staff time, KCCWG and CISONECC partner capacity) converted into outputs and outcomes in a timely, economical way? Were there more cost-efficient modalities for achieving the same advocacy reach (e.g., side events versus standalone missions)? Were there delays, and what caused them?
Impact and contribution: To what extent did the project contribute to observed changes in AfDB/MDB policies, strategies, financing priorities, stakeholder positions and public narratives on DRE? What evidence substantiates this contribution, and what alternative or contributing factors (other actors, external events) should be accounted for?
Sustainability: Which results, partnerships, advocacy positions, knowledge products or coordination mechanisms (e.g., the learning platform) are likely to continue beyond the project period, and what would be needed to sustain them?
Cross Cutting (GESI): How were gender equality and social inclusion considered in the project’s design, advocacy positions and stakeholder engagement (e.g., representation of women, youth and off-grid/marginalised communities in convenings and dialogues)? Were participation and outcome data disaggregated?
6.0 Methodology
The evaluation will apply a participatory, mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to ensure findings are both credible and grounded in the lived experience of project stakeholders. The consultant will set out the detailed methodology in the inception report, anchored in a full evaluation matrix that links each DAC criterion and key question from Section 5.0 to specific sub-questions, indicators, data sources and methods.
The evaluation will begin with a thorough document review, drawing on the project proposal, the project logframe and Theory of Change, annual technical and donor reports, research and policy briefs, meeting reports, partner reports, media outputs, capacity-building initiatives, and relevant AfDB policy frameworks, including Mission 300 Country Compacts and Country Strategy Papers. This review will underpin an assessment of achievement against the specific indicators and targets set out in the project logframe, rather than a purely narrative account of outputs and outcomes ensuring that conclusions about effectiveness are anchored in measurable results.
Primary data collection will centre on key informant interviews and, where appropriate, focus group discussions. Respondents will be identified through a stakeholder mapping matrix disaggregated by country (Kenya and Malawi), stakeholder type (CSO, faith actor, AfDB official, private sector, media and government), and gender, to ensure the sample captures a representative and inclusive range of perspectives on the project’s influence.
To assess the project’s contribution to policy and advocacy outcomes where attribution is inherently difficult to isolate the evaluation will apply outcome harvesting or contribution analysis. This approach will also be used to test the critical assumptions underlying the project’s Theory of Change, and evaluation questions section 5.0, allowing the evaluation to explain not just what changed but why. Emerging findings will be validated with Christian Aid and selected partners before finalisation, ensuring the evaluation’s conclusions are checked against the lived understanding of key stakeholders of the project and that the final report reflects a shared and credible account of results.
7.0 Deliverables
- Inception report outlining the evaluation approach, methodology, workplan, data collection tools and evaluation matrix.
- Draft evaluation report presenting preliminary findings, conclusions and recommendations.
- Validation session with Christian Aid and selected partners to discuss emerging findings and strengthen the final report.
- Final evaluation report incorporating feedback, with clear findings, evidence-based conclusions, lessons learned and practical recommendations.
- Executive summary and short learning brief highlighting key findings, advocacy lessons and recommendations for future programming.
8.0 Timeline
Activity Indicative timeframe (September -October)
Contracting and initial briefing Week 1-2
Document review and inception report Week 3
Data collection and stakeholder consultations Week 4-5
Data analysis and draft report Week 5-6
Validation meeting and feedback Week 7
Final report and learning brief Week 8
9.0 Consultant Profile and Required Expertise
- Strong understanding of renewable energy access, decentralised renewable energy, just energy transition and climate finance issues in Africa.
- Minimum 10 years’ experience conducting evaluations for multi-development agencies across Africa, with a focus on bank financing for energy access and climate change
- Familiarity with multilateral development banks, preferably the African Development Bank, and civil society engagement in development finance policy processes.
- Demonstrated experience conducting end-term evaluations of advocacy, policy influencing, civil society strengthening, climate justice, energy access or development finance projects
- Experience evaluating coalition-building, capacity strengthening, policy engagement and advocacy outcomes, including contribution-based approaches to assessing influence.
- Demonstrate adherence to safeguarding and ethics standard (e.g., adherence to OECD-DAC/UNEG evaluation norms, data protection for respondents)
10. Ethical Consideration and Data Protection
The consultant must ensure informed consent is obtained from all interview and focus-group participants, clearly explaining the purpose of the evaluation and how their contributions will be used. Given that respondents will include AfDB officials, government representatives and media actors, the consultant must set out in the inception report how respondent confidentiality will be protected in reporting, how data will be securely stored, and how findings will be anonymised or attributed only with explicit consent. The evaluation must adhere to OECD-DAC/UNEG evaluation ethics norms throughout.
10. Management and Reporting Arrangements
The consultant will report to Christian Aid’s project lead and work closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation lead. Christian Aid will provide relevant project documents, facilitate introductions to partners and stakeholders, and convene validation discussions. The consultant will manage the evaluation process, ensure timely delivery of outputs, and uphold high standards of quality, independence and ethical practice.
How to apply
11. Proposal Submission Requirements
Interested consultants should submit technical and financial proposals to [email protected] by 9th September 2026. Proposals should include a brief understanding of the assignment, proposed methodology and workplan, relevant experience, a financial proposal showing professional fees, and contact details for two referees.
Applications should be submitted electronically.
Proposals will be assessed based on technical quality, relevant experience, understanding of the assignment, and ability to deliver within the required timeframe.
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