TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)
Invitation to Bid for BD Consultancy Service
PD-ADD- 03863
Action Against Hunger (ACF) Ethiopia is implementing a growing portfolio of humanitarian, resilience, nexus, and development programs across multiple regions of Ethiopia, addressing malnutrition, food insecurity, climate vulnerability, displacement, health, WASH, livelihoods, and protection challenges.
As the humanitarian and development funding landscape becomes increasingly competitive, ACF Ethiopia seeks to strengthen the quality, positioning, competitiveness, and strategic alignment of its funding proposals. This includes improving proposal framing, donor alignment, articulation of value proposition, integration of technical sectors, evidence-based programming, localization, climate resilience, nexus approaches, and overall compliance with donor expectations.
To support this objective, ACF Ethiopia intends to recruit a highly experienced Proposal Development and Donor Positioning Consultant to provide strategic writing, rewriting, editing, proposal development, facilitation, and proposal quality assurance support for institutional and private donor submissions.
2. Purpose of the Consultancy
The purpose of this consultancy is to strengthen the competitiveness and strategic quality of ACF Ethiopia funding proposals by ensuring that concept notes, proposals, expressions of interest, and strategic documents are written in strong donor language; clearly articulate ACF’s comparative advantage and value proposition; align with donor strategies, priorities, compliance requirements, and evaluation criteria; and present coherent and evidence-based technical narratives.
The consultant is expected not only to edit language, but also to strategically sharpen proposals and, where required, support or lead proposal development processes from design stage to final submission.
3. Objectives of the Consultancy
- Rewrite and strengthen proposals using donor-oriented language and positioning;
- Ensure alignment of proposals with donor priorities, technical guidance, compliance requirements, and scoring criteria;
- Improve clarity, coherence, flow, strategic framing, and logical consistency of proposals;
• Strengthen theories of change, problem statements, results frameworks, and value propositions; - Facilitate proposal design and co-creation processes before an initial draft is available;
- Support or lead drafting of concept notes and proposals from inception where required;
- Ensure strong integration of cross-cutting themes including climate resilience, localization, gender, nexus, systems strengthening, resilience, innovation, and sustainability;
- Improve executive summaries and strategic messaging;
- Strengthen donor-facing positioning of ACF Ethiopia;
- Support rapid turnaround proposal reviews during live proposal development processes.
4. Scope of Work
- Proposal Design, Review and Strategic Rewriting
- Facilitate proposal design discussions and strategic brainstorming sessions with technical and program teams;
- Support development of proposal structures, strategic narratives, theories of change, and positioning before drafting begins;
- Review draft concept notes, proposals, log frames, and supporting documents;
- Rewrite sections using donor-sensitive and strategic language;
- Improve narrative quality, readability, and persuasiveness;
- Ensure consistency across technical, operational, financial, and results sections;
- Strengthen framing around impact, scalability, sustainability, and innovation;
- Where required, lead the drafting and writing of full concept notes and proposals from inception to final submission.
- Donor Alignment and Compliance
- Assess alignment of proposals against donor priorities and guidance;
- Ensure compliance with solicitation requirements and evaluation criteria;
- Identify gaps, inconsistencies, or weak positioning;
- Advice on how to improve competitiveness and scoring potential.
- Strategic Positioning Support
- Strengthen articulation of ACF Ethiopia’s comparative advantage;
- Improve positioning of consortium approaches and partnerships;
- Support framing of resilience, nexus, and systems approaches;
- Ensure proposals clearly demonstrate value for money and operational feasibility.
- Technical and Editorial Quality Assurance
- Conduct final quality assurance reviews before submission;
- Ensure consistency in terminology, style, formatting, and messaging;
- Improve flow between sections and technical coherence;
- Ensure proposals remain concise while strategically compelling.
- Advisory Support
- Provide strategic recommendations to proposal teams;
- Support brainstorming and proposal structuring sessions where required;
- Advise on donor engagement and strategic positioning opportunities.
5. Deliverables
- Revised and strengthened concept notes and proposals;
- Written proposal review comments and strategic recommendations;
- Compliance and alignment review against donor requirements;
- Improved executive summaries and strategic narratives;
- Final proposal quality assurance review prior to submission;
- Facilitation of proposal design workshops and co-creation sessions where required;
- Drafting of full proposals and concept notes from inception where requested;
- Optional coaching/support to proposal development teams.
6. Expected Profile of the Consultant
Education:
Advanced university degree in International Development, Humanitarian Affairs, Public Health, Food Security, Social Sciences, International Relations, or related fields.
Experience:
• Minimum 10 years of experience in humanitarian and development proposal development;
• Proven experience supporting successful proposals for major donors including EU, ECHO, USAID, UNICEF, WFP, Sida, NMFA, Gates Foundation, and Mastercard Foundation;
• Strong understanding of humanitarian, resilience, and nexus programming;
• Demonstrated experience in strategic proposal rewriting and donor positioning;
• Experience facilitating proposal design processes and workshops;
• Experience working with INGOs and consortium-based programming;
• Familiarity with the Ethiopia humanitarian and development context is a strong asset.
Competencies:
• Excellent strategic and analytical writing skills;
• Strong understanding of donor language and funding trends;
• Ability to synthesize complex technical information into compelling narratives;
• Strong facilitation and coordination skills;
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
7. Duration of the Consultancy
The consultancy is expected to be framework-based/on-call for an initial period of 12 months. However, the estimated Level of Effort (LOE) for this consultancy is up to 50 days over the duration of the agreement.
Specific assignments, deliverables, timelines, and associated Level of Effort (LOE) will be jointly agreed between ACF Ethiopia and the consultant as needs arise and funding opportunities become available.
Assignments may include rapid proposal reviews, strategic positioning support, facilitation of proposal design workshops, or full proposal development from concept stage to submission.
Alternatively, ACF Ethiopia may issue retainer-based consultancy agreements or short-term assignments linked to specific funding opportunities.
8. Reporting Line
The consultant will report directly to the Country Director or designated Business Development/Grants focal point.
9. Confidentiality
All documents, proposals, donor communications, and materials shared during the consultancy remain the property of ACF Ethiopia and shall be treated with strict confidentiality.
10. Tender Schedule
Description
Dates
Advert – 1st July2026
Closing – 21st July 2026
Last Date for clarification – 15th July 2026
Tender Opening – 23rd July 2026
Evaluation – 23rd to 27th July 2026
Interviews – 28th & 30th July 2026
Signing of Contract – 1st August 2026
11. Submission Requirements
The consultant shall submit the following documents:
- A cover letter expressing interest and outlining relevant experience.
- Detailed CVs highlighting qualifications and previous work.
- A brief proposal (maximum 15pages) outlining the proposed approach, methodology, similar consultancy done the last 4years, at least three references, work-plan and financial proposal.
- Company registration certificate
- Tax registration and compliance certificate
- A copy of national ID/Passport for owner/director/manager
12. Submission deadline
Interested applicants shall submit their bid documents proposal containing CV, references, experience, list of similar consultancies done and financial proposals through email: [email protected]on or before 21st July,2026.
Action Against Hunger Ethiopia reserves the right to accept or reject bids at its entirety or partially. All late submission of bids shall also be rejected.
How to apply
Submission deadline
Interested applicants shall submit their bid documents proposal containing CV, references, experience, list of similar consultancies done and financial proposals through email: [email protected]on or before 21st July,2026.
More Information
- Job City Ethiopia
