Terms Of Reference For Developing The Country Office Management Information System 30 views1 applications

1. Background/Context

CARE International is a global organization established to fight poverty and social injustice. It was established in Rwanda in September 1984, and has implemented diversified programs following the evolution of the social economic situation of the country. Currently, CARE International in Rwanda’s program portfolio focuses on women and girls economic empowerment, prevention of gender based violence (GBV), promoting inclusive governance; and socially equitable sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Being a gender transformative organization, gender equality, inclusive governance and resilient communities continue to be the crosscutting themes across all programs.

According to the current business plan 2017-2020, CARE will focus on a new impact group of women and girls aged 10 to 59 years; delivering, in partnership with national civil society organizations, programs in the above mentioned focus areas.

In the past, different MIS have been designed for different projects and implemented differently according to different donor requirements. A big lesson learnt is that this practice does not help the organization to have an effective knowledge management and learning system and therefore led to a number of missed opportunities for learning, innovation, impact measurement and advocacy. The country office (CO) has now decided to have one CO MIS that will serve all the projects. The MIS platform will have an overall blue print for the CO and then embrace the different program focus areas.

It is against the above background that CARE is seeking to hire a consultancy firm to develop a user-friendly and web-based MIS that will accommodate both the current and future projects requirements in terms of monitoring, evaluation and impact measurement; The platform must provide a sustainable, reliable, and timely solution to systematically collect (be it manually or electronically), store, process, analyze data and produce predefined monitoring and impact reports that will inform strategic decision making and programming.

2. Objectives of the Consultancy

The main objective of this consultancy is to deliver a web-based Country Office (CO) management information system (MIS).

The specific objectives of the consultancy are the following:

• To design a comprehensive web based MIS system which will enable the CO to collect (Both manually and electronically), store, process, and analyze data in order to effectively monitor, learn, communicate and improve the CO programming (Design and implementation). This will also include To develop a data flow diagram that demonstrates how data from different stakeholders will feed into the MIS system, with clear roles for each;
• To pilot the MIS system considering the existing projects as the case study
• To train CARE M&E team on how to use and support operationalization of the MIS system
• To provide follow-up technical support to the CARE technical team to ensure the effective operation of the MIS ((ensure the system is completely performing the key functions it was designed for).

3. Expected deliverables

Based on the objectives above, the deliverables are divided into four categories as follows:

3.1. Design

• One page review report of the current MIS ( Literacy, GBV, and VSL) and leverage them in designing the CO MIS ;platform
• Inception report indicating the methodology; the system’s import and export formats and user interfaces; a work plan or Roadmap for a functional CO MIS and system architecture (sequence of databases and linkages between them). The system architecture and export format should be aligned with the existing and planned data collection forms and types of data collected, as well as indicators used by CO programs and reporting formats. The proposed system should merge existing databases and allow for identification of coverage overlaps. This should include, but not be limited to the operationalization of the existing GBV and literacy MIS and the review of the Economic Empowerment MIS. The consultant is expected to undertake a comprehensive desk review of the existing projects and CO program strategy in order to conduct this task;
• Proposal for the system operational framework (including mapping report of all the system users (VAs, mentors, community activists, Case Managers, literacy teachers, farmer promoters, etc) and system design;
• CO blue print that demonstrates organizational information such as # of staff (Disaggregated by sex, levels: senior and other staff, expatriate- national; # of projects constituting the CO portfolio; annual budget; # of annual outreach for program disaggregated by gender, age, etc;
• List of existing and potential indicators considering the CO five program are mapped out;
• A data flow chart showing how data from different stakeholders/users will be collected and channeled to the MIS system, with clear roles for each stakeholder;
• Pre-defined report (e.g. graphs, charts, tables, etc) that will automatically be generated by the platform (Analysis of data must be updated in real time, including GPS, so that the graphs and charts automatically include recently added data)–the MIS management and analysis platform will need to accommodate data errors and quality checks. In case of electronic data collection via tablets or phones, the platform designer needs to make sure that collection tools are synced with the management tool—the platform must include certain quality controls within the MIS system (i.e.: highlighting where there is a calculation error, or if data entered doesn’t make sense)
• A comprehensive web based MIS platform to collect (Both manually and electronically), store, process, and analyze data in order to effectively monitor, learn, communicate and improve the CO programming. This will include developing an operational framework showing users, administrator and build different access options
• Adaptable Platform as needs to programming changes

3.2. Pilot

• Pilot test of the interfaces with user representatives
• A fully functional and tested MIS in place and existing data imported
• A system dashboard generating automatic report:

1. Activity Reports, indicating the number of participants disaggregated per type of activity, location, sex and age (when appropriate). Activity reports should include an export format disaggregating results per indicator, depending on the needs of each project.
2. Aggregated outputs (descriptive analysis) as per Intervention activity i.e. Charts, graphs

• System user manual
• System handover including documentation and source codes

3.3. Training system users

• Workshop to build capacity of CARE technical team in using and managing the system
• Training report of the ToT on the use of the new MIS for the CARE technical team

3.4. Accompaniment support

• System maintenance and accompaniment of the CARE team (addressing the gaps, and providing necessary refresher training) for a period of one year
• Hosting facility for the CO MIS system

4. Assignment duration

We expect this assignment to be completed in 3 months from the date of contract signing including 1 month to build the framework/platform, 1 month to troubleshoot and populate the system, and 1 month to train concerned staff and stakeholders and finalize the system.

Accompaniment: 12 months

5. Role of CARE

• Avail 2 technical staff who will work hand in hand with the consultant throughout the whole assignment,
• Support the consultant mapping out all existing and potential indicators,
• Provide all the necessary information regarding existing MISs (Literacy, GBV, economic empowerment, etc),
• Provide office facilities and equipments such internet, required for performing the installation of MIS,
• Identify a cohort of ToT to be trained and provided TA over a period of 12 months.

6. Required skills/competencies for consultants assigned to this work

• Over 5 years of international experience in MIS operations e.g. designing, implementing, trouble-shooting, reconstruction etc;
• Excellent knowledge and experience in designing web-based Management Information Systems with relevant certificates recognized (international certificate is an added value);
• Strong experience in database and platform development;
• The firm and the team proposed to design the MIS system should have proven experience in designing similar systems with traceable strong track record;
• Excellent skills and experience in program monitoring, evaluation and documentation;
• Broad knowledge and understanding of the context in SRH, GBV and WEE programming;
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines;
• Strong training (skills transfer) and facilitation skills

7. Reporting line: The consultant shall be reporting directly to the Research and Analyst Manager (RAM) and shall work closely with the CO M&E unit, PQL Director and Program Coordinators.

How to apply:

Interested candidates / firms are requested to submit their application not later than December 4, 2017 in a sealed envelope at CARE International in Rwanda, P.O.Box 550 Kigali-Rwanda or by email to [email protected] and [email protected].

The application package should comprise the following:

• Technical proposal showing the consultant understanding of the assignment, proposed , methodology, MIS design, a detailed work plan as well as CVs and relevant experience and proven track record of the team members/Examples of similar work (at least 3 references) with certificate of completion and contact address of referees;
• Financial proposal;
• Certificate of non-claim against Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) for consultancy firms/consultants registered in Rwanda;
• Copy of certificate of registration for VAT and trade license;