Monitoring and Evaluation Consultancy – Baseline and Performance Evaluations

Position description

Monitoring and Evaluation Consultancy – Baseline and Performance Evaluations

Timeframe: January 8, 2023 – April 30, 2024, with potential for ongoing collaboration for mid-term and final evaluations

Background

World Council of Credit Unions is a membership association as well as an international development organization that works to advance financial inclusion through the credit union and cooperative model. We have four country offices where we are directly implementing projects with fintechs, credit unions and other ecosystem partners.  Our global credit union network is made up of 80,000 institutions serving over 400 million members in more than 100 countries. 

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) was recently awarded the Accelerating Growth and Inclusion in Lending for Credit Unions (AGIL4CU) project by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). AGIL4CU is a five-year project that aims to advance credit unions’ (CUs) ability to provide value to their members and contribute to the economic development of their communities, while extending business financing to underserved market segments, including women and youth entrepreneurs. AGIL4CU will 1) improve CU leaders’ strategic and technical capacity; 2) increase the value of digital, cybersecure services; 3) expand and iterate on streamlined MSME lending processes for economic growth; 4) implement youth and women specific loan products; and 5) expand climate adaptive financing.

Position Summary

WOCCU recruits for consultants and service providers for short-term specialized assignments worldwide, on an ongoing basis to join a cadre of vendors. WOCCU is currently seeking a monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) consulting firm to conduct a baseline assessment for the AGIL4CUs project across its countries of operation: Kenya, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Guatemala.

This baseline assessment will gather data on a representative sample of the target population, described as members of project-assisted credit unions and potential members in geographies where the project operates, needing financing to their micro, small, and medium enterprises, including agribusinesses, particularly businesses led by women and youth. This baseline assessment is expected to serve as the reference point for assessing futures changes and impacts of project access to finance interventions on MSMEs, particularly women and youth, and to answer project learning questions in relation to: self-reported income and/or job creation correlated with increased access to credit, the potential impact of digital lending on access to credit for MSMEs, and the potential impact of climate adaptation finance on resilience of local communities.

WOCCU plans to work with the selected consulting firm for this baseline assessment to conduct future performance evaluations under separate agreement for each assignment, namely the mid-term and final performance evaluations in 2026 and 2028. These future assignments will also include assessing project performance against its performance indicators and planned targets in relation to activities with project-assisted credit unions. Firms that would be available for future performance evaluations of this project will have an advantage in the selection process.

Tasks and Deliverables:

Task 1: desk review

Task 2: inception meetings with stakeholders

Deliverable 1) Baseline Assessment Plan, including:

-Data collection methodologies, combining quantitative and qualitative methods.

-Sampling methods.

-Baseline survey and other data collection instruments

-Indicators linked to the baseline survey (referencing the project MEL Plan and proposing new context-specific impact indicators if needed)

Task 3: finalized deliverable 1 after feedback

Task 4: validation of plan with partners and stakeholders as needed

Task 5: baseline assessment conducted

Task 6: presentation of findings

Deliverable 2) Baseline Assessment Report, including datasets.

Task 7: finalized deliverable 2 after feedback

Ongoing Support

Post completion of this assignment, there is potential for ongoing support for project mid-term and final performance evaluations and on an as-need basis.

Qualifications

Qualifications

Between the consultant team members proposed for this assignment:

• Master’s degree or higher in applied statistics, economics, international development, financial analysis, or a related field.
• Minimum 8 years of expertise in monitoring and evaluation for international development, including implementing performance evaluations, designing data collection tools and methodologies, collecting, and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data remotely and in the field, and presenting findings for evidence building and adaptive management.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in the areas of economic development, cooperative development, financial access, and financial inclusion.
• Knowledge of credit union and financial cooperative systems and services, particularly MSME lending, in a global context is preferred.
• Demonstrated research experience, especially qualitative, and excellent analysis, writing and communication skills.
• Experience working with USAID-funded programs and in-depth knowledge of USAID strategies for economic growth.
• Capabilities or resources to review documents and collect and analyze data in English, French, and Spanish. Final deliverables will be in English for this assignment.
• Experience in financial services in AGIL4CUs countries is highly desirable (Kenya, Guatemala, Burkina Faso, Senegal). Presence in some of the countries is preferred but not required.  

Application instructions

Qualified candidates must submit the following information. Only complete applications will be considered:

1. Executive summary detailing relevant work experience and qualifications for this assignment, including CV(s) of proposed key personnel.
2. Proposed approach and schedule/timeline of services for this assignment (level of effort for the assignment is approximately 35 business days for the baseline assessments).
3. Related previous work sample or example.
4. Budget for consultant services, disaggregated by categories and including proposed rate indicated in daily format.
5. Proposed daily rate for ongoing support.
6. Contact information for 2-3 references.

The final selection will be based on the best value proposition.

Submission Instructions

Application materials should be submitted via email with the subject line “MEL Consultant-Evaluations” to [email protected]. Bidders must include all relevant materials within your proposal. Failure to do so may result in the disqualification of your proposal. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact [email protected].

Deadline to Submit Application: December 4, 2023

Disclaimer

This bid solicitation in no way obligates World Council of Credit Unions to award a contract, nor does it commit World Council of Credit Unions to pay any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of the application. World Council of Credit Unions reserves the right to vary any part of this bid solicitation at the time of award if it becomes necessary. World Council of Credit Unions may cancel this solicitation or may reject any and all responses received. The issuance of this solicitation does not constitute an award commitment by the World Council of Credit Unions.