Terms of Reference for hiring a national consulting firm or a consultant to conduct:

‘’A comprehensive Outcome Harvesting of the 15 year-long Public Policy Information Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA) Programme in Rwanda”.

1. Background and Justification

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is seeking to hire the services of a reputable national consulting form to technically assist her with the conducting of a comprehensive outcome harvesting of its flagship citizens’ voice empowerment and civil society organisations (CSOs) support programme known as Public Policy Information, Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA).

Rwanda being a rapidly evolving country context to operate in, PPIMA has had to continuously re-adjust its course of action for a better adaptation to the context but also for ensuring continued relevance vis-à-vis the country and people’s specific needs. Accordingly, and even when the outcomes of PPIMA were in most-cases pre-determined at the time of each phase planning, not everything has evolved as per the initial plan of action. This justifies why NPA is planning to comprehensively harvest the outcomes of PPIMA over the last 15 years of implementation.

The intended outcome harvesting is critical for NPA to comprehensively capture and systematically document as well as substantiate the outstanding changes-whether intended or unintended- that are attributable to PPIMA and or which it has allegedly contributed to over the last 15 years of implementation.

1.1 About the Public Policy Information Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA)

Having started off as a low-scale pilot project in 2009 and a year later upgraded to a fully-fledged project, the Public Policy Information, Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA) is a ‘’civil society support {and citizens’ voice empowerment} project aimed at strengthening the interest among Rwandan civil society organizations (CSOs) and citizens in public policy affairs’’[1].

PPIMA, which is currently 15 years old, has along the way evolved into a multi-year and multi-phased programme, hence becoming NPA’s flagship development cooperation process with Rwanda. Since its establishment in 2009, PPIMA consistently worked to support citizens and CSOs’ efforts to self-organise and acquire the skills they need to meaningfully engage in national and local level processes of policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Consistent with the country’s strategic priorities in the areas of good governance, PPIMA’s end-purpose has always been to ensure that the different policy choices and programmes adopted by the Government of Rwanda (GoR) are informed by citizens’ inputs and that they deliver improved (public) services and goods that adequately respond to the needs and aspirations of all Rwandans, and the poor and most vulnerable groups in particular.

Implemented in phases (up to four now) within a wider national context of decentralisation and localized inclusive development, the overall goal of PPIMA is still to reduce inequality between different segments of the population (women, men, youth, poor and vulnerable groups and localities of the country) through equal redistribution of and access to (voice) power and resources. For a quick overview of the different implementation phases of PPIMA and what their individual focus was all about, check the below attached document:

PPIMA’s interventions are built around five mutually supportive intervention pillars: (i) citizen participation empowerment, of which the Community Score Card (CSC) is emblematic, and related advocacy; (ii) conflict resolution and access to justice and related advocacy through approaches such as Anti-Corruption, Justice and Information Centres (AJICs), Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs), Women Safe Spaces (WSS), Community Safe Spaces (CSS), Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Public Interest Litigation (PIL); (iii) human rights awareness, anti-corruption and related advocacy; (iv) environment and climate change awareness and related advocacy and lastly, (v) promotion of gender-sensitive policy and budget planning and practices, under which falls GBV prevention and response, and related advocacy.

Along the way and on basis of accumulated learning (s) about what was working or what was not, PPIMA design in all its different intervention pillars has had to adapt to the operative context and demands of the moment to keep its relevance in terms of meaningfully contributing to the implementation of national priorities while addressing people’s needs. PPIMA is coordinated by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) which works in partnership and solidarity with local and national civil society organizations covering different geographies ranging from local to national. Together, these CSOs catalyse and facilitate- through research and media- a quality dialogue between decision-makers and citizens on matters of concern to the later and to influence desired changes in relation to policy choices and service delivery practices.

PPIMA is a multi-donor funded programme to which different bilateral donors contribute or have contributed through a basket funding mechanism. Current donors include the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation(NORAD), Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and the Danish Government which has recently joined. The Department for International Development (DFI), which has now become FCDO, is a past donor.

1.2 About NPA

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is a non-governmental organisation with roots in trade unions and labour movements. NPA supports processes towards democracy and equitable distribution of power and resources amongst people and localities. The international development cooperation strategy affirms civil society as a key pillar for nation building, democracy and development and views human rights as building blocks for development and redistribution of power and resources.

NPA interventions in Rwanda begun in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and has ever since evolved as the country walked away from post-conflict reconstruction to embrace long-term development and gains consolidation. From 2009 to date, NPA’s interventions in Rwanda focus on supporting the advancement of good governance and human rights as pathways to a just distribution of power and resources. NPA does this through the Public Policy Information Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA).

2. Objectives

The overall objective of this consultancy is to comprehensively identify, verify and document the most outstanding changes that past and current partner CSOs claim were experienced by different target groups and stakeholders who engaged or continue to engage with PPIMA across its different intervention pillars and along its different phases from 2009 to present. Specifically, this analytical assignment will seek to:

1. Retroactively identify- based on past and current PPIMA partner CSOs’ reporting and stakeholders’ experience- what has meaningfully changed along the way vis-à-vis the planned goal and outcomes, taking as reference the original situation before the intervention begun and during the engagement;
2. Facilitate reflection and discussions with relevant stakeholders regarding the different intended and or unintended changes (at impact and outcome levels) that have taken place along the implementation of PPIMA and ascertain whether, how, and to what extent they can be traced back to the programme’s contribution;
3. Independently verify, from the perspectives of different boundary partners who have engaged with PPIMA over a sustained period, the relevant contributions and or attribution claims by CSOs partners (past and current) that drove the PPIMA implementation process and delivery of different results;
4. Extensively document, under one detailed consolidated report, the most outstanding intended and unintended changes that PPIMA has contributed to together with how the changes have happened, the factors that enabled them as well as how different people have experienced those changes.
5. Examine and document the sustainability, achieved or potential, of the most outstanding changes contribution and or attributions identified and accordingly formulate actionable recommendations about their consolidation both in time and across geographies;
6. Collect and systematise all relevant documentation produced in the past by NPA herself and by partner CSOs in relation to PPIMA, including analytical works.

3. Relevance of the assignment and potential use of the results

The results of the comprehensive PPIMA outcome harvesting will be primarily used by NPA, partner CSOs and other interested stakeholders to inform their strategic thinking and future programming decision-making, capitalising on lessons learnt about what works while guarding against continuing investing in practices that are not working. The outcome harvesting results will also be used for purely learning purposes, in addition to feeding into the upcoming final evaluation of PPIMA.

4. Scope of work

The scope of work will include but is not limited to:

• Set up, mobilise and manage a relevant team (core team and support team) that will deliver the assignment;
• Design a comprehensive outcome harvesting framework which safeguards the quality and integrity of the process. The framework shall, among others,: (i) formulate the outcome harvesting guiding questions based on the intended use (learning, new programming, ideally through a participatory conversation between the harvesters and the harvest users, etc); (ii) determine specific outcomes to focus on under the different intervention pillars and approaches of PPIMA, bearing in mind the most important areas of interests and how NPA wants to use the findings; (iii) design relevant tool for ensuring adequate documentation of the harvested outcomes (an outcome journal or a structured questionnaire/ interview guide, etc.);
• Collect and systematise all relevant documentation produced in the past by NPA and partner CSOs, including but not limited to analytical works and training materials;
• Review each partner CSOs’ documentation in order to identify self-reported most outstanding changes they claim to have contributed to;
• Review any other relevant documentation, including media sources, that capture relevant outcomes that PPIMA has connection (s) with;
• Prepare a comprehensive inception report, serving as detailed methodology report towards the conducting of the outcome harvesting and which includes sufficiently detailed data collection and or outcome recording instruments to be used in addition to a detailed work breakdown plan and timeframe for each key deliverable;
• Interview relevant informants who have directly engaged with PPIMA to verify and substantiate the self-reported outstanding change contribution or attribution claims with compelling evidence on the role played by relevant PPIMA partner CSOs and the changes into behaviours, attitudes and practices that their interventions have catalysed;
• Determine who will take part in the outcome-harvesting, their selection criteria and sample size in accordance with the best industry standards;
• Identify the key skillsets needed for each key deliverable and accordingly match the team of experts;
• Prepare the necessary documentation to support the application for the study pre-authorisation by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) and the research visa by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) respectively, as required;
• Collect relevant primary data, ensure full transcription into textual data of audio-visually recorded data and avail soft copies to NPA;
• Sort-out, process and analyse data collected from the field and determine emerging findings;
• Aggregate the most outstanding outcomes per individual intervention pillars and approaches of PPIMA and accordingly produce standalone thematic reports thereof;
• Produce a consolidated PPIMA master outcome harvesting report with compelling evidence on change contribution and or attribution claims across the different intervention pillars, and always making sure that adequate references are cited when it is necessary.
• Produce other relevant materials for ease of dissemination of the outcome harvesting results;
• Present the outcome harvesting results to selected audience at least twice on basis of NPA recommendations.

Note: Unless it is only contributing new knowledge and fresh insights about outstanding outcomes that were overlooked, the PPIMA comprehensive outcome harvesting is expected to put less emphasis on the Community Score Card (CSC)-related outcomes whose harvesting is largely being addressed through a dedicated CSC impact study. This is meant to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts. Accordingly, the relevant consultants hired separately by NPA to lead these two assignments will be, to the extent possible, encouraged to exchange notes about the emerging outcomes when and as needed particularly in case the CSC impact study is yet to be completed.

5. Preferred methodology

In the process of harvesting the changes, NPA strongly encourages the use of an inclusive and participatory outcome harvesting approach which capitalises on engagements and conversation with relevant informants as subject matter experts. Particularly encouraged to be used is the Group Analysis Methods (GAMs) which allows for the co-identification and co-verification of change contribution and or attribution claims and hence the co-creation of knowledge thereof. A predominantly qualitative outcome harvesting method is recommended but NPA is also open to suggestions that allow to capture PPIMA outcomes that can be quantified.

6. Key deliverables and timelines

The successful national consulting firm or a consultant will be hired for a maximum of 80 man-days, spread across a period counted from the last week of April until beginning of October 2024 and will deliver the following key deliverables within the stipulated timelines:

7. Supervision and quality assurance

The successful entity will have the primary responsibility for ensuring high quality standards of the outcome harvesting execution process and related deliverables. He/she will functionally report to the NPA Policy and Strategy Advisor as the lead quality assurer of the assignment and its related deliverables, supported by NPA MEAL team.

8. Desired profile of the applicant

To be administratively eligible for this consultancy opportunity, the bidder should:

• Be a locally-established consulting firm or a consultant as proven by a verifiable physical contact address in Rwanda; and/or
• Be a consulting firm dully registered by competent authority as evidenced by a valid business registration issued by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB); and
• Produce a valid tax registration certificate issued by Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA);
• Prove that they have been into the consultancy business for at least five consecutive years and that they are specialised in outcome-harvesting and or evaluation assignments on governance matters in Africa and preferably in Rwanda;
• Have an outstanding familiarity with programme or project or programme-based outcome harvesting and documentation language as evidenced by the submission of at least two reports of similar works successfully completed in the past outcome-harvesting reports for donor institutions, national and or international organisations.
• At least two certificates of completion of similar assignments in the past accompanied by the contact details of references who know the quality of their work and can testify to their technical and ethical competence.
• A comprehensive understanding of the socio-political context of Rwanda, including its historical background, governance and cultural dynamics, demonstratable through the expertise and experience of the core team (not below three people);
• Excellent analytical and writing skills in English as demonstrated by at least one scientific or professional writing samples for which the proposed Team-Leader acted as unique author in addition to at least one scientific or professional writing sample for which the proposed team leader acted as the first author.
• Strong preference will be given to the companies/consultants with track record in citizen participation evaluation in Rwanda.

9. Procurement method

This tender follows a competitive tendering method and is only open to consulting companies and consultant physically and legally established in Rwanda and who meet the minimum profile administrative criteria described under section 8.

10. How to submit the offers

A technical offer not exceeding 15 pages, annexes excluded, and a separate financial offer must be virtually submitted to nparwanda@npaid.org with the mention “PPIMA Comprehensive Outcome Harvesting’’ under the subject heading before or not later than the 27^th April 2024 at 4:00 p.m. Kigali local time. No hard copy submissions will be accepted.

Applicants will have to ensure that their technical offers clearly demonstrates and or includes:

• How the different objectives of this assignment will be addressed methodologically.
• How the different elements of the scope of work defined by NPA will be handled;
• The applicant’s understanding of the intended assignment including a critique of the actual terms of reference and recommendations and or suggestions about what needs to be improved to ensure high-end quality process and deliverables.

The financial offer should be submitted separately and shall indicate:

• The total costs chargeable to NPA for this assignment, including field-trip accommodation and daily survival allowances;
• Terms of payment per key deliverables;
• NPA will hold prior discussions (virtual or in-person) with short-listed bidders to provide further clarification to the ToR in order to ensure quality final offers. Accordingly, short- listed bidders will be contacted by NPA for a meeting interview prior to a final revision of the technical proposal and budget. Applicants will be notified about their bidding outcome by the first week of May, 2024.

11. Evaluation criteria and scoring

NPA maintains very high-quality standards in everything it does. Thus, the evaluation and scoring of the offers received will follow a quality-based selection method that prioritises the soundness of the technical offer over the pricing. However, NPA reserves the right not to award the tender to the best qualifying bidder in case the financial negotiations were unsuccessful.

Technical offer: 

Done at Kigali on the 17^th April 2024

[1] Dastgeer, A. et Al. (2011). Evaluation of the SIDA and DFID funded Public Policy Information, Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA) project in Rwanda. Final Report. Unpublished