Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Wunguke Activity

Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) and Market Systems Development (MSD)

Strategy and Training Consultancy  

1. About CNFA

CNFA is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to stimulating economic growth in the agricultural sector by nurturing entrepreneurship, private enterprise, and market linkages. CNFA specializes in fostering private sector investments in training, new technologies, and marketing as a means to increase competitiveness of agricultural value chains and rural development, increase people’s incomes, develop skills in the rural workforce, and facilitate exports.

2. About Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Wunguke Activity

The purpose of the Hinga Wunguke Activity is to support increased agriculture productivity and income, access to finance and markets, and access and consumption of nutritious food products in Rwanda, while increasing the resilience of the agriculture and food systems to the changing climate. Hinga Wunguke has four Intermediate Results (IRs): 1) Sustainably Increase Agricultural Productivity; 2) Access to Finance for Farmers & Agribusinesses Increased, 3) Improve Producers’ Market and Nutrition Outcomes and 4) Strengthen the Enabling Environment to Foster Market Driven Agriculture.

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3. Overview of the Assignment

a.      Background

Hinga Wunguke uses a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach to drive sustainable and scalable improvements in the food system in Rwanda. The objective of MSD is to catalyze a process that results in more competitive, inclusive, and resilient market systems. MSD seeks to foster systemic change driven by local system/market actors that is sustainable and aligned with market-based incentives, including empowering the most economically and socially disadvantaged individuals.

In line with the key principles of an MSD approach, all Hinga Wunguke staff are responsible for ensuring interventions and activities integrate gender and social inclusion, with the Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor leading this effort. As MSD approaches are relatively new to Rwanda, the Activity staff require capacity building and support to ensure its early design and implementation is fully aligned with MSD inclusion principles. The Activity also requires technical assistance to ensure its Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy is in line with MSD best practices.  

b.      Assignment Description

Hinga Wunguke will engage a short-term consultant to build staff capacity in inclusive MSD approaches based on USAID and global best practices. Specifically, the consultant will provide training and coaching to the Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor so she can further support the Hinga Wunguke team to ensure approaches, interventions, and activities are inclusive within the MSD context. The consultant will also provide comprehensive training directly to Hinga Wunguke staff on inclusive MSD approaches. To further support the integration of inclusive MSD approaches, the consultant will develop a Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy, in close collaboration with the GESI Advisor, Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Advisor, and Component Leads. The consultant will also support the GESI Advisor and Component Leads to ensure the Component Strategies and Year 2 Implementation Plan have robust gender and social inclusion approaches.

c.       Task Duration

The STTA is anticipated to be up to 20 days, including a combination of preparation, in-person support, remote work, and strategy writing.

4. Deliverables:

The consultant will provide the following deliverables:

1. A workplan within 5 days of contract signature with a detailed timeline of proposed consulting support.
2. Training and coaching for the GESI Advisor (in-person).
3. Training for Hinga Wunguke staff (in-person).
4. Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy outline.
5. Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy (max 15 pages) including team consultations.
6. Contribute to the development of Component Strategies using an MSD/GESI lens.
7. Contribute to the development of the Y2 Implementation Plan using an MSD/GESI lens.

The consultant will collaborate closely with the GESI Advisor, MSD Director, Component Leads, and other relevant staff for items “e-g”. Deliverables should be provided in English.

5. Evaluation:

The award will be made to a responsible offeror whose offer follows the solicitation instructions, meets the eligibility requirements, and is determined via a trade-off analysis to be the best value based on application of the below evaluation criteria. Best value determination will consider both technical and financial proposals, i.e., the best approach and anticipated results in combination with a reasonable cost. Proposed costs must reflect and clearly match the degree of sophistication of the technical approach. The relative importance of each individual criterion is indicated by the number of points below:

6. Evaluation and Qualifications:

Minimum requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in gender studies, agriculture, international development, business, or related field is required. Master’s degree in one of these topics or a related field is preferred.
• A minimum of 3 years of work experience in agricultural market systems development combined with gender and social inclusion.
• Demonstrated experience providing training in gender and social inclusion within MSD programs.
• Demonstrated experience developing Gender and Social Inclusion Strategies.
• Experience working on USAID-funded programs (as a staff or consultant) preferred.
• Familiarity with the East African context preferred.
• Submission of 3 references.

Best-offer proposals are requested. It is anticipated that the award will be made solely on the basis of these original proposals. However, CNFA reserves the right to conduct any of the following:

• CNFA may conduct negotiations with and/or request clarifications from any offeror prior to award;
• While preference will be given to offerors who can address the full technical requirements of this solicitation, CNFA may issue a partial award or split the award among various suppliers, if in the best interest of the Hinga Wunguke Project;
• CNFA may cancel this solicitation at any time;
• CNFA may contact a shortlist of offerors for additional screening interviews following review of initial offers received.

Please note that if there are deficiencies regarding responsiveness to the requirements of this Solicitation, an offer may be deemed “non-responsive” and thereby disqualified from consideration. CNFA reserves the right to waive immaterial deficiencies at its discretion.

How to apply:

Interested candidates should submit an application containing CV, one page write-up on relevant experience and proposed high-level methodology, 3 references, and preferred daily rate, to the following e-mail addresses: Brett Aronson  baronson@cnfa.org and Rachael Franchini rfranchini@cnfa.org . The deadline for applications is Friday 10 June 2023, 6:00 PM Kigali time. Please include “Consultancy – GESI Strategy and Training” in the subject line.