REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR SELECTION OF INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT SERVICES

Procuring Agency: Smart Africa Alliance

Country: Rwanda

Name of Project: Digital Transformation for Africa/ Western Africa Regional

Digital Integration Program (DTfA/ WARDIP) SOP-1

Assignment Title: Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Smart Africa Digital

Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1

Reference No.: RW-SAA-410462-CS-INDV

Grant No.: IDA-E2670

The Smart Africa alliance has received grant from the World Bank toward the cost of

Digital Transformation for Africa/ Western Africa Regional Digital Integration Program (DTfA/ WARDIP) SOP-1 and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consultant services. 

The consultant services (“the Services”) for Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Smart Africa Digital Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1 for part-time basis for a period of three (3) years renewable upon satisfaction of services and availability of funds. 

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached below.

The Smart Africa Alliance now invites eligible individual consultants to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The selection criteria will be based on qualifications and relevant experience.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” December 2023 setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below in person, or by mail, or by e-mail by 2^nd September 2024 at 4PM. 

Smart Africa Secretariate 

10th floor in Career Center Building, 

KG 541 ST, Kigali – Rwanda 

Website: www.smartafrica.org

Email: hr@smartafrica.org

PO Box: 4913 Kigali

Terms of Reference for hiring of Monitoring and Evaluation

Specialist for Smart Africa Digital Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1

• Position: Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Smart Africa Digital Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1
• Duration: Fixed Term, renewable
• Location: Kigali, Rwanda
• Deadline: 2nd September 2024

I. Context and Background 

Africa is reshaping its narrative from one of poverty to progress, showcasing impressive economic growth, technological innovation, and a young population. Nevertheless, digital transformation faces obstacles such as limited access, insufficient investments, and a digital divide, which also offer opportunities for growth through better accessibility, efficiency, and job creation.

The Smart Africa Alliance, established through the Smart Africa Manifesto, is a collaborative effort among African nations, the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Telecommunications Union, the private sector, and academic and research institutions. This initiative, driven by African Heads of State and Government, aims to propel sustainable socio-economic development across the continent by leveraging Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to transition Africa into a knowledge-based economy. Originally endorsed by African leaders in 2014, the Smart Africa Manifesto has since garnered the support of 39 African countries, representing over one billion population, with the goal of placing ICT at the core of both national and continental socioeconomic development efforts. This involves increasing ICT access, enhancing transparency, efficiency, and openness through ICT adoption, fostering advanced telecommunication technologies, empowering the private sector, and utilizing ICT for sustainabledevelopment.

The Alliance promotes digital transformation by building digital infrastructure, supporting entrepreneurship, fostering innovation, developing human capital, driving digitization, and advocating the development of policies and regulations that support the growth of the digital economy and digital technologies. Recognising the need for strong capacity building efforts to achieve AU’s goals for digital transformation, the Alliance established the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA), adopted during the Smart Africa Alliance ninth Board Meeting Resolution 5, as a vehicle to implement its capacity building and skills development activities across member states, through the establishment of national digital academies.

SADA ensures that policymakers, business leaders, and the wider African population develop the digital skills and knowledge necessary to participate in the digital economy and take advantage of new opportunities. SADA recognized the importance of strong policies and regulations and the need to equip policymakers and regulators to design and implement effective digital policies and regulations. Through collaborative efforts with the World Bank and GIZ, SADA has, in its phase 1, trained over 8000 beneficiaries, out of which over 5000 are Africa’s Policy and Decision makers. SADA has also implemented National Digital Academies across 12 African countries.

Visit https://sada.smartafrica.org/for more information about the Smart Africa Digital Academy

II. Digital Transformation for Africa/ Western Africa Regional Digital Integration Program (DTfA/ WARDIP) SOP-1 

The DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1 is a World Bank (WB) regional project with financing from the

International Development Asociaton (IDA) covering two continental entities, AU and Smart Africa, one REC, ECOWAS and four countries, The Gambia, Guinea. Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania. The DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1 aims to increase broadband access and usage in participating countries and to advance the integration of digital markets in Western Africa.

The project is designed around the three distinct but interconnected layers of the SDM framework. The three market layers are (i) a single connectivity market, removing barriers to regional telecom infrastructure and services deployment; (ii) a single data market, enabling the secure exchange and processing of data across borders; and (iii) a single online market, allowing the access and delivery of public and private services online and digital trade across borders.

At the continental level the project will support AU´s strategic vision of creating an SDM in Africa by 2030 through the development of appropriate policies and regulations for coordinated digital transformation in Africa. A key element will be a comprehensive training program open to policy and decision makers as well as regulators from all countries in Africa to be implemented by Smart Africa through its Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA). The training will ensure that participants are updated on digitalization and address the new policies and regulations underpinning single digital markets, with focus on agile regulation, data economy and green digital. This will also foster common knowledge, competencies, and peer-learning to design and implement digital policies and regulations.

III. The Smart Africa Digital Academy for Policy and Decision makers (SADACBDM) – A Subcomponent of the DTfA/WARDIP-SOP 1

The subcomponent of the DTfA/WARDIP-SOP1 project to be implemented by Smart Africa aims at a rapid-scaling of the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) program at both regional and continental levels by leveraging on the existing SADA-CBDM implementation, AReg4DT program, and developing a replicable implementation model that caters for the specific needs and the regional context. The overall aim is to establish a new generation of policymakers and regulators across Africa, who are individually knowledgeable on how to harness the potential of green and inclusive digital transformation through new approaches to policy and regulation, and who collectively contribute to the establishment of a Single Digital Market in Africa. With this aim, the scale-up will reach 30,000 unique policymakers and decision makers from all countries in Africa, with a core group of 5,000 being trained in person towards creating a safe, inclusive and sustainable single digital market for Africa, with a participation level of females at 40%. The use of self-paced learning and train-the-trainer approaches are both aimed at further enhancing the reach of the program to propagate new knowledge and new practices across the entire ecosystem including the private sector, academia and in some cases the general public.

In line with the vision of Smart Africa, the program aims to provide foundational knowledge and competencies for the current and future digital policy makers to design, draft and implement digital policies and regulations required to promote a vibrant (i.e, competitive), safe, inclusive and sustainable (i.e., affordable and green) digital transformation that will, in turn, foster the creation of a secured Single Digital Market in Africa with focus on Agile regulation, the data economy and green digital.

SADA invites suitably qualified consultants to indicate their interest in the implementation of the SAA component of the DTfA/WARDIP-SOP1, as Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist.

IV. Duties and Responsibilities

The M&E specialist is responsible for the design, implementation, and management of a monitoring and evaluation system to ensure that objectives are achieved in an effective and efficient manner relating to the SAA component of DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1 project at regional level.

She/He will work under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, Smart Africa

Digital Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1 and in collaboration with the established Project Implementation Unit (PIU) and the extended execution team. She/He will carry out her/his responsibilities according to operating procedures as defined in the project’s implementation manual (PIM) as well as any other relevant WB guidelines relating to Monitoring and Evaluation.

Specifically, this position will cover the following areas of work

General Responsibilities

• Oversee the M&E system for the PIU, which includes adherence to the project’s Results Framework (RF), to ensure that accurate and timely data is available for the project especially with regards to the quality, efficiency, effectiveness and outcomes of the activities implemented under the SADA component of the
• Ensure that data is collected and managed for all project sub-components in a simplified manner with results-oriented indicators that are linked to the project objectives and the intermediate results indicators as defined in the RF, as well as go beyond to capture relevant monitoring and evaluation information required for successful supervision of the project
• Contribute to preparation of biannual progress reports containing data on performance against targets, overall project recommendations and recommendations to improve both project performance and M&E.
• Ensure that M&E is well-embedded in various parts of the project implementation to ensure that results are properly
• Integrate with existing Smart Africa MnE Framework in order to have a wholistic approach and ensure the objectives of the SADA WARDIP project contribute to single digital market

Project planning

• Contribute to the development of comprehensive M&E plans aligned with project objectives and the
• Collaborate with project managers to integrate M&E strategies into project
• Prepare and manage the budget for M&E

Coordination and implementation

• Supervise the execution of M&E activities on a regional scale to collect, analyze and present relevant data and information needed for achieving the project objectives and the RF indicators under the SADA component of the
• Develop and deploy robust data collection methods to guarantee the precision and quality of
• Support the PIU for overall evidence-based implementation of the project activities under the SADA component of the project, communicating and providing analysis on findings related to the project implementation in accordance with the project objectives and RF Thereby, propose changes to the project implementation strategy if and when needed to ensure successful attainment of the objectives and indicators.
• Work closely with regional coordinators to ensure the smooth implementation of M&E plan

Stakeholder engagement

• Interact with essential stakeholders, such as policymakers, business leaders, and training participants, to comprehend their requirements and anticipations and to collect relevant data for project
• Cultivate cooperation and sustain efficient communication channels with project

Reporting and monitoring

The Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist will provide on monthly basis the following deliverables:

• Monthly and Quarterly M&E Progress Report: This is a detailed report summarizing the progress of M&E activities, including data collection, Analysis, and adherence to the results Report should highlight key findings, trends, and any issues identified, along with recommendations for improvements.
• Data Collection and Quality Assurance Update: This report outlines the status of data collection efforts, including the effectiveness of data collection methods, accuracy , and
• Stakeholder Engagement Summary: This is a summary of interactions with Stakeholders, including feedback and data collected from policymakers, and training The report should suggest adjustments to M&E strategies based on these interactions with stakeholders
• Generate biannual and ad-hoc reports on project progress to ensure steady advancement on the project activities, offering perspectives on achievements, challenges, and areas for
• Ensure accurate and timely reporting to internal and external
• Monitor project risks that could prevent the achievement of project results and their mitigation measures and convey related findings to PIU and inclusion in progress

Evaluation and impact assessment

Lead initiatives to evaluate the impact of training programs on participants and the wider digital ecosystem, assessing the effectiveness of policies and regulationsimplementedpost-training.

Capacity building

• Provide training and capacity-building sessions on M&E best practices for PIU, project staff and
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the M&E team and inspire a commitment to excellence and focus on achieving project

Continuous improvement and innovation

• Consolidate and document lessons learned during implementation and at project
• Review and refine PIU’s M&E system based on lessons learned and emerging
• Propose and implement improvements to enhance the overall effectiveness of M&E

Other o Perform other duties as may be assigned by the Supervisors.

V. Position requirements /evalution criteria

A. Key Attributes

• Proficient in analyzing and interpreting data, identifying trends, and providing valuable insights for informed decision-making.
• Demonstrates strong project management skills to design, implement, and oversee monitoring and evaluation systems
• Exhibits excellent communication skills, capable of articulating insights, findings, and progress clearly to various
• Skilled in collaborating with regional coordinators and diverse stakeholders to ensure the smooth execution of monitoring and evaluation
• Capable of aligning monitoring and evaluation efforts with the strategic goals of the SADA Scale-up project and the broader objectives of Smart 
• Excellent expertise in monitoring and evaluation methodologies, tools, and technologies relevant to the digital education and policy
• Pays meticulous attention to detail, ensuring the accuracy and quality of data in monitoring and evaluation

Key attributes

Proficiency in English and French, both written and oral communication.

B. Others requirements

• Ability to travel within the region as
• Previous experience with initiatives that have resulted in tangible positive outcomes, ideally in the context of digital skills development or policy
• Ability to navigate and adapt to evolving project dynamics and effectively address challenges in a dynamic

C. Duration of the Assignment

The consultancy assignment is structured as a part-time contract, requiring the consultant to commit 3 days per week over a period of three (3) years renewable subject to fund availability and satisfactory performance.

D. Monthly Deliverables and Reports

All reports are submitted as part of the PIU requirements, and the consultant will administratively report to the PIU Project Manager Smart Africa Digital Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1,

E. Location

The monitoring and evaluation specialist will be working from Kigali at Smart Africa Secretariat office.

F. Application Instructions

Candidates should send the following documents to the following email address: hr@smartafrica.org," style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(49, 158, 98); text-decoration: none; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;">hr@smartafrica.org, with mention of Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist - Smart Africa Digital Academy - DTfA/ WARDIP SOP-1” in the subject line:

• A detailed CV .
• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the responsibilities and requirements for this

NB :

• Incomplete expression of interest will not be
• We encourage qualified candidates, with a passion for advancing digital skills and policy development in Africa, to apply and contribute to the establishment of a Single Digital Market in the

The deadline for submitting applications is 2nd September 2024 at 4PM, Kigali time.

The best 3 ranked consultants will be invited for oral interview. Any late application will be automatically rejected.

We look forward to receiving your expression of interest !!!