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Request for proposals are invited for Evaluation of Cooperative Development Curricula Location: Kigali Deadline: Wednesday, 22/01/2025 23:59 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP Number: 2024-CORE-RWA-PROC-0038 Subject: Request for Proposals for Evaluation of Cooperative Development Curricula Issuance Date: December 16, 2024 Offer Deadline: January 22, 2025 Land OLakes Venture37 (Venture37) is soliciting proposals from qualified and experienced firms or individuals to conduct an evaluation of a cooperative development curricula described in this Request for Proposals (RFP). These services are required for the Cooperative Resilience and Equity Activity (CORE) for services to be performed in Rwanda. While CORE is implemented in Rwanda and Zambia, this study will only focus on Rwanda. Firms and individuals invited by Venture37 (hereinafter Bidders) to submit offers for the services described in this RFP are under no obligation to do so. The Bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the Proposal; Venture37 will in no case be liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the solicitation. This Request for Proposal includes the following sections: Technical Specifications Instructions to Bidders Submission of offers must be completed in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders and complete offers must be received by the date and time indicated. All correspondence and/or inquiries regarding this RFP must be requested in accordance with the enclosed Instructions to Bidders. SECTION 1: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Project Overview The Cooperative Resilience and Equity Activity (CORE) is a Cooperative Development Program (CDP) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). CORE aims to foster vibrant, sustainable cooperative ecosystems in Rwanda and Zambia, in which self-managed cooperatives and all their members flourish economically and socially. It will do that through three interrelated objectives: 1) Strengthen the capacity of cooperatives; 2) Improve the cooperative enabling environment and 3) Spur innovation, learning and continuous improvement in the local and global development community. Activity 1- Strengthen Capacity of Cooperatives: CORE will support cooperatives to improve their governance, management, and leadership through tailored capacity development plans and training, enhance marketing capabilities through market linkages and a marketing management program, and support gender and youth integration through empowerment activities. Activity 2-Improve the Cooperative Enabling Environment: CORE will strengthen the capacity of government ministries, including the Zambia Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMEs), to improve laws and regulations that are favorable to cooperative development. To further facilitate an enabling environment for cooperatives, CORE will improve cooperatives access to services and resources, including access to finance in both Rwanda and Zambia CORE will work with the Cooperative College of Zambia (CCZ) and the Rwanda Institute of Cooperatives, Entrepreneurship and Microfinance (RICEM) to improve cooperative networks and increase member equity. Activity 3 - Apply Activity Learning in the Development Community: To facilitate active learning and application I the development and country communities, CORE will create tools and resources to be shared, accessed and adopted by USAID, global and local partner organizations (such as RICEM and CCZ), and cooperative organizations and their members. This will include establishing a monitoring, evaluation research and learning community of practice across CDP implementers, and conducting and share innovative research around member retention, effectiveness of cash transfers, and learnings from use of an entrepreneurship curricula for womens empowerment. In Rwanda, under Activity 1, CORE has supported RICEM to develop a cooperative development curricula for cooperative leaders and members that is adult-centric and user friendly. To develop the curricula, RICEM completed a mapping exercise of existing cooperative training modules in Rwanda in collaboration with cooperative stakeholders such as the Rwanda Cooperative Agency, National Cooperative Confederation of Rwanda (NCRR), cooperatives, training and learning centers, and development organizations in the cooperative space. Following the mapping exercise, RICEM harmonized, adapted, and developed seven (7) training curricula on key cooperative management topics. The 7 modules include: Cooperative governance and leadership Cooperative accounting and financial management Business planning and access to finance Contract negotiation and management Product development and diversification Entrepreneurship Internal control and auditing. CORE will also be contracting a gender and youth expert to ensure the curricula is inclusive of men, women, and youth, and to add an 8th module on women and youth inclusion in cooperatives. RICEM and /or Consultants will carry out these curricula to 25 cooperatives supported by the CORE project in Eastern and North-Western parts of Rwanda from January to July, 2025. These cooperatives are located in Kayonza, Ngoma, Nyabihu, and Rubavu districts of Rwanda in the potato, maize, rice, vegetable and dairy value chains. They have an average membership size of 637 members with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 3,874. Due to timing issues, CORE expects to carry out the Cooperative accounting and financial management module with the cooperative in January, prior to hiring the research firm. The project will ensure to conduct pre- and post-training surveys to understand the change in understanding on key concepts for that module to support the research. Curricula Evaluation Purpose To assess the effectiveness of the cooperative curricula to impart essential skills to cooperative leaders and members, especially women and youth. To provide recommendations for improving the curricula to the needs of adult learnings, especially women and youth. Methodology The selected firm will conduct a mixed-methods study that involves primary collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data will include pre and post-tests for cooperative members and leaders that are trained using the curricula. The qualitative data will be collected through focus group discussions (FGDs) with cooperative members, and key informant interviews with cooperative leaders and/or other curricula stakeholders. The selected firm may propose other data collection methods in line with best practices in evaluating adult-learning curricula. Key Tasks Review of Documents: Undertake a review of the cooperative curricula, curricula roll-out plan, other relevant projects documents, and secondary documents on cooperative curricula evaluation. Development of methodology and update data collection tools:The evaluator, in close collaboration with Venture37, should do the following: Develop a finalized methodology, including a sampling technique and sample sizes for both quantitative and qualitative data collection that is consistent with the desired methodology in this RFP. Develop data collection tools for both quantitative and qualitative primary data collection that align with the methodology and ensure all objectives of the study are met. Submit an inception report to Venture37, including methodology and tools. Field Data Collection Plan and coordinate the necessary logistics to collect the data in accordance with the selected methodology. This could include coordinating with RICEM to implement the pre-and post-test questionnaires at the training venue. Pre-test, edit, translate (into all necessary languages), finalize and reproduce the data collection tools. Train and orient the data collection team. Carry out the fieldwork using own transportation Data entry, analysis and reporting Enter, clean, synthesize, analyze, and interpret data from both the quantitative surveys and the qualitative protocols using approved statistical packages. Prepare draft outlines for the cooperative curricula evaluation report. Prepare draft cooperative curricula evaluation report. Finalize the cooperative curricula evaluation report based on feedback from Venture37. Suggested Timeline The anticipated timeline for the curricula evaluation is provided below. Any anticipated deviations from this timeline should be discussed within the proposal. The rapid assessment is expected to commence in early April. Tender Link : https://www.jobinrwanda.com/index.php/job/request-proposals-evaluation-cooperative-development-curricula
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