Request for Proposals 

Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Consultant 

Position Title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Consultant 

Organization: Land O'Lakes Venture37 

Project: USAID Feed the Future Orora Wihaze Activity 

Type of Contract: Fixed Price Contract 

Contract Period: September 23, 2024 -February 28, 2025 

Work Location: Kigali, Rwanda in the Golden Plaza Office of Orora Wihaze; with field work within targeted districts of Orora Wihaze.  

Background: 

Land O'Lakes Venture37 (V37) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. Since 1981, it has implemented over 315 integrated dairy, livestock and crops development programs in nearly 80 countries — creating lasting impact by linking farmers, businesses, and the public and private sector in local and global contexts. V37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. sets it apart. Land O’Lakes, Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports V37 project implementation with nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives Land O’Lakes Venture37 development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world. 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the 5-year Feed the Future (FTF) Orora Wihaze (Raise Animal for Self-Sufficiency) Activity that is implemented from October 1, 2019 – March 31^st, 2025. This initiative aims to develop an inclusive and profitable market to sustainably increase the availability, access, and consumption of animal-sourced foods (ASF) in Rwanda. Land O’Lakes Venture37, in consortium with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), MarketShare Associates (MSA), The Manoff Group (TMG), and Urunana DC, collaborates with Rwandan industry leaders using a market systems development (MSD) approach. The activity targets the districts of Rutsiro, Ngororero, and Nyamasheke in the West Province; Gakenke and Burera in the North Province; Nyamagabe in the South Province; and Kayonza and Ngoma in the East Province of Rwanda. 

Under FTF Orora Wihaze, the MEL system monitors and evaluates the Activity at both the agent-level (changes in behaviors linked to work with partner market actors) and the systems-level (changes in emergent patterns of collective behavior of money market actors). At the agent level, Orora Wihaze monitors the activities through specific partnership monitoring plans (PMPs) with each partner and evaluates the impact on agents on their practices, sales and investments through a rolling baseline with firms and products prior to the partnerships, an annual survey with producers and firms supported, and quarterly data from partner firms. At the systems-level, the Activity periodically collects information on sentinel indicators, or a type of proxy indicator used to indicate changes occurring in a system.  

Purpose of the Consultancy 

The purpose of the MEL consultant is to provide technical assistance in executing MEL activities in the last 6 months of the USAID Feed the Future Orora Wihaze Activity. 

Scope of Work 

• Develop a workplan for the duration of the consultancy to indicate the number of days spent on what task over the consultancy period.  
• Contribute to the preparation of Orora Wihaze performance reports for the remaining one annual report (due October 2024), one quarterly report (due January 2025) with the following activities:  
• Liaise with the 8 district staff and partners to ensure we receive the necessary data 
• Guide the data entry consultants, including reviewing entry to ensure quality and submitting documents to finance staff for their payment.   
• Clean monitoring data in preparation for analysis, including ensuring data is complete and removing duplicates.  
• Conduct analysis as requested to fill in numbers requested in the narrative, including the number of individuals that were reached through specific partnerships or that attended a specific training.  
• Conduct data analysis and reporting of the 10 annual Portfolio Achievement Indicators (PAIs) for the Orora Wihaze Activity for FY2024. PAIs which are specific indicators reported across all Venture37 projects and aggregated for central reporting purposes. (end of November – December 2024)  
• Support the final producer and firm survey through the following tasks (December 2024 – March 2025)
• Update survey Kobo Toolkit based on feedback on the last surveys and any changes in the tools 
• Plan logistics for the enumerator training, including booking the location, providing information for contracting of enumerators.   
• Assign enumerators the producers/firms for them to interviews and troubleshoot throughout data collection  
• Oversee a team of data collectors one region of Rwanda  
• Conduct data cleaning of the producer and firm data using stata code from previous survey as a guide.  
• Contribute to the Orora Wihaze Close-Out Process to Ensure a Thorough, Systematic, and Beneficial Outcome for All Stakeholders  
• Data Organization and Archiving: Assist in organizing and archiving all Orora Wihaze data and documentation, ensuring accessibility for future monitoring, evaluation, and reference. 
• Prepare annual survey data for submission to the DDL, including ensuring the data is cleaned and coded and aligned with a clear scope of work and survey tool.  
• Prepare monitoring data for submission to DDL, including ensuring the data is cleaned, coded and aligned with the associated data collection tools.  
•  Deliverables 

Application instructions for qualified candidates 

Interested individual consultants and or Companies are encouraged to send their cover letter, Curriculae Vitae and expected daily rate in local currency to ProcurementROW@landolakes.com " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(49, 158, 98); text-decoration: none; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;">ProcurementROW@landolakes.com  not later than 5.00 pm Kigali time on Friday, September 13, 2024. The title of the email must include “MEL Consultant” 

Organizational arrangements 

The consultant will be responsible for submitting the required deliverables. All deliverables submitted by the consultant must be reviewed and approved by the Orora Wihaze MEL Manager and the Group Director, GMEL. 

Required Skills and Qualifications:  

• A bachelor’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, statistics, monitoring and evaluation, or related field.  
• At least 2 years of relevant experience in supporting MEL implementation on development projects, specifically related to this role.  
• Experience overseeing data collection events, especially overseeing the quality data collection of enumerators 
• Experience with data cleaning and basic analysis in Stata 
• Experience managing data collection and management tools, such as Kobo Toolbox.  
• Professional proficiency in written and spoke English and Kinyarwanda languages 

Preferred Skills and Qualifications:  

• Experience in supporting MEL on development projects funded by USAID, projects in agriculture, and projects that take a market systems development approach  

Evaluation criteria 

The expert will be assessed based on the following criteria: 

• Relevant experience and demonstrated capabilities pertinent to the assignment – 50% 
• Proposed cost – 50% 

Eligibility 

This consultancy is open to individual consultants that are able to legally conduct business in Rwanda. A bidder will be considered ineligible if it has been suspended, debarred, or deemed ineligible, as indicated on (1) the “List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Non-procurement Programs” and/or (2) the “specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List”.