Recruitment of a Consultant or a Consulting Firm to conduct Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) related activities for Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA) 

1. Background 

Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA), registered in Rwanda under the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), is a Rwandan charitable, social, non-profit, non-governmental that seeks to provide youth with market-relevant livelihood skills, work readiness training and support, hands-on training opportunities, and linkages to the employment, self-employment job market, access to capital and other support services to take advantage of economic opportunities. AKA’s core values include integrity, excellence, professionalism and innovation with a global vision to be a leading organization contributing to youth well-being through employability skills and support services. AKA has a strong system guided by the policy and procedures in place.  AKA has strong experience in working in Rwandan rural and urban zones supporting youth economic activities countrywide. Past and current interventions make the organization strong at managing donor and government relations as well as creating a strong link with beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Project background

The “Achieve and Work Ready Now” is a project in partnership with Prince’s Trust International (PTI) and Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA). It is a dual training for young people and will be working with 18-35-year old’s working in non-traditional educational settings (youth centers) delivered by trainers trained by Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA). The PTI project has already selected 240 young people who will follow the training in 8 youth centers and 24 trainers are also in place to facilitate the training.

2. Purpose of the assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to conduct M&E-related activities for AKA in the Achieve and Work Ready Now project.

3. Objectives

The overall objective of this consultancy is to conduct M&E-related activities surveys and case studies under the Achieve and Work Ready Now project.

4. Scope of Work and approaches

AKA seeks consultant service of an experienced consultant or firm to advise and support M&E-related activities during the implementation of a pilot project in 8 YEGO centers in Kigali and neighboring districts. The consultant/firm will also be responsible for tool design, data collection, data entry, data analysis and generating reports in addition to the following approaches:

• Put together the project information collected in its initial phase (baseline) and develop a baseline report.
• Design monitoring tools and discuss with AKA technical team before usage.
• Use of monitoring tools in data collection process.
• Constitute the project database, update it on daily basis and sort key project information.
• For the project:
  • Organize the post-program survey (for both trainers and trainees)
  • Carry out the focus group discussions FGDs and survey (for both trainers and trainees);
  • Carry out the individual interviews/case studies;
  • 3 months post-program survey (for both trainers and students);
• Develop the final report + project documentation

5. Timing and location

Individual consultant or consultancy firm selected for this assignment will perform the following indicative tasks for a period not exceeding six months from December 2023.

The assignment will start from the date agreed upon signature of the contract.

Location: The consultant will have to travel to different locations in Rwanda, where the youth centers areas are located.

6. Deliverables

Survey and case study reports. The assignment entails, but will not be limited to:

• Have a project database and update it: it must first be established, then discussed and agreed upon with the AKA technical team.
• Comprehensive set of approved data collection tools in Kinyarwanda and English: Consultant to design all necessary data monitoring tools and systematic approval by AKA technical team prior to use.
• A baseline report: For this, the project team collected the data as part of the screening assessment (i.e. prior to the commencement of train-the-trainer training). The consultant will use the data collected to develop a baseline report.
• A systematic monitoring and evaluation report (combining qualitative and quantitative project data).
• An interim report or a monthly progress report: Based on data collected during project implementation, a monthly report should be produced and shared with the technical team.
• Post-assessment report: Based on the data collected at the end of the project, the consultant will prepare a report for the final evaluation and forward it to AKA, which is responsible for the implementation of the project.
• 3 months post-program survey (for both trainers and students).
• A final project report + PPT of the key findings from the project implementation + documentation: Based on the effects of the project, the consultant should compare the baseline report with the final report to highlight what the project should have achieved, the main challenges and opportunities encountered over the life of the project.

7. Reporting

The consultancy will report to AKA Team Leader

8. Proposal Submission Requirements  

Interested consultant (individuals/firms/institutions, etc.) is required to:  

• Technical Component:  it technically presents how the assignment will be based on the requirements provided; 
• A financial proposal: This should provide details in costing of the required resources to perform this assignment with itemized budgets and explanatory notes.  

In addition to the technical and financial components, the consultant will indicate and/or submit the following:  

• CVs; 
• Two (2) examples of previous works related to that assignment (completion certificates)
• Education Completion certificates; At least bachelor’s degree in social sciences.

9. Minimum requirements to perform this assignment  

• Outstanding knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and learning skills.
• Past experience: Previous experience of developing monitoring and evaluation tools and conducting data collection, data analysis and developing reports that can inform project interventions.
• Previous experience of working in Rwanda’s youth education and youth employment interventions
• Able to conduct data collection in Kinyarwanda and translate them into English language,
• Strong report writing skills in English.
• Strong organizational and time management skills and ability to adhere to deadlines and flexibility;
• Availability to start and travel immediately.

Application procedures

Interested candidates or consultancy firms are requested to submit their application files not later than 13^th December 2023 electronically only to the following e-mail address: recruitment@akazikanoze.org, with the mention “Consultancy to conduct AKA’s Monitoring and Evaluation related activities for the pilot project”. 

Done in Kigali on December 04^th, 2023 

Executive Director

BUSINGE Anthony