RTI International has worked in Rwanda for 35+ years, providing technical assistance, institutional strengthening, program support, and research. We design and implement programs across a wide range of sectors to help low- and middle- income countries and communities address complex problems and improve the lives of their citizens. Working with local partners and stakeholders, our solutions promote sustainability, self-reliance and success at scale.

Website: https://www.rti.org/

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (Individual consultant)

Call for consultant to write technical documents (Quarterly reports and workplans)

Period of performance: Ad hoc activity with 14 man-days per quarter from July 2024 – June 2025

BACKGROUND

The Feed the Future Rwanda Hanga Akazi project, funded by USAID for a duration of 5 years, aims to tackle the issue of limited job opportunities and entrepreneurial success in Rwanda. This scarcity adversely affects the country’s economy and its developmental objectives. The HA project focuses on enhancing the skill sets of Rwandans, particularly targeting women, youth, and persons with disabilities, in both technical and soft skills necessary for modern workforce participation, with a special emphasis on opportunities within the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the project aims to foster the emergence and expansion of inclusive enterprises. Over the project’s duration, it aims to assist a minimum of 23,000 job seekers in accessing new or improved employment opportunities, while also aiding partner agribusinesses in creating at least 19,000 jobs.

Hanga Akazi uses a market-system led approach, which focuses on using a more facilitative approach, to partner with both public and private sector actors to maximize sustainable impact in the Rwandan agri-food ecosystem to continue these initiatives sustainably. Throughout the fiscal year, Hanga Akazi reports on a quarterly basis and prepares an annual technical workplan to prepare and highlight upcoming activities for the following fiscal year. While quarterly reports serve Hanga Akazi to provide a picture of the activities carried out in the reporting period, providing a practical background, a detailed structure of the activity and emphasizing on its sustainable impact, the annual workplan serves as a guideline for proposed activities, sub-activities and their rationale for the subsequent year.

PURPOSE OF SOW

Hanga Akazi seeks to engage a dynamic and highly skilled individual consultant in the role of report writer/storyteller to support the preparation of the project’s quarterly/annual reports and annual technical workplans.

In collaboration with the project’s technical team, the consultant will develop high-quality reports and workplans. This individual will work under the direction of the Hanga Akazi Chief of Party and collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation team, to produce the content and incorporate feedback of reports and workplans.

DELIVERABLES

The consultant will:

  • In collaboration with the project’s technical teams, develop detailed summaries of carried out activities during reporting periods.
  • Ensure clear and description of backgrounds, methodologies, and impact of carried out activities during reporting periods, aligning with the project’s mission and goals.
  • Draft and edit the report/workplans narratives – insuring good visualization and accuracy of content, a good flow of information.
  • Integrating feedback from technical teams and project management unit to ensure accuracy and clarity of information.
  • Using interactive visuals – infographics, graphs, charts ensuring good capture of information.
  • Ensuring the report/workplans structures and formats are followed as per the client’s guidelines.

The quarterly/annual report deliverables will be as follow:

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Deliverables

LOE

1

Induction – During this session the Consultant will receive a full orientation to understand the scope of the project, and the activities in the workplan, meeting with the Chief of Party and Technical Leads.

1

2

First draft of report – After learning the scope of work, the consultant will collaborate with activity leads to compile and develop content for the report, using references such as activity reports, assessments and one-on-one meetings for more information. This draft will then be shared with the activity leads and Chief of Party to ensure the accuracy of content.

6

3

Second draft of report – The consultant will incorporate feedback, comments and any additional information provided by the activity leads into this draft of the report.

2

4

Submission of final report – Incorporating the final comments in this draft of the report, the Consultant will share the final version of the report to be validated by the Chief of Party.

1

10 days

The consultant will also be required to work closely with the technical team leads for an estimated Level of Effort of 2 days per month.

Required qualifications:

Hanga Akazi is looking for a Technical Report Writer to support in the reporting of the Project activities with the following qualifications:

  • At least three (3) years of knowledge and proven experience in writing reports for organizations or projects with similar scale.
  • Demonstrated abilities related to narrative development and storytelling in the context of development or donor-funded activities.
  • Fluency in spoken and written English is required, knowledge and understanding of Kinyarwanda is an added advantage.
  • Excellent communication, collaboration skills and flexibility.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills required.

REPORTING

The consultant will report to the Chief of Party of Hanga Akazi and work closely with the Communications and Knowledge Management Specialist.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The proposals will be evaluated on the following basis:

  1. Technical Proposal: 70%: The Technical Proposal must contain: a detailed resume highlighting previous relevant experience, a portfolio showcasing previous written reports, professional references to the mentioned reports, and a brief proposal (not more than 2 pages) outlining the consultant’s approach to the project.
  2. Financial Proposal: 30%. The applicant should indicate the consultancy fee daily rate in Rwandan francs, all taxes inclusive. Applicants from foreign countries may submit their financial proposals in US dollars.

Application instructions for qualified candidates

Application package should include the technical Proposal containing a detailed resume highlighting previous relevant experience, a portfolio showcasing previous written reports, professional references to the mentioned reports, and a brief proposal (not more than 2 pages) outlining the consultant’s approach to the project. It should also include the financial proposal indicating the daily rate in Rwandan francs for local consultants and in US dollars for international consultants.

Qualified individuals are encouraged to send their applications to haprocurement@hanga-akazi.org not later than June 27, 2024 at 17:00HrsKigali time.