Request for Proposals for the Evaluation of Cooperative Development Curricula

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 O’Lakes 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 women’s 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 8^th 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.

Expected Deliverables

The deliverables under this contract are listed below.

SECTION 2: INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

Eligibility

• Minimum of 8-10 years of work experience on evaluation of adult-learning curricula
• Team has expertise in cooperative development curricula
• Team has expertise in gender and youth inclusion in curricula
• Strong qualitative and quantitative research and analytical skills;
• Experience in conducting work in Rwanda
• Ability to hire experienced research assistants (if applicable) that know applicable Rwanda languages in the target provinces;
• Proven record of excellent management, leadership, decision-making and interpersonal skills;
• High capacity for writing in English and preparing quality written products in respect of deadlines;
• This RFP is open to firms that can work in Rwanda. Small and/or disadvantaged businesses, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses are encouraged to submit proposals;
• 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”.

Content of Offers

All interested candidates will submit their proposals in English with two separate documents as explained below:

Technical Proposal (not to exceed 10 pages)

• A detailed methodology, including approach, sampling plan, analysis plan, and fieldwork plan, aligning with the technical specifications in Section 1.
• Proposed workplan, outlining the major activities and time schedule, describing any deviations from illustrative plan in this RFP.
• List and briefly describe the proposed personnel and their responsibilities on the assignment.
• Organizational capacity statement, past experiences relevant to the technical specifications, highlighting experience from similar work.
• Two references including contact names, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of persons who can be contacted regarding the Bidder’s prior performance for similar work within the past 3 years. (as annex)
• Curriculae Vitae of proposed personnel on the projects (as annex)

Financial Proposal

• Detailed budget outlining Bidder’s Price Offer, in Microsoft Excel, unlocked, and with formulas intact.
• Budget must give a detailed unit price breakdown and the total price of the services being offered in response to this RFP.
• All prices should be indicated in Rwanda and United States Dollar, with the exchange rate specified.
• Short budget narrative explaining calculations and necessity of costs, displaying attributions to the activities proposed. Narratives may be included in the Excel budget or as a separate Word document.
• Supporting Documentation

Only complete offers will be accepted and evaluated; incomplete offers will not be considered.

Offer Validity Period

Offers shall remain valid for a minimum of sixty (60) daysafter the offer deadline. An offer valid for a shorter period shall be rejected as non-responsive. Bidders shall clearly indicate their offer’s validity period within the proposal documents.

Clarification of RFP

Bidders may ask questions and clarifications about this RFP by submitting them to Procurement.CDP@landolakes.com by the 5pm Rwanda time on Friday, January 10^th, 2025 with “Questions for 2024-CORE-RWA-PROC-0038” in the subject line. Questions will be responded to by Wednesday, January 15^th, 2025.

Offer Deadline and Submission of Bids

• All offers must be submitted to Venture37 by Wednesday, January 22^nd, 2025 by 5pm Rwanda Time. Please submit electronic proposals to CDP@landolakes.comwith the “Proposal for 2024-CORE-RWA-PROC-0038” in the subject line. Late proposals will not be accepted. Only electronic submission will be accepted.
• Ensuring successful transmissions and receipt of the bids is the responsibility of the Bidder. It is recommended that no email exceed the size of 10MB, inclusive of attachments.

Amendment of Bidding Documents

Venture37 may, at its discretion and for any reason, modify bidding documents by amendment. All prospective Bidders that have received bidding documents will be notified of the amendment by e-mail and such amendments will be binding on them.

Modification of Offers

Any Bidder has the right to withdraw, modify, or correct its offer after it has been delivered to Venture37, provided the request for such a withdrawal, modification, or correction together with full details of such modification or correction is received by Venture37 at the submission point of contact above before the Offer Deadline.

Venture37 may ask any Bidder for a clarification of its offer or conduct negotiations with the apparent winner after evaluation of offers; nevertheless, no Bidder will be permitted to alter its price or make any other material modification to its offer after the deadline unless the RFP has been amended or the deadline extended. Clarifications which do not change the price or other material aspects of the offer may be accepted.

 Criteria for Award and Evaluation

Venture37 will award the contract to that Bidder whose offer is deemed acceptable and which offers the best value based upon the evaluation criteria. All complete, eligible offers will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Technical approach and methodology (40%)
• Past experience with similar curricula evaluations (25%)
• Proposed personnel’s ability to address all components of the assignment (20%)
• Budget justification, cost realism, and value (15%)

Venture37’s Right to Accept Any Offer and to Reject Any or All Offers

Venture37 will reject any offer that it deems nonresponsive. Further, Venture37 reserves the right to waive any minor errors in any offer received if it is in Venture37’s best interests to do so, to reject the offer of any Bidder if, in Venture37’s judgment, the Bidder is not fully qualified to provide the services as specified in the contract, or to reject all bids.

Notification of Award

Before the expiration of the period of offer validity, Venture37 will notify the successful Bidder in writing that its offer has been accepted. Venture37 may negotiate with the successful bidder on any details and terms of the contract which do not materially change the scope or specifications of the services to be provided.

Upon contracting of the successful, Venture37 will promptly notify each unsuccessful Bidder that their bids were rejected. If, after notification of award, a Bidder wishes to ascertain the grounds on which its offer was not selected, it should address its request to Venture37 in writing.

Acceptance of Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions

By submitting a proposal to Venture37, Bidder consents to and provides Venture37 with permission to process the Bidder’s personal data specifically for the performance of, and purposes identified in, this solicitation document and in compliance with Venture37’s legal obligations under applicable United States and European Union laws, data protection and regulations, and any other applicable legal requirements. The bidder may withdraw their consent at any time by contacting Procurement.CDP@landolakes.com.If consent is withdrawn, Venture37 reserves the right to either accept or reject the offer.