Terms of Reference (Tor) Analysis of Alignment Between District Development Strategies (Dds) and Imihigo and Development of a Monitoring Framework to Track Alignment Over Time (Fiscal Year 2024-2025,2024-2023 and 2022-2023)

C C O A I B

Conseil de Concertation des Organisations

 d’Appui aux Initiatives de Base

Personnalité juridique : A.M. № 103/11 du 07/09/2004

B.P.1993 KIGALI – RWANDA ; Tél. mobile (+250) 788302065

Kigali, Gasabo District, Remera Sector, Rukiri I Cell, Amajyambere Village

International Airport Road KN 5RD (Gishushu), Building №18

E- mail: info@ccoaib.rw;

Sites Internets: www.ccoaib.rw et www.urubuga.org

Terms of Reference (ToR): Recruitment of Individual Consultant(s) or Consultancy Firm(s)

1. Profile of CCOAIB

The Conseil de Concertation des Organisations d’Appui aux Initiatives de Base (CCOAIB) is a national umbrella organization established in 1987 to strengthen the capacity and coordination of civil society organizations engaged in development. Legally recognized under Law No. 103/11 of 07 September 2004, CCOAIB currently brings together 42 national NGOs operating across all 30 districts of Rwanda. More than 70% of its members work directly in agriculture, rural livelihoods, climate resilience, and community-based development, with a strong emphasis on smallholder farmers, women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

With over four decades, CCOAIB plays a strategic role in monitoring decentralization processes, promoting citizen participation, and influencing public policy related to agriculture, governance, climate change, and access to finance. The organization is widely recognized for its evidence-based advocacy approach, combining applied research, social accountability tools, and structured policy engagement to amplify citizen voice and improve public service delivery.

CCOAIB’s organizational initiatives focus on strengthening the coherence, inclusiveness, and accountability of decentralized governance systems by combining applied research, structured citizen engagement, social accountability tools, and policy dialogue. These initiatives are designed to support national priorities articulated in Rwanda’s decentralization framework, the National Strategy for Transformation (NST2), and sectoral policies, while ensuring that historically underrepresented groups are meaningfully reflected in local development decision-making.

2. Background and Rationale 

Rwanda’s decentralized governance framework relies on District Development Strategies (DDS), Imihigo performance contracts, and District Action Plans to translate national policies into local-level implementation. Ensuring coherence among these instruments is critical for effective service delivery, accountability, and responsiveness to citizen priorities—particularly in agriculture and inclusive governance. Evidence from civil society monitoring, governance scorecards, and citizen feedback indicates persistent misalignment between DDS and Imihigo, as well as limited inclusion of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in district planning and performance management processes. To address these gaps, CCOAIB is implementing a two structured intervention under the two project : Strengthening Local Voice and Accountability in Rwanda’s Agricultural Governance (Twiyubakire-Engage) project and “Promoting Inclusive Governance in Rwanda through Equitable Participation of Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities project.” The intervention is divided into two complementary but distinct consultancy Lots, each with a clear analytical and operational focus.

LOT 1: Analysis of Alignment Between District Development Strategies (DDS) and Imihigo and Development of a Monitoring Framework to Track Alignment Over Time (fiscal year 2024-2025,2024-2023 and 2022-2023)

i. Description of the Consultancy Assignment (Lot 1)

Under this Lot, CCOAIB seeks to recruit a consultant or consultancy firm to conduct a structured analysis of the alignment between District Development Strategies (DDS) and Imihigo performance contracts over the past three fiscal years. The assignment will focus on agricultural priorities, targets, budget allocations, and key interventions, with particular attention to identifying alignment gaps where community-identified needs and sector priorities are insufficiently reflected in Imihigo commitments.

The consultancy will cover four districts—Muhanga, Nyamagabe, Nyaruguru, and Gatsibo—and will be implemented early in the project to establish a baseline for monitoring alignment between long-term district strategies and annual performance contracts. The analysis will generate evidence for advocacy and policy dialogue aimed at strengthening coherence, accountability, and results-based planning within decentralized governance systems.

In addition, the consultant will design a practical monitoring framework or checklist, tailored to the agriculture sector, to enable district authorities, civil society organizations (CSOs), and citizen groups to systematically track DDS–Imihigo alignment over time. The monitoring tool will be validated with district stakeholders to ensure usability, ownership, and sustained application.

ii. Objective of the Consultancy (Lot 1)

Overall Objective: To assess and strengthen coherence between District Development Strategies and Imihigo performance contracts by identifying alignment gaps and developing a practical monitoring framework that supports consistent, evidence-based tracking of alignment over time.

Specific Objectives :

• To assess the consistency between DDS and Imihigo over the past three years in selected districts;
• To identify priority gaps affecting agricultural development and citizen-responsive planning;
• To develop and validate a monitoring toolkit enabling regular assessment of DDS–Imihigo alignment.

iii. Scope of Work (Lot 1)

The consultant will :

• Review DDS and Imihigo plans covering the last three fiscal years;
• Conduct comparative alignment analysis across four districts;
• Synthesize findings into an advocacy-oriented analytical paper;
• Design a user-friendly monitoring checklist/framework for ongoing alignment tracking;
• Present and validate the monitoring tool with district stakeholders.

iv. Responsibilities and Key Tasks (Lot 1)

Key Tasks include:

• Desk review of DDS and Imihigo documents (four days per district, across four districts);
• Mapping of agricultural priorities, targets, and budget commitments;
• Identification of alignment gaps and inconsistencies;
• Preparation of a district-level and consolidated advocacy paper;
• Allocation of four additional days to develop and present a DDS–Imihigo monitoring toolkit;
• Facilitation of a validation session with district and CSO stakeholders

3. Timeframe

The assignment shall be completed within three (3) weeks (16 days) from the date of contract signing. A detailed implementation schedule will be agreed upon during the inception phase.

4. Consultant Profile

The consultant or consultancy firm must demonstrate:

• Advanced academic qualifications in governance, development studies, public policy, agriculture, or related fields;
• Proven experience in analyzing decentralized planning instruments (DDS, Imihigo, action plans);
• Demonstrated expertise in gender, youth, and disability inclusion analysis;
• Strong experience in designing practical monitoring and accountability tools;
• Excellent analytical, facilitation, and reporting skills;
• Strong contextual knowledge of Rwanda’s decentralization framework.

5. Application Modalities

Applicants must be capable of implementing both Lot 1 and Lot 2. They shall submit one consolidated Technical Proposal, demonstrating their capacity, methodology, work plan, and relevant experience for both Lots, and one consolidated Financial Proposal, clearly highlighting a separate cost breakdown for Lot 1 and Lot 2 within the same submission.

6. Application process

Interested applicants (individuals or firms) who meet the requirements outlined in these Terms of Reference shall submit: An Expression of Interest letter; a Detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV); A Technical Proposal including a detailed methodology, work plan, and demonstration of relevant experience; and a Financial Proposal. Three copies of the Technical Proposal (1 original and 2 copies) and three copies of the Financial Proposal (1 original and 2 copies) must be submitted in separate sealed envelopes, both placed in one outer envelope.

Applications shall be delivered to the CCOAIB office located at: Gasabo District, Remera Sector, Rukiri I Cell, along the International Airport Road (KN 5 Rd, Gishushu), Building No. 18, no later than 23 January 2026 at 3:00 PM Kigali time.

Applicants must also provide an updated profile of the consultant or consultancy firm, highlighting relevant experience and suitability for the assignment, accompanied by the following legal and statutory documents:

• Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Registration Certificate;
• EBM Compliance Certificates; Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) Tax Clearance Certificate;
• Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) Clearance Certificate (for consultancy firms); and
• Copies of relevant academic degrees and professional qualifications for all consultant/team members, and at least three certificates of good completion of similar assignments.

7 .Selection Process

To select the best consultant/firm, the quality-based Selection (QBS) method will be used.

Done at Kigali, on 13 January 2026.

NGENDANDUMWE Jean Claude

Executive Secretary of CCOAIB