INVITATION TO TENDER End-of-Project Evaluation of Local Impact Project

Type of contract: Procurement

Time frame: January – June 2025

Target location: Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic

1. INTRODUCTION

Founded and guided by His Highness the Aga Khan, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) brings together a number of development agencies, institutions, and programs that work primarily in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. A central feature of the AKDN's approach to development is to design and implement strategies in which its different agencies participate in particular settings to help those in need achieve a level of self-reliance and improve quality of life. While each agency pursues its own mandate, all of them work together within the overarching framework of the Aga Khan Development Network so that their different pursuits can interact and reinforce one another.

One of the specialized agencies of the AKDN is the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), which brings together human, financial, and technical resources to address some of the challenges faced by the poorest and most marginalized communities in the world. Special emphasis is placed on investing in human potential, expanding opportunity and improving overall quality of life, especially for women and girls. AKF works in an integrated way in primarily in six areas: Agriculture and Food Security; Economic Inclusion; Education; Early Childhood Development; Health and Nutrition; and Civil Society. The Foundation is largely a field-based organization with program units located in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Mozambique, Pakistan, Portugal, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Uganda—with resource mobilization offices in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States and headquarters based in Geneva, Switzerland.

AKF is seeking services of a credible evaluation firm to conduct the end of project evaluation of the Local Impact project currently being implemented in Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The six-year (including one year no cost extension) project started in Oct 2019 and is scheduled to conclude in November 2025. The proposed assignment is scheduled to start in January 2025 and be completed before the end of June 2025.

1. 1. LOCAL IMPACT OVERVIEW

Working together through a co-created, co-funded, and community-centered agreement, AKF and USAID are implementing Local Impact, a multi-year, multi-sector, multi-country partnership project to achieve transformational development outcomes. Local Impact is a Leader with Associates (LWA) award that works with communities to:

1. Catalyze inclusive economic growth and ensure basic livelihoods;
2. Enhance infrastructure and access to basic services with a focus on clean energy;
3. Enhance the capacity of citizens and local institutions; and
4. Promote pluralism and social cohesion.

Under the Local Impact project, AKF and USAID engaged locally, regionally, and globally and aligned on shared priorities. Once priorities were identified, the project began identifying and defining the problem and co-created the development solutions with key stakeholders including local communities, the private sector, local governments, and other donors and relevant partners. Through the co-creation process, AKF utilized human-centered design tools and processes such as design research (including existing studies, reports, and data) and prototyping and testing solutions directly with users. Through this process, Local Impact mobilized communities, taped into existing productive efforts at the grassroots level, scaled programming on the ground, addressed drivers of unproductive social behavior, and drew the entrepreneurial spirit and strengths of civil society and the private sector.

Before moving to scale, the Local Impact project worked with the target audience to ensure the solutions work. By piloting, testing, and iterating, the project learnt quicker through fail faster approach, in the way that enterprises iterated solutions to problems that emerged for faster scaling. By learning what doesn’t work through testing and piloting, the result is far more likely to be sustainable and achieve the intended goals. For the pilot, testing, and iteration phase, AKF, USAID, and relevant stakeholders—together—can either propose an Associate Award with funding clearly identified from a Mission, or they can call on a pilot pool under the Leader Award to test the solution.

1. 1. GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE (LOCAL IMPACT)

Local Impact is currently being implemented in Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Afghanistan and is its 5th year of programming. In each of these countries, AKDN is already making substantial, long-term investments in local systems and institutions that promote a path to self-reliance and resilience. However, the current assignment will not include Afghanistan.

1. OBJECTIVES OF THE EVALUATION

The main objectives of this end-of-project evaluation are to:

• • Assess the extent to which the project has achieved its intended results and associated indicators as outlined in the Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) of the project, including any unanticipated results.
  • Evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of the project interventions.
  • Identify lessons learned and best practices to inform future programming.

1. SCOPE OF WORK

The evaluation will be executed in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and will cover the following aspects of the project:

1. 1 Project Performance:
   • Review project achievements based on key performance indicators from the PMF (attached as Annex).
   • Assess progress against both output and outcome indicators (both quantitative and qualitative).
2. 2 Relevance and Effectiveness:

• To what extent was Local Impact's unique design and approach able to ensure interventions are aligned with the needs, policies, and priorities of beneficiaries, including women, youth and beneficiaries from diverse geographies, national governments, and USAID?
• To what extent the project interventions contributed to the social cohesion among the communities.
• To what extent did Local Impact achieve its intended objectives and outcomes?

1. 3 Impact:
   • To what extent did Local Impact's unique design and approach contribute to higher-level effects on beneficiaries beyond those measured under effectiveness, whether intended or unintended?
2. 4 Sustainability:
   • To what extent are results achieved by Local Impact likely to continue after the project ends, particularly given Local Impact's unique and participatory design and approach?
3. 5 Cross-Cutting Themes:
   • To evaluate the integration of cross-cutting themes such as gender equality, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and community participation.

1. SCOPE OF STUDY

The study will include two main components:

• Collection of qualitative and quantitative data on all indicators included in the project PMF, and any additional measures, through a representative sample survey using similar methodology as the rolling baseline surveys.
• Analysis of secondary sources from the project’s internal M&E and other data sources collected through routine reporting and monitoring processes.

The Regional MERL Manager will make available all relevant data during the inception phase, including project PMF and additional indicators and available baseline data.

1. METHODOLOGY

The evaluation will use a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection, including:

• • Document review: Review of the project’s Performance Measurement Framework (PMF), progress reports, monitoring data, and additional indicators.
  • Key Informant Interviews (KIIs): Conduct interviews with project staff, stakeholders, and beneficiaries.
  • Focus Group Discussions (FGDs): Hold discussions with beneficiary groups to gather qualitative data on project impacts.
  • Surveys: Conduct surveys with beneficiaries to measure quantitative indicators.
  • Site visits: Field visits to project locations (if applicable) to observe implementation and outcomes.
  • The inception phase will further define the methodology and technical scope of the study in more detail. During the inception phase, the successful firm will detail out the evaluation questions vis-a-vis the proposed evaluation criteria and suggest the most relevant methodological approach to answer the evaluation questions and also draw the most appropriate sample size.

1. DELIVERABLES

The consultant/evaluation team will deliver the following:

• • Inception Report: A detailed work plan, methodology, and timeline for the evaluation.
  • Final Tools and Data collection Plan: a detailed data collection plan along with final questionnaires and templates used for data collection.
  • Draft Evaluation Report: A preliminary report detailing findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
  • Final Evaluation Report: A comprehensive report incorporating feedback, including:
  • Executive summary
  • Methodology
  • Findings (against each objective and indicator)
  • Conclusions and recommendations
  • Lessons learned and best practices
  • Annexes (data collection tools, interview guides, etc.)

1. TIMELINE

Provide a detailed timeline for the evaluation process, including the following key milestones:

• • Start date of the evaluation: January 2025
  • Data collection phase: March-April 2025
  • Draft report submission: May 2025
  • Final report submission: May-June 2025

1. QUALIFICATIONS OF THE EVALUATION FIRM

AKF anticipates that this assignment will be carried out by an organization, or a firm. The entity should have qualified evaluation team with:

• • Advanced degrees in relevant fields such as international development, monitoring and evaluation, or social sciences.
  • Proven experience in conducting project evaluations, especially in multi-country, multi-sector complex projects. Experience in Central Asian context with local languages would be an added advantage.
  • Strong understanding of USAID evaluation standards.
  • Expertise in quantitative and qualitative data analysis.

Collaboration with local partner for data collection will be considered as an advantage.

1. BUDGET

The total estimated budget for the evaluation is $110k, covering all expenses related to personnel, travel, data collection, and report preparation.

1. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL

This invitation to tender is open to all qualified bidders. The selection will take place though a competitive process in accordance with AKF applicable procurement rules. AKF reserves the right to request any additional information that can help clarify aspects of a submission. Interested organizations are invited to submit their application in English in electronic form and include the following :

• • A technical proposal outlining their approach to the evaluation and proposed methodology.
  • A detailed financial proposal, submitted as a separate excel file that provides breakdown of costs and overall amount requested.
  • Evidence of institutional capacity with examples of previous similar evaluations, and CVs of evaluation team members.

Tenders must be submitted with the subject line “Local Impact End-of-Project Evaluation” no later than January 25, 2025 to:

Humanresources.akfusa@akdn.org

Azizullah.baig@akdn.org

Applications will be reviewed on an on-going basis.