Request for Expression of Interest-March 2024 for Gender Lens Investing Experts

1. The Africa Enterprise Problem Fund

AECF (Africa Enterprise Problem Fund) is a number one non-profit improvement group that helps progressive enterprises within the agribusiness and renewable vitality sectors with the goal of lowering rural poverty, selling resilient communities, and creating jobs.

We catalyze the non-public sector by surfacing and commercializing new concepts, enterprise fashions, and applied sciences designed to extend agricultural productiveness, enhance farmer incomes, broaden clear vitality entry, scale back greenhouse gasoline emissions, and enhance resilience to the consequences of local weather change. We finance high-risk companies that wrestle to entry industrial funding; we’re dedicated to working in frontier markets, fragile contexts, and high-risk economies the place few mainstream financing establishments dare to go.

Over the course of 15 years, we’ve got supported 425 companies in 26 nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, impacted greater than 31 million lives, created over 29,000 direct jobs, and leveraged US $808 million in matching funds.

Discover extra about AECF on www.aecfafrica.org

1. Our Gender Lens Investing Technique

AECF`S ambition for gender lens investing stems from its imaginative and prescient to create a prospering and enterprising rural Africa which is pursued by way of our mission to unlock the ability of the non-public sector to positively impression the lives of the agricultural and marginalized communities in Africa. It is usually detailed within the institutional Gender Lens Investing Technique that outlines the method taken to speculate with a gender lens in a manner that drives sustainable change for the agricultural poor. Within the technique, AECF commits to reaching some headline figures – not less than 50% of improvement impression accruing to girls throughout the funding portfolio, 35% of portfolio firms being Ladies-led and 40% of jobs created in these firms held by girls – and to reorient the funding course of to search out, nurture and develop enterprise which might be offering progressive options to extend gender equality in rural communities on the family, enterprise and market ranges.

AECF’s technique seeks to combine a gender evaluation all through the funding actions and design and host inclusive funding processes that enable feminine entrepreneurs and companies working for and with girls equal entry to finance. AECF constantly seeks to collect and share perception on its experiences mainstreaming gender to funders, companions, investees and to varied ecosystems with the sectors and worth chains by which we make investments. AECF mainstreams consideration to gender dynamics into the tradition, practices, insurance policies, and processes of the whole group and encourages and incentivize its investees to do likewise. AECF seeks to extend its voice and management inside the world Gender Lens Investing (GLI) subject with a purpose to develop into the premier establishment for gender lens investing in Sub-Saharan Africa in step with certainly one of our three core values which calls us to Take the Lead. The gender technique additionally helps and strengthens different core values as we Assume Affect and Valuing Our Folks in an inclusive manner.

1. Concerning the Project
   1. Goal of the Project

AECF is in search of companies of gender specialists to supply a spread of companies and technical help each at regional and nation stage in several packages of agribusiness and renewable vitality and to step up the implementation of the GLI technique. Profitable candidates might be positioned on Gender Guide Roster to be sourced for upcoming gender advisor assignments.

1. Scope of labor

Service classes:

• Gender & Sector experience: Present technical help to conceptualize and operationalize gender mainstreaming in a number of of AECF`s sector programming: Renewable Vitality, Agriculture and the cross-cutting themes of youth, girls empowerment, and local weather change. This may even embrace offering technical inputs to extend gender-responsiveness of sector-specific or generic toolkits, manuals, packages, requirements, trainings, course of steering, programme paperwork, coverage drafts, amongst others.
• Gender Critiques, Assessments & Gender Evaluation: Carry out gender opinions and help with creating enterprise fashions, worth propositions, Theories of Change (ToC) for GLI autos and programmes that analyze and deal with gender limitations and structural challenges; present actionable suggestions for accelerating achievement of gender equality and ladies empowerment.
• Gender Analysis and Proof Constructing: Develop and conduct gender-related analysis, market assesments utilizing a mixture of approaches, together with scoping research and strategic analysis for advocacy; assist efforts to slender the gender disparities in investments.
• Advisory companies: Ship SME, MFIs, Banks centered advisory companies to combine gender inclusion in enterprise fashions, credit score overview, due diligence of buyers; assist the event of techniques, instruments and processes to boost adoption of gender transformative approaches; present SMEs with funding readiness and funding facilitation particularly curated in the direction of elevating gender-linked finance throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
• Communication and Data administration: Assess the group’s present information sharing alternatives and platforms for gender-related content material. Make suggestions for enhancing the accessibility, relevance, and engagement of gender information sharing initiatives.

Areas of experience and abilities:

• Develop impactful gender Lens Investing technique improvement (institutional stage)
• Design and co-develop progressive gender lens funding autos, contribute to the set-up, fundraising and launch of progressive autos.
• Design progressive monetary devices for transformative gender lens investments
• Design and implement gender transformation impression analytical frameworks.
• Contribute deep experience on the nexus between gender inclusion and local weather resilience
• Contribute deep experience on the ladies financial empowerment by way of entrepreneurship in fragile and battle affected markets.
• Ship advisory companies to banks, MFIs, SMEs concerning gender inclusion, mainstreaming and transformation.
• Conduct analysis of gender lens investing programmes and funds
• Ship deep analysis and market evaluation testing / validating the viability and appropriateness of GLI progressive monetary devices and autos.
• Ship advisory companies to combine gender inclusion in enterprise fashions and product design to maximise impression and enterprise profitability.
• Ship SME advisory in funding readiness and funding facilitation to gender-lens buyers, together with selling SMEs to a pre-existing community of buyers pursuing investments with a gender-lens throughout the continent.
• Develop instruments to enhance creditworthiness of women-led MSMEs with banks / MFIs / digital credit score suppliers
• Ship design considering, sensemaking and collaborative information workshops or actions to generate information merchandise from AECF’s GLI funds and programmes
• Storytelling and communication product improvement selling girls leaders voices

Nations of expertise:

• Benin, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan
• Sub-Saharan Africa

1. {Qualifications} Expertise

• Superior college diploma (grasp’s or increased) in Social Sciences, Gender Research, Worldwide Growth, or in an space related to AECF’s sectoral work.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively accountable skilled expertise at worldwide ranges and demonstrated observe file in gender and improvement/humanitarian arrange.
• Robust, technical, programmatic, and analysis abilities associated to gender; together with sectoral experience in any of the next sectors: Renewable Vitality, Agri-business, Blue financial system, girls empowerment, youth engagement, incapacity, and ladies intersectionality’s.
• Confirmed understanding of theories of change and pathways from intervention to end result.
• Potential to contextualize and to combine gender into programmes and intervention approaches in advanced and fragile ecosystems.
• Technical experience in not less than one of many gender areas as outlined within the TOR.
• Fluency in English; information of French language is an asset.

1. Proposal submission

• Technical and Monetary proposals ought to be submitted as separate paperwork.
• Monetary proposal to be submitted in USD.
• As per necessities within the analysis standards

1. Contracting and Reporting

The Project might be contracted holistically with an addendum to section 2 integrated as soon as the finer particulars round section 2 are agreed upon. Implementation of section 2 might be topic to passable completion of section 1 as decided by AECF, and the profitable affirmation of the capability and capabilities of the Specialist to ship on the recognized IR interventions.

1. Analysis Standards

An analysis committee might be shaped by the AECF and should embrace staff of the companies to be supported. All members might be sure by the identical requirements of confidentiality. The Specialist ought to be certain that they totally reply to all standards to be comprehensively evaluated.

The AECF might request and obtain clarification from any Specialist when evaluating a proposal. The analysis committee might invite some or all of the Specialists to seem earlier than the committee to make clear their proposals. In such occasion, the analysis committee might take into account such clarifications in evaluating proposals.

In deciding the ultimate number of certified bidders for a given project, the technical high quality of the proposal might be given a weighting of 70% primarily based on the analysis standards. Solely the monetary proposal of these bidders who qualify technically might be opened. The monetary proposal might be allotted a weighting of 30% and the proposals might be ranked by way of whole factors scored.

The obligatory and fascinating standards in opposition to which proposals might be evaluated are recognized within the desk beneath.

Key Areas for Analysis/ Evaluation

Weighted Award

(A) TECHNIAL PROPOSAL

70

i) An understanding of the consultancy necessities;

15

• Exhibit an understanding of the Project

5

• An in-depth understanding of Gender Lens Investing Requirements and tendencies
• Understanding Agriculture, Renewable Vitality, girls financial empowerment, youth engagement, Fragile context and local weather change in sub-sectors in sub-Saharan Africa might be added benefit.

10

ii) Methodology and work-plan that may ship the very best worth on the Project:

30

• Exhibit the technique and capability to ship every of the duty(s) inside a practical timeline, underpinned by worth for cash.

25

• Technique that demonstrates functionality to ship a big a part of this Project just about.

5

iv) Related companies undertaken by the bidder prior to now engagements:

15

• Exhibit related expertise and up to date engagements with non-public sector firms in Funding Readiness. Expertise in supporting firms within the Agriculture and Local weather good applied sciences sub-sectors in sub-Saharan Africa is added benefit.

15

v) Detailed reference listing indicating the scope and magnitude of comparable assignments:

10

• A minimum of 3 signed Letters of reference from previous clients or associates to the Specialist, clearly indicating the Funding Readiness assist offered and the worth and impression on the enterprise supported.

10

(A) FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

30

• Readability, relevance, actuality to market worth/ worth for cash of price for the Project (inclusive of any relevant tax).
• Part 2 monetary proposal could be an indicative estimate guided by the proposed methodology Funding Readiness interventions.

30

Complete rating

100

1. Pricing

The AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract charges in addition to be certain that 16% VAT, is charged the place relevant. Candidates are suggested to make sure that they’ve a transparent understanding of their tax place with reference to provisions of Kenya tax laws when creating their proposals.