April 2024 

Project Title:

ENTERPRISE Zambia 

Economic, Nutrition and Technical support for increased Economic Returns and Profit in Sustainable agribusiness in Zambia – ENTERPRISE Zambia 

Duration  

March 2020 to February 2025 (60 months)

INTRODUCTION 

ENTERPRISE Zambia is an EU funded project, implemented by Gorta-Self Help Africa (SHA) in  collaboration with Imani Development International Ltd (Imani). The project established a challenge fund to contribute to increased opportunities for smallholder farmers (SHF) in agriculture and aquaculture value chains in Zambia. It draws upon the co-applicants’ experience and expertise in integrating Zambian smallholders into agricultural value chains and in establishing and managing competitive grant schemes. 

ENTERPRISE Zambia has endeavoured to respond to the identified needs, challenges and opportunities for Zambian smallholders and agribusinesses to participate in market-integrated and nutrition-sensitive value chains (VCs). Zambia’s agriculture sector is the country’s biggest employer yet only contributes an estimated 8% to gross domestic product (GDP). Production and productivity of most staples lag global and low-income country average levels and agribusiness growth is hampered by market and government failures. Therefore, Government objectives on food security, SHF income and private sector growth in the sector will only be met with better integrated VCs.  

Through the provision of financial and technical support, ENTERPRISE Zambia has addressed several key bottlenecks constraining agribusinesses including insufficient quantity and quality of raw materials/inputs; insufficient technical and business skills; poor access to technologies for value addition; poor aggregation among smallholders. 

The ENTERPRISE Zambia Challenge Fund is 100% funded by a EUR 26m grant from the European Union. EUR 20.8m is allocated for financial support to agri-businesses in Zambia.  

The project is part of the EUR 92m “Sustainable Commercialisation of Zambia’s Smallholder Farmers Programme (EU4MULIMI)”. As part of the programme, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing long term financing to Zambian banks (ZANACO and First Capital Bank) through the “Technical Assistance and Financial Instrument support for Zambia Agriculture Value Chain Facility”. This new financing provides longer-term loans than normally available in both local and foreign currency. Access to finance by smallholders and agricultural companies has been complemented by a technical assistance program and a risk-sharing facility backed by the European Union. Hence, this has created a blended finance facility – grants for value chain development and smallholders’ integration from ENTERPRISE Zambia, and the agriculture value chain facility from the EIB. 

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME 

The programme’s overarching objective is “To contribute to increased income and nutrition security for 150,000 smallholder farmers households in rural Zambia.” 

The specific objective: “Improved integration of smallholder farmers and agribusiness actors into regional, national and international value chains with additional weighting on gender focused opportunities and nutritionally sensitive (regional/national) value chains” and enabling 35-45 agri-enterprises to: – 

1. Increase their turnover by at least 25%,  

2. Create and/or support 8,500 net equivalent jobs including seasonal/part-time, etc., 

3. Support 105,000 households to increase their dietary diversity,  

4. Ensure 135,000 smallholders report improved access to markets.  

5. Implement activities that contribute to a green economy. 

ENTERPRISE Zambia’s intervention logic rests on three main areas of action: developing the capacity of agribusinesses through the provision of financing and technical support (OP1.1 and 1.2); promoting connections between market operators through technical support to agribusinesses and engagement with farmer and agribusiness associations (OP1.2 and 1.3); and improving the business environment for commercial agriculture/aquaculture by supporting farmer and agribusiness associations to intervene on critical issues and providing improved access to finance (OP1.3 and 1.4).  

1. Under Output 1.1, ENTERPRISE Zambia has transparently and objectively allocated financial support to agribusinesses in line with European Development Fund rules for financial support to third parties, ensuring its effectiveness by providing support based on the needs of agribusinesses operating in the agriculture and aquaculture sectors, as identified through in-depth and participatory assessments. These funds, in addition to supporting the achievement of the programme goals has helped agribusinesses become more inclusive and sustainable. Over 90% of the operational budget has been dedicated to this output. 

2. Under Output 1.2, the provision of targeted technical support has both enhanced operational capacity and supported agribusinesses to achieve their goals regarding positive impact on the resilience, sustainability, profitability of smallholders and deliver job and economic opportunity – agribusinesses are incentivised to focus particularly on women and youth. The project is also finalizing the process to provide support to the Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI) in the repeal and replacement of the Plant Variety and Seed Act, Cap 236 and the Plant Breeders Rights Act, No. 18 of 2007 while working closely with other stakeholders.   

3. Under Output 1.3, ENTERPRISE Zambia has engaged with available and suitable associations and supported them to engage in targeted and evidence-based interventions to improve the operating environment for their members, laying the foundations for sustained growth of commercial agriculture and aquaculture sectors.  

4. Finally, Output 1.4 has ensured that ENTERPRISE Zambia grantees are able to secure complementary finance required to deliver their Business Plans, and that grantee and non-grantee agribusinesses have greater awareness and understanding of the financial resources available to them to support continued growth of inclusive agribusinesses and their continued participation in nutrition-sensitive VCs. The EIB facility is one of the means through which funding opportunities for SMEs in Zambia have been widened through the ENTERPRISE project.  

SHA and Imani Development have been committed to the full capture and documentation of the results and impact of the investment across the different Agri-enterprises.  

PROGRESS TO DATE 

Thus far, 28 companies that have been awarded financial support totalling EUR 19.3m over the five calls for proposals. The fifth call supported additional projects proposed by  companies awarded grants in the first four calls. 26 companies are implementing their projects. One company – New Farming Rotations Zambia – went into liquidation and the project closed early. A second company was unable to sign the contract for the award due to financial issues. EUR 10.2m have been disbursed to companies by Jan 2024. 

The companies have so far integrated 151,012 smallholders into various value chains who have benefited from the programme in over 90 districts. The funded projects are in value chains that include organic cotton and soya, legumes including seed, beef and leather, sorghum, horticulture, aquaculture, timber, input provision etc. Already, more than 120,809 smallholder farmers are benefitting from improved access to markets, input supplies, credit facilities and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) trainings as part of the farmer integration. To date, companies have reported having created over 2,585 net equivalent jobs.  

The funded projects have explored opportunities to address some of the barriers that inhibit smallholder farmers from competitively participating in agricultural value chains. Examples of initiatives supported include farmers training on climate adaptation, capacity development, equipment investments, improvement of quality standards, participatory research and marketing and branding investments among others.  

The project has made good progress in supporting associations to address several policies and improve the agribusiness ecosystem in Zambia. Progress made so far includes: 

1. The Cotton Board of Zambia has been supported to hold stakeholder consultations in the main cotton growing areas – Eastern, Southern and Copperbelt Provinces. Inputs received from stakeholders were submitted to the Ministry of Justice to produce a draft Bill of the Cotton (Amendment) Act No.21 of 2005. The amended Act is expected to create a more competitive cotton value chain that benefits smallholder farmers, buyers, processors and exporters.  

2. The draft Bill of the Cotton (Amendment) Act No.21 of 2005 will be tabled for debate in Parliament during the 2024 legislative sessions. EZCF is supporting the production of a policy brief which will be distributed to legislators to help them make informed contributions during debate on the Bill. 

3. Fish Export Handbook has been produced working closely with the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA). The handbook outlines the processes and procedures that fish producers must follow when they want to export fish. ZDA has welcomed the handbook since it will help fish producers to sell to countries in the region when there is fish glut in the local market. 

4. A study was conducted leading to the production of a report highlighting how the sale of counterfeit legume seed (mainly soya bean, groundnuts and common beans) is retarding agricultural productivity and output in Zambia. The report made recommendations to address this problem. EZCF is currently supporting the Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI) to conduct country-wide stakeholder consultations for the repeal and replacement of the Plant Variety and Seed Act, Cap 236 and the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act No.18 of 2007. The new Acts which will replace the repealed Acts are expected to go a long way in making it a lot more difficult to distribute counterfeit seed in Zambia. In addition, EZCF is also supporting the Zambia Seed Traders Association (ZASTA) to work with SCCI and seed companies to implement scratch card technology to control the sale of counterfeit seed in the country. 

5. EZCF is supporting the Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) to produce training materials which they will use to train their members and help them to become ESG-compliant. Being ESG-compliant brings many benefits to companies that include accessing markets and funding from impact investors. 

SCOPE OF WORK 

The endline evaluation will cover the entire project duration until the evaluation’s start and take into consideration ongoing activities.  

The main purpose of the endline evaluation will be to provide the EZCF management team and the EU Delegation with an opportunity to reflect on programme performance in terms of:  

1. what worked well,  

2. what did not work well,  

3. significant factors that affected programme implementation either positively & negatively  

4. any changes that needed to be made on the strategies and approaches used in programme implementation that would have accelerated delivery of results and impacts. 

5. to understand the performance of the intervention and the reasons behind it to inform the planning of the future EU interventions.  

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS 

ENTERPRISE Zambia’s intervention logic is based on a market systems approach, which seeks to address the underlying causes of market dysfunction through business-focused facilitation so that agribusinesses operate more effectively, sustainably and beneficially for the poor, reducing poverty and generating widespread, sustainable change through expanded livelihood opportunities. ENTERPRISE Zambia’s intervention logic rests on three main areas of action: developing the capacity of agribusinesses through the provision of financing and technical support (OP1.1 and 1.2); promoting connections between market operators through technical support to agribusinesses and engagement with farmer and agribusiness associations (OP1.2 and 1.3); and improving the business environment for commercial agriculture/aquaculture by supporting farmer and agribusiness associations to intervene on critical issues and providing improved access to finance (OP1.3 and 1.4).  

These interventions will create a cascade effect which will improve the functioning of agriculture and aquaculture markets in Zambia, which will in turn make market actors more competitive and ultimately contribute to poverty reduction. The theory of change is outlined in the image below: 

Under Output 1.1, ENTERPRISE Zambia transparently and objectively allocated financial support to agribusinesses in line with EDF rules for financial support to third parties, ensuring its effectiveness by providing support based on the needs of agribusinesses operating in the agriculture and aquaculture sectors, as identified through in-depth and participatory assessments. These funds, in addition to supporting the achievement of the programme goals helped agribusinesses become more inclusive and sustainable.  

Under Output 1.2, the provision of targeted technical support enhanced operational capacity and supported agribusinesses to achieve their goals regarding positive impact on the resilience, sustainability, profitability of smallholders and deliver job and economic opportunity – agribusinesses will be incentivised to focus particularly on women and youth. This was critical for achieving both Business Plan and overall programme goals.  

Under Output 1.3, ENTERPRISE Zambia supported smallholder farmers and agribusiness associations to engage in targeted and evidence-based interventions to improve the operating environment for their members, laying the foundations for sustained growth of commercial agriculture and aquaculture sectors.  

Finally, Output 1.4 aimed to ensure that ENTERPRISE Zambia grantees can secure complementary finance required to deliver their Business Plans, and that grantee and non-grantee agribusinesses have greater awareness and understanding of the financial resources available to them in order to support continued growth of inclusive agribusinesses and their continued participation in nutrition-sensitive VCs. 

Socioeconomic and Agricultural Context in Zambia  

Zambia’s landscape is one of striking contrasts. While boasting fertile land and abundant natural resources, it grapples with poverty and food insecurity. Agriculture plays a pivotal role, employing over half the population and contributing around 8% of GDP. However, challenges like smallholder dependence on rain-fed farming, limited access to technology, and inadequate infrastructure constrain its full potential. 

According to the World Bank, 61% of Zambians live below the international poverty line of $2.15 per day (2015), with rural areas disproportionately affected. This vulnerability is partly driven by unreliable rainfall patterns and climate change, impacting agricultural yields and income stability. Despite government efforts like the Farmer Input Support Programme, access to fertilizers and improved seeds remains limited, particularly for marginalized communities. 

On the up-side, Zambia boasts a young and growing population with increasing access to education. Improved governance and political stability present fertile ground for economic diversification and inclusive growth. Investment in agricultural technology, including drought-resistant crops and irrigation systems, holds immense potential for boosting productivity and sustainability. Additionally, strengthening rural infrastructure and market access can empower smallholder farmers and connect them to lucrative value chains. 

As Zambia navigates the complex interplay of poverty, agriculture, and climate change, its future hinges on fostering inclusive economic growth, investing in sustainable agricultural practices, and empowering rural communities. 

Relevant Policies and Regulatory Framework 

Zambia’s policy landscape is underpinned by a comprehensive framework that addresses various sectors, including agriculture and aquaculture. The country’s National Development Plan (NDP) outlines eight key priorities, emphasizing the government’s commitment to achieving sustainable development. In the agricultural sector, Zambia has implemented policies and strategies aimed at fostering food security, poverty reduction, and rural development. 

Relevant policies and frameworks include: 

• The National Agriculture Policy (NAP), emphasizing diversification, commercialization, and climate-smart practices. Strategies include promoting value chain development, improving access to finance and markets, and investing in research and innovation. 
• The Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP) prioritizes agricultural productivity and value chain development, aiming to improve food security, create jobs, and increase rural incomes. 
• The National Land Policy, focusing on secure land tenure, particularly for small-scale farmers, to incentivize investment and productivity. 
• The Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy, promoting sustainable management of aquatic resources and diversifying fish production beyond capture fisheries. 
• The Zambia Climate Change Policy, recognizing agriculture’s vulnerability and promoting climate-resilient practices like drought-resistant crops and water conservation. 

Furthermore, the government has outlined strategies to enhance agricultural productivity through the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP), emphasizing the importance of irrigation, mechanization, and sustainable farming practices. Aquaculture development is also addressed through policies promoting sustainable fish farming and the conservation of aquatic ecosystems. These policies collectively reflect Zambia’s commitment to achieving its NDP priorities, ensuring a holistic approach to economic development and sustainable resource management. 

Despite these ambitious policies, implementation challenges remain. Resource constraints, weak market infrastructure, and limited access to technology hinder progress. Nevertheless, Zambia’s commitment to transforming its agricultural sector, coupled with international partnerships and technological advancements, offers promising prospects for sustainable and inclusive growth. 

The EU Green Deal and its Significance for Zambia 

The European Union’s Green Deal, launched in 2019, represents a ground-breaking roadmap for achieving climate neutrality by 2050. It encompasses ambitious goals across various sectors, including energy, transport, agriculture, and industry, seeking a holistic transformation towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly future. 

Key aspects of the Green Deal include: 

• Investing in renewable energy: Transitioning away from fossil fuels towards solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. 
• Improving energy efficiency: Reducing energy consumption across all sectors, from buildings to transportation. 
• Promoting sustainable mobility: Encouraging electric vehicles, public transport, and active travel (walking and cycling). 
• Greening agriculture: Supporting sustainable farming practices and reducing use of inorganic fertilizers. 
• Protecting biodiversity: Restoring ecosystems and tackling pollution. 

The Green Deal not only holds significance for the EU itself but also presents opportunities for its international partners like Zambia. Integrating greener economic development into the EU’s strategy for Zambia offers several benefits: 

1. Climate resilience: Zambia, being highly vulnerable to climate change, stands to gain from collaboration on adapting green agricultural practices, developing drought-resistant crops, and implementing sustainable water management systems. 

2. Market access: Aligning with the EU’s green priorities opens doors for Zambian producers of sustainable goods and services. This could include organic farming products, renewable energy solutions, and eco-tourism initiatives. 

3. Investment and innovation: The EU’s commitment to the Green Deal attracts significant investment in green technologies and solutions. Zambia can leverage this funding for infrastructure development, capacity building, and knowledge transfer. 

4. Trade and economic diversification: Promoting greener practices can create new market opportunities for Zambian businesses beyond traditional commodities, diversifying the economy and creating sustainable jobs. 

EU’s country strategy for Zambia: 

The EU-Zambia Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (2021-2027) highlights green transition and energy access as a key priority area. This involves collaborations on promoting renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and ensuring sustainable management of natural resources. Additionally, the EU supports Zambia’s efforts in agricultural transformation, focusing on climate-smart practices and fostering inclusive green growth. 

Overall, the EU’s Green Deal presents a promising avenue for collaboration with Zambia, fostering climate resilience, sustainable development, and economic diversification. By aligning with the EU’s green priorities and actively engaging in relevant initiatives, Zambia can unlock significant benefits for its environment, economy, and future. 

EVALUATION OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS 

The purpose of this endline evaluation is to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the project. This is to identify challenges that the project has encountered, to suggest recommendations and to identify lessons to be learned on design, implementation, and management. The evaluation’s purpose is thus to provide findings and conclusions to meet accountability requirements. The evaluation should not only assess how well the project has performed but also seek to answer the ‘why’ question by identifying factors contributing or inhibiting successful delivery of the results. The endline evaluation will assess the extent to which project interventions have attributed to changing the livelihoods of the project beneficiaries with a special focus on the following indicators: 

• Percentage of smallholder households with increased household income 

• Percentage of smallholder households with access to sufficient food 
• Percentage of smallholder households with acceptable dietary diversity  
• Percentage of smallholder households with increased/improved assets 

The endline survey will assess the performance of the project in line with the DAC criteria for evaluating development assistance. The criteria and questions to be answered by the evaluation are outlined below.   

Relevance	The extent to which the project objectives and design respond to the priorities of the smallholder farmers, agri-businesses, the Fund Manager, and development partners including the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
Questions	How aligned or relevant was the ENTERPRISE Zambia project to the companies’ vision for growth and impact?  To what extend the institutional arrangements/implementation modalities selected were appropriate to reach the most vulnerable households/smallholder farmers? To what extent was the ENTERPRISE Zambia adaptive to the changing needs of the beneficiaries?   How relevant is the blended finance facility to the country’s agriculture sector priorities and private sector development strategy?  Are the outcome areas (still) relevant to the target beneficiaries?  Are there any other interventions that could have been considered and yielded better results?
Coherence	The compatibility of the project with other interventions in the country and agriculture sector.
Questions	To what extent are the coordination structures effective in complementing implementation of similar interventions supported by GRZ and donors to prevent duplication of efforts?
Effectiveness	The extent to which the project achieved, or is expected to achieve its objectives and results, including any differential results across beneficiary groups. The effectiveness of the delivery structure involving the Fund Manager including synergy between output areas in delivering the outcome needs to be analysed against programme objectives.
Questions	To what extent is the programme producing worthwhile results (outputs, outcomes) and/or meeting each of its objectives? To what extent has the project built on the strengths and opportunities of SHA and Imani’s capabilities? To what extent are the processes to manage risks, including compliance risks, appropriate and effective? To what extent Covid-19 pandemic created opportunities/innovation or significantly hampered the effectiveness of the programme?
Efficiency	The extent to which the project delivered results in an economic and timely way. This should include a review of the efficiency and value for money of the delivery structure involving the Fund Manager.
Questions	Were the financial resources and other inputs used efficiently to achieve outputs? Do the outcomes of the programme represent value for money? To what extent is the relationship between inputs and outputs timely, cost effective and to expected standards? Would feasible alternative approaches, if any, yield equivalent results at less cost?
Impact	The extent to which the project has generated or is expected to generate significant positive or negative, intended, or unintended, higher-level effects. It is recognised that, in there are limitations in the baseline data and counterfactuals that constrain the scope for impact review. It will also be important to evaluate the additionality of the project.
Questions	What were the outcomes and (where possible) the impacts of the funded projects regarding different categories of smallholder farmers and agri-business clients? What has been the outcome and (where possible) impact of the catalytic fund at business level across the funded agri-enterprises?  What is the additionality of the funded projects? Have there been missed opportunities to broaden or deepen the impact of the programme? Has ENTERPRISE Zambia yielded any unintended (positive or negative) long-term results? Were there any differences in the distribution of impact results across the target companies? If yes, what were the reasons for the differences?
Sustainability	The extent to which the net benefits of the project will continue beyond EU support. The sustainability and replicability of the changes achieved need to be considered.
Questions	What evidence is there of any systemic change that has been initiated by the Programme?  What factors are expected to influence the continuation of Programme benefits after the end of this funding phase?  Is sustainability of individual businesses supported under this program leading to sustainability of development impacts?  Are there any risks likely to affect the sustainability of project results, if yes, what are the risks and feasible mitigation measures?

EU Value Added

To what extent the programme leveraged impact, created synergies and opportunities for smallholder farmers and/or supported the achievement of the overall EU funded “Support to sustainable commercialisation of Zambia’s smallholder farmers”. To what extent has the EU Green Deal-related support contributed to building climate resilience among vulnerable communities in Zambia? How effective have EU-supported activities been in facilitating Zambian producers’ access to markets for sustainable goods?

METHODOLOGY  

The applicants are expected to clearly specify the methodology they propose for the Endline Evaluation in their response to these Terms of Reference. Applicants are expected to propose a review design that is rigorous and uses internationally recognised methods. The methodology proposed should show how the chosen data collection and analysis techniques will lead to a robust and credible set of conclusions and recommendations for the programme. Applicants should specify the proposed scope of data gathering (e.g., number and type of case studies, survey targets and sample sizes etc..) and proposed method of data analysis.  

To maximize utilization of the evaluation, it is encouraged that the evaluation should follow a participatory approach and engage a wide range of stakeholders. To ensure the validity and reliability of the findings, data collection should be triangulated as much as possible. The data collection should draw on methods including, comprehensive desk review, review of the log frame, surveys, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and field visits. The evaluator should engage in quantitative and qualitative analysis in responding to the principal evaluation questions and present the findings qualitatively or quantitatively as most appropriate.  

The Fund Manager may revise these methods during the review inception phase and advise on the sampling methodologies. It is expected that the evaluation will use a mixed methods approach including:  

• In depth case study analysis of interventions made. 
• Qualitative analysis based on field visits, interviews, focus groups, document review and review of other data sources.  
• Quantitative analysis using monitoring data and other available data.  

To facilitate and to reduce disruption to grant recipients the evaluation team will coordinate with the fund manager on a visit schedule.   

It is expected that the evaluation will use a range of data sources including:  

• Review of ENTERPRISE Zambia documentation (including operations manual, call guidelines, Programme Steering Committee documentation and minutes, Independent Investment Committee Memos, compliance partner reports, monitoring reports, quarterly reviews, annual reports, quarterly reporting system on salesforce). 
• Analysis of information in the monitoring and reporting system.  
• Interviews (face-to-face, by telephone, in focus groups or by other means) with key stakeholders, including representatives of project implementation teams in the targeted SMEs (grant recipients), Fund Manager, technical working group representatives, private sector stakeholder, Match-fund providers and final beneficiaries (smallholder farmers and Pastoralists).  
• Field visits to the ENTERPRISE Zambia awardees in consultation with the Fund Manager.  

The evaluation team is encouraged to employ participatory approaches, collaborating closely with the project team and companies receiving financial support, to integrate the lessons learned from the evaluation process. 

In the first phase ahead of the main fieldwork, the consultants are expected to engage with the project M&E team to understand the data available and if required suggest possible additional data ahead of the fieldwork. 

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS 

Comprehensive Desk Review 

The consultant will compile, review, and analyse background documents and secondary data related to the project, including the relevant monitoring and evaluation framework. 

Stakeholder Analysis 

The consultant will identify the different stakeholders involved in the project who will be interviewed as part of the project. 

Survey (s) 

With a view to maximising feedback from the widest possible range of project stakeholders, the consultant will develop and deploy a survey following comprehensive desk study to provide a detailed set of findings.  

Key Informant Interviews 

Based on stakeholder identification, the consultant will identify and interview key informants. In preparation for the interviews with key informants, the consultant will define interview protocols to determine the questions and modalities with flexibility to adapt to the particularities of the different informants.  

Focus Groups 

Focus groups should be organized with selected project stakeholders to triangulate findings from other collection tools.  

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS  

Suppliers Code of Conduct 

Self Help Africa expects all its suppliers to respect the following Code of Conduct: 

• Employment is freely chosen.  
• Goods and services purchased are produced and developed under conditions that do not involve the abuse or exploitation of any persons including – but not limited to – children, women, minority groups etc.  
• The rights of staff to freedom of association are observed. 

• Working conditions are safe and hygienic. 
• No exploitation of children is tolerated. 
• Wages paid are adequate to cover the cost of a reasonable living. 
• Working hours are not excessive and regular working hours are provided. 
• No discrimination is practiced. 
• Local labour laws are complied with. 
• Social rights are respected. 
• Suppliers comply with all statutory and other legal requirements relating to the environmental impacts of their business.  

Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest 

The applicant undertakes that they will not at any time, either before or after the termination of this service, use or disclose or communicate to any person confidential information relating to the affairs of SHA. This restriction shall continue to apply after the termination of the service without limit in point of time. To ensure the independence of terms of their contract, the winning applicant will sign a declaration certifying that they have no conflict of interests in relation to the tasks to be undertaken and undertake to inform SHA should this status change. 

Terrorism and Sanctions 

Terrorism and Sanctions:  Self Help Africa (SHA) does not engage in transactions with any terrorist group/individual/entity involved with or associated with terrorism or individuals/entities that have active exclusion orders and/or sanctions against them.  SHA will not knowingly purchase supplies or services from companies that are associated in any way with terrorism and/or are the subject of any relevant international exclusion orders and/or sanctions. If you submit a bid based on this request, it shall constitute a guarantee that neither you/your company nor any affiliate or a subsidiary controlled by you/your company are associated with any known terrorist group or is/are the subject of any relevant international exclusion order and/or sanctions. Self Help Africa perform checks of suppliers against international lists including but not limited to those generated by the European Union (List of person, groups, and entities to which Regulation EC.No.2580/2001 applies, the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and blocked persons and the United Nations (Consolidated List). 

Exclusion criteria 

Candidates or tenderers shall be excluded from participation in this procurement procedure if:  

1. they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.  

2. they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata.  

3. they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which SHA can justify.  

4. they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of the country of SHA or those of the country where the contract is to be performed.  

5. they have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Union’s financial interests.  

6. following another procurement procedure or grant award procedure financed by the Union’s budget, they have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply with their contractual obligations. 

Self Help Africa is completely against fraud, bribery, and corruption.  Self Help Africa does not ask for money for bids. If approached for money or other favours, or if you have any suspicions of attempted fraud, bribery or corruption please report this immediately by email to [email protected]. Please provide as much detail as possible with any reports. 

TIMELINE 

The consultants will engage with the team immediately after contracting to understand the assignment and data held by the team. An inception phase will clarify the plan for the field work later in the year and potentially request additional information from the project team ahead of the evaluation commencing. The consultant will conduct the field work in Q4 2024 and give a preliminary presentation of findings to SHA, Imani and the EU project manager immediately after completing the field work. The consultant will have to submit the draft report to the Team Leader for review by 30 November 2024 and the final report be submitted by 31 December 2024. A presentation to the Technical Working Group of the Programme Steering Committee will be made in January 2025. 

BUDGET 

The maximum budget for the assignment including fees, logistics, consumables, and contingencies is around EUR 50,000. 

REPORTING 

The consultant will be required to deliver the following: 

1. Draft Inception Report: The Inception Report should cover: the validated review questions and each question should be accompanied by explanatory comments, judgement criteria, quantitative and qualitative indicators, methodological approach to data collection and analysis. The report should also include a detailed work plan, the activities to be implemented and the deliverables. The role and responsibilities of each member of the team should be stated as well.  

2. Final Inception Report, incorporating feedback from M&E team (1 week from commencement) 

3. Presentation of Draft Findings Conclusions and Recommendations to a meeting of the Technical Working Group.  

4. Draft Final Report should be discussed with the technical working group and other stakeholders in order to provide comments. The report should be a maximum of 30 pages exclusive of annexes and should detail the following: 

• An assessment of the likely relevance, effectiveness, sustainability of the programme and efficiency of the delivery approach.  

• Suggestions on how the programme approach might be adjusted to enhance its overall impact and recommendations for any subsequent programme extension.  
• A specific high-level report using the evaluation findings and conclusions to disseminate to EU and other stakeholders outlining the potential for scale-up of the challenge fund model 
• An assessment of the changes that have occurred in the target population since the start of the program. What is the contribution of the program to the changes (outcomes or impacts)? 

5. Final Report in the following format: 

• Executive summary 
• Intervention description 
• Endline evaluation purpose and questions 
• Methodology 
• Findings 
• Conclusions  
• Lessons Learnt 
• Recommendations  
• Annexes (such as list of people interviewed, key documents consulted, data collection instruments) 

6. A PowerPoint presentation of the summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations presented to the Technical Working Group.  

7. Final de-briefing on the report findings with the Fund Manager and EU Delegation 

8. A hard drive with Word and PDF versions of the report including annexes, power point presentation of findings and any data sets. 

DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS 

The consultant will be expected to give a PowerPoint presentation of the summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations presented to the Technical Working Group. Additionally, a final de-briefing on the report findings with the Fund Manager and EU Delegation will be held. A hard drive with Word and PDF versions of the final report including annexes, power point presentation of findings and any data sets should also be presented. 

ADMINISTRATION AND LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENTS 

The consultant will report to the ENTERPRISE Zambia M&E expert and will work closely with programme implementation team. The Consultant will be responsible for all logistic arrangements for him/herself and members of the evaluation team. The Fund Manager will facilitate convening of meetings and site visits where necessary. All relevant expenses should be covered by the evaluation contract budget. 

The successful Consultant(s) will be provided with all documents relevant to the project such as the project proposal and budget, Results Framework, programme implementation periodic reports, Donor Reports as appropriate etc. to support the evaluation process.  

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIRED COMPETENCIES 

The consulting firm / consultant must: 

Specific competencies 

• The lead consultant should have at least a master’s degree in international development, development economics/planning, M&E, economics, statistics, demography, agricultural economics or any other related university degree in the field related to the assignment,  
• At least 10 years’ experience in of private sector programmes: e.g. programmes in either Market Systems Development, Integrated Food Security, Sustainable Agricultural and Livelihoods, or other related fields. 
• Experience evaluating challenge funds will be an added advantage. 

General competencies 

• Strong understanding of various quantitative and qualitative review methodologies, surveys, and econometric/statistical analysis  
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex studies and findings in an accessible way for non-technical readers, including presentation of data in visually appealing ways, highly structured and rigorous summaries of findings and robust and accessible syntheses of key lessons. 

• Experience with EU and other donor programmes is preferred.  

Recommendation letters / references from previous clients should be provided covering the above. 

PRESENTATION OF PROPOSALS AND SELECTION CRITERIA 

The Consultant is therefore required to respond to the ToR with:  

• Both technical and financial proposal not more than 8 (eight) pages detailing how the consultant will carry out the activity  
• The consultant will quote his/her daily professional fees taking into consideration the applicable tax implications. The consultant will be responsible for their own tax affairs. The schedule of the activities should also be outlined in the technical proposal.  
• The consultant should attach CVs of the team members and examples of relevant assignments in the specified field, especially related to any reviews completed / contracts with international non-governmental organizations.   
• The analysis of the technical and financial proposal will incorporate a quality-cost analysis using the criteria below. 

Criteria	Weighting
Understanding of the TOR, proposed methodology and planning of assignment	25%
Track record in conducting similar scale reviews of private sector development programmes funded by donors and international agencies like the EU, IFC, FCDO, USAID, UN, KfW etc.	25%
Experience and suitability of the team leader and team	25%
Cost of the exercise (breakdown) Fee rates proposed for staff Travel and logistics Consumables	25%
Total	100%

The chosen Consultant on signing of Contract is expected to also agree to, and sign, copies of SHA Code of Conduct, Child Protection Policy and Terms & Conditions. 

The technical, financial proposal should be e-mailed to EZCF Applications [email protected] by 09:00 CAT on 15^th May, 2024. 

Please find here the documents related to this opportunity.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION 

• Three evaluation surveys (baseline and endline) for 3 companies using quasi experimental design  
• Qualitative studies using the Qualitative Impact protocol (QuIP) methodology  
• Overall Indicator Tracker for quantitative indictors  
• Monitoring reports  
• Mid Term Evaluation report 
• End of project reports 

CONTACT INFORMATION 

ENTERPRISE Zambia Team Leader-Mark Ireland 

email: [email protected]  

ENTERPRISE Zambia M&E Lead Expert-Susan Chima 

email: [email protected]