1.     REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) OVERVIEW

• RFP No:  T-CI–ET–2022-016
• RFP Title:  Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy Training Consultancy Service
• RFP Issued By:  Cuso International Country Program Office in Ethiopia
• Issuance Date: August 23, 2022                     
• Countries and destination cities of delivery: Assosa Town
• Proposal Submission Date: September 01, 2022
• Language of the proposal: The financial proposals must be submitted in English.

Instructions for Submission of Proposals:  All proposals should be submitted to the Cuso International Country Program office in Ethiopia via the following address:  

Cuso International Ethiopia Country Program Office,

H & M Building, 7^th Floor (Around 22 Mazoria, In Front of Blue Bird Hotel), Yeka S.C, Woreda. 08, H# New map No.D.03/2580/01/3585 Addis Ababa I Tel # 011 6 590698

Awards: It is anticipated that there will be one award. Issuance of this Request for Proposals does not constitute an award commitment on the part of Cuso International nor does it commit Cuso International to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal.

2.   TERMS OF REFERENCE

A.     Background

Cuso International is a Canadian international development organization with the mandate of contributing to reduce poverty and social inequalities through the support of highly qualified volunteers, partnership with local and international organizations as well as assistance from generous donors. Our vision is that of a world where everyone reaches out to their full potential, developing their skills and participating in bringing about a more just society. Working for the past 60 years, our efforts are focused on building inclusive societies for women and girls, improving economic opportunities, increasing access to education, and enhancing maternal and girls’ health. By connecting global communities in need with the skills required to create lasting change, our impact continues to grow long after a project’s end. 

B.     U-GIRLS 2 PROJECT

Partnering with the Institute of International Education (IIE), Cuso International has been implementing a project called Promoting Greater Access to University for GIRLS ("U-GIRLS-2"). This project is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs of Canada (GAC).  U-GIRLS 2 project aims to increase access to higher education for high school girls in Ethiopia by applying a holistic, multi-sectoral approach to empower girls and young women through quality education. The project targets seven secondary schools in Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State (BGR) and will support economically disadvantaged high school girls, high school girls with special needs, and their families. U-GIRLS 2 project works to address existing gender barriers that impede girls' ability to stay in school. Hence, the adolescent girls will receive academic resources, training, tutorials, and a financial stipend to allow them to focus on schoolwork. Support will also be provided to teachers and schools in providing gender-sensitive education systems and schools.

It also hopes to break the financial barriers for girls to accessing education by working with the families and communities of the participating girls in changing views on girls’ income and preceptive of the resource. A livelihood component was also developed for the families to address their financial limitations of the families. This initiative also aims at building the capacity of community-level partners. 

C.     U-GIRLS 2 Project schools. 

Assosa Town Administration 

Ø  Assosa General Secondary and Preparatory School

Ø  Gemharu Secondary and Preparatory School  

Abrhamo woreda

Ø  Kemishiga Birhan Secondary and Preparatory School

Bambasi woreda

Ø  Bambasi General Secondary School and Preparatory school 

Ø  Ewket Fana Secondary School and Preparatory school 

Menge woreda

Ø  Menge General Secondary and Preparatory school 

Mao – Komo Special Woreda 

Ø  Tongo Secondary and Preparatory School

D.    Objectives

To deliver training on entrepreneurship and financial literacy and equip participants with basic business skills so parents of the project beneficiaries could enhance their involvement in income-generating activities. Consequently, based on follow-up and continuous support helped change their income and improve their lives.

E.     EXPECTED RESULT OF THE TRAINING

At the end of the training, Cuso International expects that the participants will have a clear understanding of: -

• Improved knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and business management.
• Improved capacity or a set of skills to excel in entrepreneurship and empower participants and trigger creativity to grow their businesses.
• Enhanced ability to identify viable entrepreneurship opportunities.
• Developed skills/ability to assess their own weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, fears, and motivations in reach-up, start-up, and scale-up programs.

F.      SCOPE OF WORK

Participants of this training have different levels of competency. Particularly, parents/guardians for whom the training will be cascaded may not have significant formal education. Thus, the entire business skills and entrepreneurship development training is expected to follow principles of adult learning approaches and should be more participatory through understanding the context.

The consultancy task is expected to achieve the following activities:

Phase - I

• Prepare training modules and provide ToT training for 30 regional level officers
• The materials for the entrepreneurship and financial literacy training should be designed to work with available resources and attempt to provide learning inputs targeting behavioral gaps (lack of motivation, entrepreneur, culture etc), informational gaps (awareness), skill gaps (know-how) that limit their small-scale entrepreneur growth and development.
• The facilitator should prepare materials/booklets for the training and share them with the project team one (1) month before the training event to incorporate feedback timely.
• Conduct final assessment and prepare the team to cascade the training with a close follow-up by assigning experts who took the ToT.

Phase – II

• Organize community empowerment training and cascade the training to 776 parents/guardians through the ToT-trained personnel from the region.
• Produce contextualized handouts for community members in favor of each session and contextual to the participant’s profile.Follow the trainers to point out traditional beliefs, taboos, and myths about women and men that affect women negatively to generate income.
• Facilitate and coaching in which participants will reflect on their experience and apply the learning in their life.
• Enable discussions and invoke questions from participants to understand gender equality issues during the training.
• Ensure the training follows a gender transformative approach through creating opportunities for economic change and economic development that help to improve the livelihood needs of the community.
• Empower training participants with general awareness about their community-based business opportunities such as goat Harding, beekeeping, poultry, plant nursery, or even growing nontimber products and fruits.
• Deliver a final report that shows the process and outcome of the training challenges encountered and recommendations.

G.    Overall tasks and deliverables:

Ø  Develop the agenda and curriculum focused on the following a set of core entrepreneur skills:

• Generating entrepreneur ideas
• Choosing a marketing strategy
• Using a balance sheet
• Creating a business plan
• Creating a cash flow budget
• Taking and repaying loans
• Keeping records
• Managing the use of profits for personal use

Conduct training for 30 ToT & 776 participants from U-GIRLS 2 project targeted districts in BGR Management Institute, the minimum Expected days of training per batch is 5 days.

Develop and administer, before and after the training workshops, pre-and post-test assessments, and evaluation of the training.

Ø  Submit a consolidated report of all training with a focus on results achieved and lessons learned and including photos.

H.    Training Methodology

This training should be developed with an interactive and participatory approach. It must also follow a gender-sensitive approach and topics covered by the trainer should allow the participants to have the space and opportunity to discuss, analyze and reflect on new concepts. Specifically, the training methodology should include several participation techniques such as: - Group discussions - Brainstorming - Case studies etc.

I.       Timeframe/duration

The period of the consultancy is 8 weeks beginning October to November 2022. The training days will be 15 days for the ToT training and 5 days duration for the community members /parents/ guardians in different sessions, except otherwise preferred by the consultant.

J.      Required competencies

The consultants /facilitator must have:

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in enterprise development, Three (3) years of work experience with SMEs
• Experience in marketing, business development, and access to finance.
• Experience working with donor-funded programs in areas of providing ToT training, and facilitation of training at the community level.
• Familiarity with various relevant Ethiopian policies, laws, and regulations promoting and declaring women’s rights and gender equality.
• Trainers should be practitioners with a strong training background, either from local, national, regional, or international nongovernmental organizations,
• Experience of working with grass-root people in the Benishangul gumuz region
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Documentation and computer skills and excellent communication skills in Amharic, Oromiffa, and English languages.

K.     Evaluation Criteria 

ü  For the award of this consultancy service, the client has established evaluation criteria that govern the selection of offers received. Evaluation is made on a technical and financial basis. of the technical evaluation will weigh 70% during analysis using the below criteria indicated in the table and the remaining 30% is given for financial analysis. For the technical analysis, a supplier must score at least 35% and above to be considered in the financial analysis.

1.   SUPPLIER INFORMATION

Please provide the following information:

-        Company Name,

-        Address,

-        Phone, and Fax,

-        Contact person with email.

2.   PRICING

1. Prices must be expressed in ETB

2. Prices should be quoted excluding taxes or clearly specify if it is tax exempted.

3. Any discount offered to Cuso International must be clearly indicated.

3.   LEAD AND DELIVERY DETAILS

Terms of reference for execution will be negotiated with the successful consultancy firm, with details of lead times and schedules.

4.   PAYMENT TERMS

The payment installation would be in three terms (Initial, second and final)

L.      CONDITIONS OF TENDER

1. Cuso International reserves the right to deal with any tender of its choice or any or all parts of the tender and to purchase items from various tenders.
2. Cuso International is not bound to accept the lowest offer or any offer.
3. The winner of the contract will be an exclusive supplier unless unable to provide the required goods/services at the right time. In such cases, the second preferred supplier will be contacted, and so on.
4. Prices quoted must be valid for a total of 60 days (two-months) period.

5. This request for tender is not a contract or an offer into a contract but is a request for a quotation for the goods/services indicated in this document. However, a contract will be established based on the tender decision.
6. Cuso International is in no way responsible for any costs associated with preparing the tender response.
7. Cuso International reserves the right to alter the dates of the tender timetable.
8. Cuso International will inform each respondent to the tender of the decision on their offer through a letter of engagement if successful, or otherwise by email. Cuso International is not obliged to justify or explain selection to any respondent. Respondents are encouraged to contact Cuso International for any information required to submit a competitive bid.

 M.   Tenders submitted must be accompanied with:

• Renewed business license for the year 2014 E.C. VAT | TIN registration certificate
• Company profile
• In a short and precise way evidence of past performance record on similar works and other relevant credentials.
• Completely filled consultancy service Price Schedule
• Statement of Declaration in compliance with Cuso International Policies
• The consultancy firm should bring a sample of content outline for the entrepreneurship training.

Tenders must be submitted in two (2) sealed envelopes, bearing the bidder’s official seal, and clearly marked FINANCIAL and TECHNICAL “Original” and “Copy”, and must include the bidders’ name, and contact address, as well as the Tender title and Tender reference number.

Tenders must be submitted in the bid box prepared for this purpose at Cuso International, Ethiopia Country Office on September 01, 2022, before 11:00 A.M. (Local Time).

Cuso International Ethiopian CO Committee will open tender responses on September 02, 2022 at its own discretion.

Cuso International reserves the right to accept or reject this bid, in partial, or in its entirety.

Address

Cuso International Ethiopia Country Program Office,

H & M Building, 7^th Floor (Around 22 Mazoria, In Front of Blue Bird Hotel), Yeka S.C, Woreda. 08, H# New map No.D.03/2580/01/3585 Addis Ababa I Tel # 011 6 590698