Request for Proposals – Terms of Reference for Liberia Policy Liaison Advisor

1.0 About AECF

The AECF is a leading development finance organization that supports businesses to innovate, create jobs, and leverage investments to build resilience and sustainable incomes for rural and marginalized communities in Africa. AECF’s goal is to bridge the investment gap between early-stage enterprises and business maturity for entrepreneurs serving the poorest communities.

The AECF provides patient capital to new and innovative business models in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors across Sub-Saharan Africa through various financing instruments, which include grants, zero-interest loans, guarantees, and working capital facilities. AECF’s financing products are supplemented by three additional growth support services to improve the viability and sustainability of our investees, namely:

(i) Advisory Services to improve investee internal capabilities

(ii) Investment Support in raising commercial capital in significant volumes, and

(iii) Knowledge and Insights for learning and evidence gathering for policy influencing and advocacy.

The AECF 2021-2025 new strategy objective is to build resilience and sustainable incomes for rural and marginalized communities in Africa. Through catalytic funding, the AECF surfaces and supports the commercialization of new ideas, business models, companies, and technologies designed to increase agricultural productivity, expand energy access, and alleviate poverty while also addressing the cross-cutting themes of women and youth.

2.0 Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa (REACT SSA) Programme.

REACT SSA is a Sida-funded programme supporting the private sector in Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the energy needs of rural communities. The target countries include Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

About 510 million people in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) currently have no access to electricity and will not get grid access, resulting in a steady increase in the number of people without electricity until at least 2025. The slow progress and prohibitive cost of conventional solutions to the household energy crisis mean that cheaper and more accessible new clean technologies offer a better chance of improved access to energy for rural households. Over the last decade, clean energy technologies have become more economical than conventional generation for many applications, and although the regulatory environment to facilitate their application has improved, there is a need for strong renewable energy private sector voices to influence decision-making around policies, laws, and regulations that impact the industry.

The AECF’s engagement in the energy sector under REACT SSA is designed to catalyse the private sector to increase the supply of cleaner fuels, raise awareness of the dangers of indoor air pollution, demonstrate how new knowledge in renewable energy technologies can be put into practice in ways that benefit the poor, especially women, and provide evidence on challenges in policy formulation and implementation.

3.0 AECF engagement in Liberia

The AECF’s Renewable Energy and Climate Technologies window provides patient capital to new and innovative business models in the renewable energy sub-sector. AECF’ s financing products are supplemented by three additional growth support services to improve the viability and sustainability of our investees, namely, (i) Advisory Services to improve investee internal capabilities (ii) Investment Support in raising commercial capital in significant volumes and, (iii) Knowledge and Insights for learning and evidence gathering for policy influencing and advocacy.

The REACT SSA programme in Liberia aims to accelerate access to renewable energy technologies for rural and marginalised populations. AECF has invested in nine companies delivering a mix of renewable energy technologies including clean cooking, mini-grids, green loans, productive use of energy, e-waste and off-grid Solar Home Systems.

3.0 Background to the assignment

The AECF in collaboration with the Liberia Rural Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) are jointly working to support the LEAP Network on Renewable Energy in Liberia to develop an appropriate strategic plan. The plan will provide strategic direction for the network for a five-year period, 2023-2028. In addition, the plan will serve as a tool for resource mobilisation.

3.1 About the LEAP network

The LEAP Network brings together businesses, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), academic institutions, individuals and Networks engaged in the promotion and development of activities and practices in the renewable energy sub-sector at all levels (i.e., national, local, sub-regional and community) in Liberia.

It is a membership network composed of mainly CSOs, individuals, institutions, academia, CBOs and Networks with international NGOs engaged in renewable energy. The Network was formed in 2014 in pursuit to enhance the Renewable energy CSOs & Networks’ participation and coordination in the joint sector review of the Renewable Energy Agency and its role in enhancing the enabling environment for the sector.

The network provides a platform for civil society to coordinate and jointly engage in policy lobbying and advocacy with a collective voice but also provides opportunities for capacity building through learning and information sharing to ensure evidence-based advocacy towards good governance of the country’s renewable energy sources.

Since its establishment, the Network has not had a guiding document for its activity implementation. The network now seeks support from the AECF and the RREA to develop a suitable strategic plan.

4.0 The assignment 

The AECF seeks to recruit a Policy Liaison Advisor to support the LEAP Network to:

1. Conduct a literature review of the associations’ documents to document the growth of the association to date documenting a rapid assessment of the performance specifically: challenges, key results and the lessons learned.
2. Undertake a situational analysis of the LEAP Network accurately defining the internal and external environment. Utilise global tools such as PESTEL, SWOT analysis or others as may be appropriate.
3. Undertake a comprehensive health check of the association in order to determine its current capacity and outline the following key aspects:
   • Legal status and compliance with the statutory requirements
   • State of membership, membership recruitment and retention, and member services
   • The advocacy capacity and improvements required to represent the collective interests of members.
   • The management structure of the association analysing the tools in place for the internal management of the network including financial management, governance and communication aspects.
4. Undertake a stakeholder mapping and develop tools to undertake a 360-degree stakeholder engagement to accurately analyse the role of the LEAP Network and the strategic direction required to ensure that the association plays its rightful role. Specifically, utilise the consultative process and application of appropriate tools of analysis, identify focus areas; thrust areas, long-term goals, strategic objectives, and key result areas for the network. The key targeted stakeholders include members, government officials, and development partners among others.
5. Review the findings of the literature review, health check, and stakeholder engagements against the Network’s goals within the local context and their mandated objectives to determine an appropriate approach to deliver collective benefits for the members and the RE sector growth.
6. Propose an appropriate strategic approach to achieve the corporate goals, strategic objectives and activities to implement the plan in support of strategic key result areas.
7. Develop a log frame outlining the Results and Resources Framework for the plan period.
8. Facilitate Network members and stakeholder meetings to validate the draft Strategic Plan (at least two forums)
9. Develop clear performance and outcome measures to guide the monitoring, evaluation and learning for the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan;
10. Finalize Strategic Plan and submit the final document to the Network leadership and board members.

5.0 Roles and responsibilities

The Liberia Policy Liaison Advisor will primarily report to the Policy and Advocacy Manager at the AECF to support the LEAP Network to develop the Strategic Plan. The Advisor will:

1. Develop the strategic plan in consultation with the LEAP Network, the RREA and the AECF.
2. Organise the stakeholder engagements through discussions with the LEAP Network.
3. Submit the deliverables in a timely manner reporting any key challenges encountered to the LEAP Network and the AECF.

6.0 Deliverables and timing

This assignment is expected to be implemented over the period of four months, for a total of 15 working days with the key deliverables outlined below:

1. Inception report outlining a clear work plan, and key tools to be utilised in the development of the Strategic Plan.
2. A draft five-year LEAP-Network Strategic Plan 2023-2028 incorporating:
   • Concise outcome of the health check and 360 stakeholder engagement
   • A log frame articulating the results and resources framework
   • A proposed budget for annualised activities.
   • A monitoring, evaluation and learning toolkit
   • An outline of stakeholder engagements and validation workshops.

• Revised strategic plan incorporating responses from the AECF, LEAP Network and the RREA for submission to the LEAP Network board.\

3. Final strategic plan incorporating any additional feedback from the board.

NB: All deliverables shall be submitted in 2 copies; in hardcopy and softcopy in MS Word and PDF versions.

6.0 Payment structure

The payment breakdown below will be milestone-based, against the deliverables, and will be made upon satisfactory signoff by AECF. It is expected that this assignment will be delivered over a period of four months from the contract sign-off date. The payments will be made upon submission of timesheets and appropriate deliverables.

7.0 Qualification and experience required.

Qualifications of the consultant:

1. At least 10 years of work experience in supporting the development of strategic planning instruments. Support to Private Sector Associations such as the LEAP Network would be an added advantage.
2. Over five year’s professional experience in strategic planning and management consultancy.
3. A Master’s degree in business management, strategic planning, economics, public policy, or related courses.
4. Demonstrated knowledge of Liberia’s renewable energy sector, and particularly have relationships with key stakeholders in the sector.
5. Verifiable evidence to demonstrate the capacity to deliver high-quality reports or strategic plans.

8.0 Proposal submission

1. A proposal on how to carry out the assignment and indicative timelines to deliver the assignment (Not exceeding 10 pages).
2. A financial proposal to deliver this assignment.
3. Technical and financial proposals must be submitted as separate documents and will need to be submitted in English.
4. Please note the Evaluation criteria requirements

9.0 Pricing

AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees as well as ensure VAT, at 16%, is charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position with regard to provisions of Kenya tax legislation when developing their proposals.

10.0 Evaluation Criteria.

An evaluation committee will be formed by the AECF and shall include employees. All members will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. The consultant should ensure that they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated.

The AECF may request and receive clarification from any consultant when evaluating a proposal. The evaluation committee may invite some or all the consultants to appear before the committee to clarify their proposals. In such an event, the evaluation committee may consider such clarifications in evaluating proposals.

In deciding the final selection of qualified bidders, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weighting of 75% based on the evaluation criteria. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be opened. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 25% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

The mandatory and desirable criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are identified in the table below.

11.0 Application.

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The AECF considers all interested candidates based on merit without regard to race, gender, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

AECF invites qualified consultants/firms to send a proposal to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org, clearly marked “Terms of Reference for an AECF Liberia Policy Liaison Advisor” to be received no later than 2^nd March 2023 5:00 pm East Africa Time (GMT +3) addressed to: The AECF, Procurement Department. All clarifications and or questions should be sent to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org

12.0 Disclaimer

AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.