MEL Localization RFI No. 72062024RFI00002.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

RFI ISSUANCE DATE: July 2, 2024

RFI CLOSING DATE: July 19, 2024

SUBJECT: Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) Localization

REFERENCE: RFI No. 72062024RFI00002

Dear Prospective Respondents and Interested Parties, The United States Government (USG), represented by the United States Agency for International Development’s Nigeria Mission (USAID/Nigeria), is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to conduct market research of capabilities of local organizations in Nigeria. USAID/Nigeria’s Program Office would like to learn about the capabilities and experience of Nigerian organizations that focus on monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and to gain insights into their technical expertise and capacity to receive and manage USG funds to provide performance management support to USAID. Responses to the RFI's questions will play a crucial role in informing the Mission’s approach to partnering directly with organizations. As defined in USAID’s Automated Directives System (ADS) 201, performance management is the systematic process of planning, collecting, analyzing, and using performance monitoring data and evaluations to track progress, influence decision making, and improve results. Consistent with the ADS 201 definition, we would like to understand local organization’s ability to perform part or whole of the following MEL tasks in response to this RFI:

● Performance Monitoring and Support Services

○ provide high quality field-based monitoring services

○ conduct Data Quality Assessments

○ provide suggestions and state-of-the-art recommendations to strengthen

USAID/Nigeria’s development programs and MEL system

○ carry out context monitoring and analysis

● Assessment & Evaluation Support Services

○ conduct assessments to inform Mission approaches including strategic level assessments and analytics

○ carry out activity and/or project evaluations

○ carry out operational research and analytics

○ conduct stakeholder analysis and political economy analysis (PEA)

● Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA)

○ maintain and improve the mission’s performance management system, including geographic information system (GIS) support

○ provide reliable empirical evidence for monitoring, learning, and adapting

○ provide training to share MEL best practices and tools to enable implementing partners, government, and other local entities the opportunity to deepen their MEL capacities

○ organize and support learning events

○ build organizational capacity to support systems’ development, including board governance, internal controls, strategic planning, business development, communications

○ build local capacity, including MEL internship program with young graduates

Localization Overview:

USAID is committed to shifting more leadership, ownership, decision-making, and implementation to the local people and institutions who possess the capacity, capability, connectedness, systems, and credibility to drive change in their own countries and communities.

Localization is the process and action that USAID will undertake to ensure our work strengthens local systems, is responsive to local communities, and puts local actors in the lead. Over the past decade, USAID has contributed thought leadership, invested in innovative processes, and elevated local leadership. We have partnered with local organizations, and provided project-based assistance to governments. However, localization is more than directing awards to local organizations. It also values the roles the local partners play, respects their commitment and integrity, and engages them as partners rather than as USAID agents and program participants.

This kind of partnership emphasizes trust-building, mutuality, and long-term commitments to a shared vision.

Vision: USAID/Nigeria envisions expanding the share of its programs that are locally led, in which local actors define priorities, design projects, drive implementation, measure results, and more fully own and sustain efforts to development.

USAID/Nigeria defines a local organization as a legally registered institution in Nigeria where:

1. Majority (over 80%) of Board of Directors are Nigerian citizens

2. Majority (over 80%) of income and profits are utilized and remain in Nigeria

USAID/Nigeria Guiding Principles:

Conflict Sensitivity Overview:

Development programs play a role in shaping the political economy and conflict dynamics where they work. Conflict-blind programs—those that do not recognize and plan for this interaction— run the dual risk of doing harm and undermining their intended development gains. It is therefore important to apply a conflict sensitive approach so that USAID activities can minimize harm, create opportunities for peace, and ultimately achieve development goals.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Overview:

USAID is committed to a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible (DEIA) workplace where everyone has an opportunity to thrive. Effective development work requires DEIA – throughout the USAID workforce, partnerships, programming, policies and procedures.

Gender and Inclusive Development

Gender refers to a socially created set of rules, responsibilities, entitlements, and behaviors associated with being a man, a woman, or a gender diverse individual, and the relationships between and among people according to these social creations. It differs among and within cultures, changes over time, and intersects with other factors such as age, class, disability, ethnicity, race, religion, citizenship, and sexual orientation. The extent to which they intersect can deepen priviledge or marginalization.

USAID/Nigeria’s Program Overview:

USAID/Nigeria’s 2020 - 2025 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) goal is “A healthier, more educated, prosperous, stable, and resilient Nigeria.” The Mission is working to achieve this goal through a set of three broad Development Objectives (DOs) and one Special Objective:

DO 1: Broadened and inclusive economic growth, DO 2: A healthier, better educated population DO3: Accountable, inclusive, and responsive governance strengthened.

SpO: Greater stability and early recovery advanced in selected states

The Mission works across five technical teams to advance these objectives towards an overall outcome of addressing Nigeria’s development challenges. Presently, the teams comprise of: (1) Economic Growth, Agriculture and Power, (2) Education, (3) HIV and Tuberculosis, (4) Health, Population, and Nutrition, and (5) Peace and Democratic Governance. In addition, USAID addresses humanitarian crises in Nigeria through the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.

Availability of up to date information and evidence on the progress of programs across these areas are important to the success of USAID’s support to Nigeria. Lessons learned from the operating context and evidence from program data and oversight all contribute to ensuring that USG’s development commitment to the people of Nigeria through USAID is on course. In this regard, USAID seeks a better understanding of the availability of local organizations and institutions in Nigeria that have the capacity, capability and structure to provide MEL related support to USAID in the country.

We seek to establish and maintain result-oriented, gender sensitive, inclusive and accountable partnerships and encourage responses from new and underutilized entities, local entities and locally established partners.

Submission:

Responses to this RFI should be submitted electronically via completion and submission of this “Request for Information (RFI) Google Form” no later than the closing date and time stated above. Information collected will, at a minimum, include the firm/organization’s name, contact information, experience, past performance/sample work or projects and price listing. You will not be requested for information of a sensitive nature or personal identifiable information (PII).

Please DO NOT submit any information of this kind. USAID requests that submissions be as clear and specific as possible without exceeding 2-3 sentences, where applicable. Where requested, please provide accessible web links.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Responders are free to address any or all the questions in the google form. USAID reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for its purposes without restriction or limitation. Proprietary information must not be submitted.

Please note USAID is not seeking technical or cost proposals. Do not submit any proposal at this time. This RFI is issued solely for market research and planning purposes. USAID posts its competitive business opportunities on https://sam.gov. Please monitor this site for future announcements.

Issuance of this RFI neither obligates the USG to issue a solicitation or award a contract nor commits the USG to pay for any costs incurred or information resulting from this request.

Thank you for your time and interest in working with USAID/Nigeria.

Sincerely, Marva Butler Supervisory Contracting Officer https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wU_ecMBnTdcvWTmSEOl8NH1C6TfNdOVGRRJXgpMkDh0/edit https://sam.gov/content/home https://sam.gov/