RFI 72011523RFI00001 Kaz LW Dev Eval ENG.pdf

REGIONAL KAZAKHSTAN TURKMENISTAN

41 Kazibek Bi Street, Almaty 050010, Kazakhstan; Tel.: (727) 250-7612; Fax: (727) 250-7636;

Website: https://www.usaid.gov/central-asia-regional

Document Type: Request for Information (RFI)

Reference Number: 72011523RFI00001

Issuance Date: February 15, 2023

Closing time: March 2, 2023, by 10.00 am Almaty time

Subject: Collecting Information on Individuals and Organizations with Experience in Conducting Developmental Evaluation1

I. OVERVIEW

The United States Agency for International Development in Central Asia (USAID/CA) is exploring the landscape of actors ‐ both within and outside Kazakhstan ‐ with developmental evaluation capacity. This effort will inform planning for a potential upcoming developmental evaluation of the USAID Local Works activity in Kazakhstan, described in the next paragraph.

USAID’s global Local Works program is designed to advance locally led development and enhance the Agency’s ability to empower local people to take the lead in addressing their development challenges.

In Kazakhstan, the upcoming Local Works activity will focus on working with sub‐national governments and civil society to help them identify priorities, better manage national and local resources, and mobilize citizens to work towards common objectives. The activity will create learning and knowledge sharing platforms for the local leaders to share and discuss best practices and lessons learned with other leaders across the country. This approach will strengthen local governance and enable local governments and civil society organizations (CSOs) to deliver lasting results for their communities.

The English language version of this RFI shall be controlling in all respects and shall prevail in case of any inconsistencies with translated versions, if any.

II. PURPOSE

This Request for Information (RFI) seeks information on the availability, interest, and diverse capacities of entities to support prospective USAID developmental evaluation focused on the Local Works activity in Kazakhstan.

Developmental evaluation is unique from other evaluation approaches. By embedding evaluators in program teams, it focuses on continuous learning and adaptation of programs.

While it does not prescribe a specific data collection or analysis approach, it tends to draw

1 Please see definition of Developmental Evaluation in Section II: Purpose of this RFI.

heavily on rigorous analysis of qualitative data. Embedded evaluators draw on evaluative findings to facilitate program learning and decision‐making, including refining program strategies and pivoting activities in response to changes in context. USAID’s Developmental Evaluation Pilot Activity has produced resources on this topic, available at this link.

USAID/CA envisions that the evaluator ‐ embedded full time with the activity implementing organization ‐ would be supported by an organization with capabilities in developmental evaluation who can provide capacity strengthening support for the embedded evaluator, surge support for data collection and analysis, quality control of evaluation products, and overall thought partnership for the embedded evaluator throughout the evaluation process.

As such, USAID/CA is especially interested in:

● Kazakhstani citizens or lawful permanent residents of Kazakhstan with capacity, availability, and/or interest to work as full‐time evaluators; and

● Kazakhstani and non‐Kazakhstani organizations with experience in developmental evaluation that have not received more than USD $5 million in the last five years directly (as the prime) from USAID.

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It is NOT a solicitation or Request for Proposal (RFP) and in no way obligates the US Government to issue an RFP and/or award a contract or pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. If a solicitation is issued, all necessary information will be supplied in that solicitation. Interested parties are advised to periodically monitor the www.sam.gov and www.grants.gov website for updates concerning a potential procurement.

III. EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

USAID/CA is interested in submissions from:

1. Organizations: Both Kazakhstani and non‐Kazakhstani organizations are encouraged to express interest. USAID/CA is interested in submissions from non‐governmental organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, private sector organizations, or other organizations with relevant experience.

USAID/CA is especially interested in organizations that have not received more than USD $5 million in the last five years directly (as the prime recipient) from USAID.

2. Local Individuals: Local individuals with relevant experience are encouraged to express interest.

For the purposes of this RFI, Local Individual is defined as follows: Kazakhstani citizen or lawful permanent resident of Kazakhstan.

USAID/CA encourages responses to this RFI from organizations and local individuals that possess ANY of the evaluation‐related capabilities and expertise listed below:

1. Experience related to developmental evaluations, including:

a. Serving as an evaluator embedded within an organization implementing a program;

b. Managing developmental evaluations, including but not limited to recruiting embedded evaluators, supporting or backstopping embedded evaluators, and providing quality assurance for developmental evaluation products;

c. Working with clients to develop and prioritize learning questions;

d. Developing and facilitating learning events for stakeholders; and/or

e. Other experience related to developmental evaluation.

2. Conducting evaluations and analytic research, including:

a. Designing performance or impact evaluations, mobilizing and managing evaluation teams, and conducting evaluations of development programs;

b. Conducting desk reviews and literature reviews;

c. Conducting focus group discussions, key informant interviews, or other relevant qualitative data collection approaches;

d. Conducting qualitative or quantitative data analysis; and/or

e. Conducting activities to strengthen the capacity of local evaluators

Individuals and organizations DO NOT need to have all the capabilities and experience listed above to respond.

IV. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

USAID/CA asks that interested respondents submit short written responses to the questions outlined in the survey via Google Form. The link to the form is provided below in this section.

Respondents are encouraged to review the questions and respond to only those that are relevant to their experience and capabilities. Responses to all questions are not required but encouraged as applicable. Please also provide your name, title, organization, and contact information in your response. Submissions must be either in English, or Kazakh, or Russian.

If you have technical difficulties accessing or submitting the Google Form, please reach out to the USAD/CA Acquisition and Assistance Office at AlmatyAASolicitations@usaid.gov.

Responses will be held confidential unless otherwise specified, but respondents are advised to refrain from sending proprietary information.

Please submit responses to this RFI by Google Form no later than March 2, 2022, by 10:00am Almaty Time. Responses received after this deadline will not be read or considered.

The Google Form survey is provided in three languages at the following links:

In English: https://forms.gle/2ifNX8MXGhT8Byq38 In Kazakh: https://forms.gle/1YEuU2EU6HVnW5cg6 In Russian: https://forms.gle/E9zm5dqH8zrAFJWZ8

Please choose ONLY ONE submission option (either English, or Kazakh, or Russian). If USAID receives multiple submissions from an individual/organization, we will only review the most recent submission.

USAID/CA values input from our potential partners, and we thank you for your interest and assistance in developing potential future programs.