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DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

DIGITAL, DATA, AND INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENTS

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Overview of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an independent United States government development agency with the mission to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth. Since its establishment in 2004, MCC has invested more than $15 billion in development grants through compact and threshold programs across 40+ countries.

MCC puts a premium on country ownership: Eligible countries identify their own priorities through broad consultation within their society, then work in partnership with MCC to develop and refine programs to generate the most significant impact. The collaborative process results in MCC investments

– 5‐year compacts or 3‐4‐year threshold programs targeted at reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth.

MCC uses data throughout its investment cycle: After MCC’s Board of Directors selects a country to develop a compact or a threshold program, MCC and the partner country undertake an analysis to identify the binding constraints to economic growth in the local economy. During the design, MCC quantitatively assesses the likely benefits and costs of proposed investments. During implementation, MCC works to measure results by monitoring program execution and conducting rigorous independent evaluations that seek to learn and quantify the projects' actual impact on household welfare. MCC strives for transparency in all its programs and posts these analyses on the agency's public website.

Data Use, Digitalization and Country‐Led Development

Increasingly, data use and digital development are also material to our mission and operations. Digital products, services, trade, and the digital economy represent a growing fraction of countries’ GDPs. In addition, connectivity, data‐enabled technologies, analytics, and computing capacity characterize

“smart”1 development across all sectors – and could help close some important development gaps in underserved areas. Such investments are already part of our more recent compact and threshold programs, and we expect this trend to continue. Operationally, this means that MCC expects partner countries to be able to collect, analyze and understand their own data, and to use it to support decisions related to development priorities and resource utilization. This data, and the capacity to leverage it, is important within national statistics offices (NSOs) and throughout the broader statistical systems.

Ideally, data which MCC uses to design its programs can also be re‐used by country‐based stakeholders to optimize services to citizens, or by citizens themselves to create value.

Now more than ever, in a world where the digital economy is poised for additional growth – and dealing with and recovering from the impact of the global spread of COVID‐19 ‐‐ local capacities to generate and use data forms the foundation of digitalization and social and economic development2. It enables MCC

1Agriculture and irrigation, road and electrical infrastructure, e-government services, and health systems become “smart” through the use of technology, data analysis and predictive analytics.

2 Increasingly country leaders and funders like the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and PARIS21, as well as MCC, are highlighting the need for digitalization, innovation and strong statistical capacity because country data use is foundational to development objectives.

partner countries to define their own evidence‐based priorities, gain ownership over their development plans, and be more resilient when faced with unforeseen challenges.

Data Use and Digital Context in MCC Partner Countries

The digital environment in MCC partner countries is evolving but, in nearly all cases, remains constrained on several important fronts:

1. Differential access to digital infrastructure and equipment; affordability considerations.

2. Uneven or un‐enforced policies to support open, interoperable, and secure digital ecosystems;

and to promote competition, innovation, and investment; and

3. Importantly, insufficient data and digital skills among civil society, public sector employees and businesses hamper many countries from appropriately leveraging the many potential benefits of the digital revolution.

Limited access to and adoption of key enabling digital technologies, platforms, and services, including open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet, also impedes scaling of partner country technology and innovation ecosystems. Inclusive participation in the digital economy begins with access to digital skills and literacy, but additional investment in digital entrepreneurship and workforce development is needed, particularly for youth and women. In fact, the 2021 Global Gender Gap report suggests that lagging STEM, IT and digital skills are causing women to be being left behind by the digital and data revolution.

To enable more impactful, inclusive and resilient growth, MCC may invest to alleviate the above constraints by integrating some of the following activities into its investments:

Identify and leverage data sources needed to optimize and sustain specific investments.

Identify and understand major constraints and opportunities related to data access and digital connectivity – and what efforts are being made to alleviate these.

Understand and strengthen government policies and practices related to data, including capabilities of the national statistics office, ministries, agencies, and specific units that are a focus of MCC’s investments.

Identify and remove impediments to data interoperability and sharing between key ministries, associations and/or private sector entities associated with investment programs, and between national and sub‐national levels of government.

Identify human capital needs and build the capacity of local government, the private sector, small and medium enterprises, and individual citizens to use data to promote gender‐balanced investment benefits, accountability, and transparency.

Contribute to the economic empowerment of women, not only in terms of connectivity and access to digital tools and services but also the skills they need to use this information.

Promote ethical data governance that expands access to information and transparency – and concurrently balances the use of data by the public and private sectors with appropriate privacy protections for citizens.

SCOPE

Better data, capable data analysis, and strategic use of information can enhance the design but also the operationalization3 of MCC investments and can also lay the foundation to more effective government services as well as economic opportunities for citizens. Consequently, as MCC works in a data‐intensive manner to define economic development projects with partner countries (see Appendix A), there is a need for more detailed understanding and documentation of the current state of the digital, data and innovation ecosystem in those countries, along with the opportunities to enable digital transformation and growth.

The purpose of this scope of work is to provide strategic assessments of the data, digital and innovation ecosystem in partner countries. Through these assessments, MCC seeks to understand the baseline strengths and weaknesses of the current processes, policies and practices impacting data supply and demand – as well as strategic investments that can be integrated into program activities to improve the availability, timeliness, accessibility, interoperability, and quality of the data that will be important digitalization and to reaching development outcomes. MCC requires both the facts of the situation as well as expert recommendations on strategies and approaches to improve data availability and quality, data use capacity, data literacy, and readiness to use data to support evidence‐based decision making, and to contribute to fulfillment of the objectives of planned MCC programs.

MCC is therefore seeking proposals from U.S., international, African regional, and / or country‐based organizations to design and implement, in direct collaboration with MCC, assessments of digital, data and technology innovation ecosystems, broadly but with depth in specified sectors. This scope also includes related the technical assistance that MCC needs to refine its due diligence tools and processes the design of digital investments integrated and/or alongside its compact and threshold programs.

I. Tasks

Interested organizations should include the tasks described below in their quotes, as well as any other tasks the consultant deems necessary to successfully achieve the assessments. We expect that the work would be done in parts to appropriately support MCC’s program development process, including an ecosystem assessment (Part 1), followed by a deeper dive based on the MCC sector(s) or subnational region(s) of focus, and/or opportunities surfaced during the first phase of the work (Part 2). Quotes will also include additional tasks related to MCC’s data and digital portfolio.

At least two countries will be included in the assessments of this procurement. These countries will be selected based on MCC program needs. Anticipated tasks per country are:

Part 1: Broad ecosystem (per country)

1. Assess the digital landscape

2. Assess the data ecosystem

3 Examples include: a) ensuring that data on rainfall patterns, soil productivity and market trends are considered when optimizing investments in agribusiness; b) export trends are accessible and used by business incubators to help small businesses target investments with the greatest chances of success.

3. Assess the digital innovation landscape and recommend enhancements

4. Identify prior and current related investments and opportunities for coordination

5. Analyze and recommend alternatives for strategic intervention

Part 2: Sector‐specific digital and data systems (per country)

6. Assess the digital and data systems in specified sectors

7. Assess digital innovation opportunities in the sector(s)

8. Identify prior and current sectoral investments and opportunities for coordination

9. Analyze and recommend alternatives for digital investments in the sector(s)

Additional Support Requested

10. Develop ways to standardize and enhance MCC digital, data and innovation ecosystem assessments.

11. Provide technical assistance as requested by MCC.

12. Complete all assessment and contract reporting and report on methodologies.

The anticipated task activities and outputs are further detailed below. Level of effort percentages are provided as notional guidance estimates, are not intended to be an instruction, and the consultant is free to propose a different division of effort in the application.

Part 1: Broad ecosystem

At the commencement of a Part 1 study in a partner country, the consultant and MCC team will discuss and establish a consensus, to be documented by the consultant, of the priorities for the assessment – that is, the attention and weight to be placed on each of the following tasks; and added areas to be studied, if gaps are found in the tasks below.

1. Assess the Digital Infrastructure Landscape

The success of investments in data ecosystems and technology innovation is dependent on the underlying digital computing and communications infrastructure – and the ability of different categories of stakeholders to access information. A broad review of the digital landscape, relying on available data sources and reports, will provide background for the tasks that follow. This should include a brief description of the market structure, such as market share and market coverage of participating firms, and the role and participation of private sector and public sector. A key output of this task is to better understand major gaps in digitization, data accessibility, Internet and/or broad‐band coverage including differential access between urban / rural areas, as well as any public‐ or private‐sector efforts to close those gaps. In some cases, MCC or its partners may determine that investments in digital infrastructure, equipment or systems may be beneficial to achieve project objectives. Information on any major divides

(urban / rural, gender, or other) is also important. This may also include affordability considerations preventing access to information / services.

This task is intended to provide an overview, and not to go into significant detail; and is not anticipated to take more than 10% of the effort in a particular country. If a need for further research into computing and communications is identified, additional emphasis may be put on this aspect if agreed with MCC.

Particular areas of need should be identified, and recommendations on potential investments included

(with information on urgency and/or priority) as part of Task 5 below.

2. Assess the Digital and Data Ecosystem

Through MCC Compact and Threshold programs in partner countries, MCC sees opportunities to strengthen the national and local data ecosystems in partner countries by addressing data supply and demand, human capital and data literacy issues, and policy environment. Efforts to address these issues may create opportunities for more inclusive participation in the benefits derived from all MCC’s investment activities.

To assist MCC in scoping these opportunities, the consultant will undertake a broad data ecosystem assessment in selected countries using a thorough and well‐documented methodology. The assessment should evaluate the interaction of prototypical constraints on data ecosystems, including: state of demand, supply, technical capacity, governance, and operating environments. These constraints are further described in Appendix B.

This task is foundational to this assessment and will identify ecosystem‐level barriers and constraints to a sound, growth‐ready digital and data ecosystem. As such, it should form at least 25% of the overall effort of the assessments.

This assessment, because of its breadth, should provide information and context for additional task items listed below. Listing these individually should not be taken as separate areas of study, but as areas to be integrated as part of the overall study.

a. Assess data and statistics policy

The consultant will provide an overview of the existing data use policies and practices, including but not limited to the ability of different government ministries to collect, produce, disaggregate , access, share, validate, certify, and leverage data. Understanding of political will to make changes favorable for citizens’ rights is also important. Prior experience in the countries under consideration for this assessment would be valuable to guide this process. Initial consultations would inform larger activities to implement a sound policy regimen.

This policy assessment should examine:

Current policy on data use within the partner country government, including an assessment of which ministries, departments and agencies could become champions, providing political backing to advance data‐related activity.

A status review of existing, draft or in‐process policies, legislation and strategies related to data and open data, including assessment of the quality of the policies and feasibility of strategies, and recommendations for improvement.

Processes for data collection, cleaning, storage, and access; procedures for publication of data sets in reusable and interoperable formats; and data licenses provided by government and other actors.

Cybersecurity, data privacy and data security regulations and enforcement of the regulations on the government, companies, NGOs and individual citizens, and the effects (positive or negative) that enforcement has on data use and participation in data‐based dialogue.

Oversight of data collection methodologies, as well as processes by which citizen, NGO, civil society or other voices can influence what data is collected, published (or shared), and how it is used.

b. Assess government monitoring and evaluation

An improved and modernized monitoring and evaluation (M&E) strategy could position MCC partner countries to better collect and analyze data related to operations, making these better able to offer services to its citizens. To provide a clear view of existing strategies and opportunities for improvement, the consultant will review and evaluate the current M&E systems against international norms and best practices. The consultant’s assessment should include history of the current monitoring framework, attempts to reform the system and the success or failure of these efforts, and political or institutional barriers which exist.

The assessment should document the current operational data use environment within the partner country government, specifically looking at how data informs decision making for the use of government funds, resources, personnel, and strategic plans. It must evaluate:

The capacities of ministries, departments and agencies relevant to proposed project investments under the compact or threshold program to use digital technology and data management to improve services to citizens.

Data format standards and interoperability, data management and accessibility (formal and informal), and data sharing (within government and outside).

Processes that determine the data that is collected by ministries, departments and agencies, either as administrative or operational data or for monitoring and evaluation; influences on data collection, whether by the national statistical office and/or other political authorities; and if there is any method for taking citizen input and review.

International statistical reporting, such as indicators that assess progress against the African Union’s

Agenda 2063 or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including what agency or ministry is responsible.

Available skills to combine and analyze data sets to obtain additional insights.

Recommendations for strategies to improve government M&E practices and systems, as well as how to successfully implement some or all of the recommendations, will provide a roadmap for improvement.

c. Assess potential and strategies for data‐driven subnational and community engagement

Data access and use is often weakest in sub‐national areas, where social and economic development needs are frequently most significant. Additional capacity may be needed at sub‐national levels to improve the collection of data that informs development investments – and its use by local government, NGOs, and citizens. Further understanding is required of the complexities of bottom‐up, community‐ driven data collection. Country‐guided planning for engagement at this level will be essential.

The assessment will broadly evaluate data flows between levels of geography and government:

National, district, village, etc. The assessment will identify areas in which the interests of local governments and private‐sector interact and will recommend potential improvements in the nature of the interactions and the flow of data, including improved methods available for community engagement and feedback.

The assessment should answer fundamental questions:

How can data move more effectively between levels of government, and how could beneficial change be implemented and introduced?

What barriers exist to sub‐national, community and small & medium enterprise (SME) data use and engagement? How do low technology penetration and low digital literacy affect interactions?

Are there last mile constraints that prevent citizens from accessing the Internet, information and services? Addressing the needs of underserved citizens is essential to MCC’s poverty reduction mandate, meriting additional consideration of this question and insights into addressing any constraints.

The consultant will recommend strategies for sub‐national engagement and prioritization within districts and communities. These strategies will be aligned to the overall data ecosystem development, but focused on engagement of citizens and small business and increasing last mile connectivity, communication and dialogue between government, private sector, and citizenry.

d. Assess data literacy and strategies for improvement

Data literacy is a consistent and significant barrier ‐ for MCC partners in Sub Sahara Africa to benefit from the data revolution. It is also critical for MCC partner countries to develop data literacy for citizens, government and the private sector to more fully participate in the modern global digital economy.

Solutions to nearly every development challenge that MCC partner countries face will benefit from improved digital literacy. Business incubation, for example, is increasingly data‐driven as export / import trends are tracked and resources re‐allocated to target high‐demand sectors. Insights for decision‐making and justification of decisions and policies should be based on evidence, and supported by analyses for government, private sector and individual citizens.

As part of this task, the consultant will:

Provide analysis of the overall state of data literacy by income levels and geographical location

(urban vs. rural), gender disparities (including comparative analysis across gender).

Review institutions offering technology‐related training to determine what technical infrastructure, program requirements, practical exposure to digital tools and problems, and data analysis training already exist in the country.

Assess access to data and digital literacy skills training opportunities for women‐owned businesses and youth, including young women, and recommend actions to improve access.

e. Review e‐government opportunities

E‐government can play an important role in helping to alleviate constraints to economic growth and development, particularly in hard‐to‐reach sub‐national areas, where improved communication and transactional systems can significantly improve service accessibility, quality, and responsiveness.

The assessment should provide a needs analysis and review of the framework, technical and political aspects of e‐government opportunities; services presently in use; and current and planned efforts by the partner‐country government, and outside funding organizations. This review of current and proposed e‐ government strategies should evaluate technical weaknesses and gaps in services and delineate dependencies on infrastructure and other resources to establish well‐functioning e‐government systems.

The consultant should answer the following questions:

What is the overall state of digital services offered by the government?

What barriers exist to citizens’ access to e‐government services, and how can these barriers be removed, or their effects mitigated?

How do obstacles faced by youth, women, girls and other underserved populations in accessing e‐ government services differ?

Are there gender norms or other issues in use of technology and digital skills, such as time constraints, device affordability or access, or mobility, cultural, or safety constraints to access public facilities?

How would integration of civic technology, including citizen‐proposed applications and innovations, strengthen government’s capabilities to achieve greater reach or better serve its citizenry through e‐ government?

f. Assess gender data and strategies

In studying the overall data, technology and innovation landscape, particular emphasis on data that describes the role of women will improve the overall understanding of required economic development and highlight particular areas of policy planning and coordination that will improve the status of women in the economy.

This component of the assessment will diagnose the level of understanding of gender data among within the government and by other stakeholders. It will also evaluate what data is collected that could inform issues that affect women (such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, and ownership rights to land or other assets).

The Consultant will examine the following:

Disaggregated data: Capabilities and knowledge to collect and use data that differentiates between sexes as well as age and other key criteria. This is essential for the national statistical office, but also important for ministries, NGOs and other organizations.

Data use: Are women and girls able and encouraged to use digital technologies and to make evidence‐based decisions? Are there barriers that prevent them from doing so?

Stakeholders: Are there NGOs or CSOs working on gender data and data driven solutions? Are there any existing collaborations between the government and civil society to gather data to inform gender‐specific research?

g. Identify digital, data and innovation contributions to combatting climate change

Africa includes 16 of the 20 most climate vulnerable nations, and only 8 have submitted national climate adaptation plans. There is an urgent need for countries to enhance evidence‐based analysis to support their planning and decision making on adaptation, resilience.

The consultant will examine the following:

Availability / access to high quality climate data, tools and advanced analytics capabilities to model and predict various scenarios needed to understand risks, financing needs, options and tradeoffs.

Specific attention should be given to ways in which digital, data and innovation investments can contribute to improved practices or methodologies of combatting climate change.

Methods of data collection and analysis to make available better information regarding climate change and mitigation strategies for the country should be identified and included in the list of recommendations in Task 5.

h. Assess the sources and current and potential uses of GEO data

MCC has an interest in opportunities to leverage geospatial and/or earth‐observation (GEO) technology to strengthen decision‐making and impact monitoring. The use of geospatial by MCC also provides a

“demonstration effect” to lay the groundwork for increased uptake of these tools by various ministries and stakeholders across partner country governments.

The consultant will review established and emerging international technologies, data sources, and methodologies for support of geospatial data use, reporting key findings and considerations for MCC on two dimensions: i) internal use of data by MCC/MCA in support of its Compact operations, and ii) support to the geospatial data ecosystem in the partner country.

i. Identify digital champions and influencers

Across the areas assessed in the sections of this task (above), there will be local influencers and validators with an ability to reach youth, innovators, women, and others, whose voices are respected.

These people are essential to building consensus for advancements in digital adoption and may become champions for reforms and innovations; and can also help with development of communications strategies in implementation of MCC investments.

The consultant will identify these stakeholders (champions or influencers) and indicating in what thematic areas and with which groups they may hold sway.

3. Assess the innovation landscape

Catalyzing small changes in ways of providing services and doing business can lead to more significant economic transformation. Understanding where innovation is thriving and why it has not emerged in other areas, can provide insights on how to empower MCC beneficiaries to benefit from our investments.

Innovation provides a means to promote organic economic growth through on‐demand skills training, job creation, diversification, and ultimately an environment within which entrepreneurs can develop and launch businesses to solve real‐world problems. However, scalable innovations rarely reach their full potential without access to an innovation ecosystem that includes champions such as universities, government, corporations, startup accelerators, venture capital, foundations, entrepreneurs, and mentors. Each actor contributes to creating value in the ecosystem through strategic support during different stages of lifecycle of enterprises, from the ideating that occurs among nascent enterprises to strategic support in venture capital financing for high growth or mature companies.

The success of mature ecosystems such as Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa was the result of an organic process that eventually created the conditions that allowed startups to flourish and grow beyond the early stages. With the right support, the culture for innovation can rapidly take root and dramatically change a country’s landscape – it was not too long ago in 2015 that the continent’s combined startup capital inflow was only $186M, compared to that of $5.2B in 2021.

This part of the assessment will evaluate the country’s innovation ecosystem and make recommendations on areas of opportunity that MCC investments can leverage for economic growth in the targeted sector(s). This assessment should identify emerging sectors, areas of innovation, and notable ecosystem builders, as well as areas of innovation that may help women participate more frequently and fully in the economy.

This task is estimated to form around 10% of the overall assessment.

The consultant will review the following:

Government policies and strategies that promote or hinder the adoption of digital technology and innovation. The consultant should compare and contrast the government’s policies against those of larger ecosystems that have prioritized the promotion of innovation.

Sectors of competitive advantage and geographic areas designated as or with potential to develop into sources of innovation; and those that would benefit most strongly from investment in entrepreneurship.

An ecosystem mapping of existing incubators, accelerators, as well as other champions for innovation. The consultant should identity the key services offered by each entity such as skills training, prototyping, market information, access to finance and where each falls in the lifecycle of a scalable innovation venture.

The ecosystem’s main sources of funding, with quantitative details on funds allocated, and the number and size of deals, that support digital and data innovation, such as from local angel networks, innovation centers, corporations, and venture capital, including differentiation between in‐country and international sources.

Identify key demographic characteristics that best represents the ecosystem’s business environment. The consultant may consider information such as business type and maturity, founder’s background and geography.

Ways in which innovation can help to address climate change in the country, and potential recommendations for stimulating further climate change‐related innovation.

4. Identify prior related investments and opportunities for coordination

The consultant will review prior and current research and initiatives related to statistical and data capacity building at the local, national, and regional level – and identify opportunities to build on these efforts in a way that supports MCC’s program.

It will be important to document:

Current mandates and financial, skills and political capacity to implement these mandates by the national office of statistics and/or key implementing partners to produce and use data; and opportunities to strengthen and improve their capabilities.

Obstacles that exist to statistics and data sets becoming more functional, and more readily accessible.

The political capital needed to champion improved use of data within the partner country, and individuals or entities well‐positioned to advocate for greater data access, sharing and use.

The consultant should identify organizations and projects that are making strong use of data (data intensive), or advocating for better use of data for development, and those for which data use capacity could be strengthened; and recommend activities that can leverage and strengthen these efforts while benefiting MCC investments.

5. Analyze and recommend alternatives for strategic interventions

The consultant will identify, propose, and prioritize alternatives to improve digital capacity, data use and technological innovation as areas of investment for MCC. These prioritized recommendations should include justifications and estimated (order of magnitude) costs.

A particular area of interest for MCC is to identify opportunities for job and industry growth and necessary investments to support those opportunities. The consultant should highlight these opportunities, and investments to reach them.

Tasks 4 and 5 will be based on information collected and insights derived from the prior tasks. This is not anticipated to require a major data gathering effort on the part of the consultant, but it is essential that recommendations are considered across the full breadth of the ecosystem; and that a sufficient level of detail is provided for cost estimates such that ecosystem‐level investments, and dependencies on which sectoral investments will be constrained, are fully considered and explained. However, this considered to require less than 10% level of effort dedicated to the assessment.

Part 2: Sector‐ and region‐specific digital and data systems

As MCC’s engagement with the partner country becomes more detailed and focused on sectors and/or subnational areas, digital and data investments in the specified areas should be identified. At the commencement of Part 2 of the assessment in a partner country, the consultant and the MCC team will discuss and establish a consensus, to be documented by the consultant, of the priorities for the assessment – that is, the attention and weight to be placed on each of the following tasks; and additional areas to be studied, if gaps are found in the tasks below.

6. Assess the digital and data systems in specified sectors

With reference to the findings across the broad data ecosystem, particular opportunities for investment will emerge in the selected sectors and regions of focus under the MCC compact or threshold program.

The consultant will identify and recommend prioritization of these opportunities, highlighting dependencies and constraints, including national‐ and ecosystem‐level changes needed to achieve sustainable, impactful digital economic growth in the sector or region.

This task will be essential for MCC to define digital and data investments in the partner country and should require approximately 25% of the effort dedicated to the assessment.

a. Assess sectoral and regional data and statistics policy

The consultant will review sectoral data use policies and practices, including looking at how data is or is not used to drive better decision making for the use of government funds, resources, personnel, and strategic plans; and the particular ministries’ capability to collect, produce, access, and leverage data and openness to share data. Specific areas include:

The capacities of ministries, departments and agencies relevant to proposed project investments under the compact or threshold program to use digital technology and data management to improve services to citizens.

Processes for data collection, cleaning, storage, and access; procedures for publication of data sets in reusable and interoperable formats; and data licenses provided by government and other actors.

Sectoral cybersecurity, data privacy and data security regulations and enforcement of the regulations on the government, companies, NGOs and individual citizens, and the effects (positive or negative) that enforcement has on data use and participation in data‐based dialogue.

Oversight of data collection methodologies, as well as processes by which citizen, NGO, civil society or other voices can influence what data is collected and how it is used.

Data format standards and interoperability, data management and accessibility (formal and informal), and data sharing (within government and outside).

b. Assess potential and strategies for data‐driven subnational and community engagement

The assessment will document and evaluate data flows for the targeted sector(s) between levels of geography and government: National, district, village, etc. It will further identify areas in which the interests of local governments and the private sector interact and will recommend potential improvements in the nature of the interactions and the flow of data and potential improvements, including methods available for community engagement and feedback.

Within the sector(s) and geographical areas targeted by MCC investments, the assessment should, at a minimum, address the following:

How can data move more effectively between levels of government, and how could beneficial change be implemented and introduced?

What datasets are available at sub‐national levels that are used locally, but not nationally; and which are used only for national purposes (such as monitoring, budgeting, international reporting)?

Which development partners are collecting data, what data are they collecting and how does the information flow? Are the data sets reported to the government? If yes, how does the government use the data? Who decides what data is being collected? Is the data perceived to be high‐quality, and reported on a timely routine basis?

What barriers exist to sub‐national, community and small & medium enterprise (SME) data use and engagement? How do technology penetration and digital literacy affect interactions?

With reference to the ecosystem‐wide strategies recommended in Part 1, the consultant will recommend strategies for sub‐national engagement within districts and communities, particularly engagement of citizens and small business and increasing communication and dialogue between government, private sector, and citizenry.

c. Assess gaps in data skills and strategies for improvement

Within the identified sectors, the consultant will:

Assess the levels, gaps and imbalances in digital and data skills, and identify activities that could most effectively strengthen use of digital tools and data.

Assess access to training opportunities on data and digital skills, particularly for women and marginalized groups, and recommend actions to make improvements.

d. Review e‐government opportunities

The assessment should delve into sector‐specific e‐government services presently in use, technical weaknesses and gaps in services, and planned efforts by the partner‐country government and outside funding organizations. It should also delineate dependencies on infrastructure, government‐wide platforms and policies, and other resources that limit effective sectoral participation and use of e‐ government.

The consultant should specifically address:

How do obstacles faced by youth, women, girls and other underserved populations in accessing e‐ government services differ? Are there gender norms or other issues in use of technology and digital skills, such as time constraints, device affordability or access, or mobility, cultural, or safety constraints to access public facilities?

How would integration of civic technology, including citizen‐proposed applications and innovations, strengthen government’s capabilities to achieve greater reach or better serve its citizenry through e‐ government?

e. Assess gender data and strategies

Building on the findings from the corresponding Part 1 assessment, the consultant will provide a deeper, sector‐specific assessment of constraints and opportunites to the production, regulation and use of gender data. The consultant will examine the following within the sectors and regions identified:

Disaggregated data: Capabilities and barriers to collection and use of data that differentiates between sexes as well as age and other key criteria.

Data use: Are women and girls able and encouraged to use digital technologies and to make evidence‐based decisions? Are there barriers that prevent them from doing so?

Stakeholders: Are there NGOs or CSOs working on gender data and data driven solutions? Are there any existing collaborations between the government and civil society to gather data to inform gender‐specific research?

f. Identify digital, data and innovation contributions to combatting climate change

Within the sectors and regions identified, the consultant will assess ways in which digital, data and innovation investments can contribute to improved practices or methodologies of combatting, identifying and mitigating the effects of climate change. Methods of data collection and analysis to make available better information regarding climate change‐related activities should be identified and included in the list of recommendations.

g. Assess the sector‐specific sources, and current and potential uses of GEO data

The consultant will assess sector‐ and region‐specific opportunities to leverage geospatial and/or earth‐ observation technology to strengthen decision‐making and monitoring of changes. Investment by MCC can achieve increased uptake of these tools by the sectoral ministries, and lead to innovation within the country in methods to analyze development trends.

h. Develop a data inventory

As part of the data ecosystem assessment, the consultant will:

Develop a systematic data inventory to identify what datasets are available (and where there are gaps) in support of specific MCC investment activities under consideration.

Document data set characteristics, metadata, and accessibility within government and to the general citizenry.

The inventory should primarily target the threshold or compact‐related sectors. This inventory may be indicative for the purpose of this study but should be developed so that a more‐comprehensive inventory may be undertaken later, making use of the inventory structure developed by this study.

7. Assess digital innovation opportunities in the sector(s)

Building on the innovation landscape assessment (Task 3), the consultant will identify sector‐ and region‐specific investment opportunities that will allow for greater integration of digital innovation in the targeted sectors and/or regions. As this will identify particular areas for potential investment, this task should be approximately 10% of the effort of the assessment.

Areas of focus may include:

a. Identify local trends

Innovation ecosystems continually adapt, evolve and change. An innovation ecosystem’s path to maturity is a direct result of its ability to adapt to forces that present new market demands and opportunities for new business models. For instance:

The consultant should analyze and provide recommendations for sectoral disruption of traditional business models through digital innovation, such as trends towards hybrid and virtual approaches to education, work, and service offerings.

The consultant should identify current and emerging digital tools that will provide sector participants with greater access to up‐to‐date market information. Insight should be provided on opportunities to better leverage digital tools in order to identify new market opportunities and to help overcome information asymmetries.

Leveraging digital innovation to further stimulate climate change and financial inclusion are just two examples of trending verticals. The consultants should provide examples of innovators currently using digital to further social good, while also incorporating a scalable business model.

b. Benchmark to other ecosystems

Within the sector(s) targeted by MCC investments, the consultant should conduct a sector‐to‐sector comparison to that of a more mature ecosystem. Sector benchmarking allows for a reference point comparison and helps to identify opportunities for emulation and pitfall avoidance. When doing so, focus on identifying shared commonalities and potential linkages between the sectors within each ecosystem:

What political or market forces were in place at the time to help spur the sector’s growth?

Why was the sector selected as focal and what early competitive advantage did it enjoy in terms of skilled labor, government support, geographic location, high entry barriers, and access to new technology?

What could be replicated within the sector(s) targeted by MCC investments to create new digital innovation opportunities?

c. Identify barriers to sector growth

Data and digital‐enabled innovations are critical drivers in modernizing a country's economy, identifying innovative solutions to development challenges, and creating new opportunities for job growth. The distribution of capital inflow is typically skewed to more mature as opposed to nascent sectors within ecosystems, and this uneven distribution of capital can stunt an ecosystem’s growth and leave it vulnerable to overdependence on a specific sector.

The consultant will determine what is deterring sector innovation, providing recommendations on whether digital innovation can invigorate the sector.

8. Identify prior and current sectoral investments and opportunities for coordination

MCC’s sectoral focus also requires working closely with related ministries, departments and agencies, as well as complementary development implementers and other actors. Building on the review of initiatives and coordination opportunities in the data ecosystem, the consultant will assess the data collection and use capacities of organizations related or aligned to MCC’s proposed investments and provide recommendations for coordination.

9. Analyze and recommend alternatives for digital investments in the sector(s)

Identify the most effective alternatives to improve digital capacity, data use and technological innovation as areas of investment to achieve the objectives of the proposed MCC compact or threshold program. Provide a prioritized set of recommendations with justification and estimated costs.

As in Part 1, a particular area of interest for MCC is to identify opportunities for job and industry growth and necessary investments to support those opportunities. The consultant should highlight these opportunities, and investments to reach them.

Tasks 8 and 9 together will bring together the assessment’s insights into specific investment opportunities for MCC. A deep level of detail is required in order to fully describe and justify the recommended investments, as well as an estimate of costs required to realize these investments. It is anticipated that these will form some 10% of the assessment effort.

Other tasks:

10. Develop recommendations to standardize and enhance MCC data, digital and innovation assessments

As interest in digital, data and innovation for development increases, so do methodologies for studying these activities. MCC would like to see greater coordination and re‐use of these assessments, to avoid redundancies; and to enable MCC to make use of studies funded by others. To achieve this, MCC would like the support of the consultant in the design, formation and coordination of a working group to align assessment methodologies and outputs, to identify areas in which needs of different organizations will vary – and to coordinate reuse of such assessments. Proposed steps include:

a. Desk research to identify various organizations that have or plan to carry out assessments on digital, data or innovation.

b. Initial synthesis of methodologies and reporting on commonalities and differences.

c. Outreach and convening of a working group of representatives from interested organizations to discuss initial synthesis findings and potential areas and modes of cooperation. This may involve multiple convenings and communications.

d. Report back to the working group and definition of next steps. It may require multiple iterations of c. and d. to reach suitable outputs of the working group.

e. Report to MCC recommendations on ways to align different types of digital, data and innovation assessments and/or standardize key elements of scope.

11. Provide technical assistance as requested by MCC

In some cases, MCC’s new or ongoing work in partner countries may require expertise or knowledge of ecosystem development, data and digital capacity building, outreach and communications, or other activities. MCC would like to be able to request specific, bounded tasks of the consultant, according to the consultant’s expertise (or through consortium partners or sub‐contracts, if cost‐effective).

Potential activities include:

Curriculum development and/or data literacy and skills training (or training of trainers) to in‐country personnel. This may include, for example, introducing more interactive pedagogical methods, exposing new data analysis and visualization tools, developing and integrating digital privacy and security trainings.

Providing M&E guidance to MCC partners, such as training on data models, tools for data collection, management, visualization, and communication.

Providing communications guidance to MCC partners, such as how to manage and update websites, tools for developing and coordinating communications collateral, and publishing impact data.

In collaboration with partner country counterparts, structuring and supporting data analysis efforts, such as identifying and organizing expertise to provide specific analyses. Such analyses could include big data (e.g., from mobile service providers) or geospatial and earth‐observation data, as examples.

The scope of the needed activity will be defined by MCC, in consultation with the consultant. The activity will be documented as a specific task order under the contract. The consultant will carry out the specified activities, in alignment with the agreed budget, and report outcomes to MCC.

For costing purposes, MCC envisions short “blocks” of technical assistance activity, each including planning, preparation, and one in‐country visit of two weeks. Technical assistance should be costed as a discrete “activity”, such that additional such activities may be taken up as options to the contract if budget permits.

12. Complete all assessment and contract reporting and report on methodologies

In preparation for completion of the contract, prepare and deliver a final report and presentation on lessons learned for executing data assessments and recommendations for improvement to the data assessment methodology, and potential…