Call For Proposals For Mid Term Evaluation Consultant Tender Job At Aceli Africa

Overview.
Aceli Africa seeks a consultant to conduct a mid-term evaluation of a three year, $9M funding award from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) by June 30, 2025.
Background. Aceli is a market catalyst designed to unlock capital for agricultural development in Africa. On the capital supply side, Aceli provides financial incentives and capacity building to increase the risk appetite of lenders serving agricultural SMEs. On the capital demand side, Aceli offers technical assistance to prepare SMEs to access and manage financing. In collaboration with data and learning partners, Aceli is building evidence to demonstrate a market-based approach for inclusive agricultural development that can be replicated and scaled in other contexts.

Since launching in September 2020, Aceli has supported financial institution partners in making $300M in loans to SMEs creating market linkages for over 1.5 million smallholder farmers. Every $1 in donor- funded incentives mobilize $9 in private sector lending. Aceli aims to mobilize at least $1.5 billion inlending by 2030. To date, leading bilateral and philanthropic donors (e.g., IKEA Foundation, governments of Netherlands, UK, US, and Norway etc) have committed $100M.

Aceli Africa signed a grant agreement with Norad for $9M (NOK 100M) from November 2023-December 2026 that requires a completed mid-term evaluation report by June 2025. In addition to fulfilling donor requirements, this evaluation will support Aceli in determining learning, best practices, and potential improvements for our current model.

The intended impact of Aceli’s award with Norad is to create a "more competitive financial market serving agricultural SMEs that improve livelihoods for smallholder farmers and enterprise employees, particularly women, in Sub-Saharan Africa". The expected effects for the target group are:
● Outcome 1: Improved ability by the financial institutions supported by Aceli Africa to serve agri- SMEs, particularly those owned by women, that promote food security and build climate resilience
● Outcome 2: Improved access to finance for agri-SMEs that create economic opportunities for small-scale farmers and workers, especially women.
● Outcome 3: Expanded supply of nutritious food, including the sustainable production of aquaculture, for African consumers and increased climate resilience by agri-SMEs meeting Aceli's impact bonuses.
● Outcome 4: Increased evidence demonstrating financial incentives as a pathway to a thriving financial market serving agri-SMEs.

Norad’s funds are specifically earmarked to cover Aceli’s Portfolio First Loss Cover financial incentives, annual data analytics and financial benchmarking exercises with 45+ partner lenders, and project management across Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia (with preference for KE and TZ).

Scope of Work. Working closely with the Chief of Staff at Aceli Africa, the evaluation consultant will develop:
● Inception report / Evaluation plan
● Draft report
● Final Report

The final report should have an executive summary, be 20-40 pages in length, incorporate stakeholder & beneficiary interviews, and be published (as required by the grant agreement). Contents of the evaluation report will only cover activities funded by Norad, not the entire Aceli program. The final report must be approved by Aceli Africa and Norad and published by June 30, 2025.

The evaluation is expected to be guided by OECD/DAC’s evaluation criteria:
● Coherence: is/was the intervention coherent with other interventions by the same actor (internal coherence: synergies and interlinkages) and other actors (external coherence: complementarity, harmonization and co-ordination) in the same context?
● Relevance: is/was the intervention relevant e.g. in the implementing context, to problems/beneficiaries’ needs identified, recipient country’s priority, donor priorities etc.?
● Effectiveness: to what extent is /was the intervention achieving its objectives; how and why?
● Efficiency: is/was the intervention implemented as cost-efficient as possible, on time? Are results achieved with reasonable use of resources?
● Impact: what are the positive and negative effects produced, intended or unintended, directly (target groups) and indirectly (larger society)? Remember to consider effects on the cross- cutting issues gender, human rights, climate and the environment and corruption.
● Sustainability: has/is it likely that the project/programme effects will continue after donor funding is withdrawn? Which factors might influence the sustainability of the project?

Quality standards for the evaluation include:
● All findings and conclusions must be backed by reference to evidence (source) and their magnitude/representativeness commented
● The inception report and final report must be approved first by Aceli Africa Chief of Staff and second by Anders Aabo, Senior Advisor, Food & Agriculture Finance at Norad.
● All work must meet ethical standards related to matters such as confidentiality of informants, sensitivity and respect to stakeholders, Do No Harm, Code of conduct etc.

Qualifications. Candidates should have the following experience:
● Knowledge of agricultural finance in Africa to quickly grasp the gap Aceli aims to address and the market context.
● Experience developing evaluation reports for bilateral funders (preference for those with experience doing so for Norad).
● Ability to spend 1-2 weeks in East Africa engaging Aceli staff, partners, and other stakeholders Aceli is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply.

Application details. Applications should include a CV, cover letter (no more than two pages) stating your interest in and qualifications for the position, and your daily fee rate. Applications should be submitted by email to ecottle@aceliafrica.org with the subject line “Mid-Term Evaluation Consultant, Aceli Africa."