REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
FOR A CONSULTING FIRM
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
01 B.P. 1387 Abidjan 01 – Côte d’Ivoire
AHVP Complex
Email : F.BENSALAH@AFDB.ORG; A.KOUADIO-TIA@AFDB.ORG
Tel: +225 07 69 32 87 99
- The African Development Bank hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignmentv : “Consultancy to prepare the Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa Strategy (also known as the High 5-5 Strategy).” Refer to Annex 1, key areas of the assignment ;
- The High 5-5 Strategy is a composite strategy that outlined along four priority investment areas, that include accelerating access to finance for African women and youth, building skills for decent jobs and expanding economic opportunities for youth in Africa; supporting integrated water resources management and expanding water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services; and developing quality healthcare infrastructure in Africa. The High 5-5 Strategy will detail how the Bank will deliver impactful programs within the context of its institutional commitments on selectivity, quality of operations and comparative advantage ;
- The Vice Presidency for Agriculture, Human Capital, and Social Development (AHVP) at the African Development Bank invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible Consulting Firms or associations of Consulting Firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable Assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.) ;
- The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy and Procedure for Corporate Consultants Recruitment. Consultants and consulting firms must comply with the “minimizing conflicts of interest” considerations (Annex 1 to AfDB’s Independent Evaluation Policy). Please, note that interest expressed by a Consulting Firm does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include it in the shortlist ;;
- Place of assignment: Home-based ;
- The estimated duration of services is for FOUR (4) MONTHS (i.e., one (1) month preparatory (including diagnostic) work; two (2) months detailed analysis and preparation of the draft strategy, one (1) month post-training submission revisions and preparation of final draft. The estimated starting date is 1 October 2021 ;
- Interested Firms may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: to Fri. from 08:00 – 16:00 GMT ;
- Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than 27 August 2021 at 18:00 GMT local time and specifically mentioning “Consultancy to prepare the Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa Strategy (also known as the High 5-5 Strategy).”
The Evaluation Criteria will be as follows :
Criteria
General qualification and experience in the area of expertise (most important criterion at this stage).
Availability of skills within the personnel of the company during the period planned for the execution of the contract.
Proposed approach
Firm’s Demonstrated experience in similar
assignments for MDBs or countries
Weight
20%
30%
20%
30%
For the attention of: Ms. Faiza Ben Salah
African Development Bank Group
AHVP Complex
01 B.P. 1387 Abidjan 01
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Tel: +225 07 69 32 87 99
Email : F.BENSALAH@AFDB.ORG; A.KOUADIO-TIA@AFDB.ORG
Interested firms not registered in the Bank’s consultancy database DACON, are kindly requested to do so via: https://www.afdb.org/en/projects-and-operations/procurement/consultancy-services-e-consultant/
ANNEX 1. KEY AREAS OF THE ASSIGNMENT :
The assignment will identify the Bank’s approach for delivering impactful development interventions that directly contribute to the strategic priorities of the overarching fifth High 5 priority – the Improve the Quality of Life of the People of Africa and the component strategies.
Specifically, the focus will be on :
- Identify the expected outcomes that will constitute the main goals for the strategy ;
- Identify and develop a theory of change that outlines how the investments will lead to the expected outcomes of the strategy ;
- clarify the Bank’s strategic comparative advantage in the selected intervention areas; and
- prepare a strategy narrative that has all the components as outlined in this term of reference.
The consulting firm to undertake this assignment will focus on the following four priority areas :
- Accelerate access to finance for African women and youth ;
- Build skills for decent jobs and expand economic opportunities for youth ;
- Support integrated water resources management and expand water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services ;
- Develop quality healthcare infrastructure.
Strategic priority 1 – Accelerate access to finance for women and youth :
This priority area will be guided by the Gender Strategy (2021 – 2025) which was approved in December 2020. The strategy has three pillars :
- Empowering Women through access to finance and markets ;
- Accelerating employability and jobs creation for women through skills enhancement ;
- and Increasing women’s access to social services through infrastructure.
The Gender Strategy aims to significantly contribute to meeting the goals of accelerating access to finance for women and youth in Africa along with the Skills for Decent Jobs Action Plan. In addition, the Bank has other initiatives which will contribute to the acceleration of access to finance for women and the youth. Examples include the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA); the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (YEI MDTF); and the Boost Africa programme. The Bank is also in the process of developing some new initiatives like the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIB) which will also contribute to achieving this strategic priority.
Strategic priority 2 – Build skills for jobs and expand economic opportunities for youth :
This priority area will be delivered by the Skills for Decent Jobs in Africa Action Plan which is currently under preparation. The Action Plan has two main pillars: Investing in skills development infrastructure and Strengthening the enabling environment for skills development. Under the first pillar, the Bank will support infrastructure for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The Bank will support the expansion of infrastructure for digital skills and on-line learning. Under pillar two, the Bank will leverage its unique role as a trusted partner, knowledge broker and convenor to harness strategic partnerships, with African governments, development partners, training institutions and the industry to address bottlenecks in enabling environment for skills development and mobilize additional resources to fill the financing gap. Activities under the Action Plan will also benefit youth trapped in the informal sector and adults who may have lost jobs or whose skills may have become obsolete, thus requiring reskilling. The Action Plan will therefore be driven by industry job demand as well as the needs of the regional member countries.
Strategic priority 3 – Support integrated water resources management and expand water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services :
The Bank Group Policy on Water is currently under preparation. It aims to improve Africa’s water security and transform the water assets for sustainable, green and inclusive socio-economic growth and development. The development of the policy will be closely followed by the preparation of the Water Strategy where the Bank is sharpening its selectivity and development focus in its water interventions on three key priority areas covering the Water-Food-Energy nexus. The goal of the Water Strategy is aligned with the African Water Vision and the Bank Group Policy on Water. The strategy aims to increase water security in Africa, where water resources foster sustainable, green and inclusive socio-economic growth and development. The strategy also aims to promote adaptation to the impacts of climate change as part of sustainability enhancement.
The four pillars of the Water strategy are : (i) Achieve integrated and sustainable water resources management; (ii) Strengthen the delivery of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services; (iii) Increase the availability of sustainable water resources for food production and improved nutrition; and (iv) Increase the sustainable development of water for energy through leveraging hydropower potential.
Strategic priority 4 – Develop Quality Healthcare Infrastructure :
The Bank is currently preparing the Strategy for Quality Healthcare Infrastructure in Africa 2021– 2030 which will underpin the Bank’s support to the delivery of quality healthcare in the continent. The overall goal of the strategy is to increase access to quality healthcare services in Africa. This goal is closely aligned with UN SDG 3 on ensuring a healthy life and promoting wellbeing for all and the AU Agenda 2063 aspiration for a healthy and well-nourished African population with a high standard of living and wellbeing. Two strategic pillars are proposed in the strategy: expansion of modern health service delivery infrastructure and strengthening of health systems enablers. The focus of Strategic Pillar I is to leverage innovation to bridge the large infrastructure gaps which will improve access and quality of health service infrastructure through public and private investments. In the second strategic pillar, the Bank will support the strengthening of the policy and regulatory environment in the healthcare services, investments in healthcare human resources, and partnerships for health service delivery among other interventions. In delivering on the strategy, the Bank will work in close partnership with governments, development partners, and the private sector to ensure the sustainability of its development interventions.
