Letter of Invitation
20 July 2026
14 Natal Road
Belgravia
Harare
Dear Sir/ Madam,
We hereby invite your entity to submit a proposal for a Mid-Term Learning and Harvesting Assessment consultancy under the Youth Employment & Entrepreneurship Project.
SNV intends to enter into a contract for these services with the winning bidders. In anticipation of an overarching project within which this assignment will sit shall be funded by The Embassy of Switzerland, Embassy of Sweden and Embassy of Ireland and thus subject to their terms and conditions in the Lead Contract with SNV.
Your proposals are due to SNV no later than 2 August 2026. Late bids will be disqualified. Bids must be submitted to zimbabweprocurement@snv.org
In the attached package you will find:
Instructions to Bidders
The Terms of Reference
We look forward to receiving your proposal,
Kind regards,
HR & Operations Manager
Technical Assessment PRF# YEE/MIDT/ZimZam/0034
Instruction to Bidders
Brief description of the assignment:
The Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship – Amplifying Enterprises and Trade (YEE-AET) Programme is a regional initiative implemented by SNV in Zambia and Zimbabwe to improve the livelihoods, employment prospects, entrepreneurship, and resilience of young women and men through inclusive and sustainable market systems in the agri-food, renewable energy, and green economy sectors.
The programme builds on the achievements, lessons, and evidence generated through the Opportunities for Youth+ (OYE+, 2019–2023) and Increasing Climate Resilience in Energy and Agriculture Systems and Entrepreneurship (INCREASE, 2020–2024) programmes. These programmes demonstrated effective approaches for promoting youth employment, enterprise development, financial inclusion, climate resilience, and market systems development. Building on these experiences, YEE-AET adopts a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach, operationalised through SNV's Pull–Match–Push–Enable (PMPE) framework. The programme combines market facilitation, skills development, enterprise support, access to finance, climate resilience, and policy engagement to address structural barriers limiting young women's and men's participation in productive economic opportunities. The programme strengthens resilience to climate and market shocks by promoting climate-smart agricultural practices, renewable energy technologies, climate-resilient inputs, climate-risk management mechanisms, and sustainable enterprise development. It also addresses Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) constraints through mentorship, leadership development, engagement with men and traditional leaders, and evidence-based advocacy to promote more equitable social norms and economic participation.
All work is anticipated to commence first week of September 2026.
Proposal Format
Bidders are free to use their own format for the technical (maximum of 10 pages) and financial proposals. Both must be entirely separate and there may be no financial data included in the technical proposal. Financial proposals must be submitted in USD. All payments will be made by SNV in USD.
The technical proposal should have both CVs for the key focal persons, which have to be annexed as attachments.
Contact Points
If bidders have any questions, they must be addressed to zimbabweprocurement@snv.org . Answers will be shared with all bidders by 27 July 2026.
Selection Process
Technical and financial proposals will be reviewed separately. Only those Technical proposals that pass the average minimum score of 70% will move forward for financial review. The reviews are a closed process and not open to the public.
The contract shall be awarded to the proposal that offers the best overall value, taking into account technical quality and the separately assessed financial proposal. Financial proposals may be negotiated to fit the available budget; the technical score shall take precedence in selecting the best consultant.
The Technical scores will be awarded as follows: Evaluation Area Assessment Criteria Weight
1. Understanding of the Assignment and TOR
Demonstrates a strong understanding of the purpose, scope, objectives, expected deliverables, learning focus, country contexts, programme outcomes, and the utilisation-focused nature of the assessment.
10%
2. Proposed Methodology and Technical Approach
Provides a rigorous, feasible, and context-appropriate mixed-methods approach, including document review, qualitative and quantitative data collection, stakeholder consultations, sampling strategy, data
25%
analysis plan, and triangulation of evidence across Zambia and Zimbabwe.
3. Results Harvesting, Contribution Analysis and Learning Orientation
Demonstrates a sound understanding of Results Harvesting or Outcome Harvesting principles, including outcome identification, formulation, verification, contribution analysis, synthesis of learning, and translation of findings into practical recommendations for adaptive management.
20%
4. Relevant Experience of the Firm or Consultant
Shows proven experience conducting mid-term reviews, learning assessments, outcome or results harvesting assignments, market systems development assessments, youth employment and entrepreneurship evaluations, and multi-country or donor-funded programme assessments.
15%
5. Team Composition, Qualifications and Country Context Knowledge
Presents a qualified, multidisciplinary team with relevant expertise in evaluation, results harvesting, youth employment, entrepreneurship, market systems development, climate resilience, GESI, data analysis, and fieldwork experience in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
15%
6. Workplan, Feasibility and Delivery Arrangements
Provides a realistic and well-structured workplan aligned to the September–October 2026 implementation period, with clear phases, timelines, roles, deliverables, fieldwork arrangements, and mechanisms for coordination with SNV and funding partners.
10%
7. Quality Assurance, Ethics and Risk Management
Includes credible quality assurance measures, ethical considerations, informed consent procedures, data protection arrangements, safeguarding considerations, risk mitigation measures, and mechanisms for validating findings with stakeholders.
5%
Total
100%
Technical Scores are weighted at 70%. Financial scores are weighted at 30%.
Financial evaluation will be conducted for those proposals passing the technical evaluation. The lowest price is awarded maximum points and all other bidders are ranked beside the lowest bid on the following basis:
Bidders Cost – Lowest Cost
_____________________ * 100 = Deduction
Bidders Cost
100-Deduction= Bidders score
Your Financial proposal shall include a statement indicating the following -
a)
whether or not your contract and personnel shall be tax-free or not; and if not,
b)
show separately what the tax burden will be. SNV upon payment will deduct 30% in the absence of a tax clearance.
c)
A realistic breakdown of costs required to deliver the assignment that demonstrates value for money (including clear units/unit costs, separating professional fees, per diems and other reimbursable costs) and any contributions towards project activities. The budget should be detailed enough to show number of days, involved professional, breakdown of office and field days etc
Data protection
SNV will maintain this proposal submission as part of its records for the purposes of evaluation and record keeping for a period of 7 years. Data will be maintained secured both electronically and in hard copy and only used for SNV programming purposes. It will not be shared outside of SNV.
Proposal Submission
Proposal must be received at zimbabweprocurement@snv.org by 23:59am on 2 August 2026. Proposals must be submitted in two separate emails – one containing the Technical Proposal and a separate one containing the Financial Proposal. Emails must be titled in the subject line as follows:
a)
YEE/MIDT/ZimZam/0034 - Technical Proposal (name of entity) maximum of 10 pages annex supporting documents
b)
YEE/MIDT/ZimZam/0034 - Financial Proposal (name of entity)
See attached link below Request for Proposals- Mid-Term Learning and Harvesting Assessment - Zimbabwe | SNV