Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, April 07, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Call for CDCS Sector Subject Matter Expertise Support Services
Timeline: April 15, 2022 – July 31, 2022 (distinct engagements)
Point of contact: Chief of Party
Location: Remote
Expected Level of Effort: Up to 28 days per Development Objective/ LOT

Background
The USAID/Zambia Program Office (PRM) has engaged Z-MELP to support the Mission’s CDCS Mid-Course Stocktaking (MCST). USAID/Zambia‘s Country-Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), or five-year strategic plan, runs from 2019 to 2024; the Mission has implemented the strategy for close to two and half fiscal years to date. The CDCS results framework stipulates four development objectives:
• Development Objective (DO) 1: Citizen and National Self-Reliance Advanced by More Effective, Accountable Governance
• DO 2: Rural Poverty Reduced through Enterprise-Driven Inclusive Economic Growth
• DO 3: Capacity of Zambia’s Government, Citizens, and Private Sector Increased to Improve Health Outcomes and Meet Critical Needs of Vulnerable Populations
• DO 4: Quality of Primary Education Strengthened to Improve Learning Outcomes
According to ADS 201, Missions need to carry out a mid-course CDCS stocktaking exercise during the implementation of a CDCS. The stocktaking exercise reflects on progress made towards the achievement of CDCS goals and examines changes in the operating environment to inform strategy implementation for the remainder of the CDCS. In Zambia, the midpoint stocktaking exercise comes just months after the 2021 August General elections, which saw a change of government and a number of policy changes in some of the sectors in which USAID/Zambia has been working to support the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) development agenda.
Process: The MCST will be implemented in four phases, of which Z-MELP will play a central role in Phase 2 & 3.
• Phase 1: Planning and design
• Phase 2: Stocktaking (Data collection and synthesizing)
• Phase 3: Mission-wide discussion/Workshop
• Phase 4: Implementing the findings to update CDCS Update
Learning Questions: The Mission identified the following key learning questions that will guide the MCST to achieve its goal:
• What progress have we made to date towards the achievement of the CDCS goal? (ZMELP-driven)
• What is the status of critical assumptions and changes in context, along with related implications for performance? (ZMELP-driven)
• Who are our partners country-wide in achieving CDCS goals and to what extent can we assess how their partnerships have changed or remained the same? (ZMELP-driven)
• What are the new activities that have been launched by various actors in Zambia and new prioritization by GRZ for (e.g., decentralization), where, how, and with what LOE? (PRM-driven)
• If needed, how do we adapt or modify our strategy to address changes in the operating environment and achieve our results? (Mission-driven)
• How does the mission assess the value of engaging other IPs in our work and through our work? What LOE, what objectives in doing so? How would we measure accomplishments and progress in that? Or does the mission intend that prioritizing and focusing means also focusing on our own programmatic and management immediate objectives? (PRM-driven)
Key Deliverables: Z-MELP’s support to the MCST will produce several key deliverables, inter alia:
• Evidence Briefers for each Development Objective
• Key Assumption Briefs
• Key consultation findings report
• Workshop summary report

Purpose
Z-MELP staff are primarily monitoring evaluation, and learning (MEL) experts. Sectoral subject matter expertise within the Mission’s four development objectives will be critical for the production of the key deliverables listed above. For this purpose, the services provider (firms or individuals) will provide subject matter expertise to lead the production of some of the deliverables while providing inputs to others.

Process
D1 Evidence Briefers: These 2–4-page briefers for each DO will build on evidence produced and compiled by USAID Zambia since the beginning of the current CDCS. This will include Project Monitoring Plan (PMP) data, highlight key contributions to each DO by activity, as relevant, and visualize both strategic and activity level data to illustrate the progress of the strategy. Z-MELP will compile all relevant evidence and information in a central repository structured in line with the CDCS results framework. Based on an initial selection of evidence for the briefer by Z-MELP, the service provider will further review the evidence as needed and lead the production of the final briefer.
D2 Key Assumption Briefs: Each DO underlies multiple key assumptions: four assumptions for DO 1, two assumptions for DO 2, three assumptions for DO 3, and three assumptions for DO 4. The subject matter experts will produce 1-page briefers for each key assumption underlying the DO in their area of expertise. The assumption briefs will be based on an evidence mapping exercise previously conducted by Z-MELP but updated to include new evidence. The service provider will add further relevant evidence as needed and lead the production of the final briefer.
D3 Key consultation findings report: Z-MELP will support USAID in their stakeholder engagements through coordination and documentation. The meeting notes for each engagement will serve as the basis for the key consultation findings report. The service provider will analyze meetings notes to produce findings report sections dedicated to the DO in their area of expertise.
D4 Workshop summary report: Phase 3 of the MCST centers around a multi-day workshop to which all prior deliverables serve as input. Z-MELP will produce a workshop summary report that includes recommendations for updating the CDCS, as needed. The subject matter experts will support Z-MELP in identifying and formulating key points and recommendations for t the DO in their area of expertise.
Tentative Deliverable Schedule
Evidence briefer April May June July
Key Assumption briefer
Consultation findings Report
Workshop Summary Report(INPUT)
Coordination
The Z-MELP Chief of Party will serve as the point of contact for the assignment.

Requirements
The overall assignment is commissioned in four Lots; one for each USAID/Zambia CDCS Development Objective. An application for multiple lots is possible. To be considered for a lot the service provider must be a locally-based firm or Zambian national and bring:
• At least ten (10) years of experience in the relevant field of expertise (further specified below) in international development;
• Strong experience of the local development context in Zambia;
• USAID experience is strongly preferred;
• A track record of writing action-focused evidence summaries and reports.
Lots:
Lot 1: Democracy, Rights and Governance (DRG): Citizen and National Self-Reliance Advanced by More Effective, Accountable Governance
• Strengthened Citizen Engagement In National Development Choices
• Increased Democratic Space for Free Speech and Association
• Effective Use of Public Resources
• Increased Transparency and Credibility of Elections
Lot 2: Economic Development and Environment (EDEV): Rural Poverty Reduced through Enterprise-Driven Inclusive Economic Growth
• Enabling Businesses to Grow and Thrive
• Expanding Markets and Trade
• Powering Communities’ Prosperity
• Improving Natural Resource Management
• Improving Access to Water and Sanitation
• Improving Nutrition for Children
Lot 3: Health: Capacity of Zambia’s Government, Citizens, and Private Sector Increased to Improve Health Outcomes and Meet Critical Needs of Vulnerable Populations
• Supporting HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, and Care
• Supporting Healthy Mothers and Children
• Increasing Access to Voluntary Family Planning
• Strengthening Health Systems
• Increasing Access to Health Products and Services
• Combating Malaria
• Enhancing Nutrition
• Supporting Tuberculosis (TB) Control
• Combating Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Lot 4: education: Quality of Primary Education Strengthened to Improve Learning Outcomes
• Strengthening Children’s Ability to Read
• Expanding Learning Opportunities
• Measuring Academic Achievement

Education Requirement: No Requirements

Job Experience: No Requirements

Work Hours: 8

Job application procedure
Email address for submission To: procurementzm@socha.net
Carbon copy (CC): akreuter@socha.net, mkatundu@socha.net & mflorian@socha.net

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