Country: Kenya
Organization: International Union for Conservation of Nature
Closing date: 22 Aug 2026
IUCN: Request for Proposals
Support for data quality improvement, results verification, data mining,
outcome and impact evidence generation for the Twende project
executing entities
RfP Reference: IUCN-2026-07- P02886-2
Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.
1. REQUIREMENTS
1.1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment
2. CONTACT DETAILS
2.1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your Proposal.
IUCN Contact: dennis.mugera@iucn.org
3. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE
3.1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will publish this on our website and contact you directly if you have indicated your interest in this procurement (see Section 3.2).
DATE ACTIVITY
28/07/2026 Publication of the Request for Proposals
05/08/2026 Deadline for expressions of interest
07/08/2026 Deadline for submission of questions
14/08/2026 Planned publication of responses to questions
22/08/2026 Deadline for submission of Proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)
05/09/2026 Planned date for contract award
08/09/2026 Expected contract start date
3.2. Please email the IUCN contact to express your interest in submitting a Proposal by the
deadline stated above. This will help IUCN to keep you updated regarding the procurement.
IUCN: Request for Proposals
4. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
4.1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:
• Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)
• Pre-Qualification Information (see Section 4.3 below)
• Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)
• Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)
Proposals must be prepared in English.
4.2. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be [RfP Reference – bidder name]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the Proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your Proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.
IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.
4.3. Pre-Qualification Criteria
IUCN will use the following Pre-Qualification Criteria to determine whether you have the capacity to provide the required goods and/or services to IUCN. Please provide the necessary information in a single, separate document.
Pre-Qualification Criteria
1. relevant references of clients similar to IUCN / similar work
2. Confirm that you have all the necessary legal registrations in Kenya and physical presence in Kenya to perform the work
3. State your annual turnover for each of the past 3 years
4. How many employees does your organisation have who are qualified for this work?
4.4. Technical Proposal
The Technical Proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).
Technical Proposal Format and Page Limits
Section Maximum Pages
Understanding of the Assignment 2 pages
Methodology and Technical Approach 5 pages
Work Plan and Implementation Schedule 2 pages
Team Composition and Key Personnel 2 pages
Relevant Firm Experience 2 pages
Capacity Building and Sustainability Approach 2 pages
Total Page Number for the Technical Proposal (excluding annexes) 15 pages maximum
Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion. Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval. IUCN will evaluate Technical Proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:
Description / Information to provide / Relative weight
1.Understanding of the assignment - 20%
1.1 Demonstrate a clear understanding of the TWENDE Project context/(4Marks).
1.2 Understanding of the consultancy objectives (4Marks).
1.3 Understanding of the DQA findings and corrective actions (4Marks).
1.4 Understanding of verification, data mining and outcome evidence generation (4Marks)
1.5 Understanding of expected deliverables and implementation approach (4Marks)
2. Methodology and technical approach - 30%
2.1 Understanding of expected deliverables and implementation approach (5Marks)
2.2 Detailed methodology describing the approach to implementing the DQA Corrective Action Plan (5Marks)
2.3 Data verification and quality assurance (5Marks)
2.4 Data mining and outcome evidence generation (5Marks)
2.5 Field Verification and Data Collection methodology (5Marks)
2.6 Stakeholder engagement, work planning, and delivery of outputs (5Marks)
3 Relevant Firm Experience - 25%
3.1 Demonstrate experience in similar assignments over the last ten (10) years, including DQAs, PMEAL systems strengthening, outcome documentation, data verification, data mining (10Marks)
3.2 Experience in donor-funded programmes in drylands resilience, livestock systems, restoration programmes, and economic/value chain (5Marks)
3.3 Provide CVs for the proposed team composition demonstrating qualifications, relevant technical expertise, and experience aligned with the ToR, including the Team Leader and all proposed specialists. (7Marks)
3.4 Provide at least three relevant references or completion certificates of past work. (3Marks)
4. Demonstrated quality of sample work - 15%
4.1 Submit three samples of similar assignments demonstrating experience (6Marks)
4.2 Samples demonstrate high-quality technical analysis (6Marks)
4.3 Samples demonstrate practical evidence of impact and applicability (3Marks)
5. Capacity Building, Knowledge Transfer and Sustainability - 10%
5.1 Present a clear approach for capacity strengthening and coaching (4Marks)
5.2 Demonstrate clear strategy for embedding DQA corrective actions into processes (3Marks)
5.3 Measures to ensure long-term sustainability of data quality improvements (3Marks)
TOTAL
100%
4.5. Financial Proposal
4.5.1. The Financial Proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.
4.5.2. Prices include all costs
Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, taxes (except VAT, see below), fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. It is your responsibility to determine whether such taxes apply to your organisation and to include them in your Financial Proposal.
4.5.3. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes
Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.
4.5.4. Currency of proposed rates and prices
All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in USD.
Description Cost (USD)
Professional Fees
Field Work Costs (travel, accommodation, subsistence, local transport)
Workshop, meetings, validation and capacity-building costs)
Other Expenses (please specify)
4.6. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.
4.7. Your Proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.
4.8. Withdrawals and Changes
You may freely withdraw or change your Proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.
5. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
5.1. Completeness
IUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further including the proposal length.
5.2. Pre-Qualification Criteria
Only Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.
5.3. Technical Evaluation
5.3.1. Scoring Method
Your Proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.
5.3.2. Minimum Quality Thresholds
Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.
5.3.3. Technical Score
Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your Proposal’s overall technical score.
5.4. Financial Evaluation and Financial Scores
The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your Financial Proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest Financial Proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.3.2) by the total price of your Financial Proposal.
Thus, for example, if your Financial Proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest Financial Proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%
5.5. Total Score
Your Proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.
The relative weights will be:
Technical: 70%
Financial: 30%
Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.
IUCN: Request for Proposals Page 6 of 8
Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose Proposal achieves the highest total score.
6. EXPLANATION OF PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE
6.1. IUCN is using the Open Procedure for this procurement. This means that the contracting opportunity is published on IUCN’s website and open to all interested parties to take part, subject to the conditions in Section 7 below.
6.2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.
6.3. All Proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late Proposals will not be considered. All Proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate Proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose Proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.
6.4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring Proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of Proposals takes.
7. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROCUREMENT
7.1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a Proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.
7.1.1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant Proposal.
7.1.2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed Proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.
7.1.3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your Proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.
7.2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:
• Free of conflicts of interest
• Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
• In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
• Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection
• Not bankrupt or being wound up
• Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct
• Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.
7.3. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).
7.4. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your Proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.
7.5. Each bidder shall submit only one Proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a Proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one Proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the Proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.
7.6. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:
• It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
• Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
• Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION
8.1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your Proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.
8.2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your Proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your Proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your Proposal.
9. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact procurement@iucn.org. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).
10. CONTRACT
The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.
11. ABOUT IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.
IUCN: Request for Proposals Page 8 of 8
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/
12. ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference
Attachment 2 Declaration of Undertaking (select 2a for companies or 2b for self-employed as applicable to you)
Terms of Reference for Consultancy
Terms of Reference for IUCN
Consultancy
Title: CONSULTANCY FIRM TO SUPPORT DATA QUALITY IMPROVEMENT,
RESULTS VERIFICATION, DATA MINING, OUTCOME AND IMPACT EVIDENCE
GENERATION FOR THE TWENDE PROJECT EXECUTING ENTITIES
Objective of the Consultancy
This consultancy has the following objective(s):
Overall Objective
To improve data quality, strengthen results verification processes, generate credible
outcome-level evidence and enhance the quality of reporting, accountability, learning and
decision-making within the TWENDE Project Executing Entities and service provider.
Specific Objectives
The consultancy shall:
1. Verify, clean and reconcile cumulative project data on beneficiary, ecosystem
restoration, livestock and people resilience already reported.
2. Mine, Recover, Verify and classify results (outputs – outcomes) achievements that
are under- or mis-reported by the project implementing partners from 2022 to date.
3. Improve outcome-level evidence generation, management system, documenting and
reporting.
4. Verify, correct and document assumptions, attribution methodologies and estimation
approaches used in reporting direct and indirect project effects.
5. Generate robust evidence of economic, livelihood and resilience outcomes resulting
from project investments in key strategic input-outcome pathways: Rangelands
Ecosystem Restoration, Grass Seeds, Soil bund, Water resources rehabilitation,
Rangeland Governance, Climate Risk Information, Climate Information Dashboard,
Rangelands enterprise/value chain support.
6. Support implementation of the DQA Corrective Action Plan by implementing partners
to:
a. Strengthen Value for Money analysis and reporting.
b. Build the capacity of Executing Entities and Service Providers in data quality
assurance and results reporting.
c. Produce cleaned databases of cumulative figures reported at the TWENDE
project GCF approved Logical Framework.
About IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/
About the Project
The TWENDE Project is a climate resilience initiative designed to reduce the economic and livelihood impacts of climate change-induced droughts on Kenya’s Arid and Semi Aid Lands national economy through restoration, sustainable management and governance of, and strategic investments in rangeland ecosystems. The project is implemented across eleven counties and thirty-nine wards within Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) through a partnership involving the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Accredited Entity, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), the State Department for Livestock Development (SDLD), Conservation International (CI) as Executing Entities (EE) and various service providers.
The project has an ambition to restore over 500,000 hectares of degraded rangelands ecosystem and to improve resilience and livelihoods of over 600,000 households in the selected 39 wards from 11 ASALS counties.
The project recently undertook a comprehensive Data Quality Audit (DQA) and Results Quality Review to assess the quality, reliability, completeness, consistency, validity, precision and integrity of project data and reported results. While the DQA established that significant project investments and interventions have been implemented across the target landscapes, it also identified substantial weaknesses in data quality, reporting systems, evidence management, results verification and outcome documentation.
Key findings included:
• Incomplete beneficiary databases and weak beneficiary tracking systems.
• Inadequate means of verification for reported achievements.
• Inconsistencies between reported and verified results.
• Risks of duplicate reporting and double counting of beneficiaries and interventions.
• Weak documentation of assumptions used in reporting.
• Limited evidence supporting cumulative beneficiary and restoration figures.
• Weak outcome-level reporting and evidence generation.
• Inadequate documentation of economic and livelihood outcomes.
• Inconsistent data collection and reporting systems across Executing Entities.
• Weak accountability and quality assurance mechanisms.
• Limited ability to demonstrate Value for Money (VfM) and project impact.
These weaknesses present an opportunity to improve outcome reporting with robust data evidence that fulfils the data quality standards. While significant implementation progress has been achieved across the project landscapes reported in terms of outputs, there remains a need to systematically document evidence of change resulting from project interventions. Beyond improving data quality, the project seeks to generate credible qualitative and quantitative evidence demonstrating contributions to ecosystem restoration, climate resilience, adaptive capacity, sustainable livelihoods and value chain development, governance strengthening and institutional change. This assignment therefore combines implementation of the Data Quality Assessment (DQA) Corrective Action Plan with data mining, outcome documentation, learning and knowledge generation to strengthen accountability, adaptive management, donor reporting and communication of project achievements.
To address these gaps and fast-track implementation of the DQA Corrective Action Plan, and given the complexity of the TWENDE program, IUCN seeks to engage a qualified consulting firm with proven dual expertise in:
a. Dryland Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Accountability and Learning, data quality assurance, results verification, data mining, data analytics and economic impact assessment, and;
b. Dryland resilience building through livestock production and market system development
Purpose of the Assignment
The purpose of this consultancy is to provide implementation support to the PMU, EEs and SPs in the refining of the project’s data-to-decision (D2D framework) by strengthening the quality, reliability, completeness, accuracy and credibility of TWENDE project data that have been reported or under reported. The assignment will involve comprehensive data verification, cleaning, mining and evidence recovery, documentation, analysis and strengthening of project-wide PMEAL processes at PMU, EE and SP levels, with a particular focus on outcome-level evidence generation and reporting.
Scope of Work
The consulting firm shall undertake the following tasks:
a) Beneficiary Data Verification, Cleaning and Reconciliation
The firm shall:
• Review all beneficiary datasets across project components.
• Verify cumulative beneficiary figures reported as of APR 2025.
• Eliminate duplicate records and double counting.
• Reconcile direct and indirect beneficiary figures reported and classify those directly attributed to activities and those which were estimates.
• Support the EE to develop a consolidated project-wide beneficiary database as much as possible and applicable.
• Establish, verify and document beneficiary attribution methodologies used across the EE.
• Develop beneficiary tracking protocols.
• Validate beneficiary outcomes against reported indicators.
b) Restoration Data Verification and Classification
The firm shall:
• Review all restoration-related datasets and support documentation/means of verification.
• Verify cumulative restoration figures reported by the project per EE.
• Classify restoration interventions into:
o Active restoration (further disaggregated by direct and indirect)
o Passive restoration
o Soil and Water Conservation
o Reseeding
• Establish, verify and document restoration attribution methodologies.
• Verify restoration reporting across project components.
• Identify and eliminate risks of double counting.
• Establish restoration evidence/means of verification.
• Assess sustainability of restoration interventions.
c) Outcome-Level Data Mining and Evidence Generation
The firm shall:
• Review all project outcome indicators.
• Conduct outcome-level data mining.
• Analyze existing datasets and reports.
• Generate evidence demonstrating project contribution to:
o Climate resilience
o Ecosystem restoration
o Livelihood improvement
o Livestock productivity and market outcomes
o Governance strengthening
o Institutional capacity development
o Policy influence
o Gender and social inclusion outcomes
• Document intended and unintended outcomes.
• Develop indicator-specific outcome evidence files.
• Map outcomes against the project's Theory of Change.
• Produce contribution analysis demonstrating the project's influence on observed changes.
• Generate outcome narratives linked to each project component.
• Establish an outcome evidence database.
d) Enterprise and Economic Impact Assessment
Particular focus shall be given to Component 3.
The firm shall:
• Review enterprise investments supported by the project.
• Verify enterprise eligibility and reporting compliance.
• Analyze value-chain development achievements.
• Assess economic gains generated by project-supported enterprises.
• Quantify:
o Jobs created
o Income generated
o Enterprise revenues
o Market access improvements
o Financial leverage
o Co-financing mobilized
o Household livelihood improvements
e) Documentation of Assumptions, Attribution and Estimation Methodologies
The firm shall:
• Review indicators relying on assumptions and estimations.
• Assess appropriateness of methodologies used.
• Document all assumptions used in project reporting.
• Distinguish between:
o Verified results
o Estimated results
o Attributed results
o Modelled results
• Document all figures arrived at from assumptions and estimates
• Develop standard operating procedures for future reporting.
f) Implementation of the Data Quality Assessment (DQA) Corrective Action Plan
The consulting firm shall support the implementation of the agreed upon Data Quality Assessment (DQA) Corrective Action Plan in close collaboration with the Project Management Unit (PMU), Executing Entities (EEs), and service providers. The firm shall ensure that identified data quality gaps are systematically addressed and that corrective measures are institutionalized to strengthen the TWENDE’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) system.
Specifically, the consulting firm shall:
• Review and prioritize all DQA corrective actions by Executing Entity and project component.
• Develop detailed implementation plans, timelines and monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of corrective actions.
• Provide technical support to Executing Entities and service providers to implement agreed corrective measures, including improvements to data collection, management, reporting, documentation and evidence management systems.
• Conduct follow-up verification and quality assurance assessments to confirm implementation and effectiveness of corrective actions.
• Monitor and track progress against the DQA Corrective Action Tracker, documenting achievements, outstanding actions, risks and recommended mitigation measures.
• Validate that implemented corrective actions have resulted in measurable improvements in data quality, indicator reporting, completeness, consistency, accuracy, attribution and availability of means of verification.
• Document lessons learned and recommendations to support continuous improvement of project-wide data quality management and reporting systems.
g) Capacity Building and Coaching
The firm shall:
• Conduct Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning and Reporting capacity need assessments.
• Train Executing Entities and Service Providers on:
o Data quality management
o Results verification
o Outcome reporting
o Data analysis
o Evidence management
o Documentation of assumptions
o Value for Money reporting
• Provide coaching and mentorship throughout the assignment.
Methodology
The consulting firm shall propose a detailed mixed-methods approach for undertaking the assignment. At a minimum, the proposed methodology should cover the following activities:
• Desk Review: Review relevant project documents, monitoring data, DQA reports, databases, Logical Framework indicators, means of verification, and other project records to understand the current status of reporting and identify data quality gaps.
• Implementation of DQA Corrective Actions: Support Executing Entities in implementing agreed Data Quality Assessment (DQA) corrective actions, including strengthening data management systems, documentation practices, indicator reporting, and evidence management.
• Indicator Verification and Data Validation: Verify reported project results against source documents and means of verification to assess data accuracy, completeness, consistency, validity, attribution, and eliminate duplicate reporting.
• Qualitative Data Collection: Conduct Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), household interviews, and stakeholder consultations to generate qualitative evidence on project outcomes, impacts, lessons learned, innovations, and beneficiary experiences.
• Field Verification: Undertake field visits to selected project sites to verify reported achievements, validate restoration interventions, assess implementation progress, and confirm supporting evidence.
• Data Triangulation: Integrate evidence from multiple quantitative and qualitative data sources to enhance the credibility, reliability and validity of findings.
• Stakeholder Validation: Present preliminary findings through technical review meetings and validation workshops to confirm results, validate interpretations and obtain stakeholder feedback before finalization of consultancy outputs.
• Quality Assurance: Establish appropriate quality control measures throughout the assignment to ensure data integrity, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and adherence to internationally accepted MEAL and data quality standards.
Duration of the Assignment
The assignment is expected to be undertaken over a period of six (6) months from contract signature date.
Deliverables and Activities
Deliverable/Activity/Description/Deadline
Deliverable 1: Inception Report and Data Verification Framework - 18th September 2026
This deliverable will include:
• Detailed methodology
• Workplan
• Stakeholder engagement strategy
• Quality assurance framework
• Data verification protocols
• Data cleaning, mining and verification framework
Deliverable 2: Desk review Report - 15th October 2026
This deliverable will include:
• Comprehensive data audit and diagnostic report
• Data inventory weaknesses and strengths
• Means of Verification inventory and proposed improvement
• Indicator verification, cleaning and mining matrix
• Gap analysis with proposed improvement
• DQA corrective action tracker
Deliverable 3: Cleaned and Verified Beneficiary Database - 23rd October 2026
This deliverable will include:
• Beneficiary verification report
• Duplicate analysis report
• Beneficiary categorization framework
• Electronic repository of beneficiary Means of Verification
• Beneficiary attribution methodology indicating how cumulative figures reported as of APR 2025 arrived at. Indicating which were attributed to specific activities, figures estimated and means of estimation used.
Deliverable 4: Verified Restoration Dataset and Restoration Verification Report -20th November 2026
This deliverable will include:
• Hectares reported to be under restoration database per project component
• Restoration hectares classification report indicating passive and active restoration per component.
• Restoration hectares evidence/means of verification
• Restoration attribution framework
• Cleaned, verified and updated verified restoration figures per project component.
Deliverable 5: Data mining, enterprise and outcome evidence report - 18th December 2026
This deliverable will include:
• Logical framework indicators support documentation repository
• Updated database on each component indicator’s reporting
• Outcome evidence database and report
• Outcome contribution/attribution analysis
• Outcome indicator verification matrix
• Value chain development analysis and enterprise verification report
• Enterprise economic gain/impact assessment including income and jobs creation
Deliverable 6: Data Quality Assurance Framework - 22nd January 2027
This deliverable will include:
• Data Quality Assurance guideline
• Reporting SOPs
• Evidence and means of verification management guidelines
• Data verification and cleaning framework
Deliverable 7: Capacity Strengthening and Coaching Programme -5th February 2027
This deliverable will include:
• Capacity assessment report
• Capacity strengthening plan
• Training materials
• Workshop and training reports
• Coaching reports
• Capacity assessment report
Deliverable 8: Progress Reports and Final Consultancy Report and Handover Package -23rd February 2027
The firm shall submit monthly progress reports detailing:
• Monthly progress reports detailing Activities completed, progress against workplan, emerging findings, risks and mitigation measures, data verified and cleaned.
• Outcome evidence generated and data mining progress
• Progress against DQA corrective actions
• Final consultancy report that will include executive summary, all cleaned databases, all verified datasets, means of Verification repository, outcome evidence repository, restoration evidence repository, enterprise evidence repository.
• Cleaned, verified and updated datasets for all Logical Framework indicators
• Repository of all verified and documented attribution and estimation methods associated with hectares under restoration and beneficiaries reported.
• Final presentation to TWENDE project PMU and PSC
• Sustainability roadmap
In addition to these reports, the consultancy will support TWENDE project EEs to develop a comprehensive Annual Progress Report for the year 2026 working closely with PMEAL officer and the Chief of Party.
Payment Schedule
The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant.
Deliverable Milestone payment
Deliverable 1 15%
Deliverable 2 20%
Deliverable 3 and 4 25%
Deliverable 5 and 6 25%
Deliverable 7 and 8 15%
TOTAL 100%
Skills and Experience
Firm Qualifications
The consulting firm must demonstrate:
• At least ten (10) years of experience supporting organizations in Project Monitoring Evaluation Accountability, Learning and Reporting.
• Proven experience conducting Data Quality Assessments.
• Experience supporting large donor-funded programmes.
• Experience working with GCF, USAID, FCDO, EU or similar programmes.
• Expertise in dryland ecosystems, climate resilience and restoration programmes with a strong applied tasks/assignment to livestock systems
• Demonstrated experience in data mining, outcome harvesting and contribution analysis.
• Expertise in data analytics, database management and GIS.
• Experience in economic and value chain assessments.
•Experience in Value for Money assessments.
• The firm must be physically located in Kenya with legal registration status in Kenya and able to travel to ASAL counties in Kenya where project sites are located.
Proposed Team Composition
The firm shall propose a multidisciplinary team comprising:
7. Team Leader / Senior Monitoring Evaluation Accountability Learning and Reporting Specialist.
8. Data Management and Analytics Specialist.
9. Restoration and Natural Resource Management Specialist.
10. Enterprise Development and Economic Analysis Specialist.
11. Capacity Development Specialist.
Value for Money
The consulting firm shall demonstrate Value for Money through:
• Economy in resource utilization.
• Efficient deployment of personnel.
• Practical and implementable recommendations.
• Transfer of skills to project staff.
• Development of sustainable systems.
• Maximizing use of existing datasets and resources.
• Delivering measurable improvements in data quality, reporting and accountability.
The financial proposal shall clearly demonstrate Economy, Efficiency, Effectiveness and Sustainability.
Supervision and Coordination
The consulting firm shall report directly to the PMEAL officer with quality assurance reporting to the TWENDE project Chief of Party. The consulting firm shall present key findings and deliverables to the PMU, Executing Entities and the Project Steering Committee (PSC) as required.
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How to apply
IUCN Procurement Portal