Consultant to Provide Mid-term Project Progress Review and Strategic Inputs for Plastic With Purpose, Vietnam

Terms of Reference

Consultant to provide mid-term project progress review and strategic inputs for Plastic With Purpose, Vietnam

1.    Organizational Background

iDE is dedicated to creating income and livelihood opportunities for the rural poor by building a resilient market ecosystem. iDE is headquartered in Denver, USA, has a budget of $27.7 million in 2021, and employs more than 1,200 staff globally, including country programs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia, Honduras and Nicaragua. Established in 1982, iDE has reached more than 35 million people with technologies and services to increase their income and household well being through agriculture and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs. iDE has implemented more than 600 projects funded by donors including USAID, EU, World Bank, FCDO, Sida, SDC, Dutch MoFA, Global Affairs Canada, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2.    Project Background

The long-term vision for the “Plastic with Purpose (PwP)” project is to cultivate plastic waste recycling as a profitable venture for everyone involved in the value chain—particularly for local waste collectors and small recycling business owners—while reducing the flow of plastic waste into natural environments in coastal cities of Vietnam.

PwP is being implemented by iDE under the Danida Market Development Partnerships program (DMDP) with support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It operates across three districts in Da Nang, Vietnam with the following four outcomes:

1. Increasing livelihood opportunities in plastic waste management
2. The ethical collection, recycling, and re-use of plastic waste - with an aim to collect
3. Reducing the amount of plastic waste currently in the natural environment
4. Plastic waste recycling businesses in Vietnam provide desirable products at market-competitive prices and have secured reliable feedstocks for continued future growth

3.    Objectives of the Assignment

The PwP project has been in operation since May 2021 (15 months till date) and is expected to complete as per its contract duration in April 2024, total duration of 36 months. At near its mid-term, iDE is interested to conduct a rapid review of the achievement of the project and progress of the projects towards its results against the original Theory of Change and the Results Framework and as such would like to solicit services of an expert to: (1) Review; (2) analyze; and (3) provide concrete recommendations and strategic action plans for any major adjustments in its intervention packages. This review is expected to provide key insights for the project management team and the consortium for the upcoming mid-term review and reflection workshop to be held in November 2022.  

4.    About the Assignment

Consultant will, in general, conduct the following project assistance activities, coordinate with the following staff and provide the following deliverables related to the Plastic with Purpose (DMDP) Project.  Each specific project assistance related task will be further defined to the Consultant in terms of scope and deadline prior to authorization to proceed.

• Determine if the broad outcomes and results of the project can be realistically met by the end of the project based on the achievements till date and the proposed workplan and intervention packages proposed by the team.
• Provide key insights, recommendations, tools and resources to the project management team to develop realistic work plan for 2022 and 2023.

This is a four-week-long assignment that will start from the mid September 2022 and finish by mid October 2022. iDE is committed to equal opportunities for all and does not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any other status. Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply

5.    Suggested Activities

The below-mentioned list is not limited and the Consultant may submit a proposal with additional methodology in line with industry standards.

• Unpack theory of change. Determine if the broad outcomes and results of the project can be realistically met by the end of the project. If the current outcomes and results can’t be achieved, develop revised outcomes and results that are likely to be achieved by the end of the project and a rationale for the change that can be communicated to the project consortia as well as the investors and donors.
• Behavior change at the household level. Review the recently completed household level market insight study that seeks to understand how households collect, sort plastics and how the model interfaces with informal waste workers (IWW) and the informal value chain. Determine if the interventions and recommendations presented in the report are practical and feasible for the project to implement. Provide insights and recommendation on the implementation plan and suggest, if any, corrective measures or recommendations.  
• Improving incomes of informal waste workers (IWWs). Review the integration strategies developed by the project in partnership with the consortia that seeks to provide improved livelihoods outcome for IWWs through project interventions. Provide insights, recommendations and assist in improving the activities planned by the project, with special emphasis on aligning capacity building and market linkage activities of the project and its anticipate result of improving income of IWWs.
• Market intermediaries and their business model. The project has been working closely with its consortia partners as well as Ever Green Labs (EGL), a consulting firm to develop business model for market intermediaries that provide vital functions in the value chain, e.g., sorting, aggregation, storage, processing of plastic waste. Review the project’s results till date in piloting of these business models (and new proposed ones such as the “master aggregator” model); analyze its possible efficacy against project’s stated outcomes and provide a critical review with recommendations on the areas of improvement for 2022 and 2023.
• Collaborate with Oceanwork on accelerating their pilot Track and Trace model. One of the most interesting results in 2022 has been the recent pre-piloting of OW’s Track and Trace model in the project sites. It is important for the project not to lose momentum in this and continue to understand the types and kinds of strategic support the project is required to provide to OW for this to be successful. As such, review the progress till date, engage with OW’s key counterparts and assist the project team to develop a plan to support this initiative that is agreed to by OW.

6.    Key Deliverables and products

Based on the field context, the Consultant/Firm is expected to deliver the following listed deliverables:

7.    Proprietary Rights

Any document, information, or data entrusted to or produced by iDE in connection with this assignment shall be strictly confidential and cannot be used by the contract employee for any other purpose without the written consent of iDE. This provision shall remain valid even after the completion of this assignment. iDE reserves the right to terminate this agreement at any time with the consultation of the contracted individual/firm.

8.    Guidelines for submission of the proposal

These guidelines shall ensure uniformity of proposals submitted by all applicants and transparency of the evaluation process.

a)    Eligibility Criteria: Eligible applicants must have an appropriate setup to conduct this task. The applicant must meet the following criteria:

• A sound understanding and experience in project management related to market-based approaches in development context, experience in working in South East Asia and in particular Vietnam will be an advantage.
• A sound understanding of the use of qualitative approaches using a combination of methodologies to evaluate performance of project activities.
• Experience of running, managing and/or operating social enterprises, social business or experience in consortia partnership is required.
• Experience working with international NGOs.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Excellent interpersonal communication, easy presentation, and writing skills in English and Bengali.
• Understanding of agriculture, market systems development, market-based interventions in a rural setting, and business management is preferred
• Ability to work independently
• Demonstration of logistical capability
• Appreciative to deliver the final products in line with the set ToR within the agreed timeline

b)    Evaluation Criteria

The Consultant/Firm will be evaluated based on the following criteria. The key factors stated below will be taken into consideration during the evaluation process:

• Previous work experience
• Assignment Concept Note
• Financial aspects (consultant fees, breakdown of activity costs, etc)

c)    Bid Submission

All proposals should include:

• Cover letter (maximum one page);
• Assignment Concept Note (maximum 3 pages) which should include:
  
  • Understanding of the assignment and a detailed work-plan
  • Track record of earlier similar studies (the title of study and few lines to the nature of the study, the date of the study was conducted, the name of the client). Recommendations resulting from such work may be included in the Annex.
  • Proposed methodology to undertake the study to fulfill the objective
  • Timeline/milestones to conduct the assessment in a Gantt Chart
• Financial Proposal (maximum one page): breakdown of cost estimates. This should include, but not be limited to number of days proposed and day rates, cost of transportation, accommodation and travel costs, food expenses, and other items needed for the consultancy. (See Annex 1)
• Please also include:
  
  • CV of the consultant/s
• Annexes may be included for further clarification. However, for evaluation, only the main part of the proposal will be taken.

Interested firms are asked to submit their Technical and Financial Proposal to [email protected] Please write “PWP, Mid Term Technical Review Consultancy” in the subject line. The proposals should be submitted by 11.59 pm Vietnam Time on Thusday, 8th September 2022. We are only able to consider electronic submissions. Only shortlisted firms will be contacted and invited for a technical discussion.

Annex 1: The Content of the financial proposal