TERMS OF REFERENCE
Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Recruitment of a Consultancy to Conduct a Digital Market and Digital Skills Gap Assessment across the SAMA Countries (Under the Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA) Programme, Across the six SAMA countries: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia)
| Client / Contracting entity |
Smart Africa Secretariat 10th Floor, Career Centre Building KG 541 ST, Kigali, Rwanda, P.O. Box: 4913 Tel: +250 788 300 581/+250788822155 Email: tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org | www.smartafrica.org |
| RFP # | 157/S.A/SAMA/RFP/10/2026 |
| Programme | Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA) |
| Assignment title | Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis and Digital Skills Gap Assessment for the Digital Market, SAMA Interventions 1 and 2 |
| Assignment structure | One consultancy awarded as a single package comprising two coordinated components. Bidders must demonstrate distinct technical expertise for each Component and may propose a consortium or specialist team arrangements to ensure adequate depth across both components. A single contract will be awarded for the full assignment. |
| Geographic coverage | Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia |
| Languages | English and French, with local-language data collection where required |
| Release date | 08/10/2026 |
| Closing date | 09/11/2026 at 17:00 Kigali time (CAT / UTC+2) |
| Contact | Enquiries: tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org |Submissions: procurement@smartafrica.org |
Introduction and General Background
1.1 About the Smart Africa Alliance
The Smart Africa Alliance is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, with the vision of transforming Africa into a Single Digital Market by 2030. Established through its Manifesto, a collaborative effort among African nations, the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the private sector, and academic and research institutions, the Alliance was endorsed by African leaders in 2014 and has since garnered the support of 42 African countries representing over one billion people.
The Smart Africa Secretariat, headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, coordinates continental programmes that support digital market integration, policy harmonization, institutional strengthening, and innovation-ecosystem development across Member States, placing information and communications technologies at the core of national and continental socio-economic development.
More information: https://smartafrica.org
1.2 About Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA) Programme
Smart Africa Alliance curated the Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA), an initiative that brings in nexus between digital innovation – entrepreneurship, digital skills and knowledge, and strengthening policy and regulatory environment for digitization of markets while impacting youth with a particular focus on young women.
SAMA Programme is a four-year, multi-country initiative supported by the Mastercard Foundation, running from 2026 through 2029. The Program aims to unlock dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for 35,584 young people, with a target of 70% young women, 5% persons with disabilities, and 5% refugees/internally displaced persons, by improving access to digital markets for economically disadvantaged youth, particularly young women small traders. The Programme is implemented across six countries: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
The program responds to systemic challenges in Africa’s informal economy, where approximately 90% of workers are informal and youth, who make up 75% of the population, face interlinked barriers such as limited digital connectivity, financial exclusion, inadequate market access, and digital skills gaps. SAMA builds on Smart Africa’s existing digital initiatives such as SANIA, SADA, SATA, SWG etc and aligns with the organisation’s vision for Africa’s Single Digital Market by 2030 as well as the African Union’s vision, ensuring that program efforts complement broader continental strategies for inclusive digital transformation.
1.2.1 SAMA Strategic Pillars
SAMA is built around three interconnected strategic pillars to drive inclusive growth: a) Entrepreneurship and digital innovation, b) Youth Digital Skills, and c) Institutional Capacity Building. In practice, this translates to:
- Accelerating Inclusive Digital Innovation by supporting youth-led tech solutions that reduce market barriers for informal traders.
- Youth Digital Skills Development by providing digital, financial and entrepreneurial skills training to young persons, especially young women, to improve their employability and enterprise growth.
- Strengthening Institutions and Policy by working with governments and regional bodies to harmonize policies, improve regulatory environments, and build institutional capacity for a unified digital market.
1.2.2 SAMA Target Personas
The Programme’s human-centred design is built around and targets three distinct groups of young persons in Africa:
- Small market trader or “Aisha”: As a young woman and small market trader who struggles to make ends meet selling from a tabletop in her local market. She represents the millions of economically disadvantaged youths in informal trade who need access to markets, financial inclusion, and digital tools to improve their livelihood. To benefit from the digitalization happening around her, Aisha needs training to effectively and safely use digital tools, and she needs digital products and services tailored to her realities as a young woman small trader, so that she can move from the periphery to the center of the digital economy.
- Social techpreneurs or “Chebet”: A recent university graduate or young social digital entrepreneur who develops inclusive digital solutions responsive to Aisha’s realities. She embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of university educated youth eager to leverage digital innovation for social impact but needs support to succeed. While she may not be as economically disadvantaged as Aisha, she has limited financial, technical, and business support to pursue social entrepreneurship. Chebet’s success is directly connected to Aisha because her enterprise is intended, first and foremost, to develop inclusive digital solutions tailored to the needs and realities of small traders such as Aisha.
- Unemployed disadvantaged youth or “Nala”: Nala is a young person from a low-income household who faces difficulty accessing meaningful employment and seeks ICT training to improve her work prospects. She represents the youth seeking to acquire digital skills to improve their employability and access opportunities in the growing digital economy. While she may not be as economically disadvantaged as Aisha, she is from a low-income community and not able to find a job easily. With access to relevant training, certification and employment pathways, she could find better work as tech worker or even upskill her current tech skills to obtain industry-related certification and employment pathways in the emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, data science and coding etc.
1.2.3 SAMA Programme Interventions
Intervention 1: Accelerating Inclusive Digital Innovation:
This intervention focuses on supporting young social techpreneurs like Chebet pursue entrepreneurship to develop homegrown digital solutions that respond to the market barriers experienced by small traders like Aisha to stay in business and thrive in digital markets. Chebet groups will receive relevant digital, tech and entrepreneurship skilling and training. The Programme will support 200 young social techpreneurs to pursue entrepreneurship and develop approximately 80 digital solutions that enable small traders to remain in business, access markets and participate more effectively in the digital economy. This will be carried out in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Ghana.
Intervention 2 – Skilling Young Talents for employability and future of work.
This intervention focuses on developing the digital skills of 48,000 young people in Benin and Zambia to prepare them for the future of work either as digital entrepreneurs or tech talent. It comprises two distinct skilling pathways: foundational digital-literacy, financial-literacy and entrepreneurship training for 30,000 small traders like Aisha delivered in-person. While advanced digital skills modules such as cybersecurity, AI, Cloud, data science etc) will be delivered in a hybrid format to 18,000 disadvantaged young people like Nala.
Intervention 3 – Strengthening institutions and policy
This intervention focuses on enabling policy and regulatory environment to drive inclusive digital transformation across Africa in which the digital innovation and skills interventions can translate into improved economic participation and work opportunities, particularly for young women small traders like Aisha. This intervention works with governments, regulators, and regional bodies to strengthen institutional capacity, develop inclusive policies and regulations, address barriers within digital markets, and advance policy harmonization and interoperability.
Consultancy Purpose and Objectives
2.1 Purpose of this Assignment
Digital markets, including mobile money, digital payments, e-commerce, social commerce, logistics platforms and other technology-enabled services—can enable informal micro and small traders to reach wider markets, improve transaction efficiency, strengthen customer relationships and increase the resilience and growth of their enterprises. However, participation in and sustained use of these services remain uneven, particularly among economically disadvantaged young women operating within informal and small-scale trade.
Young women small traders like Aisha face interconnected barriers that drive them to the margins of digital economy. These may include limited access to affordable digital devices and connectivity, low digital and financial literacy, inadequate access to finance, limited trust in digital platforms, exposure to fraud and online harm, unsuitable platform design, logistics constraints, restrictive social norms, care responsibilities and limited access to appropriate learning and business-support services. These barriers affect not only whether traders adopt digital tools, but also whether they can use them safely, productively, and consistently to improve their livelihoods.
Under Intervention 1: Accelerating Inclusive Digital Innovation, SAMA’s implementing partner, GrowthAfrica Foundation, will support 200 young social techpreneurs like Chebet through ideation, incubation and acceleration to develop approximately 80 homegrown digital solutions that respond to the market barriers experienced by informal micro and small traders like Aisha. Without robust evidence on the small traders’ lived experiences, existing behaviours, unmet needs and market conditions, there is a risk that innovation activities may be based on assumptions or produce solutions that are not sufficiently relevant, accessible, affordable or responsive to the target users’ realities.
SAMA therefore requires country-specific evidence on how informal micro and small traders currently participate in digital markets; the products and services they use, attempt to use or abandon; the barriers affecting adoption and sustained use; and the market opportunities that inclusive digital solutions could address. The findings will be translated into prioritised challenge areas, problem statements, design criteria, personas and user journeys for use by GrowthAfrica and the Chebet cohorts during ideation, hackathons, incubation and acceleration.
Under Intervention 2: Skilling Young Talents for Employability and the Future of Work, SAMA seeks to strengthen the digital, financial and entrepreneurial capabilities required by young people to participate in the digital economy. For this assignment, the Digital Skills Gap Assessment shall examine foundational competencies for Aisha-aligned small traders and advanced digital skills and employment-readiness needs for Nala-aligned disadvantaged youth. For Nala, it shall also assess realistic pathways from training into work, particularly in Benin and Zambia.
The assessment is required to establish the digital, financial and entrepreneurial competencies currently possessed by different seller segments; identify the skills gaps that constrain digital-market participation; assess the relevance, accessibility and quality of existing skilling provision; and recommend appropriate competency levels, learning pathways, curriculum priorities, delivery modalities, partnerships and inclusion and safeguarding measures. The findings will directly inform the design and contextualisation of seller-focused skilling interventions implemented by NetOne Foundation in Zambia and Pigier Foundation in Benin. For Nala-aligned youth, the findings will also inform how the advanced digital-skills training offered by NetOne Foundation and Pigier Foundation can connect to verified job opportunities and appropriate employer or placement partners.
The two evidence needs are closely interconnected. Digital solutions may fail to achieve adoption where traders lack the necessary skills, confidence, devices, trust, or ongoing support. Similarly, digital-skilling interventions may have limited effect where available products, platforms and services are unaffordable, inaccessible, unsafe, or poorly adapted to traders’ realities. Assessing these dimensions through one coordinated consultancy will enable SAMA to develop a coherent evidence base connecting trader needs, digital-market barriers, solution-development opportunities and digital-skilling priorities.
Because the evidence needs of Interventions 1 and 2 are closely connected, this assignment will be implemented as a one multi-country consultancy comprising of two distinct, but interrelated components delivered under a single contract:
- Component 1: Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis among small traders
- Component 2: Digital Skills Gap Assessment of small traders
Both components shall use common definitions and a shared analytical framework to allow comparison across countries and between the two interventions.
In addition to generating evidence for programme design, the assignment shall establish baseline reference values for SAMA indicators and outcome domains that can be validly measured through the Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis and the Digital Skills Gap Assessment. These will include digital-market participation and adoption, digital readiness, digital, financial and entrepreneurial competencies, access and inclusion barriers, and other relevant pre-intervention conditions. The findings will inform refinement of the SAMA MEL framework and subsequent participant-level baseline measurement.
The strategic value of this assignment is to create a common evidence base linking market barriers, user needs, digital-solution opportunities and skills requirements, so that Interventions 1 and 2 reinforce each other rather than operate as separate workstreams.
2.2. Objectives of the assignment
The overall objective is to generate a comprehensive, actionable and comparable evidence across the six SAMA countries, on digital-market adoption, barriers, unmet needs and opportunities among small traders (like Aisha) and on the digital, financial and entrepreneurial skills required by formal and informal sellers for effective participation in digital markets; and to translate the findings into design-ready inputs for inclusive digital solutions, competency-based skilling interventions and establish relevant baseline reference values to strengthen the SAMA programme MEL framework; and identify viable post-training employment pathways for Nala-aligned youth, including the skills, credentials and support needed to access them.
2.2.1 Specific Objective
The specific objectives of the assignment are to:
- Map the current state of digital market adoption among informal micro and small traders in each SAMA country, including the digital platforms, products and services currently used, attempted or abandoned.
- Identify, segment and prioritize barriers, unmet needs and market opportunities affecting micro and small traders’ adoption and sustained use of digital markets, including structural, financial, social, technical, gender-related, accessibility, safety, policy and regulatory barriers factors, and assess the relevance and suitability of existing digital solutions.
- Translate the digital-market findings into design-ready inputs for inclusive innovation, including validated thematic challenge areas, sector-by-theme matrices, prioritized problem statements, design considerations, personas and user journeys to inform Intervention 1’s hackathon tracks, challenge briefs and incubation support for “Chebet” cohorts.
- Assess the foundational digital, financial and entrepreneurial competencies of Aisha-aligned small traders, and the advanced digital-skills and employment-readiness needs of Nala-aligned disadvantaged youth, taking into account differences across countries and beneficiary segments (disaggregated by sex, age, disability status, displacement status, seller type and location.)
- Assess the existing digital-skilling ecosystem for both pathways, including training providers, curricula, certification options, employer demand and partnership opportunities, and identify gaps and overlaps affecting learner progression.
- Develop a practical competency framework prioritized and country-contextualized recommendations translating the identified gaps into competency levels, learning pathways, priority training modules, delivery modalities, targeting, sequencing, partnerships, inclusion measures and monitoring indicators.
- Identify and assess viable post-training job pathways for Nala-aligned youth in Benin and Zambia, informed by employer and industry demand, entry-level roles, hiring requirements, recruitment channels, work quality and the barriers facing young women and other underserved youth; recommend practical links between SAMA training, certification and access to work.
- Establish baseline reference values for relevant SAMA indicators and outcome domains measurable through the two assessments, with appropriate definitions and disaggregation, and provide recommendations for their integration into the SAMA MEL Framework.
Scope of the Assignment
The assignment shall be implemented as one coordinated, multi-country consultancy comprising two distinct but interrelated components.
- Component 1: Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis among small traders
- Component 2: Digital Skills Gap Assessment of small traders
Both components shall cover Benin, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda; and shall generate country-specific findings, cross-country comparisons and consolidated recommendations.
In addition to the diagnostic requirements under each Component, the consultant shall establish baseline reference values for relevant SAMA indicators and outcome domains that can be validly measured through the two assessments. Baseline measures shall be embedded within the respective Work Packages rather than undertaken as a separate study.
Indicators requiring longitudinal tracking of actual SAMA participants or supported enterprises shall be baselined separately at enrolment, prior to substantive programme support. The consultant shall support this process by developing or refining the relevant participant and enterprise intake tools as part of the MEL alignment component.
The scope of work shall be delivered through a common inception process, the Work Packages under each Component, and cross-cutting requirements applicable to the assignment, as set out below:
3.1 Inception and Integrated research design
The consultancy firm shall undertake a common inception process covering both components to confirm the analytical approach, research design, baseline measurement requirements and implementation arrangements before assessment begins. The consultants shall:
- Review relevant SAMA programme documents (including the SAMA Impact Measurement Priorities), national and regional policies, existing studies, administrative data and other available relevant evidence;
- Refine the analytical framework, research questions, operational definitions and methodology for each Component;
- Map the SAMA indicators and outcomes domains relevant to components 1 and 2 against the research questions and identify the baseline reference values that can be generated through the assessment under each Component
- Develop country-specific sampling plans, respondent sample frames and stakeholder-engagement strategies for both components;
- Develop core and Component-specific data collection instruments (toolkits);
- Develop the fieldwork, data quality-assurance, ethics, safeguarding, inclusion and data-management protocols; and
- Submit a validated Inception Report and detailed workplan for approval by Smart Africa and partners.
3.2 Component 1: Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis (Intervention 1)
Component1 shall assess how informal micro and small traders engage with digital markets, identify the barriers, unmet needs and opportunities affecting their adoption and sustained participation, and translate the findings into design-ready inputs for inclusive digital solutions under SAMA Intervention 1. The assessment shall also generate relevant baseline reference values on digital-market participation, adoption, inclusion and related enterprise-market conditions that support SAMA’s impact pathway and MEL framework.
Component 1 shall be delivered through the following Work packages.
Work Package 1: Mapping Digital Market Adoption and existing digital solutions
Purpose: Establish how informal micro and small traders currently participate in digital markets and use existing digital products, platforms and services across the six SAMA countries.
Key Tasks:
- Review existing evidence on micro/small trade, and digital-market participation in each Country.
- Map the digital platforms, products, and services currently used, attempted, or abandoned by small traders like Aisha (including digital payments, e-commerce, social commerce, logistics platforms, and relevant digital business tools).
- Assess patterns and levels of use, including the purpose, frequency, intensity, and stage of adoption.
- Assess small traders’ experience with these digital solutions, including usability, relevance, inclusion, affordability, accessibility, safety, reliability and interoperability and other design factors.
- Compare digital market participation and adoption patterns across countries, sectors, locations, business maturity and relevant trader segments.
Deliverable: Digital Market Adoption Analysis Report
Work Package 2: Barriers, Unmet Needs and Opportunity Analysis
Purpose: identify, segment and prioritise the barriers, unmet needs affecting small traders’ adoption and sustained participation in the digital markets; and identify opportunities for inclusive digital solutions and relevant policy action.
Tasks:
- Identify and analyse structural, financial, technical, social, gender-related, accessibility, safety, policy and regulatory barriers) affecting digital market participation by the small traders.
- Assess the barriers across the adoption journey, including awareness, access, affordability, trust, initial use and sustained use of digital products and services.
- Examine how the identified barriers and unmet needs vary by country, market type, sector, location, business maturity and relevant demographic characteristics of small traders.
- Prioritise the identified barriers and unmet needs based on their prevalence, severity and implications for the small traders’ digital market participation and enterprise growth.
- Identify and assess market opportunities and recommend areas where new or improved digital products, services or business models could better respond to small traders' needs.
- Produce a country-specific and cross-country sector-by-theme barrier matrix linking priority barriers and unmet needs to market opportunities and regulatory considerations.
Deliverable: Barriers, Unmet Needs and Opportunity Prioritisation Report
Work Package 3: Design-Ready Synthesis for Inclusive Innovation
Purpose: Translate the evidence generated under Work Packages 1 and 2 into practical, design-ready inputs that Chebet Cohorts in Intervention 1 can use to develop inclusive digital solutions responsive to small traders' needs.
Tasks:
- Synthesize the findings into thematic challenge areas and priority opportunity areas for inclusive digital innovation
- Develop clear, evidence-based problem statements, describing priority challenges experienced by small traders.
- Develop design considerations and user requirements to guide the development of accessible, affordable, safe and relevant digital solutions.
- Develop or refine Aisha personas (small market trader) and user journeys reflecting different trader segments, contexts, barriers, and digital market experiences.
- Package the findings into practical inputs for hackathon tracks, challenge briefs and incubation support for Chebet cohorts.
Deliverable: Design-Ready Innovation Package
3.3 Component 2: Digital Skills Gap Assessment for the Digital Market (Intervention 2)
Component 2 shall assess the digital, financial and entrepreneurial competencies required by formal and informal small traders to participate effectively, safely and productively in digital markets; identify existing competency gaps and skilling needs; and translate the findings into practical inputs for the design and contextualization of SAMA’s small-trader (Aisha focused) skilling interventions. The assessment shall also generate relevant baseline reference values on digital competencies, digital readiness, and inclusion that support the SAMA impact pathway and MEL framework. In line with the two skilling pathways under Intervention 2, Component 2 shall address both the foundational digital, financial and entrepreneurial competencies of Aisha-aligned small traders and the advanced digital-skills needs of the Nala target group (including modules such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data science), so that the competency framework and recommendations inform both skilling pathways. For the Nala pathway, the assessment shall connect advanced digital-skills priorities with available routes into work after training, particularly in Benin and Zambia.
This Component 2 shall be delivered through the following Work Packages:
Work Package 4: Digital Skills and Competency Gap Assessment
Purpose: establish current digital, financial and entrepreneurial competencies, of small traders aligned with Aisha target group and determine the competencies required for effective, safe, and productive participation in digital markets in the six SAMA Countries.
Key Tasks:
- Identify and validate relevant small market trader (Aisha) segments based on characteristics such as seller type, business maturity, digital readiness, sector, location and other factors influencing skilling needs.
- Assess the current digital, financial, and entrepreneurial competencies for formal and informal small traders aligned with Aisha target group, including competencies relevant for effective participation in the digital markets and enterprise growth.
- Identify the gaps between the small traders’ current competencies and those required for effective, safe, and productive participation in the digital market across six SAMA Countries.
- Assess how identified competency gaps affect key business practices including use of digital tools for marketing, payments, customer engagement, record-keeping and enterprise management, etc.
- Determine the competencies required at different levels of digital-market participation.
- Present skills gaps across countries and seller segments disaggregated appropriately (country, seller type, sector, business maturity, location and relevant demographic characteristics, including age, disability and displacement status.
- Prioritise competency areas requiring strengthening for different Aisha segments.
- Assess the advanced digital-skills needs of Nala-aligned youth, including priority skill areas, current competency levels, barriers to progression, certification pathways and employment-readiness requirements for entry-level digital roles.
Deliverable: Digital Skills and Competency gap assessment report
Work Package 5: Digital Skilling Ecosystem Assessment
Purpose: map the existing digital skilling ecosystem relevant to small market trader (Aisha), identify gaps in current provision, overlaps and partnership opportunities.
Tasks:
- Map existing digital skilling providers, programmes and curricula relevant to small market traders aligned with the Aisha in the six SAMA countries.
- Review the competency areas and training content currently offered and assess their alignment with the priority competency needs identified under Work Package 4.
- Identify gaps in existing skilling provisions, including gaps in competency coverage, content, accessibility, delivery approaches, reach, learner support etc.
- Identify opportunities in the existing skilling ecosystem and recommend areas for adaptation, partnership or strengthening to inform the design and delivery of SAMA’s Aisha-focused skilling intervention.
- For the Nala pathway, assess employer and industry demand for advanced digital skills in Benin and Zambia, including priority entry-level occupations, role-specific competencies, relevant certifications, experience requirements and recruitment practices.
- Map and validate realistic post-training job pathways for Nala-aligned youth, including entry-level paid employment, internships and apprenticeships, and, where supported by evidence, remote or freelance digital work. Consult employers, industry bodies, recruitment or placement intermediaries and training providers to identify current and emerging opportunities, entry conditions, remuneration and work-quality considerations, barriers to access and potential hiring or referral partnerships. Distinguish verified opportunities from anticipated demand; the assignment does not include placing participants in jobs or guaranteeing vacancies.
Deliverable: Digital Skilling Ecosystem and Nala Job Pathways Report
Work Package 6: Competency Framework and Recommendations
Purpose: translate the findings into a usable competency framework and actionable recommendations for Aisha-focused skilling and Nala-aligned youth progression from advanced digital-skills training into work.
Tasks:
- Develop two connected competency pathways: one for foundational digital-market participation by Aisha-aligned traders, and one linking advanced digital-skills training, certification and employment readiness to validated post-training job pathways for Nala-aligned youth.
- Translate the identified competency gaps into appropriate learning pathways and priority modules.
- Recommend training content, sequencing, and delivery modalities suited to the needs and context of different Aisha Segments.
- Recommend appropriate targeting, learners’ support, accessibility, inclusion, and safeguarding measures to support Aisha’s participation and progression.
- Recommend relevant partnership options and monitoring indicators for the Aisha-focused skilling intervention and, for Nala, employer engagement, placement or referral mechanisms and measures of transition into dignified and fulfilling work.
Deliverable: Digital Competency Framework with Skilling and Nala Job Pathways Recommendations
3.4 Baseline Reference Values and MEL Alignment
Baseline measurement shall be embedded within the relevant Work Packages under components 1 and 2. The consultant shall design the research tools to capture, calculate and record the applicable baseline reference values identified in Annex 1: Proposed Baseline Indicator Matrix, aligned with the relevant SAMA Impact Measures and the SAMA MEL framework.
Applicable measures shall be consistently defined and appropriately disaggregated in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex 1. The resulting reference values, calculation methods, and underlying datasets shall be documented for integration into the SAMA MEL system.
The consultant shall establish baseline values for the relevant programme indicators in Annex 1. The baseline methodology shall explain, for each indicator:
- indicator operational definitions;
- baseline measurement methodology;
- calculation formula;
- baseline assumptions;
- sampling for each indicator;
- disaggregation; and
- Indicator verification.
Ensure baseline-relevant measures are structured so they can be repeated in subsequent MEL measurement using comparable definitions and response categories.
3.5 Cross-Cutting Requirements
- Apply gender-responsive and inclusion-sensitive research approaches, aligned with the SAMA monitoring and evaluation framework.
- Disaggregate findings consistently by sex, age, disability status, displacement status, seller type, sector and location, where sample size and respondent safety permit.
- Observe ethical research standards, including informed consent, safeguarding, confidentiality, data protection, and secure data management.
- Ensure instruments and field protocols are accessible and culturally appropriate, including reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities.
- Use harmonized core instruments and definitions across countries and across both components, while allowing justified country-specific modules.
- Clearly distinguish between evidence, interpretation and recommendations, and document study limitations.
- Avoid duplication with Intervention 3: policy and regulatory issues should be assessed only where they directly affect digital-market participation, solution adoption or skilling outcomes under Interventions 1 and 2.
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Comply with Smart Africa's data-protection, consent and safeguarding requirements: sign a data-protection agreement with Smart Africa before any fieldwork begins; use Smart Africa's informed-consent form; and observe Smart Africa's safeguarding rules for any contact with young people. The relevant templates will be shared by Smart Africa.
3.6 Main Deliverables
- Inception Report and approved tools
- Fieldwork/Data Collection Package
- Draft Component 1 Report + Design-Ready Innovation Package
- Draft Component 2 Report + Competency Framework, Skilling and Nala Job Pathways Recommendations
- Baseline Reference Values/MEL Package
- Validation and consolidated synthesis
- Final Assignment Package
Methodology and Sampling
The consultant shall propose an appropriate mixed-methods methodology for undertaking both components across the six SAMA countries. The detailed methodology, sampling approach and data-collection tools shall be refined and agreed with Smart Africa during the inception phase.
At the minimum, the methodology shall include
| Type of Data | Methodology | Target Group / Source |
| Primary data |
Quantitative survey/assessment | A statistically justified sample of formal and informal small traders aligned with the Aisha target group across the six countries. The sample shall allow relevant country-level analysis and disaggregation. |
| Focus Group Discussions / participatory methods | Small traders from different Aisha segments, including young women and men and, where relevant, persons with disabilities and displaced populations. | |
| Key Informant Interviews | Relevant digital-market actors, digital and financial service providers, skilling providers, employers, industry bodies, recruiters or placement intermediaries, government/regulatory stakeholders and other relevant ecosystem actors. | |
| Secondary data | Desk review | SAMA programme and MEL documents, national policies and strategies, existing studies, administrative data, market and digital-economy evidence, and relevant skilling-sector information. |
The consultant shall ensure that:
- data-collection tools address the specific research questions under Components 1 and 2, capture the agreed baseline reference measures and examine the availability, entry requirements and accessibility of post-training job pathways for Nala-aligned youth;
- the proposed sample adequately reflects relevant differences by country, location, sector, seller type, business maturity and Aisha segment;
- relevant findings are disaggregated by sex, age, disability and displacement status, where applicable;
- quantitative, qualitative and secondary evidence is triangulated; and
- All methods comply with the assignment requirements on ethics, safeguarding, accessibility, informed consent, data protection and data quality.
The consultant shall provide the proposed sampling design and indicative sample size for each data-collection method in the technical proposal, with the final sample approved during inception.
Deliverables and Indicative Timeline
The consultant shall deliver the following. Deliverables are submitted as integrated packages covering both components, with clearly separated Component-specific content where required. T0 denotes the date the contract is signed.
| # | Deliverable | Description | Timing |
| 1 | Inception Report and Project Workplan | Integrated methodology; separate analytical frameworks for both components; definitions; sampling and country plans; instruments; ethics, safeguarding and data-management protocols; stakeholder map; staffing and detailed workplan. Include research questions, sources and a validation approach for Nala’s post-training job pathways in Benin and Zambia. | T0 + 2 weeks |
| 2 | Fieldwork and Interim Progress Package | Completion of primary and secondary data collection in all six countries; fieldwork quality report; response profile; emerging findings; risks and mitigation; preliminary cleaned datasets; baseline database, baseline indicator tables, indicator calculation sheets, metadata, codebook and dashboard-ready dataset. | week 3 to week 10 |
| 3 | Draft Component 1 Report and Design-Ready Toolkit | Country findings and cross-country synthesis on digital market barriers and opportunities; sector-by-theme challenge matrix; prioritised problem statements; personas/user journeys; anonymised stories; hackathon and incubation design considerations. (Component 1 only.) | End of week 11 |
| 4 | Draft Component 2 Report and Competency Framework | Country findings and cross-country synthesis on digital-skills gaps; provider/ecosystem map; beneficiary segmentation; competency framework; recommended learning pathways, modules, modalities and implementation roadmap. (Component 2 only.) Include a Nala job pathways map for Benin and Zambia showing relevant entry-level roles, verified demand, required skills and credentials, hiring channels, work-quality considerations, barriers, potential partners and recommended actions to connect training to work. | End of week 12 |
| 5 | Baseline Report | Executive summary; country baseline profiles; indicator baseline tables; dashboard-ready baseline; baseline narrative; data limitations; recommendations. | End of week 13 |
| 6 | Validation Workshop and Synthesis | Presentation and validation with Smart Africa, implementing partners and relevant stakeholders; integrated findings connecting trader needs, solution opportunities, skills requirements and policy issues; documented feedback matrix and baseline values. Validate Nala pathway findings with relevant employers and skilling or placement partners. | Week 14– week 15 |
| 7 | Final Assignment Package | Final Component report(s) and toolkit/competency framework; executive synthesis; country briefs for all six countries; English/French executive summaries; presentation deck; anonymised cleaned datasets, codebooks, instruments, field manuals, agreed analytical files and baseline report. The final package shall include an Integrated SAMA Evidence Matrix linking priority market barriers, affected user groups, digital-solution opportunities, required skills and competencies, relevant ecosystem actors and recommended programme responses. Include the editable Nala job pathways map, evidence sources and limitations. | End of week 16 |
- All deliverables shall be submitted in English. Executive summaries, country briefs for Benin, and key data-collection instruments shall also be provided in both English and French.
- Intellectual property in all deliverables, data and instruments produced under this assignment shall vest in the Smart Africa Secretariat and the Mastercard Foundation, consistent with the SAMA grant agreement.
- All final documents shall be designed according to the branding guidelines of Smart Africa.
- All matrices, personas, user journeys, competency frameworks, Nala job pathways maps and datasets shall be provided in editable and reusable formats for Smart Africa and SAMA implementing partners.
Duration of the Assignment
The assignment is expected to be completed within four (4) months, approximately sixteen (16) weeks, from the date of contract signature, covering both components. The consultant shall propose a detailed workplan, staffing schedule and level of effort that demonstrate the feasibility of completing both components across all six countries within this period. Any extension must be agreed in writing by Smart Africa. The firm will work in close collaboration with the Smart Africa Secretariat and the SAMA programme team using a virtual coordination model, supplemented by in-country fieldwork.
Reporting and Coordination
The consultant shall report to the interventions leads and to the SAMA Programme Management Unit at the Smart Africa Secretariat. Smart Africa will designate technical focal points for Interventions 1 and 2. The consultant shall coordinate with GrowthAfrica Foundation for Intervention 1, with the Intervention 2 implementing partners (NetOne and PIGIER Benin), and with relevant country stakeholders and other SAMA teams as directed by the Programme Management Unit.
The consultant shall participate in regular coordination meetings and provide at least bi-weekly written progress updates covering activities completed, emerging findings, fieldwork quality, risks, mitigation measures, decisions required and upcoming milestones. The Programme Management Unit will consolidate comments and provide formal written approval of deliverables. Approval is required before associated payment milestones are triggered.
Profile of the Consultancy Firm and Team
Smart Africa seeks to engage a qualified consultancy firm, or consortium with demonstrated expertise in digital-market research, digital skills and competency assessments, MSME/informal-sector research, baseline measurement and multi-country studies in Africa.
The selected firm must demonstrate the technical, institutional and operational capacity to undertake the Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis and Digital Skills Gap Assessment across the six SAMA countries, including generation of relevant baseline reference values aligned with the SAMA Results Framework and MEL system. The firm shall also demonstrate capacity to assess employer demand and post-training employment pathways for disadvantaged youth.
8.1 Institutional Qualifications
The firm must:
a. Be a legally registered entity with authority to operate in its country of registration.
b. Have a minimum of seven (7) years of relevant experience undertaking research, assessments, diagnostics, baseline studies or advisory assignments in digital transformation, digital markets, MSME development, digital skills, workforce development or related areas.
c. Demonstrate experience conducting mixed-methods of research, including quantitative surveys, qualitative research, stakeholder consultations and secondary data analysis.
d. Demonstrate experience delivering multi-country or multi-context assignments in Africa, preferably involving informal enterprises, small traders, women, youth or other underserved populations.
e. Demonstrate relevant experience in digital-market assessments, digital skills/competency assessments, MSME or informal-sector research, digital financial inclusion, digital entrepreneurship or related areas.
f. Demonstrate experience in baseline measurement and MEL-aligned research, including development of indicators and measurement frameworks, generation of baseline reference values, disaggregation, data analysis and preparation of datasets for subsequent programme monitoring.
g. Demonstrate adequate institutional systems for fieldwork management, data-quality assurance, safeguarding, research ethics, data protection and secure data management.
h. Demonstrate capacity to undertake research in English and French, with access to appropriate local-language research capacity across the six countries.
i. Provide evidence of at least two (2) similar assignments completed within the last three (3) years, preferably including a baseline, digital-market, digital-skills or multi-country research component.
j. Provide at least two client references or recommendation letters from assignments of a similar nature.
8.2 Key Experts
The bidder shall propose a lean multidisciplinary team with the relevant technical, research, MEL, coordination and inclusion of expertise required for successful delivery of the assignment.
At minimum, the team shall include:
- Team Leader / Principal Investigator
- Component 1 Lead – Digital Markets and Inclusive Innovation Expert
- Component 2 Lead – Digital Skills, Competency and Curriculum Expert
- MEL and Results Measurement Expert
- Quantitative Research, Sampling and Data-Analysis Lead
- Qualitative and User-Research Specialist
- Gender, Disability Inclusion and Safeguarding Expert
- Country Research Leads (6 leads)
Additionally, the bidder should demonstrate the ability to mobilise Trained enumerators for each country for data collection across the six countries.
8.3 Minimum Requirements — Key Experts
The bidder shall propose a team with the technical, research, coordination and inclusion of expertise required to deliver both components. Each proposed expert should demonstrate strong practical experience, the relevant qualifications set out below, and the ability to deliver rigorous, inclusive, multi-country research. The minimum team comprises the following key experts. The same person shall not be proposed for more than one key-expert role.
8.3.1 Team Leader / Principal Investigator
Role in the Assignment
The Team Leader shall provide overall leadership of the assignment, including technical direction, methodological rigour, quality assurance, stakeholder engagement, coordination across both components and the six countries, reporting, and liaison with the Smart Africa Programme Management Unit.
The expert shall:
- Lead the design and integration of the methodology across both components and the baseline.
- Oversee sampling, fieldwork quality, analysis, synthesis, and the validation process.
- Ensure coherence between the Component1 and Component2 outputs and the SAMA programme needs.
- Serve as the primary point of contact with Smart Africa and implementing partners.
Minimum Experience and Qualifications
- Advanced degree (master's or higher) in economics, development studies, ICT for development, education, social sciences, statistics or related fields.
- At least ten (10) years of experience leading applied research, market assessments, digital-inclusion or digital-skills studies, of which at least five (5) years leading multi-country or multi-partner assignments.
- Proven experience leading mixed-methods research and integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence into actionable recommendations.
- Demonstrated experience managing research in Sub-Saharan Africa, including French- and English-speaking contexts.
- Experience with gender-responsive and inclusion-oriented research.
Core Competencies
- Research leadership and methodological rigour
- Multi-country programme coordination and quality assurance
- Synthesis of evidence into strategic, usable recommendations
- Stakeholder engagement and high-quality reporting
8.3.2 Component 1 Lead — Digital Markets and Inclusive Innovation Expert
Role in the Assignment
This expert shall lead the Digital Market Gap and Opportunity Analysis (Component 1), ensuring the evidence is rigorous and directly usable by GrowthAfrica and the Chebet innovation cohorts.
The expert shall:
- Lead the mapping of digital-market adoption and the barrier-and-opportunity analysis for informal micro and small entrepreneurs.
- Lead the design-ready synthesis: thematic challenge areas, prioritized problem statements, personas and user journeys.
- Ensure findings translate into hackathon themes, briefs and incubation design considerations.
Minimum Experience and Qualifications
- Advanced degree in economics, digital economy, business, innovation, human-centred design, development studies or related field.
- At least seven (7) years of experience in digital markets, digital financial services, e-commerce/social commerce, informal-sector or MSME research.
- Demonstrated experience producing design-ready research outputs (problem statements, personas, user journeys, opportunity framing) for innovation, product or entrepreneurship programmes.
- Experience researching young women traders or underserved user groups is an added advantage.
Core Competencies
- Digital-market and informal-sector expertise
- User research and human-centred design synthesis
- Translation of evidence into innovation-ready inputs
- Analytical prioritization of barriers and opportunities
8.3.3 Component 2 Lead — Digital Skills, Competency and Curriculum Expert
Role in the Assignment
This expert shall lead the Digital Skills Gap Assessment for the Digital Market (Component 2), ensuring the assessment produces a usable competency framework, actionable skilling recommendations for Aisha-aligned sellers and an evidenced analysis of Nala’s post-training job pathways.
The expert shall:
- Lead the assessment of current digital skills levels and required competencies for formal and informal sellers.
- Lead the benchmarking of existing skilling provision and the ecosystem/provider mapping.
- Develop the competency framework, learning pathways and prioritised curriculum and delivery recommendations, including alignment of Nala’s training with employer requirements and validated job pathways.
Minimum Experience and Qualifications
- Advanced degree in education, instructional design, ICT, digital skills, development studies or related fields.
- At least seven (7) years of experience in digital skills or competency assessment, curriculum design, TVET or workforce-readiness programmes.
- Demonstrated experience developing competency frameworks and learning pathways for diverse or underserved learner groups.
- Experience designing gender-responsive and accessible skilling approaches is an added advantage.
Core Competencies
- Digital-skills and competency assessment
- Competency-framework and curriculum design
- Learner segmentation and pathway design
- Practical, context-sensitive skilling recommendations
8.3.4 MEL and Results Measurement Expert
Role :
Minimum master's degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Economics, Research Methods or related field;
Minimum 7 years’ relevant experience in MEL, evaluation or quantitative research;
Experience in leading at least 2 baseline, indicator-measurement or MEL-system assignments;
Demonstrated experience in sampling, indicator definition, baseline reference values, disaggregation, and quantitative data analysis.
8.3.5 Quantitative Research, Sampling and Data-Analysis Lead
Role in the Assignment
This expert shall lead the quantitative design, sampling, data management and disaggregated analysis for both components and the baseline.
The expert shall:
- Design the survey instruments, sampling frames and sample-size calculations for each country.
- Oversee data quality, cleaning, weighting and disaggregated analysis.
- Produce the baseline indicator tables, calculation sheets and dashboard-ready datasets.
Minimum Experience and Qualifications
- Advanced degree in statistics, economics, data science, demography or a related quantitative field.
- At least five (5) years of experience designing and analysing multi-country household, enterprise or beneficiary surveys.
- Demonstrated expertise in sampling design, disaggregation and baseline/indicator measurement.
- Proficiency with standard statistical software and data-management practice.
Core Competencies
- Survey and sampling design
- Disaggregated quantitative analysis
- Baseline and indicator measurement
- Data quality assurance and management
8.3.6 Qualitative and User-Research Specialist
Role in the Assignment
This expert shall lead the qualitative research across both components, ensuring that trader and seller voices are captured rigorously and translated into usable insight.
The expert shall:
- Design and oversee key informant interviews and focus group discussions, including dedicated engagement with young women traders.
- Lead qualitative coding, thematic analysis and triangulation with the quantitative findings.
- Support the development of personas, user journeys and anonymised trader stories.
Minimum Experience and Qualifications
- Advanced degree in social sciences, anthropology, development studies, human-centred design or a related field.
- At least five (5) years of experience leading qualitative or user research, preferably with informal-sector or underserved populations.
- Demonstrated experience translating qualitative evidence into design- or programme-ready outputs.
- Experience conducting research in African markets and in both English and French contexts.
Core Competencies
- Qualitative research design and facilitation
- Thematic analysis and triangulation
- User-insight and persona development
- Ethical, participant-centred fieldwork
8.3.7 Gender, Disability Inclusion and Safeguarding Expert
Role in the Assignment
This expert shall ensure the assignment is gender-responsive, disability-inclusive and safeguarding-compliant throughout design, fieldwork, analysis and recommendations.
The expert shall:
- Advise on gender-responsive and disability-inclusive instruments, sampling and field protocols.
- Lead the safeguarding, informed-consent and ethical-research arrangements.
- Ensure disaggregation and inclusion analysis are applied consistently across both components.
Minimum Experience and Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related field;
- Minimum 7 years’ relevant experience in integrating gender into research or assessments;
- Experience in at least 2 research/assessment assignments integrating gender and inclusion;
- Demonstrated experience in gender-responsive research, disability inclusion, safeguarding and ethical data collection.
- Familiarity with safeguarding standards and ethical research protocols.
Core Competencies
- Gender-responsive and inclusive research methods
- Safeguarding and research ethics
- Young-women-centered development approach
- Gender sensitive analysis and disaggregation
8.3.8 Country Research Leads (6 leads)
Role in the Assignment
The bidder shall propose country research leads in each of the six SAMA countries — Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia — to conduct fieldwork under the direction of the key experts.
Minimum Requirements
- Demonstrated field-research presence, credible local networks or partner arrangements in each of the six countries.
- Country leads with at least three (3) years of relevant fieldwork or research-coordination experience.
- French–English capability as relevant to each country, and local-language enumerators or translators where required.
Evaluation Method and Criteria
The evaluation method is Quality- and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS). Each proposal is evaluated as a single package covering both components. The technical proposal is scored out of 100 against the criteria below; the financial proposal of only those applicants securing a minimum technical score 70/100 will be opened.
| Item / Evaluation criterion | Points |
| A. Approach, Methodology and Work Plan | /28 |
|
8 |
|
10 |
|
5 |
|
5 |
| B. Qualifications and Relevant Experience of the Firm and Proposed Experts | /48 |
| Consultancy Firm (10) | 10 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| Team Leader / Principal Investigator (7) | 7 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| Component 1 Lead — Digital Markets and Inclusive Innovation Expert (6) | 6 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| Component 2 Lead — Digital Skills, Competency and Curriculum Expert (6) | 6 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
|
1 |
| MEL and Results Measurement Expert (6) | 6 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
2 |
| Quantitative Research, Sampling and Data-Analysis Lead (4) | 4 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| Qualitative and User-Research Specialist (4) | 4 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| Gender, Disability Inclusion and Safeguarding Expert (5) | 5 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| Country Research Leads six countries (2 for each expert) | /12 |
|
6 |
|
6 |
| C. Samples and Client References | /12 |
|
8 |
|
4 |
| TOTAL TECHNICAL SCORE (St) | 100 |
The financial proposal of only those firms which secure a minimum score of 70/100 in the technical evaluation will be opened.
St= Score for the Technical Evaluation
Minimum technical score: only firms scoring at least 70 out of 100 will proceed to financial evaluation.
B) Financial Criteria
Once the technical criteria have been evaluated, the costs of all bids will be listed from low to high. Computing the cost criteria score will be accomplished by use of the following formula:
= Sf
The Applicant getting maximum marks on 80-20 weightage (80% for technical and 20% for financial) will be considered for the assignment. The weights given to the Technical (T) and Financial Proposals (F) are: T = 0.80 and F = 0.20
The Final Score (S) is calculated as follows: S = St*T + Sf*F
Indicative Payment Schedule
Payments are made against approved milestones for the assignment as a whole:
| Milestone | % of Contract Value |
| Approval of the Inception Report and data-collection toolkits | 10% |
| Approval of both draft Component reports with baseline values and completion of the validation workshop | 50% |
| Approval of the complete final assignment package | 40% |
| TOTAL | 100% |
Submission Requirements
Proposals shall be submitted electronically to Smart Africa with the assignment reference clearly marked in the subject line, by the deadline specified in the procurement notice.
11.1 Administrative Documents
- Company profile and evidence of legal registration.
- Duly signed submission letter confirming the firm’s interest to provide the services required for the full assignment (both components); and also declaring the non-conflict of interest.
- The list/names of Board directors, Key management personnel and Owners/shareholders
- Valid tax and statutory documentation as applicable.
11.2 Technical Proposal
- The firm’s understanding of the integrated assignment; methodology for both components, including employer-informed assessment and validation of Nala’s post-training job pathways; sampling and fieldwork strategy for all six countries; quality assurance, ethics, safeguarding and data-management approach; and workplan.
- Two relevant work samples demonstrating quality and relevance
- Team composition with CVs of key personnel and relevant certifications. (for all proposed key experts)
- At least two (2) similar assignments completed within the last three (3) years
- A clear statement of field presence, partner arrangements or mobilisation capacity in each of the six countries.
11.3 Financial Proposal
- Summarized Total Cost Taxes Inclusive
- Breakdown of a remuneration package
- Breakdown of reimbursable expenses
A financial proposal in USD, presented as a detailed lump-sum budget for the full assignment covering all professional fees, local research partners, supervisors, enumerators, translation, fieldwork, travel, accessibility arrangements, workshops and other assignment costs. No fieldwork costs shall be assumed to be borne by Implementing Partners.
- Notes:
- Financial proposals should be password-protected; Smart Africa will request the password from bidders who qualify in the technical evaluation.
- Only consulting companies are eligible to apply to this assignment; no individuals will be accepted
- All financial offers shall be quoted and submitted in USD.
- A withholding tax of 15% will be deducted from payments for consultants not VAT-registered with the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and 18% VAT will be applicable for registered firms in Rwanda
- Conflict-of-Interest Declaration: The bidder shall disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest that could affect, or reasonably be perceived to affect, its independence or impartiality in carrying out the assignment. This requirement applies to the firm, its affiliates, proposed Key Experts and subcontractors/consortium members, where applicable. Any conflict arising during the procurement or implementation period shall be disclosed promptly to Smart Africa.
11.4 Submission process
Smart Africa is an equal-opportunity institution. Firms owned or led by women, and firms with strong female representation in the proposed team, are strongly encouraged to apply.
Soft copies of both Technical and Financial Offers in PDF format must be submitted via email to: procurement@smartafrica.org showing each the nature of the offer concerned (technical or financial offer) with mention: RFP 157/S.A/RFP/10/2026 “Recruitment of Consultancy to Conduct a Digital Market and Digital Skills Gap Assessment across the SAMA Countries” not later than 09th of November 2026 at, 05:00 pm local time (Kigali).
Late proposals will be rejected.
VALIDITY
Proposals and quotes must remain valid for 180 days after the date of closing noted above. After the closing date and time, all proposals received by the Smart Africa Secretariat become its property.
RIGHTS RESERVED
- This RFP does not obligate the Smart Africa Secretariat (SAS) to complete the RFP process.
- SAS reserves the right to amend any segment of the RFP prior to the announcement of a selected firm.
- SAS also reserves the right to remove one or more of the services from consideration for this contract should the evaluation show that it is in SAS’s best interest to do so.
- SAS also may, at its discretion, issue a separate contract for any service or groups of services included in this RFP. SAS may negotiate a compensation package and additional provisions to the contract awarded under this RFP.
- The Smart Africa reserves the right to debrief the applicants after the completion of the process due to expected high volume of applications and avoiding the compromise of the process.
ENQUIRIES
Any enquiries will only be received and addressed three (3) days or more prior to the bid submission deadline. Prospective respondents who may have questions regarding this RFP may submit their enquiries to tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org
ANTI-CORRUPTION
Smart Africa is committed to preventing and not tolerating any act of corruption and other malpractices and expects that all bidders will adhere to the same ethical principles.
Annex 1. Proposed baseline indicator matrix
Purpose: This annex identifies which programme indicators should be established through the Integrated Baseline, Digital Market Gap Analysis and Digital Skills Assessment, and distinguishes them from implementation indicators whose baseline is expected to be zero because programme delivery has not yet commenced.
| Programme Indicator | Current Status | Baseline Required? | Primary Source | Recommendation |
| Digital market adoption among informal traders | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey[1] | Establish % currently using digital markets |
| Mobile money usage | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Establish baseline adoption rate |
| Digital payment usage | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Measure current usage |
| Social commerce participation | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Measure current participation |
| E-commerce participation | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Measure current participation |
| Digital financial literacy | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment[2] | Develop baseline competency score |
| Digital literacy | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Develop baseline competency score |
| Digital skills competency | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Develop competency index by domain |
| Entrepreneurial competency | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Measure baseline competencies |
| Digital readiness index | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Develop composite readiness index |
| Enterprise digital maturity | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Develop enterprise maturity index |
| Digital market barrier severity | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Develop barrier severity index |
| Trust in digital markets | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Measure perception |
| Cybersecurity awareness | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Measure knowledge level |
| Use of existing digital solutions | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Measure current utilisation |
| Training provider coverage | Unknown | Yes | Desk review + Component 2 | Map providers and coverage |
| Women’s participation in digital markets | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Establish sex-disaggregated baseline |
| Participation of persons with disabilities | Unknown | Yes | Component 1/ Component 2 | Establish inclusion baseline |
| Participation of refugees/displaced youth | Unknown | Yes | Component 1/Component 2 | Establish inclusion baseline |
| Preferred learning modality | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Document learner preferences |
| Preferred learning language | Unknown | Yes | Component 2 Assessment | Document language preferences |
| Enterprise revenue bands | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Establish baseline revenue |
| Enterprise employment size | Unknown | Yes | Component 1 Survey | Establish employment baseline |
| Dignified and Fulfilling Work among Youth-in-Work – SM6.1 | Unknown | Yes | Integrated baseline survey of prospective/selected participants; beneficiary intake survey; qualitative interviews/FGDs | Establish the percentage and number of youth already meeting the agreed Dignified and Fulfilling Work criteria before receiving SAMA support. Apply a standard DFW score covering earnings adequacy, income stability, working conditions, safety, social protection, voice/agency, fairness, work–life balance and job satisfaction. Report the overall baseline and disaggregate it by sex, age, rural/urban location, disability status and Youth-in-Work type. |
| Change in Dignified and Fulfilling Work among Youth-in-Work – SM6.2 | No programme-attributable change at inception | Yes—pre-programme reference required | Participant-level baseline survey linked to follow-up or tracer surveys; qualitative outcome interviews | Record the programme-attributable change baseline as 0 percentage points. At participant level, establish each youth’s pre-intervention DFW score and employment conditions. Reassess the same youth at follow-up and calculate the percentage-point change, mean score change and movement into or out of the DFW threshold. Supplement quantitative results with participant narratives explaining the quality and significance of the changes. |
| Youth reporting improvement in livelihoods – SM7.1 | No programme-attributable improvement at inception | Yes—pre-programme livelihood reference required | Integrated participant and household baseline survey; beneficiary intake records; follow-up/tracer survey | Record the programme-attributable improvement baseline as 0 youth and 0%. Before programme support, measure individual earnings, income sources, income regularity, employment or enterprise status, productive assets, savings, debt, financial resilience and ability to meet essential needs. At follow-up, report the number and percentage showing a predefined meaningful improvement relative to their own baseline. Disaggregate by sex, age, household profile, disability and displacement status. |
| Youth reporting household-level improvement – SM7.2 | No programme-attributable improvement at inception | Yes—pre-programme household reference required | Participant household baseline module; follow-up household survey; case studies and outcome stories | Record the programme-attributable improvement baseline as 0 households and 0%. Establish pre-programme household conditions using indicators such as household income, food security, housing conditions, access to education and healthcare, assets, savings, debt, dependency ratio and resilience to economic shocks. Apply the same questions at follow-up to determine the number and percentage of households showing meaningful improvement. Collect verified outcome stories to explain how youth employment or enterprise outcomes contributed to household changes. |
[1] The baseline value for this indicator will be generated from the survey conducted under Work Package 1 of the consultancy.
[2] The baseline information for this indicator will be collected through the Digital Skills Assessment conducted under Work Package 2 of the consultancy.
Implementation indicators expected to have a zero baseline
| Indicators | Baseline |
| Work-Enabling Outreach (SM1.1) | 0 |
| Youth trained | 0 |
| Innovation Café participants | 0 |
| Start-ups incubated | 0 |
| Solutions accelerated | 0 |
| Certification vouchers issued | 0 |
| Enterprises supported | 0 |
| Policymakers trained | 0 |
| Youth-in-Work (SM5.1) | 0 |
| Dignified & Fulfilling Work attributable to SAMA | 0 |
| Digital platforms developed by SAMA | 0 |
| Policy frameworks developed | 0 |
| Regulatory sandboxes established | 0 |
Recommendation: The consultant should be contractually required to establish all measurable context and outcome baselines in this annex, while documenting implementation indicators as zero at programme inception. This will ensure that the study serves as both the programme baseline and the evidence base for programme design, monitoring, adaptive management, mid-term review and endline evaluation.