Call for proposals: PLAN/FY26/10/001

Terms of Reference for conducting a baseline for Plan International Rwanda’s Country Strategy FY26-FY30

1. About Plan International

1.1 Plan International

We strive to advance children’s rights and equality for girls worldwide. As an independent development and humanitarian organization, we work alongside children, young people, our supporters, and partners to tackle the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national, and global levels using our reach, experience, and knowledge. For over 80 years, we have been building powerful partnerships for children, and we are active in over 75 countries.

1.2 . Plan International Rwanda

Plan International Rwanda was established in January 2007, with its Country Office based in Kigali and three Programme Units located in the districts of Gatsibo, Bugesera, and Nyaruguru. The organization is widely recognized for its life-transforming sponsorship and grant programmes. Over the recent years, Plan International Rwanda has expanded its reach to more than ten additional districts through grant-funded projects, including all districts hosting refugee camps.

2. About the Country Strategy

A situation analysis, undertaken as part of the Country Strategy development process noted that although Rwanda has made significant progress in governance, economic growth, and gender parity. However, deep-rooted inequalities persist, driven by poverty, harmful social norms, and exclusionary systems. Addressing these challenges, particularly for girls, youth with disabilities, and refugees, requires systemic change, sustained investment, and inclusive, rights-based programming. Plan International Rwanda is well-positioned to lead this transformation by amplifying youth voices and embedding gender equality across all areas of its work.

A situation analysis conducted as part of the Country Strategy development process highlighted that, while Rwanda has made remarkable progress in governance, economic growth, and gender parity, deep-rooted inequalities persist. These are largely driven by poverty, harmful social norms, and exclusionary systems. Addressing these challenges, particularly those affecting girls, youth with disabilities, and refugees requires systemic change, sustained investment, and inclusive, rights-based programming. 

Plan International Rwanda is well-positioned to drive this transformation by amplifying youth voices and integrating gender equality across all aspects of its work through its new Country Strategy (2026-2030) that sets out Plan International Rwanda’s bold and integrated vision for advancing children’s rights and equality for girls. It articulates how Plan International Rwanda (PIR) will deliver transformative, inclusive, and sustainable impact for children, girls, and young people across development and humanitarian contexts, to ensure that “Children, girls and young people in Rwanda live in safe and inclusive environments that promote their well-being, enabling them to access opportunities and sustainable livelihoods.” 

The strategy period runs from July 2025 to June 2030, and at its heart is a commitment to gender-transformative approaches, locally led partnerships, and youth-centered programming. It marks a deliberate shift towards more integrated, locally led, and transformative work. Drawing from the situation analysis, it addresses ongoing issues such as youth unemployment, gender-based violence, limited access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, low youth engagement, climate vulnerabilities, and strained child protection and early childhood development systems.

This country strategy focuses on 2 interconnected, lifecycle-based approaches to enhance socio-economic empowerment and safety for children, youth, and families. Country Programmes (CPs) will focus on:

• Skills, Employability, Wellness, and Resilience, integrating SOYEE and Disaster Risk Management and Resilience (DRMR) for improved livelihood and employability of vulnerable youth and families, and adding SRHR as an enabler. 
• Foundations for Safe and Brighter Futures prioritizes protection from violence, particularly violence against children (VAC), and integrates ECD strategies to strengthen caregiving and educational systems for young children. 

3. Purpose of the Baseline Survey

The baseline study aims to establish credible, disaggregated benchmarks for key indicators across both lifecycle programmes: Skills, Employability, Wellness and Resilience for Youth and Families, and Foundations for Safe and Brighter Futures. These benchmarks will serve as reference points for tracking progress, evaluating outcomes, and refining interventions over the strategy period. By grounding the Theory of Change in empirical evidence, the study will validate assumptions around youth empowerment, SRHR access, child protection, and climate resilience.

Beyond indicator measurement, the baseline will identify systemic gaps in service delivery, inclusion, and resilience across target districts. It will assess the readiness of local systems, community structures, and partner capacities to deliver gender-transformative, youth-responsive programming. This includes mapping barriers to SRHR, employment, ECD, and protection services, especially for adolescent girls, youth with disabilities, and refugee populations.

In addition, the baseline study will develop a set of tools to ensure consistent measurement of outcome indicators across future projects. It will also set the standard approach for monitoring and evaluation throughout all Country Programmes and provide strategic recommendations to enhance effective delivery in each thematic area.

The detailed list of indicators to be measured is provided in Annex 2: FY26-30 Country Strategy_ Indicator Matrix.

4. Additional baseline research questions

In addition to the questions directly related to the measurement of indicators, the baseline assessment will seek to address a set of overarching evaluative questions that are integral to the Country Strategy framework. Specifically, the assessment will examine:

• Relevance: The extent to which the Country Strategy and its implementation approaches are aligned with the priorities, needs, and policy frameworks of the populations and communities it aims to serve.
• Child Rights, Gender, and Inclusion: The degree to which the Country Strategy integrates gender- and inclusion-sensitive methodologies, and intentionally pursues outcomes that advance child rights, promote gender equality, and enhance the wellbeing of children and young people.

5. Users of the Baseline

The baseline findings will be used by Plan International staff (Rwanda Country Office and Programme Unit and Area Offices, National Organisations, stakeholders, and implementing partners) to: 

• Inform the approach for the delivery of the Country Strategy, 
• Set the direction for fundraising and programme design, 
• Support the start-up of new projects through the provision of baseline data and data collection tools for key outcome areas. 

6. Methods for Data Collection and Analysis

The baseline will cover all current Programme Units (Bugesera, Nyaruguru, and Gatsibo districts) as well as prospective operational areas, including three of the ten EOF districts located nearby (Huye, Rwamagana, and Rulindo) and five refugee camps (Mahama, Nyabiheke, Mugombwa, Kiziba, and Kigeme). If needed, exploratory sampling will be conducted in additional districts identified jointly with PIR to assess expansion feasibility. These areas will allow the baseline to assess both development and humanitarian contexts, including refugee camps and host communities where applicable. This dual lens is critical to understanding intersectional vulnerabilities and tailoring interventions accordingly.

Programmatically, the study will span both CS’s programmes. For Programme One, it will assess youth access to SOYEE skills training, SRHR services, financial inclusion, and climate-smart livelihoods. For Programme Two, it will examine ECD services, caregiver practices, child protection mechanisms, and SRHR knowledge among children and adolescents. Influencing priorities such as youth participation, policy engagement, and gender norm change will be embedded across both domains.

6.1. Study Design

The baseline will adopt a mixed-methods design, integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches to ensure depth, triangulation, and inclusivity. Quantitative data will provide statistically valid benchmarks for key indicators, while qualitative insights will illuminate the social norms, power dynamics, and lived experiences that shape programme outcomes. This design supports both accountability and learning.

Plan International has drawn the indicators to be measured from the global frameworks, and therefore, some tools are available, and there are guidelines around other tools to support consistency. 

It is expected that the approach to data collection will include: 

• Desk review
• Focus group discussions and interviews
• Key Informants
• Household survey
• Observational tools 

By the end of the baseline, all outcome indicators should have separate and replicable tools to enable ongoing monitoring of the outcome indicators and to form the basis of the evaluation methodology. 

However, the final and detailed methodology, along with the data collection tools, will be developed collaboratively with Plan International Rwanda during the Conceptualisation Phase of the baseline. The consultant is expected to demonstrate innovation and apply their technical expertise to guide Plan International Rwanda throughout this process.

6.2. Sampling

After consulting the Country Strategy, the consultant should develop and suggest a sampling strategy. Including a description of the sample size, necessary respondents disaggregated as per Plan International guidelines, location, and the sampling approach.

The Plan International standards on Minimum Project Participants Disaggregation will be shared with the consultants. The minimum requirement is a disaggregation according to gender, age, location, and Inclusion for all categories, but how this standard needs to be applied in this specific study will need to be discussed with the PIR.

6.3. Participant Selection and Recruitment 

As a minimum requirement, representatives of key stakeholders including the members of target groups as well as the project team, implementing partners, relevant experts collaborating with the project (such as public authorities and community leaders), should be provided the opportunity to share information on the current situation within the Country Strategy implementation areas. To ensure that these perspectives are adequately captured during the evaluation process, the consultant should outline the key stakeholders and target groups they plan to engage.

Furthermore, the consultant may identify and propose additional stakeholders or groups that may have been initially excluded but are deemed important to ensure comprehensive data collection and a robust assessment of baseline values. Where applicable, these stakeholders may also contribute to addressing additional baseline research questions related to the current context, as specified under Section 4, “Additional Research Questions”.

The table below presents the estimated reach for the new Country Strategy.

Programme One: Skills, Employability, Wellness and Resilience for Youth and Families

Estimated Reach: 347,000 (Direct: 59,000 individuals / Indirect: 288,000 Individuals [above 18 years (80%) <below 18 (20%)

Category	Girls/Women	Boys/Men	Total
Direct Reach (Impact Groups) Young women and men	21,000	13,000	34,000
Caregivers/parents of supported children (sponsored and non-sponsored)	16,000	9,000	25,000
Indirect Reach (Target Groups) Families of youth, community members, Local and other community leaders	176,000	112,000	288,000
Estimated Total Reach	213,000	134,000	347,000

Programme Two: Foundations for Safe and Brighter Futures

Estimated Reach: 1,122,000 (Direct: 172,000 individuals / Indirect: 950,000 Individuals [above 18 years (30%) <below 18 (70%)

Category	Girls/Women	Boys/Men	Total
Direct Reach (Impact Groups) Children and young people	126,000	46,000	172,000
Indirect Reach (Target Groups) Caregivers/teachers, community leaders	550,000	400,000	950,000
Estimated Total Reach	676,000	446,000	1,122,000

6.4. Sex, Inclusion, and Age Sensitivity

Plan International works with children and young people and is committed to gender and inclusion-sensitive programming. To this effect, the methods and approaches proposed for this baseline must consider: 

• The collection and analysis of sex data, 
• Sex and inclusion sensitive data collection methods (i.e., considerations of the gender of enumerators, the gender sensitivity of tools and questions, timing, and the district of data collection), 
• The use of child-friendly and age-appropriate methods (i.e., shorter tools for children, creative games, etc.) 

7. Ethics and Child Protection 

Plan International is committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected following the Framework for Ethical MERL and our Global Policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People. All applicants should include details in their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child protection in the data collection process. Specifically, the consultant(s) shall explain how appropriate, safe, and non-discriminatory participation of all stakeholders will be ensured and how special attention will be paid to the needs of children and other vulnerable groups. The consultant(s) shall also explain how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed. 

All staff working with children throughout the Baseline survey should, where possible, provide a criminal certificate of good conduct. No work will start without the consultant's signature on Plan International’s Child and Safeguarding policy. 

7. Key Deliverables

The conformity of the report to the MERL standards and requirements of Plan International will be assessed and confirmed by Plan International Rwanda. The text of the report should be illustrated, as appropriate, with maps, graphs and tables.

The consultant will submit the following documents in English:

Deliverable	Format	Length	Due	Detail
Inception report	Microsoft Word Document	Maximum 15 pages	14-Nov-2025	Inception report must include: an updated timeline; detailed methodology, including draft sampling methodology and size; draft data collection tools; ethical considerations; consent forms for any primary data collection; (draft) methods for data analysis; and a brief justification of the methods and techniques used (including relevant underlying values and assumptions/ theories) with a rationale for the selections made (e.g. of persons interviewed).
Final sampling methodology (including unit of sampling and sampling frame) and size	Microsoft Word Document	To be determined by the consultant	14-Nov-2025	Referring to the draft sampling methodology and size presented in the inception report and drawing on the inputs from Plan International Rwanda, the consultant will submit the final sampling methodology (including unit of sampling and sampling frame) and size to Plan International.
Completed consent forms	Microsoft Word or PDF	1 page	14-Nov-2025	Consent should be presented to Plan International for filing.
Final data collection tools	A consultant can suggest the format	A consultant can decide on the length	14-Nov-2025	Final data collection tools must be submitted to Plan International Rwanda for review and input and for acceptance before the data collection activity. These tools shall be used for all future monitoring activities during the project duration to ensure consistency in measurement.
Cleaned data as result of the baseline survey	Excel, Microsoft Word for a transcript of qualitative data	To be determined by the consultant	22-Dec-2025	Cleaned data in English should be submitted to Plan International Rwanda. For data expressed in Kinyarwanda, a raw dataset will be presented to allow Plan International Rwanda to keep both the original and translated dataset.
Draft baseline report	Microsoft Word Document	Maximum 40 pages (excluding annexes)	22-Dec-2025	The draft report should be submitted within 6 working days from the conclusion of the data collection to Plan International Rwanda for review and inputs. The report should include an Indicator tracking table with baseline data inserted.
A validation workshop	In-person workshop at Plan International Rwanda Country Office	1 day	6-Jan-2026	A validation workshop will be conducted, and the draft report will be presented and discussed to the PIR team
Final baseline report	Microsoft Word Document	Maximum 40 pages (excluding annexes)	13-Jan-2026	A final baseline report must be presented to Plan International Rwanda for acceptance.

9. Timeline

Activity	Time	Days of Work	Responsible	Individuals Involved
Tendering	20-Oct-2025 up to 3-Nov-2025	14 days	Plan International Rwanda staff	Plan International Rwanda staff
Background Checks and Contracting	4-Nov-2025 up to 7-Nov-2025	4 days	Plan International Rwanda staff	Plan International Rwanda staff and consultant
Inception Call/ Inception Workshop	14-Nov-2025	1 days	Plan International Rwanda staff	Plan International Rwanda staff and consultant
Preparation and Submission of Inception Report	7-Nov-2025 up to 13-Nov-2025	7 days	Consultant	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff
Preparations for Data Collection	19-Nov-2025 up to 28-Nov-2025	8 days	Consultant	Consultant (mandatory) and Plan International Rwanda staff (optional)
Data Collection	1-Dec-2025 up to 12-Dec-2025	10 days	Consultant	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff
Data Entry and Cleaning	12-Dec-2025 up to 18-Dec-2025	5 days	Consultant	Consultant
Data Analysis and Report writing	12-Dec-2025 up to 19-Dec-2025	11 days	Consultant	Consultant
Submission of draft CS baseline report	22-Dec-2025	1 day	Consultant	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff
Validation of findings	6-Jan-2026	1 day	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff
Submission of Final Report	13-Jan-2026	5 days	Consultant	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff
Submission of other deliverables	13-Jan-2026	1 day	Consultant	Consultant, Plan International Rwanda staff

10. Budget 

The payment will be made in three instalments and due on approval of key milestones by Plan International Rwanda instead of on submission of key milestones by the consultant. Plan International Rwanda reserves the right to withhold payment until the organisation is satisfied with the output. 

Milestone	Detail	Amount to be Paid (%)	Expected Timeframe
Inception report (including an updated timeline, a review matrix; detailed methodology, including draft sampling methodology and size; draft data collection tools; ethical considerations; consent forms for any primary data collection; (draft) methods for data analysis; brief justification of the methods and techniques used (including relevant underlying values and assumptions/ theories) with a justification of the selections made (e.g. of persons interviewed) and final Sampling methodology	The first instalment of 25% will be paid following the milestones reception and validation as itemised in this table's first column.	25%	14-Nov-2025
Cleaned Data as result of the CS baseline and draft CS baseline report	The second instalment of 50% will be paid following the reception and a validation of cleaned data and the CS baseline report.	50%	6-Jan-2026
Baseline study report and submission of other deliverables	The third, which is also the final instalment of 25%, will be paid following the presentation and approval of the final baseline report and submission of other remaining deliverables.	25%	13-Jan-2026

The total budget for this baseline study includes VAT/taxes and other related costs. The consultant must pay all obligations, for example, VAT/taxes, travel costs, expenses / per diems and translation costs, among others.

11. Expected Qualifications

• Individual consultants/lead consultant for a firm should hold at least a master's degree in a relevant field such as International Development, Humanitarian Studies, Economics and Project Management, Development Studies, Social Sciences, or other related disciplines. Possession of a PhD by the lead consultant in any of these fields will be considered an added advantage, though it is not mandatory.
• A minimum of seven years of experience in conducting studies in development and humanitarian settings, including baselines, midlines, and endline studies.
• Proficiency in qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection
• Proficiency in statistics and proven experience with data analysis.
• Excellent report writing and data interpretation
• Ability to conduct research independently.
• Knowledge of English and/or French and Kinyarwanda 
• History of published articles, studies, or research work.
• Presentation of strong team composition including skilled data collectors.

Companies with relevant experience with evidenced proof of expertise of staff on this assignment are also eligible to apply.

12. Submission of proposal

Interested applicants should provide a proposal covering the following aspects:

12.1. Administrative documents:

Consulting firm must submit the following administrative documents:

1. Copy of Registration certificate/RDB certificate
2. VAT certifiacte
3. RRA and RSSB clearance

12.2. Technical proposal to include:

Requirements for the format of the bid; The structure of the offer must correspond to the structure of the TOR. It must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. The offer is drawn up in English. With the following:

1. A Cover letter expressing interest in this assignment;
2. A two-page Consultant’s understanding of the TOR;
3. Proposed methodology, activities and expected outcomes;
4. Ethics and child safeguarding approach, including any identified risks and associated mitigation strategies
5. A financial proposal with a detailed budget breakdown in Rwandan Francs (RWF)and all taxes inclusive.
6. A detailed activities schedule/work plan with a time frame (including a Gantt chart);
7. A profile of the individual consultant or consulting firm, including the full names, physical addresses, telephone numbers and contact person of the form/company;
8. Copy of CVs of all the consultants who will undertake the baseline survey;
9. Three previous examples of similar work from well-recognised organisations/INGOs proven by the submission of 3 good completion certificates. 

12.3. Financial proposal detailing:

1. Itemized consultant’s fees;
2. Itemized field data collection expenses;
3. Itemized administration expenses;
4. The validity period of quotation;
5. Expected payment plan and method;

13. HOW TO APPLY 

Interested bidders should submit their offers in sealed and separate Technical 2hard copies (1 original and 1copy) and Financial Proposals referencing for conducting a baseline for Plan International Rwanda’s Country Strategy (FY26-FY30)" in the subject line by hand not later than 2:00pm of 4th November, 2025 to the below address:

The Chairperson -Tender Panel

Plan International Rwanda

Kacyiru- Golden Plaza Building, Floor # 4, 

KG 546 St- Next to Rwanda Housing Authority, 

P.O. Box 6211, Kigali, Rwanda

Done on 22nd October,2025

Annex 1. Acronyms/Abbreviations 

CPs	Country Programmes
CS	Country Strategy
EOF	Education Outcomes Fund
SOYEE	Skills and Opportunities for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship
DRMR	Risk Management and Resilience
SRHR	Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
PIR	Plan International Rwanda
ECD	Early Childhood Development
TOR	Terms of Reference

Annex 2. FY26-30 Country Strategy_ Indicator Matrix

Result	Indicator
Country Programme 1: Skills, Employability, Wellness and Resilience for Youth and Families
Situation Analysis
Young people access and participate in the labour market	% of young people in work or looking for work (labour force participation rate) (SOYSA1.1.3)
A more supportive norms that foster empowerment, enable equitable decision-making, and create environments where CAY can safely exercise their rights.	The degree to which social and gender norms are supportive of CAY's ability to make their own choices and exercise their rights related to sexuality (SRHSA31.1)
Young People are increasingly economically and socially empowered to be able to reduce their vulnerability, advocate for their rights in disaster and emergency settings	Proportion of young people who demonstrate ability to advocate for their rights in disaster and emergencies (Country specific indicator which is linked to NST2 Pillar 1, Outcome 1)
Impact
Young people, especially young women, pursue decent work opportunities of their choosing, whether wage employment or self-employed.	% of young people in wage employment within 6 months after SOYEE training or activity (SOYI1.1.1)
	% of young people engaged in self-employment within 6 months after SOYEE training or activity (SOYI1.1.2)
Outcome
1.1. Young people, especially young women in their diversity, build on and develop their skills for wage or self-employment opportunities	1.1.1: % of young people who report feeling confident about their life skills at the end of the training (SOYO1.1.1)
	1.1.2. % of young people who demonstrate entrepreneurship competencies at the end of the training (SOYO1.1.2)
1.2. Young people, especially young women in their diversity, pursue decent work opportunities of their choosing, whether wage employment or self-employed	1.2.1. % of young people who have pursued self-employment 6 months after the SOYEE training or activity (SOYO1.3.1)
	1.2.2. % of young people who have pursued wage employment 6 months after the SOYEE training or activity (SOYO1.3.2)
1.3: Families and communities have improved resilience through adaptive capacities, access to climate-smart resources and services, to achieve sustainable livelihoods	1.3.1: % of households who report increased harvest due to the adoption of climate smart agriculture techniques (RWA-LDI-O-001.001_Country specific)
	1.3.2: % of parents and caregivers with accurate knowledge and understanding of climate change adaptation (RWA-LDI-O-001.002_Country specific)
1.4: CAY have positive attitudes and self-confidence on SRHR, including harmful practices and other forms of GBV	1.4.1: % of CAY aged 13-24 who feel able to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health (SRHO1.2.1)
1.5: Service providers and health facilities take action to provide quality adolescent and gender-responsive and inclusive SRHR services including SGBV service	1.5.1: % (and #) of adolescents and youth who consider services to be adolescent- and gender-responsive, at the time asked (SRHO6.2.1)
Country Programme 2: Foundations for Safe and Brighter Futures
Situation Analysis
Children, girls and youth are protected from all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation, and supported through responsive caregiving and services, promoting their development, well-being and early learning	% of children and adolescents aged 0-18 years who experienced any violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect (PROSA1.2.1)
Rights to Holistic development	Proportion of children under 5 years of age who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial wellbeing, by sex (ECDSA1.1.1)
Impact
Children live lives free from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect	% of children and adolescent aged 1-17 years who reported any physical punishment psychological aggression and/or neglect by caregivers within 12 months of program implementation (PROI1.1.1)
Outcome
2.1: CAY understand protection risks and behaviours and parents and caregivers adopt positive parenting practices including non-violent methods of discipline	2.1.1: % (and #) of CAY who demonstrate knowledge of child protection risks and behaviours (PROO1.1.1)
	2.1.2: % (and #) of parents and caregivers who report positive parenting practices with children (PROO2.1.1)
2.2: Community leaders, volunteers, networks and protection mechanisms support essential interventions for early learning and development, and prevention and response to violence against CAY	2.2.1: % of community-based child and family protection mechanisms which meet minimum quality standards (PROO3.3.1)
	2.2.2: Proportion of communities where leaders have supported positive changes in social norms of relevance for children’s healthy growth and development, in the last month (ECDO3.6.1)
2.3: Social service providers have the required capacity to provide ECD support, and manage and respond to cases of violence against children and IPV, at the community level in cooperation with the support of civil society and community-based actors	2.3.1: Degree to which local authorities take adequate measures to facilitate the participation of parents/community members in ECD policy/service accountability processes (ECDO4.2.6)
	2.3.2.: Level of awareness amongst influential law and policymakers, local authorities of the rationale for investing in Protection from Violence programmes (PROO5.10.1)
2.4: Parents, primary caregivers and other family members have a good understanding of CAY’s sexual and reproductive health and rights	2.4.1: % of parents, caregivers and family members with basic correct knowledge of SRHR core topics (SRHO2.1.1)