Learning and Impact Measurement Consulting Opportunity

Posted 20 April 2023 in EMpower News, Careers   |   Share

Learning and Impact Measurement Consulting Opportunity 

*Submissions are due midnight GMT, May 5^th 2023*

EMpower -The Emerging Markets Foundation is seeking a consultant or consultancy firm to help us enhance our learning and impact measurement system, processes and tools.

EMpower funds local partner organisations for up to 10 years, focusing on improving the lives, and opportunities for contribution, of marginalized young people in 15 emerging market countries. We updated our Theory of Change in 2021 and our grantmaking model in 2022. We offer flexibility (core support) to all grantee partners; this ranges from 20% to 100% flexibility over the 10-year partnership cycle. We also support and undertake a range of organisational and cross-sector strengthening support (beyond financial grants) to all grantee partners –– to optimize our partners’ programmatic and organizational effectiveness and sustainability. Last, over the past twelve months we have migrated to an online grants management system, which will need to be a key platform for the evolution of our learning and impact measurement system.

Some of our big-picture learning questions

What are different approaches to streamlining our learning and impact measurement processes/requirements, ideally that can be operationalised without undue level of effort or additional resources?

How do we decide which ‘core’ indicators and grant form questions to keep? How can we keep demands on grantees reasonable and primarily focused on helping them understand the impact of their efforts, while also accessing key information for us to understand the effects of our support. And for smaller, more nascent grantee partner organisations – what further scaled down approaches might be useful?

What should we do to align our learning and impact measurement system and tools with our flexible and participatory funding that enables --

• Grantee partners themselves to benefit from the program learning cycle / process.
• Regional youth fellows to contribute insights and understand key learning from grantee partner and wider portfolio learning.
• Program Officers to sufficiently understand key learning for broader portfolio strategy and impact our support is having for grantee partners and young people.
• Program officer/leadership to measure/test the assumptions embedded in our Theory of Change.
• Development and Comms Teams to have appropriate information to demonstrate our organisation’s impact/value-add to key constituents.

Scope of work

As an organisation we are at a pivotal juncture in aligning our updated grant-making model with our learning and impact measurement tools and processes. To help us navigate this new terrain, we need a fit-for- purpose learning and impact system, with accompanying operational tools and processes that align with our flexible and participatory funding and grant-making model and aim for an appropriate balance between flexibility and standardization.

Deliverables

We envision a two-phased process; this consultancy is to cover the first phase. We will use and deliberate on the recommendations from the first phase, to fine-tune the needs and outputs for phase two, which will be more about operationalising plans, with more specificity. We would like phase one to be completed by end June and would hope to have phase two (not covered herein) operationalised by end August.

For this, the consultant will work closely with the VP of Programs; the Associate Director of Programs; and the Senior Manager for Learning and Partnerships to assess our current practices and steward a purposeful process to deliver recommendations of ~2 possible learning and impact measurement frameworks; a lighter list of recommended ‘core’ indicators and recommendations for 2-3 lighter grantee partner forms.

The consultant will engage with leadership, management and staff to understand our current practices, processes and systems and be able to build/evolve on those for the recommendations made.

The consultant is expected to:

1. Develop / propose ~2 learning and impact frameworks anchored to EMpower’s: organisational values, theory of change, grantmaking model, organisational strategic planning goals 1 and 2 (related to impact and learning)
2. In proposing the frameworks to consider, identify considerations EMpower should weigh in making decisions -- such as:

• how the framework would integrate with Fluxx
• 5 things we should do or consider to ensure that a new framework meets our participatory grantmaking and learning practices now and in the future
• 5 things should we do or consider to ensure that a new framework meet the needs of development and communications
• how the framework would align with the recommended modifications on proposal and reports for grantee partners

Deliverables / (illustratrative) Timeline

• May-June the consultant(s) propose ~2 learning and impact measurement frameworks (high-level overview for consideration; 3-5 pages)
• June – the consultant(s) recommend lighter list of core indicators
• June – the consultant(s) recommends modifications for 2-3 grantee partner forms / reports

Skills and experience

EMpower believes that diversity and inclusion make us more successful in our work, and we seek to identify and contract consultants and organisations from as diverse a pool of applicants as possible.

Qualifications and Experience

• Ability to quantify qualitative information and ability to qualify quantitative information
• Must possess understanding of learning and evaluation frameworks in international grantmaking/philanthropy.
• In-depth knowledge of participatory learning and impact, particularly feminist monitoring, evaluation and/or indigenous-rooted methodologies and able to integrate this knowledge in practical ways;
• Understands the importance of trust-based philanthropy as related to and pillars of good learning practices.
• An organizational learning and effectiveness orientation, with a track record of developing and implementing processes that advance strategic programmatic learning in practical ways.
• Excellent planning and organizational skills with high attention to detail, accuracy, protocol and deadlines.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to distill and explain complex concepts.
• Experience working collaboratively with others across an organization.
• Flexibility, creativity and the ability to contribute at both strategic and tactical levels.
• A personal style characterized by humility, self-awareness, accessibility, intellectual curiosity and a genuine team orientation.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience working within high impact, data-driven social sector or philanthropic organizations
• Experience partnering and learning with youth-led and/or feminist movements, especially in the global south.
• Experience or knowledge of Fluxx ideal but not essential.
• Fluent written and verbal communication in English is required. Proficiency in other languages is a bonus!

How to respond

If you are interested in being considered for this opportunity, please send a proposal outlining your process and illustrative workplan to hr@empowerweb.org by 5^th May 2023. Your proposal, 3-5 pages (no more than 5) should include the following:

• How you and/or your team would approach this work (the process, a workplan), including proposed timeline and costs (including day rate of each team member).
• Description of a similar or related project that you have carried out.
• CVs for relevant team members (appendix; NOT included in page limit)
• Reference details for at least one funder and one non-profit with whom you’ve worked (appendix; NOT included in page limit)

We cannot comment on proposals during the bidding phase, but we will answer clarification questions at the email above.

Timeline

Request for proposal Issuance – April 17^th 2023

Submission deadline – midnight GMT, May 5^th 2023

Interviews and negotiation with top applicants – w/c May 15^th 2023

Contract award/notification to successful bidders – May 22^nd 2023

We anticipate that the engagement will run from ~29^th May until July 14, 2023