Terms of Reference for Hiring a Consultancy Firm to Conduct a Participant Initial Socio-Economic Analysis (PISEA) for Refugee and Host-Community Households Under the Graduation Approach in Rwanda

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR HIRING A CONSULTANCY FIRM TO CONDUCT A PARTICIPANT INITIAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (PISEA) FOR REFUGEE AND HOST-COMMUNITY HOUSEHOLDS UNDER THE GRADUATION APPROACH IN RWANDA

1. INTRODUCTION

Caritas Rwanda is a legally registered non-governmental organization committed to assisting people in need and promoting their integral human development. With more than 60 years of experience, Caritas Rwanda has been supporting vulnerable and poor households to build resilience and improve their livelihoods through interventions in development, social welfare, and health.

In collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management (MINEMA), Caritas Rwanda is implementing two complementary projects aimed at promoting the socio-economic inclusion, self-reliance, resilience, and sustainable livelihoods of refugees and host-community members in Rwanda through the Graduation Approach.

The programme is being implemented in and around Mahama, Nyabiheke, Kiziba, Kigeme, and Mugombwa refugee camps. It seeks to support vulnerable refugee and host-community households through integrated and multi-sectoral interventions tailored to their specific needs, capacities, and livelihood opportunities. These interventions include financial literacy and inclusion, income-oriented agricultural and livestock development, market linkages, skills and livelihood development, and the provision of seed capital to support and strengthen income-generating activities.

2. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

The Government of Rwanda is committed to promoting the socio-economic inclusion, self-reliance, resilience, and sustainable livelihoods of refugees and vulnerable members of host communities. The Refugee Sustainable Graduation Strategy 2025–2030 provides a framework for supporting refugee and vulnerable host-community households to progressively move out of extreme poverty, strengthen their livelihoods, and reduce long-term dependence on humanitarian assistance.

The Strategy promotes a comprehensive, sequenced, and time-bound approach that combines social protection, livelihoods promotion, financial inclusion, and social empowerment, complemented by regular household-level coaching and support. It further emphasizes the importance of context-specific assessments, transparent and rigorous participant targeting, gender equality and social inclusion, measurable graduation indicators, and systematic monitoring of household progress towards self-reliance.

In line with this national framework, Caritas Rwanda, in collaboration with UNHCR and MINEMA, is implementing two complementary projects that apply the Graduation Approach to strengthen the socio-economic inclusion, self-reliance, resilience, and sustainable livelihoods of refugee and host-community households:

EU-funded project: Joint UNHCR/WFP Refugee Socio-Economic Graduation & Livelihood Opportunities in Rwanda Project.

Danish-funded project: Pathways to Economic Inclusion and Self-Reliance of Refugees and Host Communities in Rwanda through a Graduation Approach, Phase II Project.

Both projects seek to support vulnerable households through integrated and context-responsive interventions that are tailored to their socioeconomic conditions, capacities, vulnerabilities, and livelihood opportunities. To achieve meaningful and sustainable outcomes, it is essential that programme interventions are based on a clear understanding of the starting conditions of participating households (baseline assessment).

Against this background, Caritas Rwanda intends to engage a qualified consultancy firm to conduct a Participant Initial Socio-Economic Analysis (PISEA) of targeted refugee and host-community households. The PISEA will establish a reliable baseline of participants’ socioeconomic conditions, livelihood assets and opportunities, vulnerabilities, capacities, access to essential services, markets and financial services, as well as other factors that may influence their ability to progress towards self-reliance.

The findings of the PISEA will provide an evidence base for appropriate participant targeting and profiling, programme design and prioritization of interventions, development of individualized or household-specific graduation pathways, and establishment of measurable baseline indicators against which household progress can be monitored throughout programme implementation. The assessment will also help identify key constraints, opportunities, and areas requiring tailored support to ensure that interventions are relevant, inclusive, and responsive to the diverse circumstances of refugee and host-community households.

The consultancy is therefore structured into two lots, reflecting the different geographical contexts, target populations, operational arrangements, and levels of fieldwork required for assessing host-community and refugee households. This lot-based approach is intended to facilitate effective field deployment, context-sensitive data collection, quality assurance, and efficient delivery of the PISEA assignment while allowing Caritas Rwanda to select the most suitable consultancy arrangement for each component.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

3.1 Overall Objective

To conduct a comprehensive, reliable and gender- and socially inclusive Participant Initial Socio-Economic Analysis of targeted refugee and host-community households to establish baseline information, support transparent beneficiary targeting and guide the implementation of graduation interventions under the two projects.

3.2 Specific Objectives

The consultancy firm shall:

Establish the initial socioeconomic status of targeted households, including household demographics, income, expenditure, assets, livelihood activities, employment, food security, savings, debt and access to basic services.

Assess household poverty and vulnerability, including the factors that limit households’ ability to achieve sustainable livelihoods and reduce dependence on humanitarian assistance.

Identify household capacities, existing livelihood activities, skills, aspirations, productive resources and potential opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and income diversification.

Assess access to and participation in financial services, savings groups, credit facilities, markets, business networks and other relevant economic opportunities.

Examine access to social protection, healthcare, education, safe water and sanitation, and other essential services relevant to household well-being.

Assess social inclusion, social cohesion and participation in community activities, including barriers faced by women, youth, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable household members.

Examine household exposure and resilience to shocks, such as illness, loss of an income earner, price fluctuations, unemployment and climate-related events, and assess available coping mechanisms.

Provide evidence to support transparent, multi-step and verifiable participant selection, in collaboration with Caritas Rwanda and relevant government and community stakeholders.

Establish baseline indicators that can be used to monitor changes in income, productive assets, savings, food security, livelihood diversification, access to services, social empowerment and household resilience.

Recommend appropriate graduation pathways and intervention priorities based on household circumstances, local market opportunities and the principles of the Refugee Sustainable Graduation Strategy 2025–2030.

Produce a comprehensive analytical report and a clean, documented dataset that Caritas Rwanda can use for programme planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning.

4. DESCRIPTION, COVERAGE OF THE ASSIGNMENT AND LOTS

The consultancy will cover the design and preparation of the PISEA (baseline assessment), data collection, data analysis, reporting, validation, and dissemination of the baseline assessment findings.

The survey will be conducted by the selected consultant/contractor, with support from Caritas Rwanda at both headquarters and camp levels.

The consultant/contractor will be responsible for the following key activities:

Recruit, train, and supervise enumerators to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.

Conduct door-to-door, face-to-face data collection with the selected PISEA beneficiary households using the approved survey tools.

Ensure that data is collected directly from respondents at their households and that all targeted households are physically visited.

Clean, process, and analyse the collected data.

Prepare and submit a comprehensive PISEA baseline assessment report, including key findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Present and validate the findings with Caritas Rwanda and relevant stakeholders.

Caritas Rwanda will provide the consultant with a list of 3,000 PISEA households, comprising 2,300 refugee households and 700 host-community households, to be included in the survey. The consultant will be responsible for developing and finalising the survey questionnaire and other relevant data-collection tools in consultation with Caritas Rwanda.

The assignment is expected to be completed within 30 calendar days from the date of commencement.

4.1. Coverage of the Assignment

The PISEA will cover 3,000 households, comprising 2,300 refugee households and 700 host-community households, who were enrolled under the two graduation Projects in 2026.

The survey will be conducted through door-to-door, face-to-face interviews with the selected households in Mahama, Nyabiheke, Kiziba, Kigeme, and Mugombwa refugee camps and their respective host communities, as detailed in the table below.

Danish-funded project: Pathways to Economic Inclusion and Self-Reliance of Refugees and Host Communities in Rwanda through a Graduation Approach, Phase II Project

District

Camps

Refugees HHS

Total Host community HHs

Total

Gisagara

Mugombwa

255

90

345

Nyamagabe

Kigeme

135

40

175

Gatsibo

Nyabiheke

310

170

480

Total

700

300

1000

EU-funded project: Joint UNHCR/WFP Refugee Socio-Economic Graduation & Livelihood Opportunities in Rwanda Project

District

Camps

Refugees HHS

Total Host community HHs

Total

Kirehe

Mahama

1233

140

1373

Nyamagabe

Kigeme

169

100

269

Karongi

Kiziba

198

160

358

Total

1600

400

2000

4.2 Contract Lots and Assessment Arrangements

The assignment is divided into two lots:

LOT 1: PISEA of Host-Community Households

This lot covers 700 host-community households, comprising 300 households under the Danish-funded project and 400 households under the EU-funded project. The assessment will be conducted through door-to-door, face-to-face interviews.

LOT 2: PISEA of Refugee Households

This lot covers 2,300 refugee households, comprising 700 households under the Danish-funded project and 1,600 households under the EU-funded project.

The activation of LOT 2 will depend on the availability and suitability of refugee socio-economic profiling data expected by the end of November 2026.

If the available data are adequate for the baseline assessment, Caritas Rwanda may not activate LOT 2.

If the data are unavailable or unsuitable, Caritas Rwanda may activate LOT 2 for a separate assessment.

Bidders may apply for one or both lots and must demonstrate the capacity to undertake the lot(s) applied for. Financial proposals must be submitted separately for each lot and must not be combined. No work under LOT 2 shall commence without prior written authorisation from Caritas Rwanda.

5. METHODOLOGY AND KEY ASSESSMENT AREAS

5.1 Methodological approach

The consultancy firm will propose a robust, context-appropriate methodology combining quantitative

and qualitative methods. The approach must be sufficiently rigorous to generate reliable baseline

information while remaining practical for the target population and implementation context.

The proposed methodology should include:

A desk review of relevant project documents, the Refugee Sustainable Graduation Strategy 2025–2030, project results frameworks, beneficiary information, existing socio-economic profiling data, and other relevant evidence.

A clearly justified sampling or household coverage strategy, including sample size calculations where sampling is proposed, disaggregation requirements, and limitations.

Structured household questionnaires and appropriate digital or electronic data collection systems.

Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with relevant stakeholders.

Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with appropriate groups of refugees and host-community members.

Fieldworker training, questionnaire testing, piloting, and revision.

Data quality assurance, validation, cleaning, analysis, and secure data management.

Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative findings.

Clear documentation of methodological limitations, potential bias, and mitigation measures.

6. ASSESSMENT DOMAINS

The assessment should reflect the Graduation Approach and the four pillars identified in the Refugee Sustainable Graduation Strategy 2025–2030: social protection, livelihoods promotion, financial inclusion, and social empowerment. Household coaching should be considered as a cross-cutting element where relevant.

The assessment should examine, as appropriate:

a. Household socio-economic profile and social protection

Household composition, demographic characteristics, and dependency ratios.

Education, skills, employment status, and access to essential services.

Household vulnerability, disability-related barriers, and other relevant protection considerations.

Housing conditions, food security, expenditure, and access to social assistance.

Existing coping strategies and exposure to shocks.

b. Livelihoods promotion and economic opportunities

Current sources of income and livelihood activities.

Employment, self-employment, entrepreneurship, and productive assets.

Access to vocational training, business development services, and markets.

Skills, aspirations, constraints, and opportunities for income generation.

Household capacity to sustain or expand economic activities.

c. Financial inclusion

Access to savings, financial services, credit, and mobile financial services.

Existing savings practices, financial literacy, and barriers to financial inclusion.

Access to financial institutions and appropriate financial products.

Household capacity to manage financial risks and respond to shocks.

d. Social empowerment and inclusion

Participation in community groups, networks, and collective activities.

Access to information, services, and available support mechanisms.

Social connections and opportunities for participation in economic and community life.

Barriers to inclusion and participation affecting refugees and host communities.

e. Resilience and graduation outcomes

Household capacity to withstand and recover from shocks.

Diversification and stability of income sources.

Access to productive resources and support networks.

Baseline status against agreed graduation indicators.

Differences in needs and opportunities among households that may require differentiated support pathways.

The final assessment framework and indicators must be agreed upon with Caritas Rwanda during the

inception phase, taking into account the two project results frameworks and the available baseline

requirements.

7. EXPECTED OUTPUTS - DELIVERABLES

7.1. Adetailed Inception report of PISEA showing the methodology and approach to conduct the assignment. The inception report should also include ethical considerations and a literature review showing existing findings on livelihoods and economic inclusion. The inception report will also include a detailed action plan with a timeline to accomplish all assigned tasks. The approved inception report should be submitted within 5 calendar days after signing the contract.

7.2. Data collection, analysis, and Draft quantitative report include the research findings. Caritas Rwanda will review the report and provide comments and inputs to be addressed by the consultant. The draft report should be submitted 20 calendar days after the inception report.

7.3. The final end-line survey report should be submitted in English and should cover:

Research findings from qualitative and quantitative data collected during the survey

Aset of actionable recommendations that can be incorporated into activity design and implementation to ensure effective implementation of the Graduation project.

The approved final survey report will be submitted with the final raw dataset and final cleaned dataset with documentation in 5 calendar days after the draft report.

8. QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE CONSULTANCY FIRM

8.1.Company experience (References)

The company must have at least ten (10) years of proven experience in research and capacity building.

The bidder shall provide at least three (3) certificates of satisfactory completion for similar assignments conducted over the past five years, issued to the company applying for this tender.

These certificates must be supported by the corresponding contracts and should preferably relate to:

Research and assessments;

Refugee context; and

Sustainable livelihoods.

The company must have successfully executed at least three (3) contracts in research or capacity building, each with a minimum value of RWF 30,000,000, within the past years.

The company must demonstrate experience in carrying out at least three (3) similar assignments in the targeted districts of intervention.

Having access to experienced interviewers and data collection supervisors is essential.

Fluency in written and spoken English and Kinyarwanda is essential.

Experience in conducting surveys on refugees in particular is essential.

Prior experience working with Caritas Rwanda is essential.

8.2. Specific team qualifications and Composition

The consultancy firm shall propose a multidisciplinary team of six (6) key experts whose qualifications collectively cover sustainable livelihoods and food systems, quantitative research and data management, gender and inclusion, education, public health, and socio-economic development and financial inclusion.

The proposed experts must have relevant postgraduate qualifications, demonstrated experience in comparable assessments, and clearly defined responsibilities.

1. Team Leader – Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Systems Expert

Academic qualification: Master of Science (MSc) in Human Nutrition and Rural Development. A closely related postgraduate qualification may be considered only where equivalent expertise in food systems and sustainable livelihoods is demonstrated.

At least Fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible experience leading socio-economic, livelihoods, food security, nutrition, resilience, or graduation-related assessments and research assignments.

Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams, managing large-scale household surveys, coordinating field operations, and delivering high-quality analytical reports within agreed timelines.

Strong understanding of sustainable livelihoods, food systems, household resilience, food security and nutrition, economic inclusion, and the Graduation Approach.

Proven ability to translate quantitative and qualitative findings into practical, evidence-based recommendations for programme targeting, household graduation pathways, and implementation.

Excellent report-writing, facilitation, stakeholder-engagement, and quality-assurance skills; fluency in English is required, with Kinyarwanda proficiency strongly preferred.

2. Statistician / Data Management Expert

Academic qualification: MSc in Statistics. A postgraduate qualification in Biostatistics, Applied Statistics, Data Science, or a closely related quantitative discipline may be accepted where equivalent statistical expertise is demonstrated.

At least ten (10) years of experience designing and managing household surveys, sampling strategies, data systems, and quantitative analysis for socio-economic, humanitarian, livelihoods, or development programmes.

Demonstrated competence in questionnaire programming and digital data collection platforms, database management, data cleaning, validation, documentation, and secure data handling.

Strong command of relevant statistical software, including at least one of Stata, R, SPSS, or equivalent tools; experience with R and reproducible analysis scripts is an advantage.

Ability to develop sampling and analysis plans, construct data-quality checks, analyse disaggregated indicators, and produce clear tables, charts, and datasets with codebooks.

Experience managing data quality risks, including missing data, non-response, measurement error, duplicate records, and inconsistencies.

3. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Expert

Academic qualification: MSc in Gender Studies. A closely related postgraduate qualification in Gender and Development, Social Inclusion, Human Rights, or Development Studies may be accepted if supported by substantial relevant experience.

At least ten (10) years of experience integrating gender equality, disability inclusion, youth inclusion, protection sensitivity, and social inclusion into research, assessments, or development programming.

Demonstrated ability to analyze gendered household roles, decision-making, control over resources, barriers to participation, social norms, safety, and differential vulnerabilities among refugees and host-community members.

Experience designing inclusive and ethically appropriate research tools and ensuring meaningful participation of women, men, youth, persons with disabilities, and other groups at risk of exclusion.

Ability to recommend practical measures to make graduation pathways and programme services gender-responsive, accessible, and socially inclusive.

4. Education and Skills Development Expert

Academic qualification: MSc in Education, Educational Planning and Management, Adult and Continuing Education, or a closely related field.

At least ten (10) years of experience in education access, learning and skills needs, vocational training, adult learning, employability, or skills development in development or humanitarian contexts.

Experience analyzing education levels, literacy and numeracy, vocational competencies, barriers to learning, and links between skills development, employment, entrepreneurship, and livelihoods.

Ability to identify education- and skills-related constraints and opportunities affecting household self-reliance and recommend relevant referral, training, or capacity-development pathways.

5. Public Health Expert

Academic qualification: MSc in Public Health. A closely related postgraduate qualification in Community Health or Health Promotion may be considered where relevant public-health expertise is demonstrated.

At least ten (10) years of experience in public health, community health, health-service access, health-related vulnerability, or health and wellbeing programming.

Ability to assess household access to health services, health-related expenditures and barriers, prevention and health-promotion needs, and the implications of illness or disability for livelihoods and household resilience.

Demonstrated understanding of ethical research practice, confidentiality, informed consent, and referral considerations when sensitive health or protection issues arise.

6. Socio-Economic Development and Financial Inclusion Expert

Academic qualification: Master’s degree in Microfinance. A closely related postgraduate qualification in Financial Inclusion, Development Economics, Economics, Finance, or Business Administration may be considered where strong expertise in microfinance and financial inclusion is demonstrated.

At least ten (10) years of experience assessing household economic status, income and expenditure, savings, borrowing, debt, access to financial services, financial literacy, and microenterprise development.

Demonstrated understanding of savings groups, microfinance institutions, credit products, mobile financial services, financial capability, responsible borrowing, and barriers faced by refugees and host-community households.

Experience analyzing livelihood opportunities, household economic vulnerability, market participation, income diversification, and the feasibility of small businesses or income-generating activities.

Ability to develop practical recommendations on financial inclusion, savings, business support, access to markets, and appropriate household graduation pathways.

9. ABOUT THE PROPOSAL PREPARATION

Technical proposal

The applicant should prepare a technical proposal for carrying out the described survey, which should include both the general approach to carrying out the survey and specific ways of dealing with anticipated challenges for the proposed survey. The proposal will outline the methodology, as well as data collection methods and analysis tools. The proposal should also describe how the approach to ensuring the high quality of the collected data, which is critical to the survey's success, will be described. The proposal should include a detailed description of the firm's staffing and organizational structure, as well as proposed activity timelines. Plans for piloting data generation tools and training enumerators will also be included in the proposal. A summary of relevant qualifications and experience, as well as at least three good completion certificates of a similar nature.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal should include a breakdown of the proposed budget by major activities, as well as a narrative describing the rationale for the proposed activities, as well as the corresponding timeline and budget breakdown. It is critical that the financial proposal includes a detailed description of the proposed fieldwork model, including team size and composition, modes of transportation, and any assumptions upon which the budget is based. The budget should clearly identify unit costs and quantities for each activity.

N.B: The financial proposal should be precise if all taxes are included or excluded.

10. MILESTONES PAYMENT

Submission of the approved inception report– 40%

Submission of the draft quantitative report including the research findings – 40%, assuming data quality and analysis are satisfactory and the whole targeted population was achieved (this payment is only made when Caritas Rwanda is satisfied that the data is to the standard expected)

Validation meeting conducted and the final report with all deliverables submitted –20%

8. Evaluation criteria

Applications will be assessed based on cost reasonableness (30%) and technical competence (70%

Criteria

Criteria description

Marks 100

Methodology &workplan

A detailed understanding of the Terms of Reference

A detailed methodology including data collection methods, analysis tools, strategies for addressing potential challenges during implementation, and Measures for ensuring high‑quality data

A detailed 30-day work plan indicating the timing of each activity to be implemented.

30

Proposed team composition

Qualifications and experience of the six (6) Key experts, including their CVs and degrees

20

Company experience

Minimum of 10 years’ experience in research and capacity building.

At least 3 certificates of satisfactory completion for similar assignments conducted within the past 5 years, supported by corresponding contracts.

The company must have successfully implemented at least three (3) research or capacity-building contracts within the past five (5) years, each valued at a minimum of RWF 30,000,000, including at least one (1) contract valued at RWF 100,000,000 or more.

Demonstrated experience in carrying out at least 3 similar assignments in the targeted districts of intervention in refugee context

20

Total technical evaluation marks

70

Financial Proposal

A detailed financial proposal

30

TOTAL

100

The Technical Proposal has a total score of 100 points. Applicants must score a minimum of 60 points to be considered technically compliant and in order, for the Financial Proposals to be opened.

The Application file must be comprised of:

Letter expressing interest in carrying out the consultancy service required addressed to Caritas Rwanda’s Secretary General;

A technical proposal written in English describing the background, methodology, and timeline;

A copy of RDB registration certificates;

A copy of the RRA (VAT) Registration certificate;

A copy of Proof of EBM Possession;

A copy of a valid RRA Tax clearance certificate;

A copy of a valid RSSB clearance certificate;

Certified financial statement for the last 3years of the firm

Certificate of Current standing delivered by RDB

Good completion certificates from the previous surveys conducted in the area of socio-economic (at least 3 certificates of successful similar work in the last 5 years);

Financial proposal (Price quotations)

N.B.: Submission of all administrative documents listed above is mandatory and non-submission of one of the said documents may cause a rejection of the offer.

Evaluation of technical proposal

Evaluation of financial proposal

A financial proposal has a total score of 30 points. The financial proposal will be judged against the overall proposed budget, but also on the basis of the proposed unit costs and feasibility of underlying similar surveys conducted before. The final selection of the applicant will be based on a quality and cost basis.

11. HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants with required skills and competences are required to send their application documents, including technical and financial proposals, through the email tenders@caritasrwanda.org no later than Friday, 13th November 2026 (by 2:00 PM).

Late applications will be rejected.

Done at Kigali on November 4th, 2026

Prepared by: Approved by:

Aimable Wilson MBARIMOMBAZI Father Oscar KAGIMBURA

Graduation Project Manager Secretary General

Attachment

attachment_file_4403936e6a8868c9b5da

How to apply

Apply on Job in Rwanda with the Apply button on the advert: https://www.jobinrwanda.com/job/terms-reference-hiring-consultancy-firm-conduct-participant-initial-socio-economic-analysis

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