Request for Proposals Development of Mentorship Program for Women Leaders

Issued on January 15, 2020

National Democratic Institute - Ukraine

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) will engage an organization specializing in providing guidance and training to local councilors, executive officials and civic activists with experience in designing and running training and mentorship programs for women of the mentioned categories.

The purpose of the mentorship program is to support less-experienced councilors, executive officials and civil society leaders who graduated from the Women’s Leadership Academy (WLA) in driving local policy making, promoting their agenda, and making their voices heard. Mentors will provide coaching and guidance to WLA alumnae on how to be efficient in local policy making, building relations with local councils and carrying out actions of civic oversight of local authorities. 

The program does not support any particular political and civic leaders or political parties. NDI is a nonpartisan organization, which should be reflected in the general approach to the development and implementation of the program.

BACKGROUND

In the framework of the Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency (DOBRE) project, NDI works with 100 partner communities of ten target oblasts: Dnipropetrovska, Kharkivska, Khersonska, Mykolayivska, Kirovohradska, Ivano-Frankivska, Ternopilska, Chernigivska, Chernivets’ka and Zaporiz’ka. Under the project NDI supports the Women’s Leadership Academy, which gathers women leaders from a variety of sectors—including elected and appointed officials and members of civil society—for an extended training and mentoring program. The WLA is designed to help women develop leadership skills, share experiences with like-minded peers, and build networks across communities in order to ensure women are represented in decision-making at all levels and across all regions. Among other themes, the training program of the Academy includes modules on women’s leadership,  gender equality and gender responsive governance, communication strategies and media outreach, mechanisms of participation in local governance and political participation; advocacy campaigns and project writing. 

In the course of the program, more than 500 women graduated from the Academy, 134 of them ran in the October 2020 local elections and 47 were elected as local councilors. As a result of NDI’s programming, WLA alumnae implemented 73 civic initiatives, which were funded by the Ukrainian Women’s Fund. 

SCOPE OF WORK 

The overall goal of the program is to increase the capacity of alumnae representing elected and executive offices, and civil society organizations. Mentors will provide advisory and consultancy support to help alumnae act more efficiently and advance their priority agenda.

In the proposals the interested vendors should assume that the program will start on February 15 and will end on November 30, 2021 

The range of tasks will include the following:

1. Develop a structured mentorship program for three categories of alumnae:

   1. elected councillors;

   2. executive officials;

   3. civil society activists.

2. Program coordination:

   1. selecting mentors;

   2. regular check-ins with mentors and mentees;

   3. adjusting the program, if required

3.  Administrative duties:

   1. narrative and financial reporting to NDI;

   2. facilitating mentors’ financial reporting;

4. Program monitoring and evaluation.

5. If needed, provide consultancy services related to mentorship programs and conduct training sessions under various NDI projects 

6. If needed, conduct trainings for elected officials under various NDI projects

Proposal should include:

• Vision for the program, including: objectives of the program for all three groups of alumnae, mentors profile and detailed responsibilities, mentors and mentees workload in hours per month;

• Monitoring and evaluation plan with indicators to assess the program’s success

• Required program and administrative team with detailed responsibilities.

• Detailed budget, divided into categories (excluding VAT.)

• Proposed timeline, please consider the timeline below as a preferred one. 

• Portfolio, please include the most relevant projects: similar scope of work, similar client.

• References from previous clients.

• Hourly rate for providing consultancy services

• Hourly rate for conducting training sessions

TIMELINE 

BUDGET  

The period of performance for the program is ten months from February 15, 2021 until November 30, 2021.

All proposals must be exclusive of VAT, cost-effectiveness will be a significant component of the proposal review process. 

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

To undertake this work, the service provider should provide a detailed proposal for the work, which should include the following: 

1. A comprehensive outline of the program detailing proposed activities, responsibilities of all parties: contractor, mentors and mentees, work process, indicators, hourly rate for consulting services and training sessions and other relevant information.

2. A detailed budget against each of the categories of services described in this request. Prices quoted must be valid for the entire length of the contract with NDI. Salaries must be gross and include all taxes and deductions.

3. A timeline divided into milestones with clear indication of the workload for each milestone.

4. Relevant past experience to include: (1) examples of similar projects; (2) list of similar clients; (3) names, email address, and telephone number of at least one referee, and (4) approval to contact the listed references.  

5. A contact name, email address, and telephone number to facilitate communication between NDI and the prospective contractor. 

6. A brief outline of the company, including: 

a.     Full legal name and address of the company or individual.

b.     Corporate and tax registration documents.

c.   Full name of the legal representative (president or managing director) of the company (not applicable for individuals);

d.     Year business was started or established.

7. The prospective contractor must disclose in writing with its response any subcontracting that will take place under an award. Failure to disclose subcontracting relationships will result in the prospective contractor’s offer being removed from consideration. 

8. Prospective contractors must be legally registered under the laws of the country in which they are organized and possess all licenses, permits and government approval necessary for the performance of the work.  

SUBMISSION OF OFFERS

The deadline for submission of all offers is January 31, 2021. All offers must be submitted to [email protected] in English with “Mentorship Program Proposal” indicated in the subject.

Should you have any questions, please contact Maksym Liushan at [email protected].

TERMS & CONDITIONS

NDI reserves the right to require any prospective contractor to enter into a non-disclosure agreement. All information provided by NDI in this RFP is subject to change at any time.  

NDI reserves the right to reject any and all bids.  NDI reserves the right to consider bids for modification at any time before a contract is awarded. NDI shall not be liable for any costs associated with the preparation, transmittal, or presentation of any materials submitted in response to the RFP.