I-BACKGROUND
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Federation of National Association of Women in Business (COMFWB) is one of the COMESA institutions with a mandate of supporting women led private sector organizations.
COMFWB was established in 1993 to promote programs that integrate women into trade and development activities in Eastern and Southern Africa: in particular, in the fields of industry, trade and services, agriculture, fishing, energy, transport and communications, natural resources and mining, with the main objective of improving the economic conditions of women in the sub-region as well as increasing the awareness of women in development and business issues at the policy level.
COMFWB draws its mandate from (I) the Treaty establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA, under Article 155 – Role of Women in Business; (II) Article 154Role of Women in Development (III) COMFWB Charter, which mandates COMFWB to “act as a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience among women entrepreneurs; an instrument through which the appropriate portion of COMESA Women in Development Programmers shall be implemented; a forum for network among women entrepreneurs and an instrument for encouraging women to set up or expand existing enterprises.” Execution of these mandates is undertaken through its constituent National Chapters.
COMFWB Secretariat is based in Lilongwe, Malawi and plays a facilitative and catalytic role working directly with the National associations of Women in Business in 21 COMESA Members States Namely Burundi, Comoros, Congo, Dem Rep., Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
COMFWB is implementing its strategic plan (2021-2025) which basically focuses on Strengthening institutional and financial capacity of COMFWB as one of the strategic priorities. The situational analysis of COMFWB shows that one of its major challenges is, limited financial capacity to support the National Chapters and implementation of its program development. Further, the MTSP assessment shows that even though significant progress has been made towards strengthening the institutional capacity of COMFWB, more effort needs to be made to register remarkable progress on tasks such as strengthening the National Chapters and resource mobilization.
In 2024, COMFWB assessed the effectiveness of the implementation of this strategic plan. The assessment highlighted several lessons which will need to be considered when developing the next strategic plan 2026-2030.
As 2025 is the final year in the implementation of strategic plan, COMFWB is looking forward to engaging experienced and qualified consultants to develop a resource mobilization strategy which helps as guide for overall resource mobilization endeavors of COMFWB.
II.OBJECTIVE
The objective of the consultancy is to draft the COMFWB 2026-2030 Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP)
III.SCOPE OF WORK
In line with the above-mentioned objective, the consultant shall undertake the following:
I.Preparation of a work plan and analysis of the recommendations for the 2020-2025 MTSP mid term review
II.Actively engaging with COMFWB National Chapter, COMFWB Secretariat, Board members and other stakeholders using participatory processes.
III.Guide stakeholder mapping
IV.Undertaking a SWOT analysis
V.Drafting and finalizing the Medium-Term Strategic Plan (MTSP) 2026-2030 which includes strategic goals, Logical framework, detailed implementation plan, M and E Framework.
VI.Lead a programme of wide consultations to get feedback on the MTSP
VII.Submit and present to COMFWB Secretariat the MSTP to COMFWB
VIII.Submit the final Medium Term strategic Plan
IX.Summit the end of consultancy report
IV.EXPECTED RESULTS AND DELIVERABLES
The following are the expected deliverables:
i.Inception report detailing the understanding of assignment, detailed methodology and timelines
ii.A strategic planning workshop agenda and facilitation plan
iii.A 5-year strategic plan which includes the following but not limited to:
a.Executive summary
b.Background
c.Internal and external analysis
d.Deliverables and milestones
e.Strategic priorities
f.An M&E framework
iv.Hard and soft copies of the final Strategic Plans in line with a work plan submitted
v.End of Consultancy Progress Report
V.ASSIGNMENT DURATION
The consultancy is expected to be undertaken from 1st August to 30th September 2025. The reporting structure is as follows:
i.Submission of the inception report and workplan two weeks after signing the contract
ii.Submission of the draft MTSP 4 weeks after approval of the workplan
iii.Submission of the Final MTSP on 30th September 2025
VI. REQUIRED EXPERTISE AND QUALIFICATION.
COMFWB Secretariat wishes to obtain the services of a consultancy firm or individual Consultant with the requisite experience in developing Strategic Plans and proof of having undertaken similar assignments is desirable.
Further, the Consultant/s must demonstrate the following:
a)Hold at least a master’s Degree in any of these disciplines: Economic, Business, social sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation, Strategic Planning and Management and any other relevant disciplines. A master’s degree will be an added advantage.
b)At least have Ten (10) years of relevant experience in undertaking strategic planning and programme evaluation and planning.
c)Demonstrated experience and skills in facilitating stakeholder/working group consultations and gender mainstreaming.
d)Demonstrated knowledge and experience in developing policies and regulations especially around business and trade.
e)Familiarity with, as well as experience concerning, the instruments of COMFWB/ COMESA, other regional and international intergovernmental organizations.
f)Excellent communication and presentation skills
g)Relevant regional and international experience will be an added advantage.
VII. APPLICATION
The COMFWB Secretariat is inviting individuals, organizations, or firm Consultants (individual or consortium) to submit their Technical and Financial Proposals. Kindly ensure that:
a.Your Expression of Interest must be presented as per Expression of Interest Forms attached as Annex 1 to this Request for Expression of Interest, in the English language and be accompanied by copies of all the indicated supporting documents. If the supporting documents are not in English, these shall be accompanied by a certified translation into English.
b.Copy of the company profile or CV of the consultant is submitted
c.Valid and current tax compliance certificate for firms is submitted
d.All cost should be in USD: The service providers should identify their rates which will be valid for the entire duration of the assignment
VIII.PRICES:
The financial proposal shall be inclusive of all expenses deemed necessary by the Individual Consultant for the performance of the contract
IX.CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
The technical proposal will be assigned a weight of 80% and the financial proposal will weigh 20%.
The proposal shall be considered unsuitable and shall be rejected at the technical stage if it does not respond to important aspects of the objectives, scope of services and expected results and fails to achieve a minimum technical score of 70%
X.VALIDITY OF THE BID
The Bid shall be valid for a period of six months after the closing date of this tender
XI.AMENDMENTS OF PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS
At any time prior to the deadline for submission of Bids, COMFWB may, for any reason, modify the Proposal Documents by issuing an addendum.
XII. COST OF TENDER
The Bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the bid. COMFWB will in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct and outcome of the tender.
XIII.CANCELLATION OF THE TENDER
In the event of cancellation of the tender, bidders will be notified in writing of the cancellation by the COMFWB Secretariat
XIV.OWNERSHIP OF TENDERS
COMFWB retains ownership of all tenders received under this Request for Proposals. Consequently, bidders have no right to have their tenders returned to them.
XV. COMMUNICATION OF THE OUTCOME OF THE BID
The COMFWB shall communicate to all the bidders the outcome of their submitted bid. However, the COMFWB is not obliged to provide and justify grounds for rejection.
XVI.NEGOTIATION AND FINALISATION
After the selection of the best bid and notification to the selected party, COMFWB will commence negotiations with that party for purposes of concluding an agreement.
XVII.AWARD OF CONTRACT
Prior to expiration of the period of bid validity, COMFWB will award the contract to the qualified Bidder whose Bid after being evaluated is the most responsive to the needs of the organization and activity concerned.
XVIII.SIGNING OF CONTRACT
Within 14 days of receipt of the contract the successful Bidder shall sign and date the contract and return it to the COMFWB.
XIX.CONFIDENTIALITY
Information relating to evaluation of bids and recommendations concerning awards, shall NOT be disclosed to the Bidders who submitted the bids or to other persons not officially concerned with the process, until the winning consultant has been notified that it has been awarded the contract.
XX. DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION OF BIDS
The proposal shall be submitted on or before the Deadline either by (i) e-mail and/or (ii) hand delivery, registered mail or courier service.
The Deadline for the submission of the Request for proposals at the address and email address indicated below is 20th July 2025 at 13:00 hours Malawi Local Time.
Your application documents clearly marked and email bearing the subject “: SHORT TERM CONSULTANCY TO DEVELOP The COMFWB MEDIUM TERM strategic Plan 2026-2030”.
should be emailed to the following addresses:
jmasanche@comesa.int with a copy to comfwb@comesa.int
XXI.TECHNICAL QUERIES
Additional requests for information and clarifications can be made until 7 working days prior to deadline indicated in the paragraph 6 above, from:
The procuring entity: COMFWB Secretariat- Contact person: Head of Procurement
E-mail: jmasanche@comesa.int with a copy to comfwb@comesa.int
