Request for proposals: Conduct a financial inclusion assessment and develop an advocacy strategy to improve women graduates’ access to small-scale financing at partner FDCs

Empowerment through Skills Program

Date RFP issued: 28 September 2026
Date RFP closes: 15 October 2026

Bids are to be returned by email to [email protected] on 15 October 2026 at 5.00 PM.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL RFP NOTICE HERE

Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is implementing the Empowerment through Skills Program (ESP) in Tanzania. The ESP is a 7-year program (2021-2028) implemented by CICan in close collaboration with the Tanzanian Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) through the Department of Technical and Vocational Training (DTVET). The ESP is funded by the Government of Canada.

ESP’s ultimate outcome is: Improved economic participation by women and adolescent girls in Tanzania. Refer to Annex 1 for an overview of the project and the list of partner Folk Development Colleges (FDC’s), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), and Canadian colleges & institutes.

A critical component of ESP’s success is the ability to strengthen FDCs capacity to provide comprehensive wrap-around services to attract, retain, graduate, and support the transition of female trainees into skilled employment in key economic sectors.

Despite acquiring technical and entrepreneurial skills, many women graduates face significant barriers in accessing financial services required to start or expand income-generating activities. These include limited financial literacy, lack of collateral, limited awareness of financing opportunities, restrictive lending conditions, and weak linkages between financial institutions and women entrepreneurs in targeted communities.

Short-term consultancy requirement

ESP seeks to engage a qualified consultant or consulting firm with demonstrated expertise in financial inclusion, small-scale financing, women’s economic empowerment and community-based financial services to assess the existing financing landscape and barriers affecting women graduates’ access to small-scale financing in selected districts where partner FDCs are located.

The assignment will involve reviewing and mapping available financing mechanisms, including Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), microfinance institutions, Village Community Banks (VICOBA) and other community-based financing initiatives, and assessing their accessibility, eligibility requirements, suitability, affordability and relevance to the needs of women graduates seeking to establish or expand income-generating activities.

Based on the assessment, the consultant will identify key barriers and opportunities and develop a practical financial inclusion advocacy strategy to improve women graduates’ awareness of access to and use of appropriate financing opportunities. The strategy will include practical advocacy and awareness-raising tools, training materials, referral pathways, and stakeholder engagement guidelines for use by FDCs, CBOs, and relevant community stakeholders.

The consultant will also strengthen the capacity of selected FDC and CBO staff to support women graduates to identify suitable financing opportunities, make informed financing decisions, engage with financial service providers and undertake financial inclusion advocacy and community engagement activities.

Given that Kiswahili is the primary language of instruction and communication in the partner FDCs and target communities, all training, awareness-raising and community engagement materials shall be developed in both English and Kiswahili, with training sessions delivered in Kiswahili. The consultancy firm must have personnel with excellent written and spoken proficiency in both languages.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified individual consultants or consultancy firms that meet the requirements outlined in this RFP.

This is an equal opportunity for qualified individuals or firms, firms owned or led by women are particularly encouraged to apply.

RFP outline

1. Key Tasks
2. Timelines and Deliverables
3. Qualifications, Experience and Attributes
4. Reporting
5. Duration
6. Submission Requirements

1) Key tasks

Note: The target beneficiaries of this consultancy under ESP are FDC and CBO staff who will support women graduates.

The consultant or consultancy firm will:

1. Engage with the CICan/ESP technical team to confirm the scope, methodology, target districts/FDCs, key stakeholders, assessment tools, consultation approach and implementation schedule.
2. Conduct a desk review of relevant ESP program documents, FDC programmes and relevant national policies, strategies and frameworks, including TVET and entrepreneurship policies, gender and women’s economic empowerment strategies, financial inclusion frameworks, and existing small-scale financing initiatives and schemes.
3. Undertake field-based consultations in at least three or four selected districts/FDC locations, as agreed with CICan/ESP, involving selected FDCs, CBOs, women graduates, financial service providers and relevant government and community stakeholders. The consultations will identify barriers faced by women graduates in accessing financing, assess demand for financing, map available financing mechanisms, assess eligibility requirements and accessibility, assess the suitability of available financing products to women graduates’ needs, identify referral opportunities and gaps, and document good practices and opportunities for stronger linkages.
4. Develop a practical mapping of relevant financial service providers and financing mechanisms in the 12 FDC regions, including SACCOs, microfinance institutions (MFIs), VICOBA groups, women’s financing groups, relevant government financing schemes and other appropriate financing opportunities. The mapping should include, where applicable, key eligibility requirements, financing products, application procedures, target beneficiaries, accessibility considerations and referral/contact information.
5. Develop a practical, gender-responsive Financial Inclusion Advocacy Strategy to improve women graduates’ awareness of, access to and linkages with appropriate small-scale financing opportunities. The strategy will include key advocacy messages, target audiences, stakeholder engagement approaches, referral pathways, awareness-raising tools, financial literacy materials, financing opportunity information sheets, stakeholder engagement guidelines, and guidance for FDC/CBO staff on adapting and using the developed tools.Note 1: The financial inclusion advocacy strategy must be prepared in both Kiswahili and English. The use of machine translation is strictly prohibited.
6. Develop a training plan and training materials in English and Kiswahili and submit them to CICan/ESP for review and approval prior to delivery of the training sessions.
7. Deliver three regional training sessions in Kiswahili to strengthen FDC and CBO staff capacity to support women graduates in accessing financing, provide basic financial literacy and financing information, make appropriate referrals, engage financial service providers and local government, conduct community awareness and advocacy, and use and adapt the developed advocacy tools.Note 2: All regional training sessions will be conducted in Kiswahili.Note 3: CICan/ESP will organize and cover participant travel costs, training logistics, and venue-related expenses. The consultant or consultancy firm will be responsible for arranging and invoicing their own travel expenses.
8. Incorporate CICan/ESP feedback and submit the final Financial Inclusion Advocacy Strategy, financial literacy and financing information materials, advocacy tools, stakeholder engagement guidelines, training plan and materials, and final consultancy report, including key findings, training outcomes, recommendations and supporting documentation.

2) Key deliverables and estimated timelines

1. Submission of a draft inception/work plan, including the proposed methodology, assessment and data collection tools, stakeholder engagement approach, consultation methodology, work schedule and proposed field visits to CICan/ESP by 30 November 2026.
2. CICan/ESP to provide consolidated feedback on the draft inception/work plan and assessment tools by 4 December 2026.
3. Submission of the final inception/work plan and assessment tools incorporating CICan/ESP feedback and approval by 9 December 2026.
4. Completion of the financial inclusion landscape assessment and field consultations, including financing mechanism and financial service provider mapping, stakeholder consultations, assessment of barriers and opportunities, and identification of potential referral pathways and linkages by 9th December 2026.
5. Submission of a findings report presenting key assessment findings, barriers faced by women graduates, financing opportunities, financing mechanism and stakeholder mapping, referral opportunities and gaps, good practices, and practical recommendations for strengthening access to financing by 4 January 2027.
6. Submission of the first draft Financial Inclusion Advocacy Strategy, including proposed advocacy approaches, key messages, target audiences, referral pathways, stakeholder engagement guidelines, financial literacy and financing information materials, and draft advocacy and awareness-raising tools by 15 January 2027.
7. CICan/ESP to provide consolidated feedback on the draft Financial Inclusion Advocacy Strategy and associated tools and materials by 29 January 2027.
8. Submission of the final Financial Inclusion Advocacy Strategy, training plan, training materials, financial literacy materials, financing opportunity information sheets, advocacy and awareness-raising tools, stakeholder engagement guidelines, and related referral tools, incorporating CICan/ESP feedback and approval by 12 February 2027.
9. Delivery of three regional capacity-building training sessions for FDC and CBO staff in accordance with the approved training plan by 12 March 2027.
10. Submission of the final consultancy report incorporating the assessment findings, strategy development process, training outcomes, key recommendations, activity reports, supporting documentation, approved timesheets and invoices by 31 March 2027.

3) Qualifications, experience and other attributes of the consultant or consultancy firm

Qualifications and experience

The consultant or consultancy firm experts will have:

Education

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Economics, Finance, Banking and Financial Services, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion, Community Development, Development Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Development, Public Policy, or another closely related discipline.
• A postgraduate qualification in a relevant field such as financial inclusion, finance, economics, gender and development, entrepreneurship, development studies, community development or a related discipline will be an added advantage.

Experience

• Demonstrated experience working with women entrepreneurs, women graduates, TVET institutions, FDCs, CBOs, or similar community-based development and training programmes, preferably in Tanzania.
• Demonstrated technical expertise and practical experience in financial inclusion and small-scale financing, including experience assessing barriers to financing, financing needs, eligibility requirements, accessibility of financing products, and opportunities for improving access to finance for women and other underserved groups.
• Demonstrated experience mapping financial service providers and financing mechanisms, including Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs), microfinance institutions, Village Community Banks (VICOBA) groups, women’s financing groups, government financing schemes and/or other community-based financing mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience of engaging and establishing linkages with financial service providers, government authorities, NGOs, CBOs and other relevant stakeholders to improve access to financing, referrals and financial services.
• Experience developing gender-responsive advocacy, awareness-raising and financial literacy materials, including advocacy strategies, financing opportunity information sheets, referral tools, stakeholder engagement guidelines, training materials or entrepreneurship/financial literacy curricula.
• Demonstrated experience conducting assessments/research, stakeholder consultations, training and capacity-building, including the ability to collect, analyze and translate findings into practical recommendations, tools and strategies.
• Strong understanding of Tanzania’s financial inclusion landscape, including relevant government financing initiatives, community-based financing mechanisms, financial service providers, and opportunities and barriers affecting women’s access to finance.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate gender-sensitive, inclusive and culturally appropriate approaches into assessments, advocacy strategies, training programmes and educational/community-facing materials.
• Experience working with FDCs or similar community-based training institutions will be an added advantage.
• Excellent spoken and written Kiswahili and English, with demonstrated ability to develop clear, accurate and context-appropriate materials in both languages. The consultant/consultancy firm should have the capacity to produce high-quality Kiswahili materials without relying on machine translation.
• Strong communication, facilitation and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex financial inclusion and financing concepts clearly to FDC/CBO staff, women graduates, financial service providers, government stakeholders and community audiences.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders and adapt training and communication approaches to different local and cultural contexts.
• Excellent Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills to include MS Teams, Zoom, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook / email.

Other preferred attributes

The consultant or consultancy firm will ideally be:

• Familiar with Gender Equality policies, procedures, and practices at the national level in Tanzania.
• Familiar with the education policies, procedures, and practices of the Government of Tanzania generally.
• Familiar with the policies, procedures and practices of CBOs, NGOs, and national women’s organizations in Tanzania.
• Familiar with the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals.
• Familiar with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), international development cooperation, and working with international organizations.

4) Reporting

• The consultant or consultancy firm will work under the direction of the Manager, International Programs and Partnerships, CICan or designate.
• The consultant or consultancy firm is expected to work with a high degree of independence and autonomy.

5) Duration and budget

• The expected duration of the consultancy is Six (6) months from the signing of the contract.
• Travel and communication costs will be reimbursed based on actuals.
• The total expected budget for the consultancy is not to exceed 75,000,000 TZS.
• All bids will be assessed on both technical and financial elements.

6) Submission requirements

Bids are to be returned by email to [email protected] by 15 October 2026 at 5.00 PM.

Subject line:
ESP RFP -FINANCIAL INCLUSION ASSESSMENT AND ADVOCACY STRATEGY TO IMPROVE WOMEN GRADUATES’ ACCESS TO SMALL-SCALE FINANCING AT PARTNER FDCs

Submissions should be limited to 10 pages and include the following documents:

1. Consultancy Firms must submit copies of a formally registered business license or NGO Certificate from the Government of Tanzania, proof of conducting operations in Tanzania for a period of at least 3 years, proof of payment of taxes, and tax clearance for 2 years. These documents can be submitted as an annex and are not counted as part of the 10-page limit. Notarized copies will be required before a contract is awarded.
2. Relevant experience and qualifications of the consultant or consultancy firm including samples of verifiable previous work (2 pages maximum).
3. CVs of the consulting team members that will be responsible for the fulfilling the mandate (2 pages each maximum).
4. Proposed workplan and methodology for accomplishing the Key Tasks outlined in Part 1 (4 pages maximum).
5. Proposed budget with detailed costs; Please download and save a copy of the budget template at the link here:DRAFT_Budget_Template_Small_Scale_Financing_Support_to_Graduates.xlsx

Annex 1

Overview of the Empowerment through Skills Program

Program description

The Empowerment through Skills Program (ESP) is a 7-year program (2021-2028) implemented by Colleges and Institutes Canada in close collaboration with Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST) through the Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training. The ESP is funded by the Government of Canada.

ESP’s Ultimate Outcome is improved economic participation by women and adolescent girls in Tanzania. The ESP will strengthen alternative pathways to education, employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship for women and adolescent girls. Working with Folk Development Colleges (FDCs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in 12 communities across Tanzania, ESP aims to increase rates of participation among women and adolescent girls in skills training programs and improve access to business, skills, and gender and human rights training in their communities. The Program will also expand opportunities in the informal and formal sectors through post-training support to transition to employment or self-employment.

Program reach

Through an inclusive and participatory approach with the key stakeholders, MOEST, FDCs, CBOs, and with the support of key community leaders to influence social change, the ESP will work with 12 selected FDCs and 12 selected CBOs to:

• Establish a network of gender teams and female mentors.
• Engage local communities in gender equality awareness raising activities on the benefits of women’s education and economic empowerment.
• Provide partner FDCs and CBOs with sustainable capacity building training in gender equality, human rights, pedagogy and andragogy, environmental sustainability, CBET, leadership, guidance and career counselling, occupational health and safety, marketing / recruitment, information and communication technology, labour market assessment, and demand driven program design and delivery.
• Develop and deliver short gender responsive, environmentally sensitive and demand driven skills programs specifically targeting women and adolescent girls at the partner FDCs.
• Develop and deliver short gender and environmentally sensitive and demand driven skills training activities at the partner CBOs targeting women’s organizations and the community.
• Review program content and teaching methods to better integrate gender equality and human rights.
• Support the Elimu Haina Mwisho (Education without End) and the Early Child Development programs with teaching and learning resources.
• Ensure there are appropriate support services for women and adolescent girl students, especially young mothers at the partner FDCs.

Partnerships

The ESP supports six partnerships between Tanzanian FDCs and CBOs, in collaboration with 17 Canadian colleges. The partnership information appears in the tables on pages 9 and 10 of the RFP.

ESP 1

Mto wa Mbu

• Partner FDC: Mto wa Mbu
• Partner CBO: International Collaborative for Science, Education and the Environment (ICSEE) / Maasai Stoves
• Partner Canadian colleges:
  • Nova Scotia Community College
  • North Island College
  • Saskatchewan Polytechnic
• District: Monduli
• Region: Arusha

Kilwa Masoko

• Partner FDC: Kilwa Masoko
• Partner CBO: Tumaini Jipya la Wanawake Kilwa (TUJIWAKI)
• District: Kilwa
• Region: Lindi

ESP 2

Tarime

• Partner FDC: Tarime
• Partner CBO: Mara Development Organization (MADEO)
• Partner Canadian colleges:
  • Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology
  • Cégep Trois-Rivieres
  • Cégep de Chicoutimi
• District: Tarime
• Region: Mara

Singida

• Partner FDC: Singida
• Partner CBO: Sauti ya Pamoja ya Wanawake (SAPAWA)
• District: Singida
• Region: Singida

ESP 3

Mwanhala

• Partner FDC: Mwanhala
• Partner CBO: Christian Education and Development Organization (CEDO)
• Partner Canadian colleges:
  • College of the North Atlantic
  • NorQuest College
  • Canadore College of Applied Arts and Technology
• District: Nzega
• Region: Tabora

Rubondo

• Partner FDC: Rubondo
• Partner CBO: Tumaini Orphan Support Organisation (TOSO)
• District: Biharamulo
• Region: Kagera

ESP 4

Kiwanda

• Partner FDC: Kiwanda
• Partner CBO: Zigi Community Stability and Development (ZICOSAD)
• Partner Canadian colleges:
  • Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
  • Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
  • Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick
• District: Muheza
• Region: Tanga

Kasulu

• Partner FDC: Kasulu
• Partner CBO: Kituo cha Taarifa Na Maarifa
• District: Kasulu
• Region: Kigoma

ESP 5

Munguri

• Partner FDC: Munguri
• Partner CBO: Justice in the Society for Transformative Change
• Partner Canadian colleges:
  • Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
  • Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology
• District: Kondoa
• Region: Dodoma

Bigwa

• Partner FDC: Bigwa
• Partner CBO: Young Strong Mothers Foundation
• District: Morogoro
• Region: Morogoro

ESP 6

Msaginya

• Partner FDC: Msaginya
• Partner CBO: Tuelimike
• Partner Canadian colleges:
  • Durham College of Applied Arts and Technology
  • Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology
• District: Mpanda
• Region: Katavi

Njombe

• Partner FDC: Njombe
• Partner CBO: Community Concern of Orphans and Development Association (COCODA)
• District: Njombe
• Region: Njombe

Program targets

It is projected that ESP will result in several lasting, sustainable, and scalable impacts.

The Program targets for the 12 partner CBOs are:

• A total of 480 women and adolescent girls will complete short gender sensitive skills training activities offered by the CBOs in the communities.
• A total of 36 (24F) volunteers and staff from 12 CBOs will be trained on technical and/or pedagogical skills and on delivering gender equality and human rights modules.
• A total of 2,400 (1,200F) community members will participate in gender equality and human rights awareness activities.

The Program targets for the 12 partner FDCs are:

• A total of 720 women and adolescent girls will graduate from the gender responsive short programs developed under ESP.
• A total of 180 (60F) staff will be trained on technical and/or pedagogical skills and on delivering the gender equality and human rights modules.
• A total of 3,200 (1,000F) students will participate in gender equality and human rights awareness activities.

=====

RFQ/Tender Information and Attachments

For comprehensive information regarding this RFQ/tender, we invite you to download the attachments provided below. These documents contain all the necessary details, including specifications, requirements, and submission guidelines. Please review them carefully to ensure you have all the pertinent information needed to participate.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL TENDER NOTICE HERE

READ ALSO: All Tenders and  JOBS IN TANZANIA

Check all:  JOBS IN TANZANIA