Introduction Plan International strives to advance children’s rights and equality for girls all over the world. As an independent development and humanitarian organization, we work alongside children, young people, our supporters and partners to tackle the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national, and global levels using our reach, experience, and knowledge. For over 80 years, we have been building powerful partnerships for children, and we are active in over 75 countries.
Plan International Nigeria is part of the global federation of Plan International and was registered in Nigeria in 2014. Plan International has five thematic areas which define our work, influencing priorities and partnerships. These are Education, Economic Empowerment, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Health Nutrition and WASH; and Protection, with Youth Leadership, Climate Change and Gender as cross-cutting areas.
As the organisation continues to expand its portfolio and respond to increasingly complex development and humanitarian challenges, the demand for specialised MERL expertise has grown significantly. Assignments requiring external expertise include baseline studies, evaluations, operational research, humanitarian assessments, learning reviews, outcome harvesting, knowledge management products and strategic evidence generation. To improve responsiveness while maintaining technical quality and compliance with procurement requirements, Plan International Nigeria intends to establish a pre-qualified roster of MERL consultants comprising both individual consultants and consulting firms with demonstrated expertise across multiple technical disciplines.
Purpose of the Scope of Work
The purpose of this Scope of Work is to establish a roster of highly qualified Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) consultants who can provide specialised technical services to Plan International Nigeria on an as-needed basis. The roster will serve as a mechanism for rapidly identifying and engaging consultants with the appropriate expertise for specific assignments while ensuring transparency, fairness, value for money and compliance with Plan International Nigeria's procurement policies.
Selection into the roster does not constitute a contract or guarantee of future work. Rather, it signifies that the consultant has met the minimum technical and professional requirements required to compete for future assignments through a streamlined call-down process.
Objectives of the Consultant Roster
The specific objectives of establishing the MERL Consultant roster are to:
- Establish a pool of highly competent consultants capable of delivering high-quality MERL assignments across Plan International Nigeria's programme portfolio.
- Reduce procurement lead times while maintaining transparency, competition and value for money.
- Improve the quality, consistency and credibility of evaluations, research and learning products commissioned by Plan International Nigeria.
- Strengthen organisational learning through access to specialists in evaluation, research, outcome harvesting and knowledge management.
- Improve the utilisation of evaluation findings by ensuring consultants generate actionable recommendations and high-quality knowledge products.
- Enhance technical support available to country, regional and project teams across development and humanitarian programming.
- Promote innovation in MERL through access to consultants experienced in adaptive and participatory evaluation methodologies.
- Build a long-term network of trusted technical experts capable of supporting Plan International Nigeria's evolving evidence needs.
Scope of Services
Consultants on the roster will be eligible for a broad range of MERL assignments, potentially spanning both development and humanitarian contexts. While the exact scope of each assignment will be defined in a specific Terms of Reference (ToR) when the assignment arises, the typical services and activities consultants in the roster may be requested to deliver include:
- Evaluation Studies: Baseline studies, Midline evaluations, Endline evaluations, Final project evaluations, Country Strategy evaluations, Thematic evaluations, Meta-evaluations, Real-time evaluations, Process evaluations, Performance evaluations, Impact evaluations, Cost-effectiveness and value-for-money studies. Assignments should be designed in accordance with internationally recognised evaluation standards, including the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria where applicable
- Research Services: Consultants may be required to undertake Operational research, Formative research, Applied research, Behavioural and social research, Mixed-methods research, Policy research, Institutional assessments, Barrier analyses, Market assessments, Gender analyses, Political economy analyses, Conflict analyses, Social inclusion studies, Situation analyses, Rapid evidence assessments, Literature reviews, Secondary data analyses
- Humanitarian Assessments: Multi-sector needs assessments, Rapid needs assessments, Emergency response evaluations, Humanitarian situation analyses, Post-distribution monitoring, Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) assessments, Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) evaluations, Recovery assessments, Resilience assessments
- Learning and Adaptive Management: Outcome Harvesting, Outcome Mapping, Most Significant Change (MSC), Developmental Evaluation, Contribution Analysis, Process Tracing, Learning Reviews, Reflection Workshops, After-Action Reviews, Pause-and-Reflect Sessions, Adaptive Management Reviews, Learning Agenda Development
- Monitoring System Strengthening: Development of monitoring frameworks, Indicator development and refinement, Theory of Change development, Logical Framework development, Results Framework development, Data Quality Assessments (DQAs), Digital data collection system design, Dashboard development, Routine monitoring system reviews, Capacity assessments, MERL capacity strengthening
- Knowledge Management and Evidence Products: Beyond conducting studies, consultants may be required to transform evidence into products suitable for different audiences. These may include: Technical reports, Policy briefs, Learning briefs, Research papers, Evidence summaries, Case studies, Success stories, Infographics, Donor briefing papers, Communication materials based on research findings
- Consultants must have demonstrated experience integrating gender-transformative, child-centered and youth-led approaches into research, evaluation and learning processes.
Note: Each specific assignment will be governed by its own detailed ToR and possibly an individual contract, which will stipulate the precise scope, deliverables, timeline, and any specialized requirements. The above list illustrates the typical range of tasks that fall under the roster’s remit, indicating the breadth of expertise that consultants should possess
Competency Areas
To ensure assignments are matched with appropriate expertise, consultants will be pre-qualified under one or more technical competency areas. Applicants may apply under multiple categories where they can demonstrate the required experience.
Category A: Evaluation Specialists
Specialists capable of designing and leading: Baseline studies, Midline evaluations, Endline evaluations, Performance evaluations, Impact evaluations, Country Strategy evaluations, Multi-project evaluations
Category B: Research Specialists
Experts in qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research capable of conducting operational, applied and policy-oriented studies.
Category C: Learning and Outcome Harvesting Specialists
Specialists with demonstrated expertise in Outcome Harvesting, Outcome Mapping, Most Significant Change, Developmental Evaluation, Contribution Analysis, Learning facilitation, Knowledge capture, Adaptive programming
Category D: Humanitarian MERL Specialists
Professionals experienced in humanitarian contexts including emergency assessments, humanitarian performance monitoring & evaluations, conflict-sensitive programming and accountability to affected populations, anticipatory action, humanitarian development & peace nexus programming
Category E: Data Analytics and Digital MERL Specialists
Experts in Statistical analysis, Data visualization, GIS, Dashboard development, Power B, R, Python, SPSS, STATA, KoboToolbox, ODK, SurveyCTO
Category F: Gender, Inclusion and Child Rights Specialists
Experts with demonstrated experience in gender-transformative analysis, Child rights programming, disability inclusion assessments, safeguarding audits and assessments, protection research, social norms analysis etc
Category G: Knowledge Management and Learning Specialists
Experts in synthesising evidence into accessible products including policy briefs, learning papers, donor reports, executive summaries and organisational learning products.
Engagement and Selection Process
Plan International Nigeria will use a structured yet flexible process to establish and utilise the consultant roster:
- Roster Creation / Prequalification: An open call for expressions of interest will be advertised to invite qualified consultants (individuals and firms) to apply for inclusion in the MERL consultancy roster. Applicants will undergo a competitive vetting process evaluating their technical expertise, relevant experience, capacity, and references. Only candidates meeting the predefined criteria and quality standards will be pre-qualified and admitted to the roster. The outcome will be a vetted roster of consultants across various specialties.
Assignment Call-Down (Direct Competitive Selection): When...