Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community. 

Global Communities has been a leading force in the cooperative development movement since 1952. Global Communities has since broadened its expertise and geographic scope to provide individuals and communities around the world with the necessary tools to improve their lives. In doing so, Global Communities employs flexible strategies for catalyzing business cooperation, which are attentive to the unique social and economic priorities within each community within which we work and responsive to the opportunities in their respective market contexts. 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Cooperative Leadership Engagement and Research (CLEAR) Kenya program is a part of the larger USAID Cooperative Development Program (CDP). The CDP seeks to strengthen cooperative business performance, improve cooperative enabling environments, and enhance the development community’s support to cooperatives. CLEAR began operations on August 15, 2018, and continues through August 14, 2024. CLEAR’s total budget is over $7,901,218. USAID awarded Global Communities a 1-year no-cost extension August 2023 – 2024 due to delays related to COVID-19. The purpose of the CLEAR Kenya Program is to foster sustainable cooperative systems that deliver value to their members and serve their communities.

Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community. 

The CLEAR Program has three intermediate results (IRs) built on the foundation of a stronger, more connected Kenyan cooperative sector:

1. Improving cooperative business enabling environments through policy legislative and regulatory reforms in counties;
2. Improving cooperative business performance through tailored capacity building in governance, management, financial oversight, product/service marketing; and

• Facilitating a more supportive and enabling cooperative development community. The EMIRGE project catalyzed early-stage economic cooperation by responding to local market-based incentives and strengthening groups to develop a member-driven agenda. Through capacity building and mentorship, EMIRGE gradually observed the strengthening of social capital and organizational capacity to advance group enterprises.

The Global Communities Cooperative Development team actively coordinated and worked in Kenya and globally to design, test, and document innovative approaches to cooperative development, enhancing effectiveness while piloting methods for broader use. To achieve this, CLEAR channeled the expertise of internal and external specialists in the fields of economic development, organizational development, knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation and cooperative legal reform. 

Kenya

Kenya is often named as the strongest cooperative economy in Africa. Despite this, Kenyan cooperatives continue to face many challenges including an evolving political environment due to the devolution of cooperative regulations to the county governments that is creating a disconnect between important cooperative service providers and cooperative development organizations. Also, political turnover poses challenges of institutional memory and continuity of partnerships. New leadership at the national and county levels affected implementation of program work plan and activities. In addition, Kenya’s workforce is challenged by its large youth population – more than 50% of Kenya’s population is below 35. Many youths experience low pay, limited hours, or unemployment and, as in many countries, youth are not interested in agricultural labor.

The worker cooperative model, a primary focus of the CLEAR program, provides an opportunity for urban non-agricultural cooperatives, which can provide employment opportunities for youth. That said, the worker cooperative model was not well understood in Kenya making registration challenging.

Throughout the CLEAR program, CLEAR has been implemented through two major environment changes. The first being an ongoing debate regarding national cooperative policy and the process of devolution. In 2010, Kenya began the process of devolution which would give the cooperative policy mandate to individual counties, among other responsibilities. This process has been long and difficult. The national government however, embarked on the review of the national cooperative policy and bill, leaving counties on a go-slow progress in their own county cooperative legislations as they waited to see the direction the national cooperative frameworks would take. This national cooperative bill was approved by the last cabinet and has been re-introduced to the new cabinet for information and ownership ahead of transmission to parliament for debate. CLEAR IR One supports counties in developing the policies necessary to effectively govern cooperatives. Despite having devolved the cooperative responsibilities to the counties, the national government has retained some functions like cooperative registration as well as other cooperative policies.

Cooperatives in Kenya are also challenged by many other obstacles. CLEAR supported Worker Cooperatives are challenged by low levels of understanding about the Worker model by service providers and the government. This results in challenges in registration and receiving needed extension services, which were supported by the project under objective 2. CLEAR cooperatives are newly formed businesses, and many have young members, which is a benefit as well as a challenge. Cooperatives in Kenya, as in many places, also struggle accessing loans and competing in the market. The project also endeavored to improve gender equity in membership and leadership through the Good Governance and Gender Equity guide.

Guatemala

CLEAR conducted a research engagement in Guatemala on social capital and resilience. This study built on research previously conducted in Uganda and Kenya. The study collected data from multiple neighborhoods and communities in the Guatemala City and Huehuetenango departments.

Objective

The objective of this consultancy is to support the CLEAR team to brainstorm, write, and edit a thoughtful, detailed, and learning focused document that presents a succinct retrospective and provides the key lessons learned from 2018-2024. This document is intended to be high quality, visually engaging, and meets the standards of the donor, USAID.

Scope of this Assignment

Global Communities will complete the CDP program cycle in August 2024 including activities conducted in Kenya, Guatemala, and the US. The program has developed a body of knowledge and research that must be creatively yet succinctly organized to create a set of lessons that can empower cooperative programming in the future, within Global Communities, and provide concrete lessons for new practitioners.

The Final Report should be easy to read and digest, highlight project achievements, and demonstrate lessons learned to be applied to future projects or the cooperative development sector at large. The report should include graphics and visual demonstrations where appropriate. A graphic designer will be engaged to support the final design process, the consultant will work with the designer as needed in the final stages.

This assignment envisions the following:

• Review of key CLEAR deliverables, research, and creative products to identify aspects to highlight in final report;
• Lead CLEAR team in a brainstorming and design workshop to gather information, identify achievements to highlight, and validate key lessons learned;
• Develop final report outline;
• Write or co-write sections of the report in collaboration with technical team; ensure final copy has a unified voice throughout;
• Iterative editing of materials as they are developed including final edit of full document; Revisions following review and feedback from GC technical director and USAID;
• Work with graphic designer (to be engaged by Global Communities) as needed on final designed version. Provide edits before submission of final draft to graphic designer.

Documents for Review:

• CLEAR Annual Work Plans
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan
• Cooperative Performance Index Report
• Semi-Annual & Annual Reports
• Activity Reports
• Program research findings and reports
• Program publications & learning deliverables

Illustrative Final Report Outline:

• ​​Executive Summary
• ​Project Snapshot
• ​Kenya Snapshot
• Guatemala Snapshot
• Project Objectives & ​Approaches
• ​​Summary of Project Implementation by Geography
• Partners, Sub-Awards, and Stakeholders
• ​Research, Evidence Based Analysis, and Iterative Tool Development
• Tools & Curriculums
• ​​​Key Themes & Lessons Learned
• ​​​Client & Partner Feedback
• ​Monitoring and Evaluation
• ​​Conclusion & Recommendations
• ​​Annexes

Deliverables

• Lead Brainstorm/Design Workshop with CLEAR team
• Outline of Final Report
• Draft Final Report: Provision of critiques, edits, and revisions as necessary to drafts
• Final Report: Final version prepared for submission to USAID

Expected Timelines

• A Master's degree in relevant discipline and 0-2 years of experience or a Bachelor’s degree in relevant discipline and a minimum of 2-5 years of experience. Experience in economic development or related field, knowledge of Cooperative Development theories preferred.
• Knowledge of USAID reporting.
• Advanced Microsoft Word proficiency
• Experience in report writing or editing, working in large documents with multiple contributors, graphics, and charts preferred.

Application/Proposal Instructions

• Interested consultants must submit their proposals, in electronic format (via email to Ashley Holst at aholst@globalcommunities.org. Proposals must be received no later than April 14, 2024 at 5:00 PM EDT.
• Proposals should include CV(s), brief workplan, technical proposal including methodology and approach (1 to 2 pages) and budget. If you are applying as an individual, please submit your CV.
• Applicants are advised that this solicitation does not in any way obligate Global Communities to award a contract or compensate responding firms or individuals or compensate or individuals for costs associated with the preparation and submission of their proposals.