Expression of Interest For Profitability Assessment And Value Chain Opportunity Scan

Expression of Interest for Gambia: Profitability Assessment and Value Chain Opportunity Scan. Publication Date: 07/16/2026 12:00 AM EDT EOI Deadline: 07/28/2026 11:59 PM EDT Description: The Government of The Gambia, with support from the World Bank under the Resilience, Inclusion, Skills, and Equity (RISE) Project, is implementing the Productive Economic Inclusion (PEI) program through the Department of Community Development (DCD). The PEI program provides a package of support to poor and vulnerable households, combining livelihood grants, business skills training, coaching, and Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) membership, with the objective of enabling beneficiaries - predominantly women to establish or strengthen income-generating activities (IGAs) and increase their household incomes. Following a successful pilot in three districts reaching 950 beneficiaries, the program is scaling to a first cohort of 3,420 beneficiaries across 12 districts, with a second cohort of 5,580 beneficiaries planned for January 2027. A critical bottleneck emerging from pilot data is the high concentration of female beneficiaries in low-return activities, particularly petty trading and food vending, with female petty trading rates as high as 81% in some districts compared to 418% for male beneficiaries. This pattern reflects a combination of risk aversion, limited access to market information, and the absence of systematic evidence on higher-return alternatives. To address this bottleneck ahead of the second scale-up cohort, the RISE Project with funding from a Just-in-Time Grant from the Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI) will commission an integrated operational research assignment covering two areas: (i) an IGA profitability assessment; and (ii) a productive inclusion stocktaking and value chain opportunity scan. The findings are intended to inform DCD coaches and program designers in guiding beneficiaries toward higher-return and more diversified livelihood options. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/7113/view.html