Tenders Are Invited For Consultancy For The Documentation, Validation And Institutionalization Of The Trepa/Cordaid Savings Group Model

Tenders are invited for Consultancy for the Documentation, Validation and Institutionalization of the TREPA/Cordaid Savings Group Model. Location: kigali Deadline: Friday, 07/08/2026 23:59 Background 1.1. About Cordaid Cordaid is an international humanitarian and development organization headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, with more than a century of experience supporting communities affected by poverty, conflict, inequality, and climate change. Working in partnership with governments, civil society, the private sector, and local institutions, Cordaid promotes resilient communities through sustainable livelihoods, climate resilience, inclusive economic development, and institutional strengthening. In Rwanda, Cordaid has been a long-standing development partner, working closely with the Government of Rwanda, development partners, financial institutions, farmer organizations, and private sector actors to advance climate resilience and financial inclusion. Its programmes focus on strengthening agricultural value chains, expanding access to climate-responsive financial services, supporting enterprise development, and improving the livelihoods of rural households. Under the Transforming Eastern Province through Adaptation (TREPA) Project financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and led by IUCN, Cordaid is responsible for implementingOutput 2.3; Enhanced Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance. Through this output, Cordaid supports Savings Groups, farmer organizations, and financial institutions to strengthen financial literacy, mobilize savings, improve access to climate-sensitive financial products, and promote sustainable investments that enhance the resilience of vulnerable farming households. As TREPA enters its final year of implementation, Cordaid seeks to document and validate the experience gained through its Savings Group intervention by consolidating the approaches, tools, implementation processes, lessons learned, and good practices developed throughout the project into a comprehensive TREPA/Cordaid Savings Group Model as it was implemented through TREPA Project. The validated model will serve as an institutional knowledge product to support organizational learning, promote consistency in future programming, and facilitate the replication and scaling of effective community-based financial inclusion approaches. 1.2. About the TREPA Project The Transforming Eastern Province through Adaptation (TREPA) Project is a six-year climate adaptation programme financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in partnership with Cordaid, CIFOR-ICRAF, Rwanda Forestry Authority (RFA), and World Vision Rwanda, in close collaboration with the Government of Rwanda. The project is implemented across the seven districts of Rwandas Eastern Province: Bugesera, Gatsibo, Kayonza, Kirehe, Ngoma, Nyagatare, and Rwamagana. TREPA was established to address the increasing vulnerability of Eastern Province to climate change, including prolonged droughts, declining agricultural productivity, land degradation, and increasing pressure on natural resources. These challenges continue to threaten the livelihoods of predominantly smallholder farming households whose livelihoods depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture. The project therefore adopts an integrated landscape restoration approach that combines ecosystem restoration, climate-smart agriculture, resilient market systems, and financial inclusion to strengthen the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities. The overall objective of TREPA is to contribute to a paradigm shift from degraded and climate-vulnerable landscapes towards resilient, productive, and sustainably managed landscapes that improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers while enhancing their capacity to adapt to climate change. The project seeks to achieve this by integrating ecosystem restoration, climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable value chain development, improved access to finance, and strengthened institutional capacity into a comprehensive landscape restoration approach. To achieve this objective, TREPA is structured around three mutually reinforcing components: Component 1: Restored landscapes that support climate-resilient agroecological systems and livelihoods. Component 2: Climate-resilient market development and supply chains that incentivize public and private investments in forests, rangelands, agroforestry, and sustainable agricultural enterprises. Component 3: Strengthened national and local institutional capacity and cross-sectoral coordination to mainstream climate resilience into land management and development planning. Within this framework, Cordaid leads the implementation of Output 2.3 Enhanced Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance, which focuses on strengthening inclusive financial systems that enable smallholder farmers, women, youth, producer organizations, and rural enterprises to invest in climate-resilient livelihoods. The output promotes financial education, Savings Group development, savings mobilization, linkages with formal financial institutions, climate-sensitive financial products development, small and medium enterprise development and digital financial innovations to improve financial inclusion and resilience among vulnerable rural households. Since the beginning of implementation, the Savings Group intervention has become one of TREPAs flagship community-based financial inclusion approaches. Through continuous implementation, learning, adaptation, and collaboration with communities and partners, the project has generated extensive practical experience, implementation tools, facilitation methodologies, monitoring systems, innovations, and lessons learned that collectively represent a mature and well-tested approach to Savings Group programming. As TREPA enters its final year of implementation, there is a strategic opportunity to systematically document, consolidate, and validate this implementation experience into a comprehensive TREPA/Cordaid Savings Group Model. The consultancy will document and organize the approaches, implementation standards, operational processes, lessons learned, innovations, and good practices that have evolved throughout the implementation of the project. The validated model will serve as an institutional knowledge product that preserves TREPAs implementation experience, strengthens organizational learning, promotes consistency in future programming, and provides a practical reference for replication and scaling by Cordaid and other development partners 1.3. Background to Output 2.3-Enhanced Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance Output 2.3 of the Transforming Eastern Province through Adaptation (TREPA) Project seeks to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers by improving financial inclusion and facilitating sustainable investments in climate-resilient agricultural value chains. Recognizing that limited access to appropriate financial services is a major barrier to climate adaptation, the project supports inclusive financial systems that respond to the needs of farmers, women, youth, and producer organizations. The project addresses key constraints identified during project design, including limited financial literacy, inadequate access to agricultural finance, weak farmer organizations, and the lack of climate-responsive financial products. To address these challenges, Cordaid has implemented a comprehensive financial inclusion approach that combines financial education, Savings Group formation and strengthening, savings mobilization, linkages to formal financial institutions, development of climate-sensitive financial products, digital agricultural credit assessment tools (A-CAT), and investment facilitation for climate-resilient enterprises. These interventions have strengthened collaboration between communities, producer organizations, financial institutions, government agencies, and private sector actors, contributing to improved access to finance and increased adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Over the course of implementation, the TREPA Savings Group intervention has evolved into a well-established community-based financial inclusion approach. Through continuous implementation, learning, and adaptation, the project has generated valuable experience, practical tools, implementation processes, innovations, and lessons that have contributed to improved financial resilience, womens economic empowerment, enterprise development, and stronger linkages between rural communities and formal financial institutions. As TREPA enters its final year of implementation, there is a strategic opportunity to consolidate and preserve this accumulated knowledge. Cordaid therefore seeks to document and validate the TREPA/Cordaid Savings Group Model by systematically capturing the interventions implementation approach, methodologies, operational processes, tools, lessons learned, innovations, and best practices. The validated model will serve as an institutional knowledge product to support organizational learning, guide future programming, facilitate replication and scaling, and contribute to national efforts to strengthen community-based financial inclusion and climate resilience in Rwanda. 2. Consultancy Purpose The purpose of this consultancy is to systematically document, consolidate, and validate the TREPA/Cordaid Savings Group Model, drawing on the knowledge, experience, and lessons generated through the implementation of Output 2.3-Enhanced Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance under the TREPA Project. The consultancy will synthesize the projects implementation experience into a comprehensive institutional knowledge product that articulates the Savings Group approach, including its guiding principles, implementation methodology, operational processes, facil Tender Link : https://www.jobinrwanda.com/job/terms-reference-torconsultancy-documentation-validation-and-institutionalization-trepacordaid