Consultancy for Provision of Electronic Voucher Services, DanChurchAid (DCA)

1. Background

DCA has been supporting refugees and local communities in Kakuma and Kalobeyei with humanitarian assistance and long-term development aid since the early 1990s. DCA Kakuma programme supports a variety of sectors including agriculture, livelihoods, climate resilience, financial inclusion and youth empowerment , entrepreneurship and life skills development, value chain and market development, peace building and protection.

In Turkana West, DCA has been supporting the vulnerable households in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei settlement, and the surrounding host communities to engage in vegetable production and chicken farming for household food and nutrition security and income generation.

Previously, DCA has been providing assorted production inputs for selected households This was initially done in-kind. However since 2019, the organization has shifted to a more market-oriented approach which entails provision of technical support and issuing of paper based input vouchers to the project beneficiaries, who in turn present them to prequalified vendors to obtain the inputs. The input vendors are then paid by DCA for the value of inputs bought at their shops by the project beneficiaries. In 2022, DCA implemented an e-voucher for farm inputs intervention with a great degree of success and a rich variety of lessons for further improvement.

During the year 2022, DCA intends to continue using the e-voucher input model to deliver the required inputs to the project beneficiaries. Towards this end, DCA office in Kakuma invites qualified electronic input voucher service providers to express interest to partner with DCA in providing of the proposed service as detailed in this TOR.

2. Purpose & Objectives of the Consultancy

The purpose of this assignment is to procure an experienced electronic voucher service provider for the purpose of e-voucher supply and disbursement including management of the associated transactions for 550 project beneficiaries. Each beneficiary will receive two different categories of farm inputs from different vendors and will be required to redeem them within a period not exceeding one month. The e-voucher service provider will work jointly with DCA project team in ensuring seamless disbursement of e-vouchers to all the project beneficiaries.

The key objectives of the assignment are:

• To supply and disburse e-vouchers to 550 project beneficiaries to facilitate acquisition of farm inputs.
• To manage all the transactions for the e-vouchers issued to the beneficiaries.
• Induct/ orient DCA project implementation team on the proposed e-voucher modalities.

3. Scope of Work

The consultant is expected to supply and disburse e-vouchers for the specified number of beneficiaries through an appropriate modality and ensure efficient management of all the processes involved in the delivery of the e-vouchers to the target beneficiaries including transaction management and reporting. This will include:

• Proposing to DCA the most appropriate e-voucher product that is suitable for the project beneficiaries considering the context of the project.
• Recommending to DCA the most appropriate modality for supply and disbursement of e-vouchers to the project beneficiaries.
• Production and supply and disbursement of the DCA approved e-vouchers to facilitate farm input acquisition by the project beneficiaries.
• Orientation of the DCA project staff on the implementation of the proposed e-voucher modality.

4. Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the specified number of e-vouchers and ensure efficient management of all the related transactions. The deliverables for this assignment will be;

• E-vouchers supplied and disbursed to the 550 project beneficiaries.
• DCA project staff well oriented /inducted on the implementation of the proposed e-voucher modality.
• A report detailing all the e-voucher transactions undertaken by the service provider.

5. Time Frame

It is projected that the proposed assignment as highlighted above will be conducted in a phased approach between 1^st April and 31^st August 2022.

6. Minimum Standards and Mechanism for the transfer

i) E-voucher Management System: Potential e-voucher service provider should demonstrate the ability of their systems to support e-voucher disbursements and management in a secure and reliable manner.

ii) Delivery Processes: The e-voucher service provider must ensure that the e-vouchers are delivered in the most convenient, timely and cost effective manner.

iii) Accountability and Transparency: The e-voucher service provider should facilitate accountability and transparency throughout the voucher disbursement and management providing regular transaction reports to DCA that will be used for monitoring.

iv) Safety and Security: The e-voucher service provider should demonstrate evidence of how their systems will deal with safety, privacy and security of the beneficiary data including all the e-voucher transactions.

v) Dedicated Service: The e-voucher service provider should have a dedicated service focal point for DCA in the day to day and overall management of the e-voucher including responding to questions, troubleshooting and resolving any challenges within a reasonable timeframe, whenever they arise.

vi) Feedback Mechanism: The e-voucher service provider should have a system for proactive feedback sharing throughout the process.

vii) Internal Control and Fraud Prevention: The e-voucher service provider must have appropriate mechanism for internal control and fraud prevention in place and should be well elaborated in the proposal.

7. Organization and Management of the assignment.

DCA will provide will identify and mobilize all the target project beneficiaries and provide the funds required for the e-voucher transactions. In addition, DCA will bear the following responsibilities:

i. Identify and mobilize the project team for induction/orientation on the proposed e-voucher intervention.

ii. Facilitate the service provider with the relevant beneficiary data taking into consideration the requirements for data protection.

iii. Identify and contract the input vendors from within the project location.

iv. Create awareness on feedback and DCA complaints mechanism, and anti-corruption.

8. Qualifications for the e-voucher Service Provider

• Must be a recognized legal entity with extensive experience in e-voucher interventions especially in Kenya’s agricultural sector.
• Must have proven experience in administration and management of e-vouchers.
• Must have a robust technological capacity to effectively and efficiently service the proposed number of beneficiaries with high degree of reliability and personal data security.
• Adequate proven compliance with the industry statutory requirements in Kenya.

9. Structure of the Proposal and Submission Guidelines

All expressions of interest should include:

• Technical Proposal: Highlighting brief profile of the e-voucher service provider and evidence of previous experience in this kind of work, understanding of the TOR and the tasks to be accomplished including the proposed workplan and any evidence of a similar assignment.
• Financial Proposal: The financial proposal should provide cost estimates for services to be rendered in the context of this ToR.

Contact persons: Patrick Kibuku, DCA Head of Program (HoP) – Kenya. Email: patrick.kenya@dca.dk