VILLAGE PROJECT COST ANALYSIS CONSULTANT

TERMS OF REFERENCE

ABOUT SPARK MICROGRANTS

Spark Microgrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. Spark has pioneered a poverty alleviation model in East Africa that draws on evidence from ultra poor graduation and community-driven development approaches, known as the facilitated collective action process (FCAP). The FCAP combines a cash grant plus facilitated community meetings and trainings to catalyze improved livelihoods, stronger social cohesion, and gender and social inclusion. Spark is partnering with NGO and Government partners to scale adoption and impacts for rural communities - on their own terms. Read more about our Approach , Impact and Values on our website .

BACKGROUND

Spark Microgrants is preparing to implement a local governance and development pilot in Malawi this year. Under this pilot, villages will receive block grants of approximately USD 16,000 (MWK 28 million) to finance community-selected subprojects identified through Village Action Plans (VAPs). Villages will be responsible for directly implementing their selected subproject and usually do so through a combination of local procurement and own labor and select contracting for specialized services.

These subprojects are expected to include:

Small-scale irrigation schemes

Greenhouses

Micro-enterprises (e.g., maize mills, beekeeping)

Water points

Livestock rearing

Village savings and loan associations

The grant will be disbursed in two tranches, allowing communities to invest in two different projects over a two-year period. The value of each tranche is to be finalized, but has historically been set at a 60/40 split, equivalent to:

Grant 1: MWK 16.8 million

Grant 2: MWK 11.2 million

To validate whether this grant size is appropriate for the types of envisioned activities, Spark seeks to conduct a cost verification study to estimate the current market costs of implementing these types of subprojects at the village level.

SCOPE OF WORK

The objective of this assignment is to assess and validate the current costs of key village-level investments in the target districts, in order to determine whether the proposed total block grant and size of grant tranches are adequate. Using the study findings, Spark may revise the total amount of the grant and/or the amount of each tranche.

The consultant will collect recent and reliable cost data for the priority subproject types, including:

Irrigation schemes

Greenhouses

Micro-enterprises

Water points

Data should reflect realistic, village-level implementation costs, including materials, labor, and transport. The consultant will triangulate data from multiple sources, including:

Interviews with NGOs implementing similar projects

Consultations with communities that have recently completed similar investments

Review of Spark’s historical project cost data in Malawi

Quotations from suppliers, contractors, and service providers, using a range of small to larger providers

Relevant government departments (e.g., agriculture, water, livestock)

Spark will provide recent cost data, including detailed activity budgets, for i) livestock rearing and ii) village savings and loan associations, based on its implementation experience. The consultant should include these two subproject types in their analysis but are not required to collect additional data.

Geographic Coverage

Two target districts (Balaka and Dowa)

Within each district, collect multiple estimates to capture cost variation (e.g., remote vs. accessible areas)

Analysis

Provide cost ranges and averages for each subproject type, including breakdown of costs (e.g. materials, labour, specialised services)

Highlight key cost drivers (e.g., transport, input availability, seasonality, lead times or urgency of orders)

Identify any significant variation across and within locations

Include cost estimates and frequency of upkeep / maintenance of each subproject type

REQUIREMENTS

Demonstrated project management or procurement experience within rural development or infrastructure projects, including costing or budget management

Familiarity with Malawi context is required

Experience working with NGOs, government systems, or community-driven development programs

Strong analytical and report-writing skills

Experience with procurement and supply chain management preferred

Demonstrated experience in costing rural development or infrastructure projects preferred

Proposal Requirements

Interested consultants should submit:

Brief technical proposal (approach, methodology and timeline)

Relevant experience and/or examples of similar work

Financial proposal (lump sum or breakdown)

OTHER INFORMATION

• Job Location:
• Flexible, within Malawi

• Start and duration of support:
• Beginning as soon as possible and lasting between three to four weeks from contract start. The scope is envisioned to require a maximum of 15 working days.

Application end date : On a rolling basis, we reserve the right to close this recruitment process at any time.

Follow the Link to Apply: https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/careers/175

Schedule of Deliverables and Timelines

Deliverables Anticipated due date

Inception Note: End of week 1 - Brief methodology & work plan

Draft report: End of week 3. - cost estimated by subject type. - Data sources and methodology

Final Report End of week 4 -Revised cost estimates - Clear recommendations: . Adequacy of the block grant size . Potential adjustment (if needed) . Implication for project design

Cost Database ( annex with all collected data) End of week 4 - Structured dataset of all collected information and quotes