Call for tenders – Mandate for capacity building of volunteer cooperators in co-creation and co-experimentation in terms of innovation At SUCO

1. CONTEXT AND MANDATE ABOUT SUCO

SUCO is an international cooperation organization established in Montreal since 1961. It brings together people, knowledge and resources to strengthen the autonomy of people, organizations and communities and to concretely improve their social, economic and environmental conditions. Currently SUCO works in Canada, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru and Senegal.
Faced with the urgency of a real ecological transition, SUCO intervenes on several crucial issues. As rural populations are particularly vulnerable, SUCO works to increase their resilience to climate change through concrete and innovative solutions. It also supports the development of viable food systems, capable of meeting human nutritional and economic needs, while respecting ecosystems.
With the aim of equality and sustainability of change, SUCO addresses the reality of women in a differentiated way and builds, with them, adapted solutions. It puts in place conditions ensuring respect for the rights and participation of women in the development of solutions and the resulting benefits. SUCO places the actors and actresses concerned at the center of the action by creating the conditions allowing them to become real actors and actresses of change.

CONTEXT OF THE MANDATE
Implementing viable solutions to development problems encountered by communities and partners requires, in certain cases, experimenting with new ways of doing things. The evolution of contexts and the complexity of the problems can lead to the search for more adapted answers. As part of the activities of its 2020-2027 Voluntary Cooperation Program, SUCO will set up an innovation support fund, the Innovate Fund. Thus, the Fund will support adaptation, improvement or generation of inclusive innovation projects designed and implemented by SUCO partners in the field. These projects will generate innovative, positive and sustainable solutions for marginalized populations and, more particularly, for and by women and girls.

Furthermore, the Innovate Fund is closely aligned with the priorities of our funder (Global Affairs Canada) in terms of innovation and development.
https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-entreprises_developpement/priorities-priorites/development_innovation-innovation_developpement.aspx?lang=eng
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The objectives of the Fund are to:

• Fund innovation projects to support the generation and testing of innovative, inclusive and viable initiatives, which have high impact potential as new solutions to development problems experienced by the communities of our field partners.
• As part of the innovation processes supported for the fund, ensure the active participation of the most marginalized/vulnerable populations in our areas of intervention, particularly women and girls, particularly with a view to strengthening their power to act. faced with problematic situations that hinder their development.
• Develop among our partners in the South and their communities, but also among our volunteer cooperants, skills and practices of innovation as a driver of social transformation.
• Stimulate risk-taking among our partners by promoting risk mitigation mechanisms, in particular through “rapid failure” and support in experimentation.
• Promote the emergence or development of social innovation ecosystems, in particular by integrating multi-actor and multi-sector approaches throughout innovation processes.
• Systematize, promote and disseminate innovative solutions, so that they can be adapted and replicated, scaled (extensive deployment, deep anchoring, institutionalization), in particular to promote their sustainability.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE MANDATE
Support and strengthen the capacities of volunteer cooperators responsible for supporting our partners in terms of innovation, co-creation and co-experimentation.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE MANDATE
1. Offer volunteers coaching, a space for discussion, and training of trainers in innovation development practices. (ideation, co-creation and co-experimentation)
2. Offer, improve, modify or co-create tools and concrete examples adapted to the local context which can be reused by volunteers for their innovation support initiatives for partners of the SUCO.

2. DURATION OF THE CONTRACT

This mandate will result in the offer of a contract for a maximum duration of 4 months, starting no later than February 1, 2024 and ending no later than May 15, 2024.

3. REQUIREMENTS

DELIVERABLES

1. 20 hours of individual support for volunteer volunteers remotely (online).
2. 3 remote group support sessions.
3. 1 training on the foundations of innovation in the context of social and environmental development in Africa.
4. A very succinct report of approximately 3-10 pages on the main learnings and recommendations resulting from the mandate as well as the tools proposed in the appendix. The learnings and recommendations must be formulated to be most useful for the implementation of the Innove fund and its support.

PROPOSED MAIN STEPS

Here is some possible planning that could be executed within the mandate. These steps could be modified and moved according to their analysis according to the consultant’s analysis in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the mandate.

• Step 1 – Understand the various conceptual documents of the Innovate Fund and other documents related to innovation used at SUCO.
• Step 2 – Operational planning meeting with SUCO Innovation Committee
• Step 3 – Group and individual training and support with people cooperating remotely (online).
• Step 3.1 – Follow-up meeting during the mandate with the SUCO Innovation Committee.
• Step 4 – Closing meeting with SUCO Innovation Committee. Presentation of the learning report.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Following the signing of the contract, SUCO will undertake to:

• Provide all relevant information for carrying out the mandate;
• Provide access to resource people who can help carry out the mandate;
• React promptly to submissions of preliminary versions, questions or other information needs;
• Provide logos, fonts, graphic charters and any visual elements to be included in the report based on the visibility standards of SUCO and our donors;
• Respect the payment conditions that will be established in the contract, according to the conditions described in the quote presented by the supplier;
• Inform the supplier in a timely manner of changes in the conditions, deliverables and/or schedule for completing the mandate.

The supplier undertakes to:

• Provide excellent service;
• Respect the deadlines established in this document and which will be formalized when signing the contract;
• Provide all the documents and information necessary to carry out the mandate and ensure that you have all the rights required for this use;
• Assign to SUCO all rights to the products of this mandate;
• Respect the principles of confidentiality in the processing and disclosure of personal data necessary for the exercise of this mandate;
• Ensure timely invoicing, detailing activities performed.

COMPETENCE OF THE SUPPLIER

The selected supplier has solid experience and proven skills:

• in social innovation;
• in co-creation;
• in international development in the African context;
• in the field of supporting organizations;
• in facilitation and co-construction of collective processes.

The supplier has excellent command of the written and spoken French language.

The selected supplier approaches the creation of the Innovate Fund from an evolutionary, empowerment and continuous improvement perspective. He/she is skilled in co-creation with his clients.

4. CALL FOR TENDER SCHEDULE

• From December 6, 2023 to January 8, 2024 – distribution of the call for tenders document
• From December 11 to December 22, 2023 – period for questions of clarification regarding this appeal
• January 8, 2024 – deadline to submit a service offer
• January 15, 2024 – decision on the selected supplier

5. SERVICE OFFER

The service offer must include the following elements:

• Presentation of the supplier, including their experience in the field of social innovation, facilitation of co-creation processes, and international cooperation.
• Presentation of the understanding of the mandate;
• Presentation of the mandate development process and service fees corresponding to an amount between 10,000 and 20,000 CAD (Canadian dollars);
• Terms: identification of a SUCO account manager, response and delivery times, communication channels (e.g. telephone, email, etc.), payment terms.

The service offering may also include additional elements that may contribute to the choices made by SUCO. For example :

• Contributions to environmental issues and climate change to the implementation of SUCO’s environmental policy, through the offsetting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or others.
• Contributions to the promotion of SUCO’s gender equality policy and respect for women’s rights and participation in development.

6. SELECTION OF THE SUPPLIER.SE

SUCO will determine the choice of supplier based on the following criteria, for a total of 100 points. Additional elements can add up to a maximum of 5 additional points.

• Presentation of the supplier, including their relevant experience – 20 points
• Presentation of the understanding of the mandate – 20 points
• Presentation of the work plan and methodology – 35 points
• Presentation of detailed service fees – 15 points
• Service standards – 10 points