Consultancy for the Design and Operationalization of an Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Data Architecture and Strategic Dashboard At International Union for Conservation of Nature

Consultancy for the Design and Operationalization of an Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Data Architecture and Strategic Dashboard System and Impact Story telling – Great Blue Wall

IUCN ESARO, COR TEAM

Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.

1. REQUIREMENTS
1.1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.

2. CONTACT DETAILS
2.1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your Proposal.
IUCN Contact: daniel.lekuroito@iucn.org

3. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE
3.1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will publish this on our website and contact you directly if you have indicated your interest in this procurement (see Section 3.2).
DATE – ACTIVITY
7th May – Publication of the Request for Proposals
11th May – Deadline for expressions of interest
13th May – Deadline for submission of questions
15th May – Planned publication of responses to questions
20th May – Deadline for submission of Proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)
27th May – Clarification of Proposals
28th May – Planned date for contract award
3rd June – Expected contract start date

3.2. Please email the IUCN contact to express your interest in submitting a Proposal by the deadline stated above. This will help IUCN to keep you updated regarding the procurement.

4. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
4.1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:
• Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)
• Pre-Qualification Information (see Section 4.3 below)
• Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)
• Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)
• Evidence of previous work/Github

Proposals must be prepared in English.
4.2. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be [RfP Reference – bidder name]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the Proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your Proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.
IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.

4.3. Pre-Qualification Criteria
IUCN will use the following Pre-Qualification Criteria to determine whether you have the capacity to provide the required goods and/or services to IUCN. Please provide the necessary information in a single, separate document.
Pre-Qualification Criteria
1 3 relevant references of clients similar to IUCN / similar work
2 Confirm that you have all the necessary legal registrations to perform the work
3 State your annual turnover for each of the past 3 years
4 How many employees does your organisation have who are qualified for this work?
5 a) Number of years of experience delivering strategic dashboards, scorecards, or analytics platforms (minimum 5 years required).
b) Nature of dashboards delivered (e.g. executive scorecards, programme monitoring, results frameworks, spatial dashboards).
c) Primary users (e.g. senior leadership, donors, programme managers, public-facing)

4.4. Technical Proposal
The Technical Proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).
Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion.
Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval.
IUCN will evaluate Technical Proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:

Criteria – Details – Weight
1 Clarity and completeness – The proposal must be complete, well-structured, and address all requested elements including timeline, team roles, system components and design approach – 5 pts
2 Technical approach & solution design – Clear proposed architecture for a secure, web-embedded dashboard ecosystem capable of being embedded and managed across multiple websites and domains (sCOR umbrella + project deep-dives), including user roles, hosting/embedding approach, logical system architecture (data layer, analytics layer, visualisation layer), environment separation (development, staging, production), and performance considerations.” – 30 pts
3 Data integration & automation – Proof they can set up a centralised, administrator-managed data update workflow, in which the primary organisation (IUCN or a designated administrator) is responsible for uploading, validating, and publishing data to the dashboards.
Data updates should occur on a scheduled basis (e.g. daily, weekly, or monthly) using structured upload templates and/or lightweight internal APIs where appropriate.
The solution must include strong data checks (quality control), basic data versioning and audit trails, baseline/target handling, and documentation that reduces manual data cleaning and operational burden.” – 20 pts
4 Relevant experience – Evidence of 5+ years building high-level dashboards/scorecards and analytics outputs for clients (environment/sustainability/development preferred). Include relevant samples demonstrating multi-project or multi-partner aggregation and, where applicable, spatial or environmental indicators. – 10 pts
5 Handover & capacity building – Quality of handover plan: user guides, admin documentation, training sessions, and sustainability of the system after contract end, including ability for IUCN staff to update indicators, targets, and content without ongoing vendor support including guidance for managing, updating, and publishing dashboards across multiple websites without developer intervention. – 5 pts
6 Collaboration & responsivenes – Proven ability to engage with editorial teams (e.g. copy editors), integrate iterative feedback through prototyping and user acceptance testing and meet hard deadlines – 5 pts
7 GIS & spatial analytics capability – Demonstrated ability to integrate, analyse, and visualise spatial data (e.g. seascapes, restoration sites, protected areas), including maps and spatial aggregation – 15 pts
8 Impact articulation & storytelling capability – Demonstrated ability to synthesize programme data into clear impact narratives, including development of case studies, articulation of outcomes (e.g. livelihoods, enterprise development), and translation of results into communication-ready content aligned with MEL frameworks and dashboards. Experience working with flagship or multi-country initiatives and translating their impact into structured narratives and dashboard-ready content will be considered an asset. – 10 pts

4.5. Financial Proposal
4.5.1. The Financial Proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.

4.5.2. Prices include all costs
Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, taxes (except VAT, see below), fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. It is your responsibility to determine whether such taxes apply to your organisation and to include them in your Financial Proposal.

4.5.3. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes
Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.

4.5.4. Currency of proposed rates and prices
All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in USD ($).

4.5.5. Breakdown of rates and prices
For information only, the price needs to be broken down as follows:
Description – Quantity – Unit Price – Total Price
1
2
3
4
5
6
TOTAL

4.6. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.
4.7. Your Proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.

4.8. Withdrawals and Changes
You may freely withdraw or change your Proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.

5. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
5.1. Completeness
IUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further.

5.2. Pre-Qualification Criteria
Only Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.

5.3. Technical Evaluation
5.3.1. Scoring Method
Your Proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.

5.3.2. Minimum Quality Thresholds
Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.

5.3.3. Technical Score
Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your Proposal’s overall technical score.

5.4. Financial Evaluation and Financial Scores
The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your Financial Proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest Financial Proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.3.2) by the total price of your Financial Proposal.
Thus, for example, if your Financial Proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest Financial Proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%

5.5. Total Score
Your Proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.
The relative weights will be:
Technical: 70%
Financial: 30%

Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.
Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose Proposal achieves the highest total score.

6. EXPLANATION OF PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE
6.1. IUCN is using the Open Procedure for this procurement. This means that the contracting opportunity is published on IUCN’s website and open to all interested parties to take part, subject to the conditions in Section 7 below.
6.2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.
6.3. All Proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late Proposals will not be considered. All Proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of three or more evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate Proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose Proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.
6.4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring Proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of Proposals takes.

7. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROCUREMENT
7.1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a Proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.
7.1.1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant Proposal.
7.1.2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed Proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.
7.1.3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your Proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.
7.2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:
• Free of conflicts of interest
• Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
• In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
• Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection
• Not bankrupt or being wound up
• Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct
• Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.
7.3. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).
7.4. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your Proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.
7.5. Each bidder shall submit only one Proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a Proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one Proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the Proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.
7.6. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:
• It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
• Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
• Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION
8.1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your Proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.
8.2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your Proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your Proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your Proposal.

9. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact procurement@iucn.org. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).

10. CONTRACT
The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.

11. ABOUT IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/

12. ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference
Attachment 2 Declaration of Undertaking (select 2a for companies or 2b for self-employed as applicable to you)
Attachment 3 Contract Template

Terms of Reference for IUCN Consultancy

Objective of the Consultancy

The Coastal & Ocean Resilience (COR) programme is implementing a growing portfolio of initiatives across multiple countries, funding streams, and thematic areas under the Great Blue Wall (GBW). As this portfolio expands, there is a strategic need to strengthen unified visibility of COR’s contribution across the GBW pillars and enhance the programme’s ability to communicate impact clearly and efficiently.

The purpose of this consultancy is to design and implement an Integrated MEL Data Architecture and Strategic Analytics Platform that consolidates programme monitoring data into a unified analytical environment.

The system will serve as a centralized programme intelligence platform that enables programme teams and leadership to access reliable performance data, track progress toward programme outcomes, and communicate programme results effectively.

The solution should be scalable, efficient, and sustainable, allowing the Initiative to expand the system as additional projects and datasets are introduced.

The system will:

Consolidate and harmonize performance data across COR projects
Enable rapid access to reliable, up-to-date results for impact communication.
Provide unified visibility of contributions across GBW pillars (Blue Planet, Blue Nature, Blue People, Blue Partnerships)
Support internal decision-making and leadership oversight
The system will also include integration of a component to track progress toward investable seascapes, helping visualize financial flows, catalytic investments, and investment readiness across the portfolio.
Improve efficiency, consistency, and quality of donor reporting Projects
Strengthen COR’s capacity to communicate aggregate impact through curated, visually compelling outputs

The final platform must meet high standards of data reliability, usability, security, and sustainability, and operate within IUCN’s existing enterprise analytics environment. The solution should prioritize clarity, governance, and long-term maintainability while enabling strong visual presentation of results.

To support this, the consultant is expected to deliver:

Design a structured MEL data architecture capable of consolidating monitoring data from multiple projects into a unified analytical environment.
Develop automated or semi-automated data ingestion and transformation workflows that improve the efficiency and reliability of programme reporting.
Create interactive strategic dashboards that provide clear visibility into programme performance across thematic areas, projects, and geographic locations.
Establish standardized data management and reporting practices that support consistent monitoring and evaluation across projects.
Strengthen the Initiative’s capacity to generate data-driven insights for programme learning, decision making, and donor reporting.

The selected consultant should have demonstrated experience delivering data dashboards and analytics systems for organisations, preferably in environment, sustainability, or development contexts. They must be able to manage a collaborative, multi-stakeholder review process, work securely with sensitive performance data, and deliver to a tight timeline with clear documentation and support for handover.

Background

Project Reference:

Donor reference:

About IUCN

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

www.iucn.org

Tweets by IUCN

About the Project

The Great Blue Wall (GBW) is a pioneering, Africa-led initiative launched by IUCN in 2021 to accelerate ocean conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable blue economic development across the Western Indian Ocean region.

At its heart, the GBW envisions a connected network of community-led marine and coastal conserved areas that protect biodiversity, regenerate ecosystems, and support inclusive, nature-based economies. The initiative brings together governments, communities, scientists, NGOs, and the private sector to unlock large-scale impact across countries and ecosystems.

The GBW is delivered through a diverse portfolio of projects that span ecological restoration, livelihoods, and policy engagement. These include:

Plastic waste reduction and circular economy innovation (e.g. community-based recycling and waste profiling)
Blue carbon restoration, including mangrove rehabilitation and seagrass mapping
Community-led marine protected area development
Sustainable fisheries and local food systems
Youth and women-led enterprise development in the blue economy
Regional cooperation for ocean governance and marine spatial planning
Ocean literacy, education, and science-policy dialogues

As the GBW initiative continues to grow, performance data is increasingly spread across multiple projects, partners, and seascapes, making it difficult to maintain a single, up-to-date view of progress. To address this, IUCN is seeking to develop a web-based data dashboard that can systematically track, store, and share GBW results across projects and geographies. The dashboard must be intuitive and easy to use, with a user-friendly interface for data entry and validation, and it should support both internal performance management and wider external showcasing of GBW results.

Description of the Assignment

Task 1: Inception and System Assessment

The consultant will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the current monitoring and reporting environment across COR projects contributing to the Great Blue Wall initiative.

This will include:

reviewing programme documentation including log frames, indicators, and reporting frameworks
mapping existing monitoring data sources and reporting workflows
identifying gaps in current reporting systems
consulting programme staff to understand reporting and analytical needs

The consultant will prepare an Inception Report outlining the proposed system architecture and implementation approach.

Task 2: Design of MEL Data Architecture

The consultant will design a structured and scalable data architecture that supports the collection, organization, and analysis of monitoring data.

The architecture should support the following components:

Data Ingestion

Mechanisms for capturing data from multiple sources including:

project reporting templates
partner monitoring reports
programme datasets
survey and monitoring tools

Both manual and automated data submission approaches may be considered.

Data Transformation and Standardization

Processes for transforming raw monitoring data into structured datasets suitable for analysis.

This will include:

harmonization of indicators across projects
application of validation rules to ensure data quality
standardization of indicator definitions and reporting structures

Analytical Data Models

Development of structured analytical datasets that allow programme data to be analyzed across multiple dimensions including:

project
geographic area
thematic pillar
reporting period
programme outcomes

These models should support aggregation and drill-down analysis.

Task 3 : Strategic Dashboard Development

The consultant will design and implement a set of strategic dashboards that enable programme teams and leadership to monitor performance.

Programme-Level Dashboard

A high-level dashboard providing a consolidated view of programme performance across projects and thematic pillars.

The dashboard should present:

progress toward programme outcomes
key impact indicators
distribution of programme activities across geographic areas
summary performance indicators across projects
Priority dashboards for ReSea will be developed in the first implementation phase.

The design should emphasize clarity, usability, and rapid interpretation of results.

Project-Level Dashboards

Interactive dashboards that enable programme teams to explore monitoring data in more detail.

These dashboards should support:

tracking of project indicators
progress against targets
analysis of trends over time
comparison across projects or geographic areas

Users should be able to drill down from programme-level results to project-level performance.

Strategic Portfolio Analytics

Beyond project dashboards, the system should support strategic analytics that allow leadership to understand portfolio performance across the GBW initiative. This includes visualizing:

contribution of projects to GBW pillars
performance across seascapes
aggregated impact indicators
catalytic investment flows and leverage
progress toward investable seascapes

Task 4 : Data Integration and Reporting Workflows

The consultant will design structured data workflows to ensure reliable and efficient reporting processes.

This will include:

standardized reporting templates for project teams
mechanisms for partner data submission
structured data validation processes
scheduled refresh of reporting datasets

The system should minimize manual data processing and improve the accuracy and consistency of monitoring data.

Reporting and Data Export Functions

In addition to analytical dashboards, the system should support structured reporting functions that facilitate programme management, donor reporting, and communication of results.

The consultant will design reporting capabilities that enable programme teams to generate standardized reports and data extracts directly from the system. These reporting functions should allow users to efficiently access consolidated programme information without requiring extensive manual data compilation.

The reporting functionality should support, where feasible:

Generation of periodic summary reports aligned with programme reporting cycles (e.g., quarterly and annual reporting).
Automated or semi-automated indicator progress summaries, including progress against targets.
Ability to export datasets and indicator tables for use in programme reports, impact reports, presentations, and external communications.
Standardized programme and project-level reporting tables aligned with logframes and monitoring frameworks.
Flexible filtering and reporting by project, thematic pillar, seascape, geographic area, reporting period, and indicator.
Downloadable outputs in commonly used formats (e.g., Excel, PDF, or presentation-ready visuals).

Task 5 : System Architecture Principles

The proposed solution should follow modern data architecture principles to ensure sustainability and scalability.

These include:

Unified Data Environment

Monitoring data should be consolidated within a unified analytical environment to enable efficient data management and analysis.

Scalability

The system should support expansion as new projects, datasets, and indicators are added.

End-to-End Data Lifecycle Management

The system should support the full lifecycle of monitoring data including ingestion, transformation, storage, analysis, and visualization.

Data Governance

The architecture should support mechanisms for:

standardized indicator definitions
metadata management
data validation and quality assurance
controlled user access to datasets

Indicator Governance Framework

The consultant will establish a structured indicator governance framework including:

standardized indicator definitions across projects
a centralized indicator registry / data dictionary
metadata standards and version control
validation rules to ensure data integrity across partner submissions

Sustainability

The solution should be designed so that programme staff can manage and maintain the system after implementation.

Task 6 : Capacity Building and Knowledge Transfer

The consultant will provide training and documentation to ensure sustainability of the system.

This will include:

training sessions for programme staff on system use
preparation of user guides and system documentation
guidance on data management and reporting practices

The objective is to ensure the Initiative can independently maintain and expand the system after deployment.

Task 7: Impact storytelling and Integration

The consultant will:

Synthesize existing results and programme data
Develop a concise impact narrative (including livelihoods and enterprise outcomes)
Document case studies
Align indicators and narratives with the dashboard structure and GBW framework
Ensure selected flagship or priority initiatives are clearly represented through structured narratives and dashboard-integrated outputs

Duration of the Assignment

The assignment will run for a total of 16 weeks (4) months, commencing upon contract signature.

The consultant is expected to adhere strictly to the agreed timeline, incorporating review rounds, feedback integration, and quality assurance within this period.

Phase – Activity – Duration

Phase 1 – Inception and system assessment – 1 week

Phase 2 – MEL data architecture design – 4 weeks

Phase 3 – Data ingestion and transformation setup – 4 weeks

Phase 4 – Dashboard development – 5 weeks

Phase 5 – System testing and training – 2 weeks

Deliverables and Activities

The consultant will provide the following deliverables and carry out the following activities:

Deliverable/Activity – Description – Deadline

1. Kick-off meeting – A kick off meeting meeting to set: deliverables, timeline, reporting chain, expectations and Q&A session. – Within 3 days of contract signature

2. Inception Report – Methodology, workplan, and system architecture – Week 1

3. MEL Data Architecture, Structured monitoring data architecture – Set up API and a friendly collection interface (Podio/Kobo) to automate data exchange and eliminate manual file cleaning. – Week 2 – 5

4. Data Integration Framework – Data ingestion and transformation workflows – Week 6 –7

5. GIS & Project Dashboards (ReSea/IslandPlas) – Launch project-specific dashboards with integrated geospatial layers and photo/story modules. – Week 8-12

6. Regional Umbrella Dashboard – Web-based platform enabling roll-up of achievements to both program and regional (seascape) initiatives – Week 8-12

7. Testing and improvements (up to 3 rounds) – Up to three improvement cycles based on feedback: fix bugs, improve speed, make views clearer, refine indicators, strengthen data checks, and adjust access permissions. – Week 13-14

8. System Documentation – Data dictionary and user guides – Week 15

9. Final System Deployment – Fully operational MEL data analytics -environment – Week 16

Payment Schedule

The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant.

Deliverable – Description – Milestone Payment

Deliverable 1: Inception and System Design – Kick-off meeting completed, system assessment conducted, and submission/approval of the MEL data architecture and dashboard implementation plan, including reporting workflows and data integration approach. – 20%

Deliverable 2: Data Architecture and Integration Setup – Development of standardized data structures, APIs, and data ingestion mechanisms, including setup of data collection tools and validation workflows. – 30%

Deliverable 3: Dashboard Development – Development of GIS-enabled dashboards, project dashboards, and the regional umbrella dashboard, including integration of key programme indicators and reporting functions. – 30%

Deliverable 4: System Testing, Deployment and Training – System testing and refinements completed, final deployment of the MEL system, documentation, handover, and staff training. – 20%

Skills and Experience

The consultants must have the following skills, education and experience as a minimum:

The consultant or consulting firm should demonstrate:

Advanced degree in Data Science, Monitoring and Evaluation, Information Systems, Statistics, or related field
At least 5 years of experience in monitoring systems, GIS, MEL. data analytics, or data architecture
Demonstrated experience developing analytical dashboards and reporting systems
Strong expertise in:
- data modelling and analytics
- data integration and transformation workflows
- monitoring and evaluation data systems
At least 7 years of proven experience designing and delivering web-based data dashboards, scorecards, or performance reporting systems for international organisations, NGOs, or development agencies.
Strong portfolio of dashboard products (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, ArcGIS dashboards, or similar) showing clear data visualisation, user-friendly design, and decision-focused reporting preferably in environment, sustainability, climate, or development sectors.
Demonstrated experience building data pipelines that reduce manual reporting, including API-based integrations and/or structured partner upload interfaces (e.g., Kobo/ODK/SharePoint/Forms), with clear validation and QA processes.
Proven ability to translate complex indicator frameworks (ecological, community, governance, finance) into intuitive dashboard views, drill-down functionality, and clear performance summaries at multiple levels (e.g. seascape → project → programme/regional).
GIS capability: experience integrating spatial datasets/layers (e.g., ArcGIS) into dashboards to visualise geographic distribution of activities and enable map-based drill-down.
Strong data governance and documentation skills, including indicator definitions/data dictionaries, metadata standards, user roles/access control, and refresh/update schedules.
Technical proficiency in relevant tools and technologies (e.g., Power BI and DAX, SQL, APIs, data modelling/ETL, ArcGIS integration, secure web embedding). Equivalent toolsets are acceptable.
Experience working with multi-stakeholder teams, including coordinating inputs from programme staff, MEL specialists, partners, and IT/support functions, and incorporating iterative feedback efficiently.
Proven ability to deliver on tight timelines, manage iterative improvement cycles (minimum of 3), maintain version control, and ensure reliability, performance, and usability of the system.
Ability to deliver handover and capacity building, including user/admin guides, training sessions, and practical documentation to support IUCN to maintain and update the dashboards after contract end.

Supervision and coordination

The consultant will report to and work under the supervision of the Coastal and Ocean Resilience Team Impact Officer, Cor Deputy director and Blue Science and Business Innovation Manager.

Declaration of Undertaking

Declaration of Undertaking in Relation to Request for Proposals (RfP) for the Design and Operationalization of an Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Data Architecture and Strategic Dashboard System and Impact Story telling – Great Blue Wall

I, the undersigned, hereby confirm that I am an authorized representative of the following organization:

Registered Name of Organization (the “Organization”):

Registered Address (incl. country):

Year of Registration:

I hereby authorize IUCN to store and use the information included in the attached Proposal for the purpose of evaluating Proposals and selecting the Proposal IUCN deems the most favorable. I acknowledge that IUCN is required to retain the Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then the end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when reasonably requested.

Where the Proposal includes Personal Data as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I confirm that the Organization has been authorized by each Data Subject to share this Data with IUCN for the purposes stated above.

I further confirm that the following statements are correct:

The Organisation is duly registered in accordance with all applicable laws.
The Organisation is fully compliant with all its tax and social security obligations.
The Organisation and its staff and representatives are free of any real or perceived conflicts of interest with regards to IUCN and its Mission.
The Organisation agrees to declare to IUCN any real or perceived emerging conflicts of interests it or any of its staff and representatives may have concerning IUCN. The Organisation acknowledges that IUCN may terminate any contracts with the Organisation that would, in IUCN sole discretion, be negatively affected by such conflicts of interests.
None of the Organisation’s staff has ever been convicted of grave professional misconduct or any other offence concerning their professional conduct.
Neither the Organisation nor any of its staff and representatives have ever been convicted of fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation.
The Organisation acknowledges that engagement by itself or any of its staff in fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation will entitle IUCN to terminate any and all contracts with the Organisation with immediate effect.
The Organisation is a going concern and is not bankrupt or being wound up, is not having its affairs administered by the courts, has not suspended business activities, is not the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.
The Organisation complies with all applicable environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection.
The Organisation is not included in the UN Security Council Sanctions List, EU Sanctions Map, US Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List, or the World Bank listing of ineligible firms and individuals. The Organisation agrees that it will not provide direct or indirect support to firms and individuals included in these lists.
The Organisation has not been, is not, and will not be involved or implicated in any violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or injustice or abuse of human rights related to other groups or individuals, including forced evictions, violation of fundamental rights of workers as defined by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, child labour, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

< Name and position of authorised representative of the Proposer>

I, the undersigned, hereby confirm that I am self-employed and able to provide the service independent of any organisation or other legal entity.

Full name (as in passport):

Home or Office (please delete as appropriate) Address (incl. country):

I hereby authorise IUCN to store and use the information included in the attached Proposal for the purpose of evaluating Proposals and selecting the Proposal IUCN deems the most favorable, including Personal Data as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). I acknowledge that IUCN is required to retain my Proposal in its entirety 10 years after the end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when reasonably requested.

I further confirm that the following statements are correct:

I am legally registered as self-employed in accordance with all applicable laws.
I am fully compliant with all my tax and social security obligations.
I am free of any real or perceived conflicts of interest with regards to IUCN and its Mission.
I agree to declare to IUCN any real or perceived emerging conflicts of interests I may have concerned IUCN. I acknowledge that IUCN may terminate any contracts with me that would, in IUCN sole discretion, be negatively affected by such conflicts of interests.
I have never been convicted of grave professional misconduct or any other offence concerning my professional conduct.
I have never been convicted of fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation.
I acknowledge that engagement in fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation will entitle IUCN to terminate any and all contracts with me with immediate effect.
I am not included in the UN Security Council Sanctions List, EU Sanctions Map, US Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List, or the World Bank listing of ineligible firms and individuals. I agree that I will not provide direct or indirect support to firms and individuals included in these lists.
I have not been, am not, and will not be involved or implicated in any violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or injustice or abuse of human rights related to other groups or individuals, including forced evictions, violation of fundamental rights of workers as defined by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, child labour, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

How to apply

Step 1: Acquire Tender Documents
Obtain the relevant tender documents.

Step 2: Review Requirements
Thoroughly read the tender specifications, terms, and conditions.

Step 3: Prepare Proposal
Prepare your proposal as guided, ensuring all the required information is included.

Step 4: Submission
Submit your completed proposal by the submission deadline via the email address daniel.lekuroito@iucn.org

N.B: Please note that the email to be used exclusively for this consultancy is daniel.lekuroito@iucn.org