Avis d’appel d’offre pour la conception du Fonds africain pour l’éducation, la science, la technologie et l’innovation (AESTIF), Côte d’Ivoire

Avis d’appel d’offre pour la conception du Fonds africain pour l’éducation, la science, la technologie et l’innovation (AESTIF), Côte d’Ivoire

 

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST INFORMING THE DESGIN OF THE AFRICAN EDUCATION, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FUND (AESTIF)

Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD)

Financial Sector Development Department (PIFD)

Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

Email : k.takei@afdb.org and m.r.ndiaye@afdb.org; cc: h.doroba@afdb.org and r.zegers@afdb.org

1. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier pan-African development institution promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. The Bank delivers financial and technical support to Regional Member Countries (RMCs) through transformative projects that significantly reduce poverty and bring inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five priorities (High 5s) have been identified for scaling up and accelerate the Bank’s delivery, namely: Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Power Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. In order to accelerate the improvement of the life for the people of Africa, the Bank approved in 2016 the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy (JfYA) with the objective to create 25 million jobs and equip 50 million youth with skills for enhanced employability and entrepreneurial success by 2025 ;

2. Harnessing the potential of Africa’s youth as a powerful engine and demographic dividend holds the greatest potential for sustainable development. Currently however, education, science, technology and innovation in Africa remain under-funded especially in fragile states and low-income countries. Education is key to youth and women empowerment. It is estimated that US$ 40 billion will be needed per year to finance education in Africa by 2030 to support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for education¹. Significant investment in education in the continent is at the pre-tertiary levels with most education financing instruments like the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) financing basic education strategies. This leaves the underserved segments of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Higher Education (HE), Research and Development and Innovation (R&D&I) and Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM), which are proven to have direct connection to critically needed jobs ;

3. The AfDB seeks to setup of African Education, Science, Technology & Innovation Fund (AESTIF or the Fund) as a way to address this market failure. The Fund seeks to accelerate the pace of innovation, entrepreneurship and talent dynamics of supply and demand in Regional Member Countries. The Fund seeks to support the RMCs in developing an environment that is conducive to attracting education players for them to thrive in supplying adequately trained talents to the market ;

4. The African Development Bank Group, through its Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development and Financial Sector Development Departments, is therefore seeking the services of a recognized consulting firm with a proven record of strong analytical and practical background in education finance in Africa to carry out a Feasibility Study on the African Education, Science, Technology & Innovation Fund. The objective of this assignment is to undertake a study for the African Development Bank that will inform the design of a sustainable financial and operational scheme for the AESTIF that will act as a market facilitator and provider of financial and non-financial services that will de-risk investment opportunities and catalyze funding for selected projects.

¹The Business of Education in Africa Report (2017) and African Education Fund  feasibility study (2018) across Africa. The study also propose a roadmap to its implementation and highlight its integration with AfDB current business delivery model.

5. The services to be provided under the Assignment include (but are not limited to) :

• An analysis of existing initiatives for financial education in Emerging Markets – analysis models and schemes highlighting key design considerations for AESTIF ;
• A mapping of the actors in the market in Africa – reviewing the existing institutions and market actors currently or planning on providing direct financial and non-financial services to Higher Education, TEVT and STI providers in Africa ;
• An analysis of the investment opportunity in Higher Education, TVET and STI markets for the public and private sector in Africa – analysing the demand for and supply of financial and non-financial services for Education players and their ecosystems ;
• An assessment of the financial and commercial feasibility – assessing the financial and commercial feasibility and interest in providing financial services to Education players in Africa and developing business case/scenarios for AfDB’s intervention ;
• A proposed structure of the AESTIF – including a financial, operational and governance model ;
• An implementation roadmap for the AESTIF to move from an AfDB hosted operations to a standalone entity within 5 years of operation.

6. The Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development and Financial Sector Development Departments invite consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible organisations shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services (capability statement with references for similar services, experience in comparable assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.) ;

7. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy for Recruitment of Corporate Consultants ;

8. The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any consulting firm who expresses interest ;

9. Interested consulting firms may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: 08:00 to 17:00 hours (GMT/Abidjan time), Monday to Friday ;

10. Criteria for the establishment of the shortlist: A shortlist of six consultants will be selected based on the following criteria :

1.	General qualifications and adequacy for the assignment to be undertaken	40%
2.	Experience working in promoting access to finance, business development services	30%
	in Higher Education, TVET, STI and Education finance in emerging markets
3.	General qualifications and relevance to the assignment	20%
4.	Experience with the MDBs, DFIs and Donors in Africa (Knowledge of the African	10%
	regional context)
TOTAL SCORE		100%

Expressions of interest must be submitted or sent by email to the address mentioned below no later than 10 December 2021 at 05:00 PM (GMT) and specifically mentioning: “Informing the design of the African Education, Science, Technology & Innovation Fund (AESTIF)”.

For the attention of :

Ms. Keiko Takei, Email : k.takei@afdb.org

Mr. Rachid Ndiaye, Email : m.r.ndiaye@afdb.org

Copy to:

Ms. Hendrina Chalwe Doroba, Email : h.doroba@afdb.org

Mr. Robert Zegers, Email : r.zegers@afdb.org