Summary: Consultancy for advisory services for the UPGI Tanzania Discovery Phase, supporting the Government of Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar) to develop Gove...

Job Details

  • Deadline: 23rd October 2026.
  • Location: Kenya

Job Description

Job Description

Request for proposal (RFP)

Consultancy for advisory services for the UPGI Tanzania Discovery Phase, supporting the Government of Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar) to develop Government-Led Graduation Strategies

  • Organisation background

BRAC International is a leading nonprofit organisation working to empower people and communities facing poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. BRAC works with communities to develop demand-driven programmes that combine social development with market-based solutions, drawing on its roots in the Global South and a long record of learning and evidence.

BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) supports governments to adapt and scale the Graduation approach for people living in chronic poverty and vulnerable situations. The approach combines support for basic needs with productive assets, livelihood skills and coaching to enable sustained socioeconomic progression.

  • Programme background

UPGI Tanzania is undertaking a Discovery Phase to examine how Tanzania’s existing institutional architecture can support Government-led Graduation strategies to end extreme poverty, in line with Dira 2050. The work is anchored in TAMISEMI, with TASAF as the primary implementation platform, and is carried forward through the Task Force appointed by the Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government on 10 June 2026. The Discovery Phase covers Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

The Discovery Phase must generate the evidence, institutional design and delivery readiness needed for Government decision-making, ahead of the Government’s December 2026 validation and decision milestone. Its top-line products are the UPGI Tanzania Country Strategy, the Tanzania Investment Paper and the Government-Led Graduation Approach Paper.

The Government owns the National Strategy and the Tanzania Graduation Pathways Approach (TGPA). UPGI’s products support the Government to develop and adopt Government-led Graduation strategies and are distinct from the Government’s own documents. Convening authority and institutional decisions rest with the Government and the Programme Director. The firm’s role is technical, advisory and analytical.

  • Objective of the assignment

The objective is to provide the strategy, institutional architecture and analytical direction for the UPGI Tanzania Discovery Phase, and to produce the evidence and strategic products needed to support Government-led Graduation across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

The firm will provide a senior advisory team that will

Provide strategic and institutional advice across the Discovery Phase.

Prepare the technical groundwork for the governance structures set out in the TGPA Concept Note.

Deliver and integrate the four analytical strands of the Discovery Phase.

Design, direct and quality-assure the primary and secondary research the strands require.

Support the Programme Director to develop the UPGI Tanzania Country Strategy.

Produce validation-ready versions of the Country Strategy, the Investment Paper and the Government-Led Graduation Approach Paper, and finalise them following Government review.

  • Scope of services

4.1 Strategy, institutional architecture and Government engagement

Advise on institutional anchoring, roles, coordination, delivery architecture and readiness for Government-led Graduation, including the mapping of Government stakeholders and the consolidation of TAMISEMI ownership.

Work through the Ministry-led Task Force, contributing to its work plan and meeting programme, and supporting engagement with TASAF, finance and planning authorities, sector MDAs, LGAs, Zanzibar authorities and relevant partners.

Prepare the technical groundwork for the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee, the Technical Working Group and the National Programme Coordination Unit set out in the TGPA Concept Note: draft terms of reference, membership options, reporting lines, meeting calendars and facilitation materials. Forming and convening these bodies remains with the Programme Director and the anchor ministry.

Provide technical support to the Government-owned Concept Note, in Kiswahili and English.

Identify practical institutional and delivery options that strengthen existing Government systems rather than create parallel structures.

Provide day-to-day strategic advice to the Programme Director, including support to study tours and to preparing participants so that the learning feeds into the live analytical strands.

4.2 The four analytical strands

Each strand addresses a distinct question. Together they establish whether Tanzania’s existing systems, on the Mainland and in Zanzibar, can deliver Government-led Graduation, and what must be built where they cannot. Each strand must answer, at minimum, the questions below.

  • Institutional Landscape and Household Progression Assessment

Maps which institutions hold which Graduation functions, how they are mandated, financed and delivered, and at what scale. Assesses existing systems against the three Graduation Essentials, and clarifies the overlap between PSSN beneficiaries, the wider registry and un-served ultra-poor households, read alongside PSSN III.

What is the current end-to-end pathway through which households in extreme poverty are identified, stabilised, connected to productive and economic-inclusion support, monitored and supported toward sustained progression

Which national, sector, local-government and Zanzibar institutions hold the relevant mandates, delivery functions, data, budgets and accountability relationships

Where do coordination, referral, sequencing, continuity and accountability break down between institutions and across levels of Government

How do current programme and administrative systems capture household status, progression and exit, and what is required for a practical progression framework

Which institutional arrangements can realistically support a coherent Government-led Graduation pathway, including the roles of TAMISEMI, TASAF, sector institutions, LGAs and Zanzibar authorities

  • Productive Systems Groundtruthing

Tests, at LGA and ward level, what programmes such as ASDP II extension, agricultural and livestock support, SIDO enterprise support and PSSN livelihood enhancement grants deliver in practice against their design, including how the PSSN III Enhanced Support tier performs on the ground.

What productive, livelihood and economic-inclusion services are available to poor and vulnerable households, from whom, at what level, and with what reach and quality

How effectively do households connect to productive assets, skills, coaching, extension, finance, markets and other services needed for sustained livelihoods

What practical constraints do households and frontline delivery systems face at local level, and how do these differ across selected Mainland and Zanzibar contexts

Which existing productive-sector systems can be mobilised or strengthened to support household progression, and where are the critical service gaps

What sequencing, intensity and combination of support appear feasible for different household circumstances and local economic contexts

  • Political Economy Analysis

Examines the incentives, mandates, power relations and institutional dynamics that shape how the systems operate, and identifies where reform is feasible and where it is not.

Which institutions and actors hold formal and informal authority over the policies, resources and delivery systems relevant to Government-led Graduation

What incentives, interests, mandates and institutional relationships are likely to enable or constrain coordinated delivery

Where are the strongest sources of ownership and potential resistance, and what do these imply for the sequencing and framing of reform

How do budget, accountability and performance incentives affect collaboration across national, sector and local-government levels

What political and institutional risks must be managed for Government-led Graduation to be adopted, financed and sustained in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar

  • Dira 2050 and Planning Architecture Assessment

Locates Government-led Graduation within the national planning and budget architecture, including Dira 2050, the Long-Term Perspective Plan, FYDP IV (2026/27–2030/31), the Annual Development Plan 2026/27 and the National Social Protection Policy 2023, and sets out the fiscal and institutional conditions for financing and sustaining it through Government systems.

Where can Government-led Graduation be anchored within Dira 2050 and the associated national, sector and local planning architecture

What existing planning, budgeting, implementation, performance-management and monitoring mechanisms can carry Graduation objectives and accountabilities

How can Graduation be integrated into Government systems and programmes rather than set up as a parallel programme

What are the practical entry points for financing, annual planning, sector convergence, local implementation and performance tracking

What decisions, institutional actions and sequencing are required to move from Discovery to Government adoption and implementation

4.3 Research and analytical approach

Four commissioned research assignments are expected, one per strand, delivered by the two Research Assistants under the Senior Advisor’s technical direction. For each, the Senior Advisor scopes what the strand needs to prove, prepares or approves the terms of reference, supervises the work, assures quality against the analytical framework, and integrates the output into the strand and the strategic products.

The firm shall apply a proportionate mixed-methods design, rigorous enough to support national strategic decisions and deliverable within the assignment period. It shall cover:

Desk review of existing Government, programme and research evidence.

Stakeholder and institutional mapping, with clear criteria for selecting respondents.

Key informant interviews and other qualitative methods at national, sector and local levels.

Fieldwork in selected Mainland and Zanzibar locations, with a stated site-selection logic.

Any household- or community-level enquiry needed, with its sampling logic and limits of inference.

Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative evidence.

A practical framework, led by the MEL Expert, for measuring household progression and linking findings to monitoring systems.

Data quality assurance, research ethics, informed consent, confidentiality and secure data management.

Testing findings with Government and other stakeholders without transferring ownership of Government decisions to the consultancy team.

4.4 Integration and strategic products

The four strands are not separate studies. The firm shall synthesise them into one set of choices on institutional architecture, household progression, productive support, financing, delivery and monitoring.

The integrated analysis shall directly inform

UPGI Tanzania Country Strategy: How UPGI will support the Government to develop and implement Government-led Graduation strategies. It becomes the basis for the Investment Paper.

Tanzania Investment Paper: The investment case, priority areas, delivery requirements and financing considerations.

Government-Led Graduation Approach Paper: The proposed Government-led approach, institutional roles, delivery pathway, governance, sequencing and implementation principles. It includes the Discovery Phase report, the political economy analysis, an implementation framework and a systems-readiness assessment.

  • Deliverables and indicative timing

The timetable below may be refined at inception and confirmed in the Inception Report, but it must protect the December 2026 Government validation and decision milestone and complete the assignment by March 2027.

All deliverables are submitted to the Programme Director.

Deliverable 1: Inception Report and mobilisation plan

Minimum content

Refined methodology.

Analytical framework.

Work plan.

C

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