1.0 Background

The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a leading African development institution supporting innovative enterprises in agribusiness, renewable energy, and climate resilience. AECF provides catalytic funding and technical assistance to businesses with the potential to drive inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.

AECF is currently implementing the Tanzania Clean Cooking Project (TCCP), which aims to accelerate the adoption and scale-up of clean cooking solutions across the country. The programme supports enterprises involved in the manufacture, distribution, and innovation of clean cooking products and services. It also addresses systemic challenges by working to reduce market, policy, and regulatory barriers that limit the growth of the clean cooking sector.

As part of these efforts, AECF seeks to engage a qualified consultant to document success stories and the overall impact of TCCP, capturing AECF’s contributions to expanding access to clean energy, promoting gender and youth inclusion, supporting local innovation, creating jobs, and mitigating climate change

2.0 Purpose of the Assignment

The overall objective of this assignment is to document success stories and the overall impact of the Tanzania Clean Cooking Project, with a focus on capturing AECF’s contributions to expanding access to clean energy, promoting gender and youth inclusion, supporting local innovation, creating jobs, and mitigating climate change. The assignment will also involve capturing both the successes and challenges experienced throughout the implementation of the project. Lessons learned, including the corrective actions taken, will be systematically documented and synthesized into tailored outputs for different audiences. These outputs shall include digital impact, image bank, and documentary. The documentation will serve as a valuable resource for learning, advocacy, and donor engagement, while amplifying the voices of project beneficiaries from the five target regions: Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Mbeya, and Pwani.

Since its launch in September 2022, the TCCP has made significant progress in expanding access to clean cooking solutions in rural and underserved communities. Notable achievements include the successful onboarding of 9 companies (Investees) through a competitive selection process, enabling access to clean cooking solutions to over 123,000 households and 200 institutions. The project has also created 135 direct jobs within the clean cooking sector, with at least 50% of these opportunities taken up by women and youth. Additionally, over 700 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been engaged as sales agents, and 1,300 Village Community Banks (VIKOBA) have been mobilized to support product financing and last-mile distribution.

3.0 Rationale for this Consultancy

This consultancy aims to document the progress, impact, and lessons learned from TCCP. It will showcase AECF’s contribution to clean energy access, gender inclusion, local innovation, job creation, and climate change mitigation. The final outputs will support strategic communications, policy engagement, visibility of SMES and donor reporting, and highlight human interest stories from both households and institutions across five regions. The documentation will focus on the following Impact metrics.

Measurable Impacts.

• Innovative business models/approaches; Companies that have piloted innovative business models such as pay-as-you-go and sale on credit through Village Community Banks (VICOBA), rural distribution, etc.
• Household Impact: Household adoption of clean cooking solutions. Stories of families in rural areas transitioned from firewood to improved stoves via community financing.
• Institutional Benefits: Adoption of institutional stoves in schools and other institutions. Stories on schools adopting clean cooking.
• Women and Youth Empowerment: projects focus on Women-led enterprises (gender lens investing) supported, SMES adopting gender responsive practices, women accessing clean cooking solutions, success stories on Women entrepreneurs received reduced matching fund requirements; women-led Village Community Banks (VICOBA) groups adopted LPG.
• Job Creation: Employment generated in clean cooking value chains. Stories on local youth and women employed in stove production, distribution, and sales.

The storytelling approach will emphasize human interest stories, using testimonials and case studies of TCCP program beneficiaries to illustrate the impact on their lives and businesses. These narratives will be complemented by clear and concise data visualizations, and voices from rural communities, business owners, and TCCP/AECF staff are included to present a well-rounded picture.

4.0 Scope of Work

The task involves capturing stories from the following Investee.

The final outputs will include 5 videos (1 per investee), 20 pictures per investee, and 10 written articles that document the experiences and impact of 4 investees and end-users. To accomplish this, the consultant, under the overall supervision of AECF Programs and Communication teams, will:

1. Collaboration with TCCP/AECF to confirm story angles and coordinate visits to selected locations
2. Prepare tools and formats that will be used to document the stories.
3. Conduct fieldwork in the selected communities with the TCCP programme and investee staff where applicable. This will include focus group discussions, interviews, observations, and visits to beneficiaries to elicit their views.
4. Prepare success stories by analysing and presenting relevant information about project implementation.
5. Produce text, photographs, and infographics highlighting the success stories and including voices of beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
6. Prepare write-ups for each of the investe,es highlighting the impact of the programme
7. Conduct validation meetings with AECF and the respective companies to ensure the draft articles and videos reflect the company’s experiences and perspectives.
8. Prepare final video documentaries for each of the investees, ensuring they bring out the identified themes and programme impact as guided by the team.
9. Prepare a comprehensive presentation to disseminate the digital stories.

5.0 Specific Deliverables and Expected output

The consultant will deliver to AECF:

 NB: The dates will be adjusted based on the actual contracting date.

6.0 Duration of Service

The assignment will be completed within three (3) months from the date of signing the contract.

7.0 Reporting

The consultant will report to the TCCP Programme Manager.

8.0 Eligible Experience

The successful consultant team/firm should have:

• A bachelor’s degree in relevant fields such as development studies, journalism, communications, or media studies.
• At least 5 years of experience in creative digital storytelling for diverse audiences.
• Proven experience in investigative and human impact story writing, preferably in renewable energy, gender, and development.
• Prior experience documenting impact stories or working on gender-focused initiatives.
• Demonstrated understanding of gender lens investing principles, strategies, and best practices, particularly at the intersection of gender and renewable energy.
• Strong understanding of renewable energy technologies, policies, and programs, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa context.
• Expertise and experience in women empowerment initiatives
• Experience working with international organizations focused on development, humanitarian aid, or the private sector.
• Ability to integrate human interest stories with statistics and data to create compelling and credible digital content.
• Strong research and analytical skills to gather information, conduct interviews, and extract key insights.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex concepts in an engaging and accessible way.
• Significant experience in writing, editing, and documenting human interest stories for various audiences.
• Ability to manage timelines, prioritize tasks, and deliver high-quality results within the agreed scope.
• Ability to navigate diverse cultural contexts and effectively engage with businesses and communities from different backgrounds.
• Cultural sensitivity and the ability to work with people from diverse communities to ensure effective communication and collaboration.
• A consultancy firm with a team of experts in technical writing, storytelling, photography, and copy editing.
• Have work experience in Tanzania.
• Good mastery of Kiswahili and English language

9.0 Evaluation criteria

Mandatory evaluation criteria

1. Mandatory Requirements for firms: –

• Company profile.
• A trading license or Certificate of incorporation or Certificate of Registration, and other statutory documents.
• Valid Tax Compliance certificate (Applicable to firms).
• Passport/National Identification of the lead consultant and key personnel.

• All documents related to the technical proposal must be compiled and submitted as a single PDF document, organized with a clear Table of Contents.

N/B: FAILURE TO ATTACH AND ADHERE TO THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS WILL RESULT IN AUTOMATIC DISQUALIFICATION

1. An evaluation committee will be formed by the AECF and may include employees of the businesses to be supported. All members will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. The consultant should ensure that they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated.

The AECF may request and receive clarification from any consultant when evaluating a proposal. The evaluation committee may invite some or all the consultants to appear before the committee to clarify their proposals. In such an event, the evaluation committee may consider such clarifications in evaluating proposals.

In deciding the final selection of a qualified bidder, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weighting of 80% based on the evaluation criteria. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be opened. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 20% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

The mandatory and desirable criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are identified in the table below.

10.0 Proposal Submission

Interested companies/individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Technical Proposal

• A profile of the lead consultant (max. 3 pages) explaining why they are the most suitable for the work
• CVs of the team composition
• Approach, methodology & work plan to undertake this assignment underpinned by a demonstration of value for money
• Signed letters of reference/recommendation from previous companies/assignments
• Detailed reference list and contacts indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments
• Sample of past work: applicants are requested to submit a sample of three previous projects or links to the projects to demonstrate the experiences required by these Terms of Reference.
• As per the requirements in the mandatory criteria, evaluation criteria & experience.
• The proposal should clearly outline the planned utilization of the 35 days.
• The technical proposal, including all supporting documents, must not exceed 15 pages in total.

Financial proposal

• A financial proposal (in USD) clearly showing the proposed team member, roles, and proposed days, and the proposed professional fee (daily rate and total amount per team member). The financial proposal shall also include an indication of reimbursables (travel, communication, etc.)

N/B: SUBMITTING THE FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL DOCUMENT AS ONE DOCUMENT WILL AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO DISQUALIFICATION OF THE APPLICANT

11.0 Pricing

AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees as well as ensure VAT, at 16%, is charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position with regard to the provisions of the Kenya tax legislation when developing their proposals.

12.0 Application details

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The AECF considers all interested candidates based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, marital status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

• All clarifications and/or questions should be sent to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org no later than 14th  August 2025 at 5:00 PM (EAT).
• The AECF invites qualified consultants/firms to submit a proposal to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org clearly marked ‘’TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR A COMMUNICATION CONSULTANCY TO DEVELOP DIGITAL STORIES ON IMPACT AND GENDER IN THE TANZANIA CLEAN COOKING PROGRAMME.” Proposals must be received no later than  21st August 2025 at 5:00 PM (EAT), and should be addressed to: AECF, Procurement Department.
• The AECF shall not be liable for not opening proposals that are submitted with a different subject or responding to questions that did not meet the deadline as indicated.

13.0 Disclaimer

AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice, and the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.

The AECF does not charge an application fee for participation in the tender process and has not appointed any agents or intermediaries to facilitate applications. Applicants are advised to reach out directly to the AECF.