Consultant – Regional Review of IGNITE Innovation Hub Programming in Eastern Africa

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JOB TITLE: Consultant – Regional Review of IGNITE Innovation Hub Programming in Eastern Africa

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultant WAE CST II

UNIT/DIVISION:WFP Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO)

DUTY STATION: Home-based with travel as required

DURATION: October - December 2026

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organisation, providing emergency food aid and supporting recovery from conflict, disasters, and climate change in over 120 countries. WFP delivers life-saving assistance to displaced and vulnerable communities, works to improve nutrition for women and children, supports smallholder farmers, helps prepare for climate shocks, and boosts human capital through school feeding programmes.

Since its establishment in 2022, the IGNITE Innovation Hub (IGNITE Hub) has supported 8 Country Offices (COs) across Eastern Africa to design, test, and scale innovative approaches that strengthen food systems, promote community self-reliance, and enhance the effectiveness of humanitarian and development programming. The IGNITE Hub is now in the process of learning and reflecting on its achievements and expanding its support further to additional WFP supported COs.

More recently, the IGNITE Hub’s work has increasingly focused on enabling locally led enterprise solutions, strengthening private sector engagement, and supporting pathways for sustainable financing and scale, in alignment with WFP’s localization agenda and corporate initiatives such as World Food Invest.

Against this backdrop, WFP seeks to commission a theory-based review of IGNITE Hub programming in Eastern Africa to assess how these efforts are contributing to systemic change, learning, and strategic positioning at country and regional levels.

The review will serve both accountability and learning purposes. From an accountability perspective, it will assess the extent to which investments have delivered intended results and contributed to WFP’s strategic objectives in Eastern Africa. From a learning perspective, the review will generate evidence based findings and insights to inform future IGNITE Hub design, strengthen theories of change, and guide decisions related to partnerships, scale, and sustainability at country and regional levels.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Scope of the Assignment:

The review will focus primarily on IGNITE Hub supported initiatives such as the IGNITE Challenge, while also considering relevant initiatives here they contribute to learning on innovation, private sector development and investment facilitation, partnerships, and scale within the selected countries.

Review Period Coverage: The review will cover projects and programmes funded and supported by the IGNITE Hub in the period from February 2022 to June 2026.

Geographical Coverage: The review will cover the Eastern Africa Region with a focus on Country Offices which received dedicated support during the period: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda. The COs have been selected on the basis that they were the initial countries of focus for IGNITE Hub funding and technical support. A detailed design, including sampling of participants within each targeted CO will be developed during the inception phase.

Specific target groups: IGNITE Challenge Programme Enterprises, IGNITE Seed Programme Enterprises, Capacity Strengthening participants (WFP staff), Implementing Partners in each country, WFP Country Office Leadership, Programme, and Operational Teams.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The objective of this review is to examine the IGNITE Hub’s programming across Eastern Africa, with a particular focus on Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda. It seeks to understand how Country Offices have been supported to design, test, and scale innovative approaches that strengthen food systems, promote community self-reliance, and enhance the effectiveness of humanitarian and development programming. In doing so, the review will highlight how these efforts are contributing to systemic change, fostering learning, and shaping strategic positioning at both country and regional levels.

Specifically, the review will assess relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, sustainability, and early signs of impact of IGNITE Hub supported programming in Eastern Africa, Key questions to be answered include:

1. Relevance

• How well do IGNITE Hub supported initiatives align with Country Office priorities, regional strategies, WFP’s localization agenda, emerging approaches to engaging the private sector and non-traditional partners (including World Food Invest, where relevant), as well as with the needs of affected populations?
• How appropriate are the IGNITE Hub’s approaches in relation to the contextual challenges and opportunities across Eastern Africa?

2. Effectiveness

• To what degree have IGNITE Hub initiatives achieved their intended objectives and expected outputs, and where have they fallen short?
• What internal and external factors explain variation in results across countries or initiatives?

3. Efficiency

• How efficient have different partnership models, including engagement with private sector or local actors, been in supporting the delivery of outcomes? What explains observed differences in efficiency across countries or initiatives?
• How have delivery and partnership arrangements, including local and private sector partnerships, influenced cost-effectiveness and speed of implementation?

4. Impact (early signs)

• In what ways, if any, have IGNITE Hub supported initiatives contributed to changes in programming, processes, or ways of working?
• What early signals suggest potential for longer-term impact, scale, or systems change?

5. Coherence and Synergies

• How coherent are IGNITE Hub-supported initiatives with other programmes, systems and partnerships at country and regional levels?
• Where do IGNITE Hub’s efforts complement, overlap with, or duplicate other efforts, and why?
• To what extent are IGNITE Hub-supported initiatives designed and implemented in ways that enable synergies and complementarities with corporate and regional platforms and mechanisms, including World Food Invest and other partnership or financing vehicles?

6. Sustainability and Scale

• How likely is it that results from IGNITE Hub’s initiatives will be sustained beyond the review period, and on what evidence?
• What conditions are necessary for scaling successful innovative solutions within and beyond Eastern Africa?

7. Learning and Adaptation

• How effectively are learning, knowledge sharing, and adaptive management systematically embedded and practiced within IGNITE Hub-supported initiatives?
• Where are learning and feedback loops functioning well, and where are they breaking down or underutilised?
• How is learning from IGNITE Hub-supported initiatives currently used to inform programming choices, partnerships, and investment decisions, particularly in the context of closing or transitioning donor-funded portfolios?
• What key lessons emerge from IGNITE Hub-supported innovations during this period and what do they suggest for future innovation investments and partnerships?

REVIEW MODALITY, DURATION AND KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The review will be conducted by an external consultant covering all selected countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda). This will ensure methodological coherence and allow for comparative analysis. The exercise will combine document review, key informant interviews, and selected field or virtual engagements, depending on feasibility.Total duration of the assignment: approximately 45 working days, spread over 3-4 months, allowing flexibility for data collection, analysis, and validation.

The consultant is expected to:

• Design and implement a theory-based review methodology, including appropriate data collection tools.
• Conduct primary data collection and stakeholder consultations, complemented by document review.
• Analyse and synthesise findings to generate evidence-based conclusions and actionable recommendations.
• Collaborate closely with WFP Country Office and regional teams to ensure contextual relevance, validation of findings, and ownership of recommendations.
• Facilitate stakeholder validation and learning moments, including presentations or workshops as appropriate.
• Draft and finalise the required reports and knowledge products.

DURATION AND DELIVERABLES

Key deliverables under this assignment will include:

• An Inception Report outlining the proposed methodology, analytical framework, theory-based approach, and workplan.

• An interim findings presentation to WFP stakeholders for validation and sense-checking.

• A reconstructed Theory of Change framework, co-developed and validated with stakeholders.

• A final written report, including a two-page executive summary, documenting findings, conclusions, and actionable recommendations.

• A PowerPoint presentation summarising key findings and recommendations.

• A presentation of findings to key stakeholders at regional and/or country level.

FUNDING AND APPOINTMENT PROCESS

Funding: The review will be financed through the IGNITE Hub’s funding from Danida. The targeted deadline for delivery of the final outputs is Monday, 30 November 2026.

The consultant will be selected from the CSP MTR Consultant Roster through an assessment process that may include a review of qualifications, relevant experience, availability, references and a brief interview. Appointment will be subject to successful completion of the assessment process and applicable WFP recruitment requirements.

The selected consultant should demonstrate:

• Experience conducting theory-based reviews, evaluations or impact assessments.
• Experience in humanitarian and development programming.
• Strong mixed-methods research and analysis skills.
• Experience working in Eastern Africa and/or similar contexts.
• Strong report-writing and facilitation skills.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

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All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.