Production of the Rural Sector Performance Assessment (RSPA) for IFAD14

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Rome, Italy, hereby solicits proposals for the Production of the Rural Sector Performance Assessment (RSPA) for IFAD14. Ahead of the start of every Replenishment and funding cycle, IFAD reviews and updates partner countries’ Rural Sector Performance Assessment (RSPA). The RSPA is a country-level composite indicator, which measures the quality of pro-poor rural development and rural transformation policies and institutions in the countries where IFAD works across the world. The objective of this bidding exercise is to select the services of a company to undertake the two following tasks:  a. RSPA methodological review: Review the current RSPA and the individual quantitative and qualitative indicators within it and identify areas in which improvements and simplifications may be made in terms of the selection and number of indicators used. This would depend on data quality and availability, as well as IFAD’s feedback. When possible, a proposal to substitute qualitative indicators with quantitative ones should be made, with the overarching goal of simplifying the current methodology while ensuring sourcing from respected international publicly available sources and comparability with previous methodology and outputs. Moreover, explore methodological approaches to facilitate the comparison of RSPA scores by country over time, in addition to the current relative approach.   b. Produce the RSPA for IFAD14: produce the RSPA scores for around 90-100 countries, including mostly low and lower-middle-income countries, and some upper-middle income countries. Compare IFAD14 and IFAD13 scores (or the latest available) and related narrative and provide an explanation (including sources) for any changes in scores across scoring cycles.   INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ACCESS RFP/ITB DOCUMENTS: In order to have access to the Tender Documents, it is necessary to register in UNGM portal (www.ungm.org). Please carefully read the instructions in the document attached to this tender notice (SEE THE MENU TAB ''DOCUMENTS‘’).