Training On Practical Business Skills, Market Systems And Cross-cutting Capacity Building Training For Livelihoods Groups

1. Background and Context Somali Lifeline Organization (SOLO), in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and with funding from the IKEA Foundation, implements a Livelihoods Programme in the Dadaab Refugee Complex, Garissa County. The programme supports refugee and host-community households to build sustainable, market-oriented livelihoods, with a particular focus on agriculture and allied sectors such as poultry, honey value chain, livestock (meat and milk), and textiles. Through a rigorous identification process, the programme has organized 350 participants into 10 livelihoods groups of 35 members each (aggregate unit), distributed equally between refugee and host communities (50% / 50%), and drawn from Ifo1, and Dagahaley camps and neighbouring host-community villages including Bulla Kheir and Dadaab Host. Members have self-selected livelihoods sectors and are now ready to move from basic registration into structured capacity building that equips them to run their enterprises profitably and sustainably. SOLO/NRC now seeks to engage a qualified training consultant or firm to design and deliver a practical, hands-on training package covering two complementary thematic areas: (a) core business skills, and (b) market participation and cross-cutting skills including gender and social inclusion, leadership, life skills, legal awareness, and quality and branding. 2. Rationale Many group members currently operate small-scale production activities with limited exposure to formal business practice: informal or absent record keeping, ad hoc pricing that does not reliably cover costs, weak customer care and marketing practice, and limited experience negotiating with buyers or honouring contracts. Refugee members in particular face additional barriers to market participation, including restricted movement, limited legal and regulatory awareness, and constrained access to formal markets, while women across both communities often face compounded barriers linked to time poverty, decision-making power, and access to leadership roles within groups. A structured, practical training package is therefore required to convert production-focused groups into viable, market-oriented enterprises; to strengthen group governance and inclusion so that gains are equitably shared; and to build the confidence, negotiation ability, and legal literacy members need to participate safely and profitably in local markets. 3. Purpose and Objectives 3.1 Overall Objective To strengthen the business, market participation, governance, and life-skills capacities of 350 members of 10 SOLO/NRC-supported livelihoods groups in Dadaab, enabling them to operate viable, market-oriented, and gender-inclusive enterprises. 3.2 Specific Objectives Equip participants with practical entrepreneurship, record keeping, costing and pricing, customer care, and marketing skills applicable to their specific livelihoods sector. Build participants' understanding of local market dynamics and demand, and strengthen their negotiation and contract management skills. Strengthen gender and social inclusion practice, and leadership and governance capacity, within the 10 groups. Build participants' life skills and soft skills to support individual and collective decision-making, resilience, and cooperation. Raise awareness of the legal and regulatory environment relevant to trading and group enterprise in and around Dadaab. Strengthen participants' understanding and practice of product quality and branding to improve market competitiveness. 4. Scope of Work The assignment covers two complementary training components, to be delivered to each of the 10 groups. The consultant/firm is expected to develop a detailed curriculum against the indicative content below, adapt it to the specific sectors and literacy levels of each group, and translate/deliver in Somali and/or Kiswahili as appropriate. 4.1 Component A. Practical Business Skills Sub-topic, indicative content, and indicative duration Entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial mindset; opportunity identification; business planning basics tailored to the participant's sector (poultry, kitchen gardening, crop farming, livestock) for 0.5 day Record keeping: Simple, low-literacy-friendly tools for recording sales, expenses, stock, and savings; separating business and household finances for 1 day Costing and pricing: Calculating production/unit costs, setting profitable prices, break-even basics, responding to competitor and seasonal price changes, for 1 day Customer care: building customer relationships and trust, handling complaints, and repeat-business practices for 0.5 day Marketing strategies: identifying customers and market channels, low-cost promotion, and group/collective marketing approaches for 1 day 4.2 Component B. Market Participation, Governance, and Crosscutting Skills Sub-topic, Indicative content and Indicative duration Market dynamics and demand: Understanding local/Dadaab market structures, seasonality, demand assessment, and identifying viable market opportunities for 1 day Negotiation skills: Practical negotiation techniques with buyers, suppliers, and off-takers, including role-play practice for 0.5 day Contract management: understanding, negotiating, and honoring simple supply/off-take agreements; managing disputes for 0.5 day Gender and social inclusion, leadership and governance, GESI awareness, equitable participation in group decision-making, group leadership roles, and transparent and accountable group governance structures for 1 day Life skills and soft skills: communication, teamwork, problem-solving, conflict resolution, stress management, and goal setting for 0.5 day Legal and regulatory awareness; relevant national and county trading regulations; business registration basics; rights and obligations of refugee and host traders for 0.5 day. Quality and branding; basic quality control/assurance for produce and simple branding and packaging to strengthen market competitiveness for 1 day. Total indicative contact time is 4 days for Component A and 5 days for Component B per group (9 training days), plus follow-up coaching described in Section 7. The consultant/firm may propose an alternative sequencing or balance of days, with justification, in their technical proposal. 5. Target Participants Livelihoods groups formed under the SOLO/NRC registration exercise - 10 Members per group, standard group size - 35 Total participants: 10 groups 35 members = 350 Community distribution: Refugee community / Host community (50% / 50%) Camp locations include Ifo1 and Dagahaley camps (5 groups) and Host-community locations - Bulla Kheir, Dadaab (5 groups) Participants include both male and female members across a wide age range, with varying levels of literacy. The consultant/firm must design and facilitate sessions that are accessible to low-literacy adult learners and give equal opportunity for participation to women, men, youth and persons with disabilities. SOLO/NRC will share group-level lists (anonymized) confirming exact composition by sex, age, camp/village, and sector at contract signing. 6. Training Methodology The training must be practical and participatory and should draw on adult-learning principles. At minimum, the consultants/firm are expected to: Use experiential, hands-on methods: role play, simulations, group work, case studies, and, where feasible, market/field visits rather than lecture-based delivery. Adapt materials for low-literacy participants, using pictorial, oral, and demonstration-based tools alongside written materials. Deliver in Somali, with facilitators fluent in the languages spoken by participants. Apply gender-sensitive facilitation, ensuring equal voice and participation for women and men and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. Conduct a pre-training assessment to establish baseline knowledge/skills and a post-training assessment to measure learning gains. Support each group to produce a simple, practical output from the training (e.g., a basic costing sheet, record-keeping template, or group action plan) rather than knowledge alone. Provide at least two follow-up coaching/mentoring visits per group after the classroom training to reinforce learning and support application (see Section 7). 7. Duration and Indicative Schedule The assignment is expected to run over approximately 8–10 weeks from contract signing, inclusive of inception, delivery to all 10 groups, follow-up coaching, and reporting. This is an indicative timeframe; the consultants/firm should propose a detailed work plan and team composition (e.g., number of parallel facilitation teams) in their technical proposal, with justification for any variation from the indicative schedule below. Phase Activity Indicative duration Phase 1 Inception: desk review, curriculum design/adaptation, translation of materials, submission of inception report and training plan - 1 week Phase 2 Delivery of Component A and Component B classroom training to all 10 groups (9 contact days per group; groups may be trained in parallel by a facilitation team or sequentially) - 4–6 weeks Phase 3 Follow-up coaching/mentoring visits (minimum two per group) and post-training assessment- 2–3 weeks Phase 4 Consolidation, final reporting and handover of materials and datasets - 1 week Exact start and end dates will be confirmed at contract signing. 8. Deliverables Deliverable Inception report, including finalized curriculum, session plans, and translated/localized training materials Within 1 week of contract signing Pre- and post-training assessment tools and completed assessment data/report Tools before delivery; report after each group's training Signed attendance registers for all 10 groups, disaggregated by sex, age, camp/host village, and groupthroughout delivery Group-level practical outputs (e.g., costing sheets, record-keeping templates, group action plans) By end of classroom training per group; follow-up coaching/mentoring visit reports (minimum 2 per group) throughout Phase 3 Final training report, including methodology, participation data, assessment results, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations within 2 weeks of assignment completion Provide full set of training materials/manuals and a facilitator's guide handed over to SOLO/NRC for future use with final report. 9. Roles and Responsibilities SOLO / NRC will Mobilize and confirm participants and group schedules Arrange venues, seating and any required camp access/movement permissions Provide available baseline/registration data on groups (sector, camp/village, sex, age) Provide a technical focal point for oversight, quality assurance and approvals Cover participant transport/refreshments if budgeted separately from this contract The Consultant / Firm will Design and adapt the curriculum and all training materials Provide qualified, experienced facilitators for all sessions Deliver all training, assessments and coaching visits per the agreed schedule Prepare and submit all deliverables in Section 8 to agreed quality and timelines Comply with SOLO/NRC and donor safeguarding, PSEA and code-of-conduct requirements 10. Duty Station and Reporting The assignment will be delivered in Dadaab and Bula Kheir, with sessions held in Ifo 1 and Dagahley camps and in the listed host-community villages. The consultants/firm is responsible for its own travel, accommodation and logistics within Dadaab unless otherwise agreed in the contract. The consultant/firm will report to the SOLO Livelihoods Project Manager, in coordination with the NRC livelihoods focal point, and will provide brief progress updates after each group's training in addition to the formal deliverables listed above. 11. Required Qualifications and Experience The firm (or team) should demonstrate: Registration as a training consultant, firm or institution, with a valid business registration and tax compliance certificate. A minimum of 3–5 years' experience designing and delivering business/entrepreneurship or market systems development (MSD) training, preferably with refugee, IDP or host-community populations. Demonstrated experience working in Dadaab, Garissa County, or comparable arid/semi-arid and displacement-affected contexts. A facilitation team with combined expertise across all thematic areas in Section 4, including at least one facilitator experienced in gender and social inclusion (GESI) programming. Facilitators fluent in Somali, with experience adapting training for low-literacy adult audiences. A track record of participatory, practical training methodology (not purely lecture-based), supported by references or sample materials. Familiarity with humanitarian/NGO safeguarding standards, including PSEA (Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) and child safeguarding. Logistical capacity to mobilize a facilitation team to deliver training across 10 groups within the proposed timeframe. 12. Safeguarding, Ethics and Data Protection The consultant/firm and all facilitators must sign and comply with SOLO’s Code of Conduct, Child Safeguarding Policy, and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) policy prior to engagement. Any incidents or concerns arising during training must be reported immediately through SOLO's safeguarding reporting channels. All participant data (names, ID/phone numbers, attendance and assessment records) collected during the assignment is confidential and remains the property of SOLO. The firm may not share, publish or reuse participant data for any purpose outside this assignment without prior written consent, and must securely store and, on request, delete or return all such data at the end of the assignment. 13. Budget and Payment Terms Interested consultants/firms must submit a detailed, itemized financial proposal in Kenya Shillings (KES) covering facilitator fees, training materials, travel/logistics within Dadaab, and any other costs required to deliver the scope of work. Payment will be made in instalments linked to approved deliverables, indicatively: 30% on submission and approval of the inception report; 40% on completion of training and coaching for all 10 groups; 30% on submission and approval of the final report and materials. Exact terms will be confirmed in the signed contract, subject to applicable taxes. 14. Evaluation Criteria Technical proposals meeting a minimum qualifying score of 70% will have their financial proposals opened and scored. Overall award will be based on the combined technical and financial score below. Criteria Technical proposal: understanding of the assignment, methodology, work plan, and curriculum outline- 30% Team composition and qualifications, including thematic coverage and language capacity- 20% Relevant experience in Dadaab/refugee or comparable contexts, with references- 20% Financial proposal (cost-effectiveness and value for money)- 30% Total - 100%