Spark Microgrants’
Background
Spark Microgrants’ key innovation, the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), is a model for local development which combines a facilitated community planning process with a village micro grant. The FCAP’s most important domains of impact are (1) improved livelihoods and (2) strengthened Citizen Engagement. Within these domains, demonstrated results include greater food consumption, increased household assets, improved trust among neighbors, greater transparency in leadership, and increased involvement of women in decision-making and leadership. Beginning in September 2022, Spark introduced the FCAP in 24 communities in Malawi, split evenly between the Districts of Nkhotakota and Lilongwe,to test whether Malawi was a fit for the FCAP. During this pre pilot, Spark worked with 2 implementing partners i.e. Shaping Our Future Foundation (SOFF) and Njira Impact (formerly FOCCAD) in rural Lilongwe and Nkhotakota Districts. respectively.After a successful pre-pilot, Spark has expanded to a total of 72 villages in the country as of the end of 2024.
Components of the FCAP in Malawi
The FCAP implementation in Malawi has 3 components i.e. Community Capacity Building; Microgrants; and Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Knowledge Dissemination.
Component 1: Community Capacity Building. This component encompasses training and equipping implementing partners and the selected Community Based Facilitators with skills to implement FCAP within the identified communities in order to enhance citizen engagement and improve rural livelihoods. Through regular, facilitated meetings, communities develop a village vision and action plan, identifying “pathways” or activities and initiatives that can be implemented toward their goal. It also builds community capacity to engage in development planning and to manage community level subprojects.
Component 2: Microgrants. Component two finances priority sub projects identified as a pathway to improve livelihoods. Each target community is provided a grant amount dependent on the number of households. During the pre-pilot phase, the microgrant ranged from 5000 – 15000 USD per community. Microgrants are guaranteed for every target community, provided eligibility conditions are met, including the election of a FCAP Leadership Committee, completion and submission of the Community Development Plan, and approval of a subproject proposal.
Component 3: Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Knowledge Dissemination. This component pertains to ongoing project implementation and follow-up, including carrying out project management approaches learned through training (see component 1), monitoring and evaluation of the projects, and communicating lessons learned.
Purpose of the Assignment
Spark is commissioning an outcome harvesting study to meaningfully document the changes our partner communities in Malawi have experienced as a result of FCAP. Given our lack of any Malawi-specific impact data thus far, the information generated from this study will be a good step in demonstrating the impact of our work to stakeholders in Malawi. Specifically, the consultant is expected to;
- Harvest and validate outcomes resulting from the implementation of the FCAP model.
- Assess the contribution of FCAP to improvements in community livelihoods and social cohesion.
- Identify and explore unanticipated outcomes, whether positive or negative.
- Provide evidence and insights to inform program learning, adaptation, and potential scale-up.
Objectives
- Identify key behavioral, relational, and institutional changes at the community and household levels and assess how the FCAP may have contributed to these changes.
- Document stories of change from the perspective of different stakeholders (community members, local leaders, implementing partners).
- Analyze patterns and themes in harvested outcomes across different locations.
- Recommend ways to strengthen the model based on the findings.
- Integrate some of the quantitative findings from Spark’s M&E reports to triangulate the qualitative results from the study.
Study Design
The study will employ a qualitative approach under the overall framework of Outcome harvesting thereby being able to identify, describe, and verify outcomes that have occurred within the FCAP beneficiary communities, and then work backward to determine how the FCAP may have contributed to those outcomes. The consultant will employ several qualitative data collection methods, consistent with industry standards and best practices for outcome harvesting, to be able to clearly demonstrate the impact of our work and how it was achieved.
In order to complement the qualitative data that the consultant will have collected, the pilot M&E data and reports are expected to be integrated into the final study report where possible for triangulation purposes.
Sample Size
The consultant will be expected to apply appropriate sample size determination techniques for qualitative studies to be able to determine an adequate sample size by data collection method (i.e. FGD, KII, MSC, …) and which stakeholders to be involved in the study as respondents.
Scope of the Evaluation
The study is expected to be carried out in the first set of communities that Spark and its implementing partners worked in, beginning in September 2022. There are 24 communities in total: 12 in Nkhotakota and 12 in Lilongwe Districts.
The study is expected to take a time frame of 11 weeks from inception to dissemination of findings starting from 12th May 2025 to 25th July 2025.
Role of Spark
- Spark will provide a list of FCAP communities where the study will be implemented.
- Spark will provide documentation on the program model used in the pre-pilot communities and insights into key stakeholders.
- Spark will support the consultant to receive government approval to work in all identified FCAP communities. It will be the responsibility of the consultant to ultimately get this approval.
- Spark will introduce the consultant to the implementing partners who are key in providing contact people for the study communities.
- All project sign offs, approvals and liaison between the consultant and Spark will be throughthe M&E Director.
- Spark will work with the consultant to clearly define all terms laid out within the research protocol prior to any field work being conducted.
- Spark will provide M&E data and reports for triangulation purposes referenced above.
Activities
The expected activities to achieve this are as follows:
| Activity | Deadline |
| Deliver an inception report detailing full methodology including sampling approach and data collection tools alongside which stakeholders to be engaged in the study. | 23/05/2025 |
| Obtain all approvals from the 2 District offices to conduct the study. No need for IRB approval, this should be treated as an M&E activity. | 30/05/2025 |
| Enumerator recruitment and training | 06/06/2025 |
| Pilot and validate the data collection tools | 06/06/2025 |
| Create and share a detailed Field Procedure Plan | 06/06/2025 |
| Conduct data collection | 20/06/2025 |
| Submit first draft of the study report | 04/07/2025 |
| Submit final report (word version and a slide presentation), codebook and transcripts of the qualitative data collected. | 18/07/2025 |
| Dissemination of findings to Spark SMT and the implementing partners | 25/07/2025 |
All deliverables must be reviewed, verified, and approved by the Spark M&E Director.
Application Details:
Applications in the form of a technical and financial proposal are welcomed from individuals, or teams, who are able to demonstrate the capacity to deliver the piece of work set out above, within the Malawi context.
The following skills and experiences are essential criteria for all applicants:
- Expert understanding of quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods,with specific experience in outcome harvesting methodologies.
- Significant experience in conducting and/or managing similar or comparable assignments in both methodology and scale within the Malawi context.
- Demonstrated ability to bring together inputs into clear and concise summaries or recommendations
- Expert knowledge of the Citizen Engagement, Livelihoods, Civic Engagement and Social Accountability, and Climate Change fields within international development space.
- A strong academic background in the effects of government centralization and decentralization programs.
Interested parties should submit a technical and financial proposal to Spark MicroGrants to include:
- A cover letter demonstrating how you meet the criteria above
- A draft work plan and associated budget required to deliver the assignment as well as all individuals that will be involved and a description of the roles they each will play within the team.
- CVs for all individuals listed and referees from organizations where the consultant has done work in the past.
- Maximum two examples of previous work that demonstrates the skills or experience relevant to this assignment.
Please send completed proposals to enock@sparkmicrogrants.org by end of 09/05/2025
Please note that we will be unable to give feedback to unsuccessful applicants.