The West Nile Development Association (WENDA) is a regional association established in 1993 to bring together local governments, private sector actors and civil society for regional peace and development in West Nile. Its published focus includes regional economic growth, leadership and governance, refugee and migrant response, environment and climate governance, peacebuilding and regional coordination. WENDA’s role depends on its ability to convene members, coordinate action and represent regional priorities across local and national processes.

ACODE and WENDA, with support from the Embassies of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden under the Programme on Accountability, Civic Engagement and Rights (PACER), are implementing the project “Strengthening Civic Engagement, Voice, Service Delivery, and Climate Justice for Improved Accountability in Uganda.” Institutional strengthening under PACER includes support for WENDA to improve its organisational capacity and mobilise the resources needed to sustain and build on programme results.

WENDA requires a strategy that goes beyond a list of possible donors. The strategy should assess the organisation’s mandate, cost base, current income and funding pipeline, comparative strengths, relationships and readiness to pursue different forms of support. It should identify a balanced and ethically sound mix of financial and non-financial resources, set realistic targets and responsibilities, and establish the systems needed to manage partnerships and funds transparently.

The strategy should test the feasibility of opportunities such as competitive grants, foundations and local philanthropy, partnerships with public institutions and local governments, private sector support, membership contributions, commissioned services, consortium roles and other locally appropriate options. It should not assume that every option is suitable for WENDA.

The consultant will also review the changing development finance environment and relevant national priorities, including the current National Development Plan, as well as applicable legal and donor requirements. Any consideration of fees, trading, social enterprise, endowments or other income-generating mechanisms must assess demand, mission fit, legal status, governance, cost, risk and likely net contribution before recommending action.

On behalf of WENDA, ACODE invites qualified consultants or consulting firms to develop an evidence-based Resource Mobilisation Strategy for WENDA. The strategy should identify realistic funding and non-financial resource options, strengthen WENDA’s readiness to pursue them, and support long-term sustainability.

2. Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of the assignment is to develop a practical five-year Resource Mobilisation Strategy that strengthens WENDA’s financial resilience, diversifies its resource base and enables it to sustain its regional coordination and development role.

The specific objectives are to:

1. Assess WENDA’s current funding profile, income concentration, funding pipeline, expenditure and core operating costs, grant portfolio, financial controls and resource mobilisation capacity.
2. Analyse WENDA’s mandate, programme priorities, value proposition, comparative strengths, member relationships and evidence of results to determine the most credible offer to funders and partners.
3. Map and assess potential resource providers and partnership channels in Uganda, the region and internationally, including the fit, access conditions, likely resource type, timing, transaction costs and risks for each.
4. Identify feasible options for financial and non-financial support, including restricted and flexible funding, member contributions, local philanthropy, private sector support, public sector collaboration, commissioned work, consortium participation and in-kind resources.
5. Assess WENDA’s organisational readiness to pursue, receive, manage, report on and retain resources, including proposal development, costing and full-cost recovery, due diligence, donor engagement, partnership management and compliance.
6. Develop a five-year strategy with prioritised objectives, source-diversification targets, realistic scenarios, clear governance and staff responsibilities, and a costed implementation plan for the first 24 months.
7. Develop practical tools and a resource pipeline management system that WENDA can maintain after the consultancy.
8. Build the confidence and skills of WENDA’s leadership and staff to implement the strategy and review progress.

3. Scope of Work

The consultant will complete the following tasks. The assessment must be evidence-led and proportionate to WENDA’s scale, legal form and operating context.

4. Methodology and Stakeholder Engagement

The consultant should propose a participatory mixed-method approach combining document review, financial and pipeline analysis, stakeholder consultations and market scanning. The methodology should explain how the consultant will protect confidential financial and partner information and ensure candid participation.

1. Conduct an inception meeting with WENDA and ACODE to confirm scope, access, stakeholders, PACER links, work plan and approval arrangements.
2. Review WENDA’s governance and strategic records, audited accounts, budgets, donor and partner agreements, concept notes and proposals, reports, organisational assessments, membership information, policies, audit recommendations and available pipeline data.
3. Interview WENDA’s Council or Board, management and staff, and consult a purposive sample of member local governments, relevant ministries and agencies, civil society and private sector networks, existing partners and prospective resource providers where access is feasible.
4. Use a transparent resource source assessment matrix that rates strategic fit, eligibility, potential value, accessibility, probability, timing, transaction cost, restrictions, relationship strength and reputational or compliance risk.
5. Analyse concentration and sustainability through suitable scenarios, including a baseline scenario and at least one diversification scenario. Make assumptions explicit and avoid unsupported revenue forecasts.
6. Validate the diagnosis, source map, strategic choices, targets and implementation plan with WENDA and ACODE before finalisation.
7. Apply informed consent, confidentiality, do-no-harm and data minimisation principles. Do not share WENDA’s unpublished financial or partner information outside the assignment.

The consultant should distinguish confirmed opportunities from prospects that require further relationship development. The strategy should not treat fundraising success as guaranteed or recommend a source solely because it is available. Recommendations should preserve WENDA’s independence, member accountability and mission.

5. Key Questions

1. What resources does WENDA currently receive, from which sources, on what terms, and how predictable and flexible are they?
2. What are the full costs of WENDA’s governance, secretariat, member coordination, regional convening, evidence and advocacy functions?
3. What is WENDA’s distinctive value to potential funders, members, public institutions, communities and private sector partners?
4. Which funding and non-financial resource sources are realistic, mission-aligned, accessible and sufficiently diversified for WENDA?
5. What technical, governance, compliance and relationship capabilities are needed to secure and manage each priority resource channel?
6. What funding targets and scenarios are credible over five years, and what assumptions, costs and risks underpin them?
7. How should WENDA and ACODE coordinate resource mobilisation linked to PACER while preserving WENDA’s institutional ownership and sustainability?
8. What actions, responsibilities, tools and review arrangements will make the strategy usable and accountable?

6. Deliverables and Indicative Schedule

The 30 working days are expected to be completed over approximately six calendar weeks. The consultant will submit editable Word and Excel files and a final PDF. ACODE and WENDA will jointly review each deliverable and provide consolidated feedback within five working days of submission. A deliverable will be accepted only after ACODE and WENDA confirm in writing that it meets the agreed scope and quality standards. ACODE will administer the procurement and contract record in accordance with the signed contract.

7. Required Content of the Final Strategy

The strategy should be written for use by WENDA’s governing body, management and staff. It should include:

1. An executive summary and the decisions required from WENDA’s governing body.
2. WENDA’s mandate, value proposition, funding baseline and resource mobilisation challenges established from evidence.
3. A funding and partnership landscape analysis with a prioritised prospect and channel map.
4. A resource diversification framework covering financial and non-financial contributions, with clear criteria for selecting or rejecting opportunities.
5. Strategic outcomes, annual targets and assumptions for a five-year period, including realistic resource scenarios and the cost of mobilisation.
6. A clear approach to relationship cultivation, proposal development, consortia, donor communications, local giving and member engagement.
7. Governance, management and staff responsibilities, including decision rights, approval thresholds and oversight of reputational or mission risks.
8. A detailed, costed 24-month implementation plan with lead roles, milestones, dependencies and indicators.
9. A resource pipeline tracker and prospect calendar that records source, fit, eligibility, relationship owner, next step, expected timing, value range and status.
10. A monitoring, learning and review framework that supports quarterly pipeline reviews and annual strategy updates.
11. Annexes containing the diagnostic tools, source mapping criteria, stakeholder categories consulted, documents reviewed and assumptions.

8. Duration and Coordination

The assignment is expected to require 30 working days from contract commencement. The work will be based in Arua and WENDA’s regional area of operation, with remote consultations where appropriate. The consultant will report to a contract manager designated by ACODE and coordinate with ACODE’s PACER focal person and WENDA’s designated technical focal person. ACODE and WENDA will jointly provide technical direction, facilitate access to records and stakeholders, arrange validation, review deliverables and provide consolidated feedback. ACODE will manage procurement communications and contract administration.

9. Consultant Qualifications

The assignment may be undertaken by an individual consultant or a firm. The lead consultant should have:

1. A postgraduate qualification in resource mobilisation, fundraising, finance, business development, organisational development, public administration, development studies or a related field.
2. At least seven years of relevant experience in resource mobilisation, fundraising strategy, development finance or sustainability planning.
3. Demonstrated experience developing resource mobilisation strategies for civil society organisations, membership associations, local government networks or regional platforms.
4. Practical knowledge of grant funding, foundations and philanthropy, private sector partnerships, local resource mobilisation, public sector collaboration and consortium or subgrant opportunities.
5. Experience in financial analysis, costing, funding pipeline management, donor due diligence, proposal development and grant compliance.
6. Knowledge of Uganda’s civil society and development finance context, including relevant regulatory and reporting obligations applicable to WENDA’s legal form.
7. Strong facilitation, stakeholder engagement, analytical and report-writing skills in English.
8. Ability to handle confidential information and conflicts of interest with discretion.

A proposed team may include complementary expertise in financial management, private sector engagement, philanthropy, local government financing or legal and compliance analysis. The proposal should identify each person’s role, relevant experience and level of effort. The consultant must disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest. The lead consultant’s experience will be the primary basis for scoring relevant experience under the evaluation criteria.

10. Proposal Submission Requirements

Interested consultants or firms should submit separate technical and financial proposals.

The technical proposal should include:

1. Understanding of WENDA’s mandate and the purpose of the assignment.
2. A proposed methodology, assessment framework, stakeholder plan and approach to opportunity prioritisation.
3. A work plan and level of effort linked to each deliverable.
4. Proposed strategy horizon and explanation of how targets and scenarios will be developed from evidence.
5. CVs, team composition and clear division of responsibilities.
6. Brief descriptions of at least three relevant assignments, with referees and samples where available.
7. Quality assurance, confidentiality, ethics and knowledge transfer arrangements.
8. Disclosure of actual or potential conflicts of interest.

The financial proposal should state a lump-sum amount in Uganda shillings, with professional fees, applicable taxes, travel and other costs itemised. The lump-sum price should be inclusive of all applicable taxes. It should state assumptions, payment milestones and proposal validity. The consultant should include the cost of all consultations and the validation and skills-transfer session.

Technical and financial proposals should be submitted to
procurement@acode-u.org by October 30, 2026. ACODE will receive bids and may invite shortlisted applicants to an interview or request clarification, in consultation with WENDA where appropriate.

11. Evaluation Criteria

ACODE, as the procurement entity, will convene a joint evaluation process with WENDA. ACODE and WENDA will jointly evaluate technical and financial proposals using the criteria below and applicable procurement procedures. The technical proposal will be scored out of 80 points. Only proposals attaining at least 56 technical points will proceed to financial evaluation.

Financial proposals will be scored using a consistent formula disclosed to all technically qualified applicants. ACODE and WENDA will jointly determine the combined technical and financial evaluation outcome. ACODE will maintain the procurement record and communicate decisions to applicants. ACODE may seek clarifications or cancel the call in accordance with its procurement procedures, in consultation with WENDA.

12. Payment Schedule

Payment will be linked to written acceptance of each deliverable by ACODE and WENDA. The final contract will set payment administration and applicable procurement requirements.

13. Compliance, Ownership and Confidentiality

1. The consultant will review applicable legal and regulatory requirements relevant to WENDA’s legal form and registrations, including obligations on registration, annual reporting, source-of-funds disclosure, accounting and audit where applicable. The consultant will flag matters requiring independent legal advice and will not present the strategy as a legal opinion.
2. The consultant will assess funder requirements relating to due diligence, anti-fraud and corruption, safeguarding, prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, sanctions screening, data protection and financial reporting, and include suitable readiness actions.
3. All strategy documents, tools and data produced under the contract will become WENDA’s property upon payment, subject to the contract. Non-public financial, partner and stakeholder information must remain confidential.
4. The consultant must obtain consent before interviews, minimise personal data collection, secure working files and disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest.
5. Recommendations must protect WENDA’s independence, public trust, accountability to members and alignment with its mission. WENDA retains approval authority over funding sources and partnerships.

14. Acceptance Standards

ACODE and WENDA will jointly assess the final outputs against the following standards:

1. Analysis is based on verified financial and organisational evidence, with assumptions and limitations stated.
2. Prospects are prioritised using transparent criteria and distinguish confirmed opportunities from speculative leads.
3. The strategy balances diversification with mission fit, independence, realistic capacity and compliance.
4. Targets and projections are credible, costed and linked to stated assumptions.
5. Implementation responsibilities, milestones, indicators and review arrangements are clear.
6. The pipeline tracker and other tools are simple enough for WENDA to maintain.
7. Documents are professionally edited, internally consistent and provided in editable formats.

15. Submission of Financial and Technical Proposals

Submit the financial and technical proposals to
procurement@acode-u.org
by October 30, 2026.

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