Consultant Municipal Service Assessment

Job description

Title: Development of a Guide for Assessing Municipal Services

Project: Partnerships for Municipal Innovation – Women in Local Leadership

Purpose of Assignment: To draft a 15-to-20-page guide for assessing municipal service delivery.

Position: Consultant – Municipal Service Assessment

Number of Positions: 1

Language: English

Period/Duration: Ten (10) working days

Reporting to: National Project Coordinator   

1.   Background

The Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ) in collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has, since April 2021, been implementing the Partnerships for Municipal Innovation – Women in Local Leadership (PMI-WILL) project with financial support from the Canadian government. PMI-WILL is a 6-year (2021-2027) project designed to enhance the enjoyment of rights for women and girls in Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Zambia. To achieve this goal, the project is applying a two-pronged approach centered on the following intermediate outcomes:

a)   Increased participation of women, particularly those from marginalised groups, as leaders and decision-makers in local governance.

b)   Strengthened capacities of local authorities in planning and delivery of inclusive, gender-responsive services.

Through PMI-WILL project, LGAZ has been facilitating capacity development initiatives targeting serving and aspiring female civic leaders and selected local authorities (Chifunabuli, Kafue, Kasama, Lunte and Nakonde Councils). These initiatives are focused on strengthening capacities of women as local leaders and decision makers and local authorities to plan and deliver quality services through an inclusive, gender responsive approach.

To contribute to the capacity development of local authorities in the context of devolution, the Association intends to develop a knowledge product in form of guidelines for assessing and improving municipal service delivery. This will build on other efforts conducted over the last three years, including trainings on gender analysis and municipal service assessments using a community score card as a participatory tool for identifying gaps and evaluating service performance. The knowledge product will provide salient information to support local authorities in understanding service gaps and responding to community needs, especially the needs of marginalised including women, children, adolescents, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Specifically, the guide will benefit local authorities as follows:

a)  Improve planning and delivery of services: Set clear objectives, basic standards and realistic activity schedules and timelines, assignment of tasks, and resource requirements for each prioritised service.

b)  Enhance operational efficiency: Eliminate waste and ensure optimal usage of available resources for basic services.

c) Integration of environmental, social inclusion and gender considerations: Consider environmental effects of service initiatives and engage marginalised groups to better understand and respond to their specific needs.

d) Enhance performance monitoring: Provide criteria and targets for assessing service performance through a gender lens, allowing for continuous improvement.

e)  Obtain user-feedback: Gather service-user feedback to identify specific gaps and inform service improvement. This includes demonstrating the use of a community score card as a participatory tool for engaging marginalised groups in service assessment and performance monitoring.

f) Support decision-making: Provide a basis for making informed decisions about resource allocation and sustaining quality services. 

The guidelines should enable municipalities to systematically assess their service delivery performance, identify gaps, and implement targeted improvements that strengthen efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness to community needs. The guidelines should be practical, user-friendly, and aligned with national frameworks, decentralization policies, and good international practices.

2.   Core Purpose of the Assignment

To lead the drafting and graphic designing a 15-to-20-page guide to support local authorities in improving their service delivery efforts.

3.   Scope of Work

Within the scope of the assignment, the consultant will provide technical support in form of the following tasks:

a)   Draft a set of guidelines for assessing municipal service delivery in accordance with national regulations and procedures as well as local and international best practices.

b)   Ensure the step-by-step guidelines are grammatically accurate, factually accurate, consistent, and logically formatted, coherent, summarized, and reader friendly.

c)   Design the cover page and layout of the documents, including visual elements. This includes visually appealing illustrations to facilitate easy comprehension and retention of information.

d)   Ensure use of gender and culturally sensitive language, symbols, and color schemes throughout the knowledge product.

e)   Ensure contents including visual designs are suitable for readers of varying comprehension.

f)    Stakeholder Consultation and validation to gather their input.

4.   Major Deliverables

The consultant will produce a draft guide which will be reviewed by LGAZ, FCM, partner local authorities and local stakeholders. A first comprehensive, easy-to-use guideline that enables municipalities to systematically assess, prioritize, and enhance service delivery and final draft versions will culminate in a high-quality edition in PDF format suitable for printing and e-publishing.

5.   Level of Efforts

a)   Situational analysis through a desk review of relevant documents, including national policies, regulations and procedures, and relevant tools – 3 days.

b)   Development of appropriate tools to aid service assessment and performance tracking – 2 days.

c)   Facilitate a virtual meeting to gather the preliminary views of partner local authorities – 0.5 day.

d)   Develop and submit a first draft of the guidelines. These will be systematically structured into relevant stages and themes – 3 days.

e)   Produce a final draft which incorporates feedback from LGAZ and its partners –1 day.

f)    Produce a final edition in a high-quality electronic and printable format – 0.5 day.

Duration: ten working days (240 hours)

6.   Financial Requirements

Indicate only a daily professional rate or fee inclusive of Withholding Tax (in Zambian Kwacha) and the number of days (duration) anticipated to complete the assignment. Please note that the logistical requirements relating to the assignment, including internet and printing expenses, do not need to be charged as these are covered separately.

7.   Professional Qualifications

This assignment is suited for an individual (or a group of individuals) who meet the following basic requirements:

a)   Tertiary qualification in a relevant discipline, such as Public Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Economics or Finance, Development or Project Planning and Management.

b)   Proficiency in graphic design and illustrations is an added advantage.

c)   Understanding of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) as well as natural environment and climate considerations is an added advantage.

d)   Conversant with the local government system in Zambia.

e)   Proven experience in developing or editing information, educational and communications (IEC) materials.

8.   Evaluative Criteria

A candidate will be assessed based on the criteria that systematically combine the following aspects:

a)   Professional qualifications (25 points).

b)   Professional experience (25 points).

c)   A tentative table of contents (25 points).

d)   A tentative methodology/approach and workplan (15 points).

e)   Daily consultancy fee (10 points).

9.   Expression of Interest (EOI)   

Applicants are required to submit their EOI (of not more than 5 pages excluding Curriculum Vitae) highlighting the following:

a)   Relevant professional work experience.

b)   A record of similar professional assignments.

c)   A tentative table of contents.

d)   A tentative methodology/approach and workplan.

e)   Daily consultancy fee, withholding tax inclusive.

f)    List of people who will work on the assignment (if working as a team) with their CVs.

10. Instructions for Submission of EOIs

EOIs should be addressed to the National Project Coordinator, PMI-WILL Project, Local Government Association of Zambia, Lusaka.

and submitted in PDF format by e-mail to: info@lgazambia.org.zm & copy stanley.chanda@lgazambia.org.zm by Close of Business on Friday, 28th November 2025.