Consultancy

CARE ZAMBIA

Terms of Reference for Consultancy (TOR)

Consultancy for Private Sector Partnership Development and Revenue Generation 

1. Background

CARE treats private sector engagement as mission work first and a revenue opportunity second. If the communities we serve are to be economically resilient through the turbulent trends in aid, then connecting them to markets, capital, buyers, and value chains across sectors is part of the development outcome itself. The revenue this brings is real and welcome, and it sits alongside the impact rather than ahead of it.

CARE is expanding this work across its sectors and program areas. The near-term focus is commercial partnerships that bring new revenue to country offices, mostly through fee-for-service arrangements, where a named commercial counterpart pays CARE for a defined role. This draws on what CARE already does well: aggregating community-level networks, training, verification, digitization, and last-mile linkages. Some conversations will open toward blended finance, and the consultant can originate those and bring the structuring to Finance.

This consultancy supports a country office to identify, reach, and close such partnerships. The consultant builds a deal pipeline and walks it through to signed contracts.

CARE Zambia seeks a consultant to support the identification, development, and closure of commercially viable private sector partnerships.

2. Consultancy Objective

The objective of the consultancy is to support CARE Zambia in identifying, reaching, and closing private sector partnerships that bring new revenue to CARE, primarily through fee-for-service arrangements. The consultant works alongside the Country Director and partnership lead to convert CARE's existing programmatic strengths into commercially saleable services, with a named partner, defined scope, and signed contract as the unit of success.

3. Scope of work

The consultant will deliver the following, organised by stage of partnership development.

•    Working with the Country Office team, take CARE's existing programmatic capabilities and convert each into a sellable service with a defined scope, price structure, and value statement that a commercial partner can act on.

•    Build a pipeline of potential partners across the priority sectors. Each entry must include the partner name, the named individual to contact, the commercial problem CARE addresses, the offer CARE makes, and the planned outreach approach.

•    Convert connected contacts into first calls. Lead or co-lead the first conversation with each priority partner, with Country Office staff joining to learn.

•    Support the Country Office through scope negotiation, fee structuring, and contract drafting. Engagement structures may include upfront retainers, per-unit fees, milestone payments, or grants, depending on the partner.

•    Bring at least one partnership to signed contract within the consultancy period.

5. Reporting and coordination

•    The consultant will report directly to the Country Director, CARE Zambia, and maintain a dotted-line reporting relationship with the Regional Partnerships Lead. The consultant will work closely with relevant Country Office staff and will engage with the Associate Vice President for Economic Growth and Private Sector Engagement at CARE USA, as required, on partnership strategy, opportunity positioning, partner targeting, and contract structuring.

•    Regular coordination and progress review meetings will be held between the consultant, the Country Director, and the Partnerships Lead, with partnership pipeline reviews conducted throughout the active outreach and opportunity development phases.

6. Duration and level of effort

•    The consultancy will be undertaken over a period of six (6) months, with the level of effort to be agreed during the inception phase. The expected level of engagement may range from part-time to full-time, depending on the maturity of the partnership pipeline, market opportunities, and agreed deliverables.

   7. Required qualifications

•    Master’s degree in economics, Business Management, Entrepreneurship or any Business-related qualification.

•    5 to 7 Years relevant work experience.

•    Demonstrated experience selling a service, solution, or expertise to commercial partners. This may have been in a consulting firm, a corporate business development role, a fintech, an impact-focused commercial company, or a financial institution. The key is having closed paid contracts with a commercial counterpart.

•    Sector fluency in at least two of: agribusiness and food, financial services and fintech, energy and clean cooking, consumer goods, health, water and sanitation.

•    Comfort with fee structures and contract negotiation. with per-farmer fees, per-unit pricing, milestone payments, and upfront retainers.

•    Active habit of partner outreach. The consultant should be the kind of person who treats LinkedIn outreach and follow-up as a daily practice.

•    Ability to coach Country Office staff in the same disciplines. The consultancy is not a delivery exercise alone; capability transfer is a deliverable.

8. Desired qualifications

•    Prior experience in the country or region of assignment.

•    Experience working with or selling to development finance institutions, impact investors, or large corporates.

• with the savings group, smallholder, or last-mile community programming context.

9. Proposal submission

Interested candidates should submit a short proposal including:

•    CV or profile, with two examples of comparable work (signed commercial partnerships closed)

•    Brief note on approach (no more than two pages)

•    Daily or monthly rate and estimated level of effort

•    Two references.

■     Suitably qualified and interested members of the public are invited to submit their applications through the Portal by logging in here. Or https://royalty.thorn-soft.com/recruitment/job-details.php?job=245

•    Closing Date: 14th September 2026

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•    Kindly ensure that, all academic qualifications are verified by the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA).

•    CARE is an Equal Opportunity Employer promoting equity and diversity.

As part of CARE’s commitment to preventing sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse and child abuse, we conduct reference checks on all final-stage candidates in line with the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. By applying for this role, you are giving us consent to contact your previous employers to seek information in line with this scheme.  

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