Terms of Reference for External Senior Experts (supporting the Malawi Support Structure)
LETTER OF INVITATION
Date: 03 July 2026
Subject: Request for Proposal – External Senior Experts (supporting the Malawi Support Structure)
Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmbH, implementing the project “Global Shield Secretariat Transition”, invites you to submit a proposal for the delivery of services as described in the attached Terms of Reference (ToR) below.
Please submit your complete offer to opportunities@fs.de by 17 July 2026 11:59 pm (CET)
Submissions must include:
1. TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)
1.1 Background
Launched at COP27 by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group and the Group of Seven (G7), the Global Shield against Climate Risks (GS) aims to increase protection for vulnerable people and countries and contribute to effectively responding to loss and damage from climate change. The Global Shield promotes an inclusive, gender-responsive and demand-driven process, which is led by the vulnerable countries’ governments. The Global Shield Secretariat has been hosted at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS) since January 1, 2026.
Malawi is highly vulnerable to climate-related shocks, including droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones, which continue to generate significant humanitarian, fiscal, and macroeconomic impacts. These recurrent events have highlighted structural gaps in financial preparedness and the limitations of reactive post-disaster financing mechanisms.
In response, the Government of Malawi has developed the Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) Strategy (2025–2030), which aims to strengthen ex-ante financial preparedness, enhance the use of risk analytics in fiscal planning, and improve coordination across institutions involved in climate and disaster risk management. The strategy emphasises the importance of a structured risk-layering approach and stronger institutional coordination.
As a Global Shield partner country, Malawi has identified key priorities for strengthening climate and disaster risk financing and insurance (CDRFI) through their Request for Support (RfS) submitted to Global Shield against Climate Risks in September 2025. As engagement moves into the implementation phase, effective coordination across government entities, development partners, and implementing stakeholders becomes increasingly important. In this context, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralization (MoFEPD), as the Global Shield Focal Point, plays a central role in facilitating coordination, ensuring alignment with national priorities, and supporting implementation of Global Shield and broader CDRFI activities. This assignment will support MoFEPD in strengthening coordination arrangements for implementation of these activities as well as well further resource mobilisation efforts for the country's RfS.
1.2 Objectives
The objective of this assignment is to support the Global Shield Focal Point within the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (MoFEPD) in setting up a coordination system and institutional mechanisms to support implementation of Global Shield and broader climate and disaster risk financing and insurance (CDRFI) activities in Malawi. The assignment will also support the development of a resource mobilsation plan for the RfS.
The assignment will include stakeholder consultations, institutional mapping, strategic implementation support, strengthen the Disaster Risk Financing Strategy coordination system and implementation arrangements and support the development of GS coordination framework
1.3 Scope of Work / Deliverables
Task / Activity | Expected Deliverable | Timeline |
Institutional assessment and stakeholder mapping: Conduct a rapid assessment of the institutional landscape relevant to GS activities (including the Global Shield Financing Facility (GSFF), The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA), the World Food Programme (WFP) and CDRFI including mapping of relevant stakeholders, existing coordination arrangements, implementation gaps, and ongoing initiatives.
| Stakeholder mapping and institutional assessment report outlining key stakeholders, existing options for coordination , gaps, and opportunities for strengthening coordination. | Within first 4 weeks |
| Coordination Mechanism development: Support the GS Focal Point in developing an appropriate coordination system for overseeing the implementation of Global Shield implementation activities and broader CDRFI activities. | Draft a coordination framework/mechanism including proposed meeting arrangements, engagement opportunities, stakeholder overview and roles, coordination processes, data collection, implemention progress tracking and recommendations for sustainability and institutional anchoring.
Develop an implementation dashboard
| Draft by Month 2; final version by Month 4 |
Support Malawis DRFS Coordination Mechanism Implementation. Provide support to the DRFS Technical Working Group (TWG) coordination and implementation system.
| Facilitate DRFS-TWG and key partner meetings,participate in relevant meetings and activities, prepare meeting reports, consolidate implementation activity updates to the implementation dashboard, refine coordination system with lessons derived from the DRFS
| Month 5 to 6 |
Stakeholder Consultation and Facilitation: Facilitate consultations and engagement processes with relevant government institutions, development partners, implementing entities, and other stakeholders to inform implementation and update progress of the DRFS implementation
| Meeting summaries and stakeholder feedback documented | Throughout assignment
|
Strategic Implementation and Resource Mobilisation Support: Provide strategic support related to priorities under the Request for Support (RfS), including the development of a resource moblisation plan, identification of funding opportunities, engagement with relevant partners, and support to development of concept notes, funding proposals, presentations, briefing materials, and contibutions to resource mobilisation discussions where required.
| Develop a resource mobilisation plan.
Provide inputs to concept notes, funding proposals, briefing materials, presentations, and resource mobilisation discussions
Assessment of funding gaps in the RfS. | Throughout assignment, as required |
| Final Recommendations and Handover: Consolidate findings, stakeholder feedback, and recommendations into a final report for handover to Government. | Final report including finalised coordination system, implementation considerations, recommendations, and next steps.
| Final month of assignment |
For the contracting period from 13 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, the contractor will submit a timeline with milestones according to the template below to be achieved by certain dates during the contract term. Any delays, or inability to fulfil such milestones must be communicate immediately to the FS.
Milestone | Deadline |
| Inception meeting with GS Focal Point and agreement on workplan and approach completed | Month 1 |
| Stakeholder mapping and institutional assessment completed | Month 2 |
| Initial consultations with key government institutions, development partners, and relevant stakeholders conducted | Month 2–3 |
| Draft coordination mechanism/framework and institutional arrangement recommendations alongside an implementation dashboard submitted | Month 4 |
| Validation discussions on proposed coordination mechanism conducted,feedback consolidated and coordination mechanism set up finalised. | Month 5 |
| Coordination mechanism or system implemented (pilot) | Month 5 - 7 |
Resource mobilisation plan finalised
| Month 6 to 8 |
| Inputs provided to resource mobilisation discussions, concept notes, and strategic implementation documents, as relevant | Throughout implementation |
| Final coordination framework and recommendations submitted to Government and FS | Final month of assignment
|
1.4 Duration & Location
Duration: 27 July 2026 to 28 February 2027 ; up to 150 working days
Location: Lilongwe and the surrounding area, Malawi
1.5 Reporting & Supervision
Reports to: Malawi ICP Lead and also required to work closely with national GS focal point.
Progress reporting frequency: Regular progress updates to be provided throughout the assignment.
Submission format for deliverables: To be defined per task. May be Word documents, Powerpoint slides or PDF.
1.6 Eligibility Criteria
Minimum mandatory criteria to submit a bid:
Minimum seven (7) years of relevant professional experience in climate finance, disaster risk financing, disaster risk management, public sector coordination, institutional advisory services, or related fields.
- Demonstrated experience working with government institutions, development partners, and multi-stakeholder coordination processes.
- Experience in the development of strategic documents, coordination mechanisms, institutional arrangements, or stakeholder engagement processes.
- Excellent written and spoken English is required.
- Strong analytical, facilitation, drafting, and communication skills.
- Resides in Malawi.
The following will be considered an advantage:
- Experience related to CDRFI.
- Experience working in Malawi and/or similar country contexts.
- Experience supporting Global Shield-related processes or similar international climate finance initiatives.
Applicants must verify their eligibility for this opportunity using Annex 1 as the required template.
2. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
The applicant needs to provide the CV(s) of the experts forseen to provide the services. The CV must cover:
Full name and contact details
Education and professional qualifications
Detailed employment history (company/role/dates)
Relevant assignments and outputs (with client references: name, email addresses or phone number)
Language skills and availability
At least two professional references (name, position, contact)
(CVs shall be submitted using the format as in Annex 2)
3. Proposal Requirements
3.1 Technical Proposal
The technical proposal should contain:
Understanding of the assignment & approach/methodology
Detailed work plan and timeline (Gantt chart or table)
Implementation risks and mitigation measures
Use Technical Proposal Template as in Annex 4.
3.2 Financial Proposal
The financial proposal shall contain:
Itemized cost breakdown (unit price, quantity, unit description)
Subtotals per cost category (labour, materials, travel, other)
VAT shown separately (if applicable)
Currency: EUR
Offer validity: Minimum 30 calendar days
Please complete Annex 3.
3.3 Submission Instructions
Submit electronic copies to: opportunities@fs.de
Submission deadline (date/time CET): 17 July 2026 11:59 CET
Clarification requests: 9 July 2026 to opportunities@fs.de; responses will be posted here on 14 July 2026
3.4 Evaluation Criteria & Weighting
Evaluation Criteria – total of 100 points: All proposals will be evaluated using the following weighted criteria:
Criteria | Weight |
Technical quality (experience & capacity of the expert) | 70% |
Financial offer (cost competitiveness) | 30% |
Submissions will be evaluated in consideration of the following evaluation criteria:
Evaluation criteria for the technical qualifications are (total of 70 point):
Experience and qualifications of the consultant. This part of the evaluation will be based in the CV shared by the consultant in the proposal [50 points];
Adequacy of approach and methodology [10 points];
Experience working in the development sector producing high quality outputs; experience in the area of CDRFI [10 points];
The financial offer will account for a maximum of 30 points and is calculated as followed: The financial score = (lowest financial score amongst the tenderers / financial score of the tender being considered) x 30.
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