Terms of Reference——For MPI02 – Market research on menstrual products existing in Sierra Leone

Job Description

Terms of Reference

MPI02 – Market research on menstrual products existing in Sierra Leone

• Context

The « Miapé Dignité Menstruelle » project is financed by Agence Française de Développement and lead by Entrepreneurs du Monde. It aims at contributing to fight against girls and women menstrual precarity in West Africa, and specifically in Sierra Leone.

Among its activities, Entrepreneurs du Monde will incubate a new social business in Sierra Leone. This business will aim at offering menstrual products to the most vulnerable women living in precarity as a safe solution in their everyday menstrual life. These products will respect women, their health, savings and environment. The company will produce and distribute reusable menstrual products (menstrual pads, panty liners and menstrual underwear) in Sierra Leone. 

Entrepreneurs du Monde recruits a consultant to carry out market research on menstrual products in Sierra Leone. 

• Main objective

Carry out market research on existing and used menstrual products in Sierra Leone. 

Results will be used to build the social company business plan and develop a sales strategy in order to offer most vulnerable people living in menstrual precarity large access to high quality, economical and eco-friendly products.

• Consultant mission

To bring responses to all the following points, the consultant will carry out market research on menstrual products, both disposable and reusable. The consultant will, among others, analyze the situation, taking into consideration future products of the social business and its targeted beneficiaries: most vulnerable people living in menstrual precarity. Thus, the consultant is responsible for: 

Defining and proposing research methodology 

• Analyze Entrepreneurs du Monde needs, values and expectations regarding the research results.
• Adjust and suggest an appropriate and detailed research methodology. 

Carrying out the documentary, quantitative and qualitative survey

• Identify and analyze the Sierra Leonean menstrual products market

• Main market feature.
• Market size and evolutions.
• Market geographical delimitation.
• Regulations which apply to the market.
• Main difficulties the market faces.
• Market opportunities and threats.

• Identify and analyze demand on the Sierra Leonean menstrual products market: 

The consultant will mainly target most vulnerable people living in menstrual precarity and analyze results according to criteria such as age, income, location, etc. 

• Menstrual products market target profile and evolution (average age, average income, average budget for menstrual products, location, etc.).
• Market target needs.
• Market target demands. 
• Target perception on menstrual health.
• Consumption habits concerning menstrual products and evolutions.
• Target purchasing behavior.
• Purchasing frequency of menstrual products.
• Main purpose of buying and consumption according to different kind of menstrual products.
• Main obstacles to buy and consume menstrual products.
• Sources of information on menstrual products.
• Other operators (NGO, foundations, etc.) working on menstrual products accessibility: who are they? What do they do? How do they do? How many beneficiaries do they have? Where? Etc.
• Other operators’ expectation on menstrual products.
• Other operators’ purchasing process for menstrual products.
• Quantity of menstrual products freely distributed by other operators.

According to results and Entrepreneurs du Monde values and goals, the consultant will suggest a demand segmentation for the social business to define an appropriate and efficient commercial strategy. 

• Identify and analyze offer on the Sierra Leonean menstrual products market: 

• Menstrual products market suppliers (producers and distributors): identification and profile.
• Target consumers of menstrual products suppliers and strategy to reach them.
• Part of market shares detained by suppliers, according to their profile.
• Suppliers’ competitive advantage. 
• Organization of suppliers’ supply chain.
• Menstrual products raw materials.
• Identification and profile of raw materials suppliers.
• Menstrual products available on the market: kind, quantity, quality, etc.
• Quantity of menstrual products sold and evolution.
• Menstrual products selling price and financial accessibly for targets. 
• Organization of menstrual products distribution in the country.
• Menstrual products penetration rate, specifically in poorest and fringe locations.
• Target level of satisfaction of menstrual products and reasons.

According to the results and Entrepreneurs du Monde values and goals, the consultant will: 

• Identify potential competitive advantages for social business.
• Suggest strategic recommendations concerning menstrual products supply.
• Suggest strategic recommendations for potential distribution location, based on research results.

• Identify and analyze the environment 

To complete the analysis, the consultant will analyze the following points:

• Politics: menstrual products accessibility policy and other related topics.
• Social: culture, values, norms and level of information on menstrual health, actions of operators (NGO, foundations, etc.) working on menstrual health.
• Legal: regulations on production and commercialization of menstrual products, potential evolutions, roles of public authorities, groups of influence, professional organizations, etc. on production, commercialization and distribution of menstrual products. 

The consultant will identify and analyze any other topic to ensure good achievement of the mission.  

For all the previous points, the consultant must develop appropriate questions by rephrasing and developing them to ensure proper comprehension by survey participants and to obtain all necessary information. 

Writing and presenting results

• Compile, process and analyze surveys data.
• Formulate recommendations, suggestions and red flags to take into consideration when building the social company business plan and developing a sales strategy.
• Present results and recommendations.

• Expected reports

During the mission, the consultant will provide all the following reports:

• Inception report, including data analysis, Entrepreneurs du Monde needs and expectations and a reviewed methodology to ensure proper achievement. The report must be provided a week after the contract signature.
• Detailed report on market research, including results of documentary, quantitative and qualitative surveys, their analysis, conclusions and recommendations, as well as limits of the research.
• Summary report on market research, bringing light on main results, analysis, conclusions and recommendations.
• Oral and visual presentation of the results.

Consultant profile

Tenders must comply with the following criteria:

• 4 years post-graduate diploma in business, economics or another relevant topic.
• 3 years of proven experience in market research.
• Experience in documentary, qualitative and quantitative data collection.
• Experience and skills in social and economic data collection, processing and analysis.
• Knowledge of the study area.
• Experience with social businesses is an asset.
• Experience in health, menstrual health or women rights is an asset.
• Excellent skills with data-collection, processing and analysis tools.
• Excellent computer skills.
• Fluency in English: read, written and spoken.
• Fluency in local language: read, written and spoken.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Excellent analytical and synthetical skills.
• Autonomy, organizational capacity and great reactivity.

• Mission location and duration

Location: Freetown mainly, as well as in Waterloo and Moyamba – Sierra Leone

Starting date: April 2025

Maximum duration: 2 months

• Evaluation modalities

1. 1. Eliminatory criteria

• Either failure to respect the drop-off deadline.
• Or lack of valid business registration certificate, tax clearance certificate, registration from the tax authorities (NRA).
• Or lack of presentation and/or conformity of the Statement of Integrity, Eligibility and Environmental and Social Responsibility (Annex 1).
• Or lack of résumé.
• Or lack of technical bid.  
• Or lack of financial bid.

1. Technical bid evaluation

To evaluate financial bid, the minimum score awarded to the technical bid must be 60/100.

1. Financial bid evaluation

Financial score = (100 x lowest financial bid) / evaluated financial bid

1. Bid final score

Technical score weight: 80% Financial score weight: 20%

Final score = (technical bid score x technical score weight) + (financial bid score x financial score weight)

1. Bid rating

• Submission procedure

1. 1. Submission file

Each tender must provide a complete submission file containing all the following documents:

• Résumé of the tender and all mobilized staff.
• Technical bid for the mission, including understanding of the mission mandate, work and research methodology, composition of the team, tools and methods applied for data collection, processing and analysis, etc.
• Estimated timetable with details concerning the mission execution.
• Financial bid in Sierra Leonean Leones detailed and overall, including all taxes, with all necessary charges. The tender must cover all necessary costs for the mission.
• Copy of staff diplomas.
• Valid business registration certificate, tax clearance certificate, registration from the tax authorities (NRA). 
• Proofs of executed services.
• Statement of Integrity, Eligibility and Environmental and Social Responsibility (Annex 1) completed and signed. 

1. Drop-off procedures

Submission files must be sent by e-mail to edm.togo@entrepreneursdumonde.org 

Reference: MPI02 – Market research on menstrual products existing in Sierra Leone

1. Drop-off deadline

Submissions deadline: April 24th, 2025, 11:59 pm GMT.

Any complete file or additional file received after the previous deadline will not be evaluated.

1. Annex 1

Statement of Integrity, Eligibility and Environmental and Social Responsibility

Reference name of the Bid/Proposal/Contract signed  _____________________ (the “Contract”) 

To:  ___________________________________________________ (the “Contracting Authority”) 

1. We recognize and accept that Agence Française de Développement (“AFD”) only finances the projects of the Contracting Authority subject to its own conditions, as set out in the Financing Agreement that directly or indirectly binds it to the Contracting Authority. The Contracting Authority retains exclusive responsibility for the preparation and implementation of the procurement process and performance of the Contract. Consequently, no legal relationship exists between AFD and our company, our joint venture, and our subcontractors. The Contracting Authority may also mean the Client, Employer or Purchaser, as the case may be, for the procurement of works, goods, plants, equipment, consulting services, or non-consulting services. 

1. We hereby certify that neither we, nor any person acting on our behalf, nor any of the members of our joint venture, nor any of our subcontractors, are in any of the following situations: 
   1. Being bankrupt, wound up or ceasing our activities, having our activities administered by the courts, having entered into receivership, or being in any analogous situation arising from any similar procedure; 
   2. Having been, within the past five years, subject to a final administrative sanction, a final conviction issued by a competent authority, or any other non-court resolution having notably an extinctive effect on public action, either (i) in the country where we are constituted, (ii) in the country of performance of the Contract, (iii) in the context of the procurement or performance of an AFD-financed Contract, (iv) pronounced by a European Union institution, or (v) pronounced by a competent authority in France, for: 

1. Prohibited Practices, as defined in Article 6.1 below, or for any other offence committed in the context of the procurement or performance of a Contract (in the event of such sanction, conviction or non-court resolution, we may attach additional information to this Statement of Integrity, such as a compliance program, showing that we (or the person acting on our behalf, the member of our joint venture, or our subcontractor) consider that this sanction, conviction or non-court resolution is not relevant in the context of the Contract, where applicable); 
2. Participation in a criminal organization, terrorist offences or offences related to terrorist activities, child labor, or other offences related to human trafficking; 
3. Having created an entity in a different jurisdiction with the intention of avoiding tax or social obligations, or any other legal obligation applicable in the jurisdiction of its registered office, central administration or principal place of business, or for being an entity created with the intention of avoiding such obligations; 

1. Having been subject within the past five years to a Contract termination fully settled against us for significant or persistent breach of our contractual obligations during the performance of the Contract, unless this termination was challenged and dispute resolution is still pending or has not confirmed a full settlement against us; 
2. Having been declared ineligible by one of the multilateral development banks signatories to the Mutual Recognition Agreement of 9 April 2010 (in the event of such ineligibility, we may attach additional information to this Statement of Integrity showing that we consider that such ineligibility is not relevant in the context of the Contract, where applicable); 
3. Not having fulfilled our fiscal obligations relating to the payments of our taxes or social contributions in accordance with the legal provisions of our country of incorporation or of the country of the Contracting Authority; 
4. Having created falsified documents or committed misrepresentation when providing the information requested by the Contracting Authority in the context of the procurement and award process for this Contract. 

1. We hereby certify that neither we, nor any party acting on our behalf, nor any members of our joint venture, nor any of our subcontractors, nor any of our direct or indirect shareholders, nor any of our subsidiaries acting with our knowledge or consent: 

1. Are directly or indirectly subject to, controlled by a person or an entity subject to, or acting in the name or on behalf of a person or entity subject to individual sanctions measures adopted by the United Nations, the European Union and/or France; 
2. Are directly or indirectly subject to, controlled by a person or an entity subject to, or acting in the name or on behalf of a person or entity subject to sectoral sanctions measures adopted by the United Nations, the European Union and/or France; 
3. Are ineligible for the implementation of the Project owing to any other international sanctions measures pronounced by the United Nations, the European Union or France. 

We hereby certify that neither we, nor any party acting on our behalf,2 nor any of the members of our joint venture, nor any of our subcontractors, are [nor have been (in the case of refinancing for a Contract already awarded)] in any of the following situations of conflict of interest: 

1. 1. Being a shareholder controlling the Contracting Authority or a subsidiary controlled by the Contracting Authority, unless the resulting conflict of interest has been brought to the attention of AFD and resolved to its satisfaction. 
   2. Having business or family relations with a member of the Contracting Authority’s services involved in the procurement process or the supervision of the resulting Contract, unless the resulting conflict of interest has been brought to the attention of AFD and resolved to its satisfaction; 
   3. Controlling or being controlled by another applicant, bidder or consultant, or being under common with another applicant, bidder or consultant, receiving subsidies from another applicant, bidder or consultant, or granting subsidies to another applicant, bidder or consultant, directly or indirectly, having the same legal representative as another applicant, bidder or consultant, maintaining direct or indirect contacts with another applicant, bidder or consultant allowing us to (i) have given and/or give access to information contained in our respective applications, bids or proposals likely to distort competition (ii) influence them, or (iii) influence the decisions of the Contracting Authority; 
   4. Being engaged for a consulting services mission which, by its nature, is or may be in conflict with the mission envisaged for the Contracting Authority; 
   5. Having prepared ourselves, being or having been associated with a natural or legal person who has prepared, specifications, terms of reference or other documents that have been used for the procurement process in question, and that contain provisions likely to favor an application, bid or proposal; 
   6. Having or having had access to, having prepared ourselves, being or having been associated with a natural or legal person who has or has had access to or prepared, specifications, plans, calculations, studies, or other documents that have not been communicated to all the applicants, bidders or consultants in the context of the present procurement procedure, and which thereby confer us an unfair competitive advantage; 
   7. In the case of a procurement procedure for works, plants, equipment or goods, having been selected ourselves or proposed to be selected (or any of our subsidiary companies having been or being proposed to be selected) to carry out supervision or inspection of the services in the context of this Contract.  

If we are a state-owned entity or a public enterprise, to participate in a competitive procurement process, we certify that we have legal and financial autonomy and that we operate under commercial laws and regulations. 

In the context of the procurement and performance of the Contract: 

1. 1. Neither we, nor any party acting on our behalf, nor any members of our joint venture, nor any of our subcontractors, have committed or shall commit a Prohibited Practice as defined in the document entitled “AFD Group’s Policy to Prevent and Combat Prohibited Practices” available on AFD’s Website 
   2. Neither we, nor or any party acting on our behalf,2 nor any members of our joint venture, nor any of our subcontractors, shall acquire or provide [have acquired or provided (in the case of refinancing for a Contract already awarded)] equipment nor to operate [nor have operated (in the case of refinancing for a Contract already awarded)] in sectors subject to an embargo by the United Nations, the European Union or France. 

We hereby undertake to, and we undertake to ensure that any party acting on our behalf,2 any members of our joint venture, and any of our subcontractors undertake to:  

1. 1. Comply with the environmental standards recognized by the international community, including the international conventions for the protection of the environment and, in particular, take all reasonable steps to avoid or limit negative effects on vegetation, biodiversity, soils, groundwater and surface water, and on persons and property resulting from pollution, noise, vibration, traffic and other effects resulting from our activities, in accordance with the laws and regulations applicable in the country of performance of the Contract.  
   2. Implement measures to mitigate environmental and social risks when they are indicated in the environmental and social management plan provided by the Contracting Authority, and ensure that the emissions, surface discharge and effluents produced by our activities respect the limits, specifications or requirements applicable to the Contract. 
   3. Respect the rights of workers related to wages, working hours, rest periods and vacations, overtime, minimum age, regular payments, compensation and benefits, in accordance with the standards recognized by the international community, including the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), in accordance with the laws and regulations applicable in the country of performance of the Contract; indicate these elements in a document annexed to the employment contracts of our employees and made available to the Contracting Authority; and respect and facilitate the rights of workers to organize themselves and set up a complaints management mechanism for direct or indirect workers. 
   4. Implement practices for non-discrimination and equal opportunities, and ensure the prohibition of child labor and forced labor. 
   5. Keep a record for each member of the local staff recording the hours worked by each person, the type of work, the wages paid and the training undertaken, and ensure that these records are available at all times to be inspected by the Contracting Authority and the authorized representatives of the government, in accordance with the laws and regulations applicable to the protection of personal data in the country of performance of the Contract. 

We, any party acting on our behalf,2 the members of our joint venture, our subcontractors, our direct or indirect shareholders, and our subsidiaries, authorize AFD to conduct investigations and, in particular, inspect the documents and accounting records relating to the procurement and performance of the Contract, including, but not limited to, our internal processes and rules related to the respect of international sanctions pronounced by the United Nations, the European Union and/or France, and to have them verified auditors appointed by AFD. 

We declare that we have paid, or that we shall pay, the commissions, benefits, fees, gratuities or charges relating to the procurement procedure or the performance of the Contract to the following third party/parties (for example, an intermediary/agent)(*): 

(*): If no amount has been paid or is to be paid, indicate “None”. 

We undertake to promptly inform the Contracting Authority, which shall inform AFD, of any change of circumstance regarding the sections above, including in case of any sanctions or embargo measures adopted by the United Nations, the European Union and/or France, after we have signed the present Statement. 

Name:  _________________________ In the capacity of:  ___________________________________ 

Duly empowered to sign in the name and on behalf of: ______________________________________ 

Signature: _________________________________________________________________________ 

Dated:  ____________________________________________________________________________