Proposal No: UPGI-26-PR087

Consultancy Type: Short Term 

Publication Date: 14/10/2026

Clarifications Deadline: 26/10/2026

Closing Date: 30/10/2026

Consultants Location: Sub Saharan Africa 

1. Introduction 

About BRAC International

BRAC is an award-winning international non-governmental development organisation with the vision of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, where everyone can realise their potential. BRAC is a leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programmes to assist poor and disadvantaged communities in low-income countries, including in conflict-prone and post-disaster settings. It is an organisation of and for the people of the Global South, pioneering new development and social enterprise approaches to equip communities to achieve prosperity. As well as being the world's biggest NGO by the number of staff and people directly reached, BRAC has regularly been ranked the number one NGO in the world by the Geneva-based NGO Advisor, an independent organisation committed to highlighting innovation, impact and governance in the non-profit sector. 

About BRAC’s Work Scaling Graduation through Governments

The Graduation approach is a sequenced, adaptive set of interventions that together tackle multiple constraints that trap people in extreme poverty over a two-year period. By providing people with a productive asset to generate income, basic needs support, and ongoing, intensive coaching to unlock agency, know-how, and hope, the approach enables people to build lasting trajectories out  of extreme poverty. 

Pioneered by BRAC in 2002, Graduation now has more than 100 studies from 40+ countries, showing it achieves transformational impacts for participants across a wide variety of contexts. A long-term study of a programme in West Bengal found that ten years after starting the programme, participants saw roughly 4x gains in household consumption compared to programme investment outlays, which may go as high as 11x over their lifetimes if those gains persist, according to Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.  In 2020, BRAC was named an Audacious Project by TED, receiving a catalytic investment to lift 21 million more people out of extreme poverty by 2030. BRAC is combating extreme poverty by partnering with governments across Asia and Africa to scale the proven Graduation approach. Watch the TED talk here.

With catalytic funding from Audacious, BRAC has successfully cultivated partnerships with governments in Africa and Asia over the last few years, resulting in new models of Graduation in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Rwanda, and South Africa. Efforts are also underway in Ethiopia with exploration to support even wider government-led uptake. Demonstrating to governments Graduation’s potential to achieve greater, more lasting impact through existing poverty reduction programmes has helped unlock significantly more resources from government partners. Yet, massive cuts in development aid means less funding is available to support these programmes, making philanthropic capital all the more critical.

BRAC has found that flexible philanthropic funding can drive transformative, catalytic government investment. Philanthropic support presents a powerful leverage opportunity: Every $1 of philanthropic support can unlock $10 to $50 of public financing and generate $65 to $200 in long-term household income gains.

In a moment when progress on extreme poverty has stalled and public budgets are under pressure, Graduation offers something rare: life-changing results that justify greater investment, and investment that reaches millions more people than either sector could achieve alone. 

1. The Assignment 

2.1 Purpose:

The purpose of this consultancy is to strengthen BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI)’s ability to understand, influence and support the public financing of government-led Graduation programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The consultant will help UPGI move beyond a general understanding of whether governments have sufficient fiscal space toward a more operational understanding of how public resources are prioritized, budgeted, financed, released and executed, and therefore how Graduation can realistically be financed and institutionalized within government systems.

The work of the consultant should help BRAC’s country teams answer the following questions:

• What are the main fiscal, financing, and public financial management constraints governments face in scaling Graduation?

• What public resources are already available, and where are there realistic opportunities to strengthen, redirect, or mobilize financing for Graduation?

• How can this analysis help Country Leads better position their engagement with the government?

• What opportunities exist to influence upstream external financing, particularly through the World Bank and African Development Bank?

• What longer-term structure and capabilities should UPGI establish to support this work over the remainder of the SGGA program?

2.3 Scope of Work:

• Conduct country macro-fiscal and public financing analysis across 7 countries in Africa, to deepen UPGI teams’ understanding of the fiscal and financing context for scaling government-led Graduation.

• Pilot the country assessment in Rwanda first, producing an initial country analysis and working with the Rwanda Country Team and UPGI ELT to assess how to make the analysis most useful, what additional questions it should answer, and how the approach should be refined before applying it to the remaining six countries.

• Based on lessons from the Rwanda pilot, adapt and apply the approach to six additional priority countries, producing concise, actionable country briefs for Country Leads and the whole of UPGI.

• Assessment and recommendations on positioning in each country.

• Advise country teams on relevant government budget and financing processes, including engagement with Ministries of Finance and other key actors.

• Identify upstream opportunities for multilateral influencing: finding key modes of engagement to learn and shape directions of external funders (especially the World Bank and AfDB).

• Design long-term UPGI capabilities to shape country level and external financing and advise UPGI on how to measure large-scale public investment to Graduation.

• The assignment will include one trip each to Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Tanzania to conduct research, make relevant connections with government and MDBs, and debrief country teams on key findings and implications for their work. 

2.4 Deliverables

1. Seven country briefs: Produce concise macro-fiscal, PFM, and public financing assessments for seven priority countries, beginning with Rwanda as a pilot. The briefs should identify key constraints, financing opportunities, and implications for the Country Leads’ engagement with government. 

2. Country Visits: Undertake one trip each to Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Tanzania to better understand the country context, in order to inform research and key findings for the brief.  

3. Upstream multilateral financing recommendations: Practical recommendations for how UPGI should strengthen engagement with the World Bank, African Development Bank, and other relevant external funders to help shape financing and programming over the next decade. 

4. Long-term function design: Recommendations to UPGI on a set of options on how to structure long-term UPGI capabilities, and resourcing to sustain understanding and influence of macro-fiscal, PFM, and public financing function for the next decade. This will include some recommendations on how to measure the volumes of public finance being used towards Graduation.

2.5 Desired skills and competencies:

The candidate should meet the following criteria:

• Deep knowledge of macro-fiscal dynamics and public finance in sub-Saharan Africa

• Experience with AfDB, World Bank senior management and planning cycles, co-financing mechanisms and country engagement processes

• Experience working alongside country-level programme teams — comfortable operating in a support and advisory role rather than leading engagement

• Understanding of social protection and economic inclusion programming in the African context — does not need to be a Graduation specialist

• Able to produce clear, actionable written assessments that Country Leads and Executive Leadership Team can act on.

• Ideally 15 years or more of experience, ideally in macroeconomics and public financial management.  

2.6  Level of Effort, Duration, and Location of the assignment:

Consultancy, to be finalized by 31 August 2027. Level of effort: 70 days total, 20 days in 2026 and 50 days in 2027.

 Submission Requirements

Interested and eligible consultants may obtain further information via email between 0900 and 1600 hrs EAT, Monday to Friday, until 26 November 2026. Enquiries should be sent to ankita.panda@brac.net , with a copy to getrude.kipruto@brac.net, using the subject line “Macro Fiscal and Public Financial Management Consultant” 

Submission Requirements: 

1. Mandatory documents 

2. Technical Proposal  

3. Financial Proposal 

Interested applicants are encouraged to review the detailed RFP document for further information on the scope of work, requirements, and submission process.