Call for Proposals: Consultancy to Provide Business Development Services under the DREEM Project in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and we encourage interested candidates to apply early, as we may close the vacancy once a suitable candidate is identified.

Introduction 

WUSC (World University Service of Canada) is a leading Canadian international development organization committed to providing education, economic, and empowerment opportunities that improve the lives of young people around the world, with particular focus on young women and displaced people.

The DREEM project is a five-year, pan-African initiative in partnership with Mastercard Foundation and its partners, including higher education institutions, Young Africa Works partners, and Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs). The initiative works to improve equitable access to higher education and to dignified and fulfilling work for refugee and displaced persons (RDPs) youth across Africa, with a focus on young women, persons with disabilities, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). DREEM partners with Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) through a Grants Plus (Grants+) model: direct grant funding combined with structured technical assistance, mentorship, and coaching. The project aims to enable more than 5,000 RDP and host community youth across Africa (70% young women, 10% youth with disabilities) to access dignified and fulfilling work.

RDPs include refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and others affected by displacement who face similar risks and barriers, regardless of legal status, including host communities and other groups identified by UNHCR as persons of concern.

Background and rationale

Dzaleka Refugee Camp hosts a large population of refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Malawi's encampment policy and its restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement and right to work limit access to formal employment, business registration, land and finance. Many young people in Dzaleka run small, informal businesses that sometimes struggle to grow.

Under DREEM, WUSC is collaborating with four local RLOs to deliver entrepreneurship and embedded business development services to RDP and host community youth in and around Dzaleka. For these services to work and to last, the RLOs need a clearer picture of local market constraints and opportunities, along with stronger enterprise support models and internal systems.

This assignment contributes to the following DREEM outcomes:

• RDP youth aged 18 to 35 (70% young women, including youth with disabilities) access dignified and fulfilling work.
• Youth access training and mentorship that leads to dignified and fulfilling work.
• RLOs build stronger relationships with labour market and financial actors (private sector, MSMEs, financial institutions, NGOs).
• RDP and host community youth build stronger relationships with each other.

Objectives and scope

The consultant will work with partner RLOs to make their enterprise support for RDP youth more relevant to the local market and more likely to last. All work should take account of gender, disability and social inclusion, and be co-designed with RLO staff so the skills stay with the RLOs when the assignment ends.

Objective 1: Market systems analysis and diagnosis. Identify the structural constraints that keep RDP youth from building viable enterprises, including:

• legal and policy barriers (encampment, right to work, business registration, mobility);
• access to inputs, markets, finance, skills and information;
• barriers specific to young women and youth with disabilities.

Objective 2: Market opportunities and finance linkages. Identify viable sectors and value chains for youth enterprises in and around Dzaleka, including host community partnerships and digital or remote work. Map financial service providers (MFIs, SACCOs, VSLAs, mobile money, impact investors) and set out practical pathways linking youth enterprises to them.

Objective 3: Entrepreneurship curricula and incubation model. Review the RLOs' entrepreneurship curricula and incubation or hub models (including pitch competitions and start-up kits). Recommend changes and draft revised materials that are more relevant, more inclusive, and easier to deliver.

Objective 4: RLO capacity strengthening. Train RLO staff to map and engage local market actors, and to keep running enterprise support after the assignment ends.

Methodology

Applicants should propose their own methodology based on their understanding of the assignment and objectives.

Deliverables and timeline

The assignment will run for an estimated 20 working days over 3 to 4 months. Deliverables should be in English and in editable Word format. WUSC will review and approve each one.

1. Inception report with a clear methodology, work plan, data collection tools, and stakeholder mapping list
2. Market systems diagnosis and constraints analysis, priority sectors and value chains, ecosystem actor map, partnership pathways for RLOs
3. Enterprise growth model and finance linkage with roadmap growth model for youth micro-enterprises, with a roadmap linking them to financial services and institutions
4. Curriculum reviews and revised materials with revised or adapted modules, facilitator guide, and business operations guide for enterprises
5. A ToT session/orientation delivered to RLO staff/focal point on the use of the facilitator guides.
6. Final consultancy on report summary of findings, recommendations for sustainability, and workshops report

Management and reporting

The consultant will report to the RLO Opportunity Fund Manager, WUSC Kenya, and work day-to-day with focal points at the partner RLO(s). WUSC will share project documents, introduce the consultant to RLOs, stakeholders, and give feedback within the agreed timeline after each submission.

The consultant is responsible for their own equipment. While in transit, WUSC will cover accommodation and communication costs.

Qualifications and competencies

The assignment is open to individual consultants and to refugee-led firms that name a lead consultant.

Required

• Based in Malawi, with a good working knowledge of refugee and displacement issues, ideally in Dzaleka.
• A degree in economics, business, development studies, or a related field, or any other equivalent.
• At least 3 years' experience in economic development or inclusion, preferably with refugees and displaced persons.
• Experience designing business development support and incubation models, including pitch competitions and start-up kits or seed grant schemes.
• Demonstrated experience in market systems or value chain analysis.
• Experience linking micro-enterprises to financial services (MFIs, SACCOs, VSLAs, mobile money). Fluency in English.

Preferred

• Refugee-led firms with relevant experience working with or through refugee-led or community-based organizations.
• Experience applying gender and disability inclusion in enterprise programming.
• Reasonable use of Artificial Intelligence (AI); where and how AI was used should be referenced/cited.

Competencies

• Strong analytical skills and the ability to write clearly for non-specialists.
• Participatory facilitation and adult learning skills.
• Respectful, trauma-informed engagement with refugee and host community youth.
• A record of meeting deadlines and working well in intercultural teams.

Safeguarding, data protection and intellectual property

• The consultant and any team members must sign and comply with WUSC's Safeguarding, Code of Conduct and Anti-Fraud policies.
• Data collection with youth requires informed consent. Personal data must be anonymized, stored securely, and not shared beyond WUSC without written approval.
• Data collection must not expose participants to legal, protection, or reputational risk. Take particular care when asking about informal work.
• All deliverables, data and materials produced under this assignment are the property of WUSC and may be shared with partner RLOs and the Mastercard Foundation.