Funding Opportunities

Call for Expressions of Interest to Provide Customer Centricity Support Services

1.    Summary
The United Nations Foundation’s (UNF) Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) is accepting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from firms or individuals capable of delivering consulting services and technical support focused on enhancing customer centricity capabilities for selected enterprises. Customer centricity includes how enterprises develop strategies that put the customer at the centre of their decision making, and the experience that the enterprise delivers across the customer journey.

The customer centricity services and support are part of the Clean Cooking Alliance’s User Insights Lab. The User Insights Lab (UIL) works with clean cooking enterprises to massively increase demand and sustained use of clean cooking by deepening and accelerating the pace of user-centred innovation and practices.

CCA intends to select technical partner(s) (firms or individuals) for a range of customer centricity support in a phased approach. The consultants will provide technical assistance directly to enterprises, with the areas of support potentially to include:

Engagement of Enterprises on Customer Centricity:

• Hosting webinars on customer centricity for clean cooking enterprises.
• One-on-One coaching with clean cooking entrepreneurs and customer experience managers to address specific customer challenges and enhance understanding of customer centric frameworks and implementation.
• Coach UIL staff so they can conduct rapid assessments and benchmarking, and support with enterprises directly.

Customer Experience Enhancement Projects:

• Utilizing CCA and enterprise customer insights to-date to design, implement and iterate focused customer experience enhancement projects at specific points of the customer journey. Supporting enterprises to implement changes in key areas that result in quick wins as well as long-term improvements.
• Identify and document learnings from customer experience projects to enhance clean cooking sector knowledge and support awareness and self-improvements around customer centricity.

Customer Centricity Transformation:

• Work with clean cooking enterprise to fully review organizational customer centricity against a relevant framework.
• Identify core areas of transformation required to improve overall customer centricity within the organization and identify specific and measurable metrics to measure improvements.
• Support enterprises in developing a robust business case for transformation that builds support among their key stakeholders  (e.g., enterprise leadership, investors, employees).
• Support transformation projects with enterprises to enhance customer centricity.
• Review customer centricity against framework at project end to capture results and share learnings with the broader clean cooking sector.

Any firm or individual(s) with the experience and technical capability to provide support in any or all of the areas identified above may register their interest with CCA as described below.

2.     Background of Organization

CCA works with a global network of partners to build an inclusive industry that makes clean cooking accessible to the three billion people who live each day without it. Established in 2010, CCA is driving consumer demand, mobilizing investment to build a pipeline of scalable businesses, and fostering an enabling environment that allows the sector to thrive. Clean cooking transforms lives by improving health, protecting the climate and the environment, empowering women, and helping families save time and money.

3.    The User Insights Lab

The User Insights Lab’s (UIL) vision is to massively increase demand and sustained use of clean cooking by deepening and accelerating the pace of user-centered innovation across the ecosystem. The UIL will support clean cooking enterprises, investors, policymakers, and implementers to deliver clean cooking solutions, policies and programs that have consumers at the center and are informed by deep insights into their preferences and behaviors.

The UIL combines human centered design, behavioral science and action- based research to develop new data, tools, and capabilities to support a transformational shift to user-centered innovation in the clean cooking sector.

The UIL aims to transform the sector in four ways:

1. Leveraging evidence to drive demand, sales, and usage
2. Developing data and tools to support customer segmentation and targeting
3. Catalyzing innovation around user needs
4. Growing the sector’s user-centric DNA

Through CCA’s Venture Catalyst program and User Insights Lab research, there have been initial insights into user-centricity of enterprises in the clean cooking sector and the challenges they face. The Venture Catalyst has conducted lean data analysis to support insights and understanding of clean cooking customers. The aggregated insights across the portfolio can be found here. Respondents may refer to or otherwise use this resource to inform their approach, areas of focus, or other aspects of their submissions.

4.    Qualification Requirements

Respondents should outline their technical expertise, experience, tools and methods in the area(s) of support noted in Section 1.

Qualifications and Experience we are looking for:

1. Experience in designing and operationalizing customer experiences that turn customers into a company’s top asset.
2. Ability to work across all aspects of customer centricity transformation, including customer experience management, customer engagement strategy (linked to business growth and Return on Investment (ROI)) and the operational aspects of customer relationship engagement or management (like Customer Relationship Management and Customer Experience management).
3. 10+ years of experience leading/advising companies on customer centricity strategies (full spectrum: from customer research to streamlining processes and improving experiences at each touchpoint); individual consultant or a firm with the ability to speak to what various other companies are doing from experience.
4. Required: experience with businesses in emerging markets and for low-income customer segments.
5. Preferred: experience with household appliances or other durable goods markets, or provision of social impact services such as energy, water, or healthcare.

Please submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) which succinctly outlines the following:

• Your qualifications and experience in relation to the area of support.
• Your understanding, knowledge, and experience related to the area of support and clean cooking or similar markets.
• A few examples of companies you have supported and their operating context.
• Anything you would like to share in terms of your usual or preferred approach, process, frameworks, methods and/or tools.
• Early insights and opportunities for Customer Experience Projects noted from 60 Decibels report on Clean Cooking Customers, or other sources (please include any additional relevant sources of insights, opportunities, data, or examples).
• Profiles/CVs of the key people who would be involved in providing support to the program (please include this in the appendix).
• Your standard daily consulting rate(s) or transformation project rate(s) for an aligned assignment.

Responses to this EOI should not exceed three pages with an additional provision for attaching biographies/CVs of the proposed delivery team and additional sources or reference material in an appendix.

5.    Consultant Selection Timeline

This EOI will be open until September 1, 2023 17:00 UTC. CCA will review submissions on a rolling basis and respond to all submissions of interest.  Shortlisted respondents will be invited to make brief, formal proposals against a finalized scope of work and communication in that regard will be made directly to shortlisted respondents.  The firm(s) or individual(s) with the successful proposal(s) will begin the contracting process soon after the decision is communicated to them.

6.    Intent and Disclaimer

This EOI is made with the intent to identify consultant(s) to deliver results as described in this EOI. UNF/CCA will rely on the consultant’s representations to be truthful and as described.  CCA assumes it can be confident in the consultant’s ability to deliver the product(s) and/or service(s) proposed in response to this EOI.

7.    Guidance for Respondents

Format for Expressions of Interest

Responses must include the applicant’s signature as well as the full legal name of the applicant, as well as legal formation and ownership structure (e.g., incorporation certification, tax status and ID, etc.).  Responses are to be submitted in PDF form.

Contracting and Compliance

CCA will negotiate contract terms upon selection as outlined in Clause 5.  A copy of the contract terms and conditions will be provided upon selection. All contracts are subject to review by the United Nations Foundation’s Business Services and Budget Reporting team. The project will start upon the complete execution of the contract. The contract will outline terms and conditions, scope, budget, and applicable flow down terms. Selected recipient(s) must comply with CCA, United Nations Foundation, and funder compliance requirements. The selected recipient(s) must also undergo detailed legal, financial, and commercial due diligence.

Release

The consultant understands that CCA has chosen to solicit an EOI for consulting services, and that the consultant’s response does not guarantee that CCA will enter a new contract with the consultant or continue any current contract(s) with the consultant.

The consultant agrees that CCA may, at its sole discretion:

• Amend or cancel the EOI, in whole or in part, at any time
• Extend the deadline for submitting responses
• Determine whether a response does or does not substantially comply with the requirements of the EOI
• Waive any minor irregularity, informality or nonconformance with the provisions or procedures of the EOI
• Negotiate with all consultants UNF deems acceptable
• Issue multiple awards
• Photocopy the responses for evaluation/review

This EOI is not an offer to contract. CCA assumes no responsibility for consultant’s cost to respond to this EOI. All responses become the property of CCA.

The consultant, by submitting a response to this EOI, waives all right to protest or seek any legal remedies whatsoever regarding any aspect of this EOI.

The consultant represents that it has responded to the EOI with complete honesty and accuracy. If facts provided in the consultant’s response change, the consultant agrees to supplement its response in writing with any deletions, additions, or changes within ten (10) days of the changes. The consultant will do this, as necessary, throughout the selection process.

The consultant understands it may receive proprietary and confidential information from CCA during the EOI process (“Confidential Information”).  The consultant and CCA agree to not use Confidential Information for any purpose other than the consultant’s participation in the EOI process, and to not reveal Confidential Information directly or indirectly to any other person, entity, or organization without the prior written consent of the other party. The consultant and CCA further agree to exercise all reasonable precautions to maintain the proprietary and confidential nature of Confidential Information where it can best demonstrate its value and capacity to delivery ecosystem-wide, meaningful value.

Grounds for Exclusion

Material misrepresentations, including omissions, may disqualify the consultant from a contract award.

Submissions will be rejected in CCA’s sole discretion if it finds that the consultant has engaged in any illegal or corrupt practices in connection with the award.

The consultant will be excluded from participation for the reasons below. By submitting a proposal in response to the EOI, the consultant confirms that none of the below circumstances apply:

• The consultant is bankrupt or being wound up, is having their affairs administered by the courts, has entered an arrangement with creditors, has suspended business activities, is subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.
• The consultant or persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over them have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a final judgment.
• The consultant has been found guilty of grave professional misconduct; proven by any means which CCA can justify.
• The consultant has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established, or within the United States of America, or those of the country where the contract is to be performed.
• The consultant or persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over them have been convicted for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization or money laundering by a final judgment.
• The consultant makes use of child labor or forced labor and/or practice discrimination, and/or do not respect the right to freedom of association and the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining pursuant to the core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Principal Point of Contact
April Warren is the primary point of contact for this assignment. Please reach out to userinsights@cleancooking.org with any clarification questions.

Submission details
Please address your submission to: userinsights@cleancooking.org
Subject Line: EOI Submission – Customer Centricity
Deadline: September 1, 2023 – 17.00 UTC