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Consultancy for the Development and Operationalisation of a Community Feedback Mechanism for SAY Zambia

• Zambian Governance Foundation
• Tenders & RFPs
• Lusaka, Lusaka, Zambia
• 2w ago
• 1. Background and Rationale

The Zambia Governance Foundation for Civil Society (ZGF) is committed to fostering community-led development and shifting power to local communities. Central to this commitment is ensuring robust accountability and learning channels through which communities can give feedback and have it acted upon.

ZGF operates the SAY Zambia platform (www.say-zambia.org) as its public-facing channel for community engagement on governance and civil society issues. ZGF seeks to engage a qualified consultant to develop, set up, and fully operationalize a feedback mechanism integrated into SAY Zambia, capable of capturing community feedback from multiple channels — including channels accessible to communities without reliable internet access — while maintaining a structured administrative backend for triage, response, and reporting. As part of the assessment phase, the consultant will confirm the current operational status and technical condition of the SAY Zambia website and flag, in the Inception Report, any reactivation or re-platforming work needed before the feedback mechanism can be integrated.

Given current funding constraints, this assignment is structured in two phases. Phase 1, the subject of this consultancy, will deliver a multi-channel feedback intake system (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and KoboCollect), a sensitive-case handling workflow, and a smart moderator dashboard. Phase 2 — the integration of a dedicated USSD shortcode for use in low-network areas — is intended for delivery once additional funding is secured. The consultant engaged under this Phase 1 assignment will be required to produce a lightweight Phase 2 architecture and integration plan, so that USSD can be added later without requiring the Phase 1 system to be substantially rebuilt.

• 2. Objective of the Assignment

The primary objective of this assignment is to design, deploy, and operationalize a Phase 1 community feedback mechanism for SAY Zambia that:

• Captures feedback from Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and KoboCollect

, consolidating submissions from all three channels into a single, centralised database connected to the SAY Zambia website;

• Distinguishes sensitive feedback from normal feedback

at the point of intake (e.g. safeguarding concerns, fraud, abuse, or other cases requiring confidential handling), routing each type through an appropriate workflow;

• Supports anonymous submission for sensitive feedback

, allowing community members to report sensitive cases without disclosing their identity, while still allowing identifiable submission where the person chooses to provide their details;

• Provides a smart, role-based moderator dashboard

through which authorized staff can view, categorise, respond to, and track the resolution of feedback cases, with access to sensitive cases restricted to designated senior staff only;

• Generates reports

summarising feedback volumes, categories, response times, and resolution status, for use in ZGF's accountability and learning processes; and

• Produces a costed Phase 2 (USSD) architecture and integration plan

, so that a dedicated USSD shortcode can be added in a future phase, once funding allows, without re-architecting the Phase 1 system.

• 3. Scope of Work

The consultant will work under the direct guidance of the Manager Civil Society Organisation and Development, the Senior Specialist ICT, and the Senior Specialist MEAL.

The specific tasks include:

• 3.1 Assessment & Requirements Gathering
• Review ZGF's and SAY Zambia's existing communication and feedback data flows, current website infrastructure, and any existing Facebook, WhatsApp, or KoboCollect usage, to understand specific operational constraints and integration points.
• Define, in consultation with ZGF, the categorisation logic for distinguishing sensitive from normal feedback, and the escalation pathway for sensitive cases.
• 3.2 System Design & Development — Phase 1
• Build or configure integrations with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp

(via their respective Business/Cloud APIs) so that community feedback submitted through these channels is captured and routed into a centralised database connected to SAY Zambia.

• Build or configure a KoboCollect integration

to capture feedback from community members without internet access (collected by field staff/enumerators using the KoboCollect mobile app, including offline data capture with sync to the central database once connectivity is available).

• Design and implement the sensitive vs. normal feedback workflow

, including an anonymous submission option for sensitive cases across all three channels, and clear visual/workflow separation between the two case types on the backend.

• Design a centralised data schema

that consolidates feedback from all three Phase 1 channels into a single structure, capturing channel of origin, category, sensitivity flag, status, and resolution history per case.

• 3.3 Administrative Backend & Smart Dashboard
• Establish a smart, role-based administrative dashboard

with at least two access tiers: (i) general moderators, who can view and respond to normal feedback; and (ii) designated senior staff, who alone can view, respond to, and manage sensitive feedback cases.

• Enable case management functionality

on the dashboard: viewing incoming feedback by channel and category, assigning cases to staff, responding directly to the submitter where the channel allows (e.g. Messenger, WhatsApp), updating case status (open/in progress/resolved), and logging an audit trail of actions taken on each case.

• Enable reporting functionality

, allowing moderators and management to generate reports on feedback volume, category breakdown, channel breakdown, sensitive case trends, and average response/resolution time, exportable to Excel/CSV/PDF over selectable date ranges.

• 3.4 Phase 2 (USSD) Architecture & Groundwork
• Produce a Phase 2 technical architecture and integration plan

for adding a dedicated USSD shortcode (in partnership with a mobile network operator/aggregator) as an additional intake channel for users in low-network or no-internet areas, designed to plug into the Phase 1 database and dashboard with minimal rework.

• Where feasible at no material extra cost, structure the Phase 1 data schema and intake architecture

to anticipate USSD as a fourth channel (e.g. consistent case schema, channel-agnostic categorisation logic), so Phase 2 can be commissioned as a discrete, addable module once funding is secured.

• This sub-task is limited to planning and architecture; build, testing, and deployment of the USSD shortcode itself is explicitly out of scope for this assignment and will be commissioned separately under Phase 2.
• 3.5 Testing & Operationalisation
• Conduct rigorous user-acceptance testing across all three Phase 1 channels (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, KoboCollect) and the dashboard, to ensure data integrity, correct sensitive/normal routing, and system security.
• Conduct a simulation test of the sensitive case escalation workflow, confirming that access restriction to designated senior staff functions as intended.
• 3.6 Documentation
• Develop a concise user and administrative guide covering: system management for ICT, case moderation and response procedures for general moderators, sensitive case handling procedures for designated senior staff, and troubleshooting.
• 4. Key Deliverables

1.

Inception Report & Technical Blueprint:

Outlining the proposed system architecture for the Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and KoboCollect channels, the sensitive/normal feedback workflow, and the database schema.

2.

Functional Feedback Mechanism (Phase 1):

Fully deployed and integrated Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and KoboCollect intake channels, feeding into a centralised database connected to SAY Zambia.

3.

Smart Administrative Dashboard:

Configured backend dashboard with role-based access, case management (view, respond, escalate, track resolution), and reporting functionality.

4.

Phase 2 (USSD) Architecture & Integration Plan:

A technical document describing how a dedicated USSD shortcode can be added in a future phase, including indicative cost and effort, for ZGF's use in securing further funding.

5.

Administrative & System Handover Documentation:

Step-by-step user guides for system administrators, general moderators, and designated senior staff.

• 5. Assignment Duration and Timeline

The assignment is expected to commence on 10th August, 2026, and will be executed over an implementation period of 37 working days.

• Phase
• Key Deliverables & Milestones
• Target Completion
• Working Days
• Phase 1

Inception Report detailing requirements, system architecture (Messenger/WhatsApp/KoboCollect integration, sensitive-case workflow), and finalized work plan.

• Phase 2
• Functional p