Host Agency: The Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan
Duration and Modality: 100 working days over 5 months, remote from Canada, between October 15, 2026, and March 15, 2027. The consultant is expected to overlap with Afghanistan working hours for a fixed number of hours each week (proposed minimum of two shared half days).
Position: Development Economist
Compensation: CAD $40,000 – $60,000, commensurate with experience
About Aga Khan Foundation Canada
Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC) is an international development organization and registered charity. AKFC partners with communities, businesses, and governments to find innovative, lasting solutions to promote inclusive development. Working in Africa and Asia, the Foundation invests in local institutions and systems that anchor progress over the long term. In Canada, AKFC mobilizes funding and expertise, and promotes awareness of global issues. In all of our work, advancing gender equality, inclusion and pluralism are key objectives and approaches. AKFC is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network, one of the world’s most comprehensive development organizations. Since 1980, AKFC has helped millions of women and men to unlock their own potential to build a better life.
About the Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan
The Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan [AKF (Afg)] is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of private, international, non-denominational development agencies working to improve living conditions and opportunities for people in some of the poorest parts of the developing world. In Afghanistan, AKF works with rural communities in mountainous, remote and resource poor areas to improve quality of life in the areas of natural resource management, market development, governance, education and health. AKF (Afg) implements a multi-donor portfolio and works alongside other AKDN agencies, including the Aga Khan Health Services, with support from AKF Canada, AKF USA and other AKF units. Learn more at AKDN in Afghanistan.
Background and Rationale
The funding landscape for Afghanistan is shifting, and with it comes significant new opportunities. Multilateral engagement is expanding, with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank moving into larger and more complex programmes that AKF (Afg) is currently engaging with and delivering.
These opportunities are more ambitious in scale, they often integrate multiple sectors, and they expect funding applicants to show not only that an intervention will work but that it represents strong value for money. Positioning AKF (Afg) to engage confidently with these opportunities, and to deliver on them well, calls for economic analysis to be applied consistently and to a high standard.
AKF (Afg) has strong programme design, deep field presence, community trust, and staff who already apply cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and related economic appraisal methods in selected proposals and programmes. The opportunity now is to sharpen and institutionalize that existing capability, turning methods used by individual staff into a shared approach, a common toolkit and a trained core team that applies economic analysis consistently across the portfolio.
Consultancy Summary
The CADEX consultant, a development economist, will help further strengthen the capacity of AKF (Afg) programme, partnership, and sector staff to conduct cost-benefit and economic analyses and to apply these across proposal development, project design, implementation and post-project assessment.
The purpose of the assignment is to: (i) sharpen and institutionalize team capabilities in conducting cost-benefit and economic analyses to guide evidence-based decision making, resource allocation and investment prioritization; and (ii) strengthen AKF (Afg)’s readiness to compete for and deliver on the larger and more complex opportunities emerging through World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and other institutional engagements.
Expected Outcomes
- AKF (Afg) proposals consistently include credible cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness or value for money analysis, strengthening readiness to compete for larger and more complex funding opportunities.
- A trained core team, with identified champions (staff trained by the consultant), able to conduct economic analysis independently.
- A standard framework and toolkit embedded in the proposal development process.
- Senior management equipped to use economic evidence in prioritizing future programming and allocations in times of declining resources.
- Reduced dependence on external expertise for economic justification.
Responsibilities and Scope
The work is organized in four overlapping phases, with outputs co-produced with AKF (Afg) staff:
Diagnostic and Portfolio Review
- Review a sample of recent AKF (Afg) proposals, concept notes and project design documents, including both successful and unsuccessful submissions, to assess how costs, benefits, value for money and economic returns are currently presented.
- Review donor feedback and evaluation criteria from recent competitive processes to identify where economic arguments are expected and where AKF submissions fell short.
- Assess the cost and results data currently available across Finance, MERL and programme teams, and its fitness for economic analysis.
- Hold structured consultations with programmes and partnerships, monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL), and finance staff to map existing skills and understand where capacity gaps sit.
- Produce a short diagnostic report with a gap analysis and a prioritized capacity building plan.
Framework and Toolkit Development
- Develop an AKF (Afg) economic analysis framework covering when to use cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost per beneficiary and other value for money approaches, and how to choose among them for different donors and sectors.
- Build a practical toolkit, including Excel-based cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness models, standard cost categories, guidance on valuing benefits in the Afghan context, discount rate and sensitivity analysis guidance, and templates for presenting results in proposals. The models should support integrated, multi-sectoral programmes, where several complementary interventions contribute to a common outcome and their combined benefits need to be assessed together, and should be usable across the project cycle so that actual results and benefits can be compared against the assumptions and projections set at design.
- Develop a proposal quality checklist and a set of standard economic justification narratives that can be adapted across sectors (natural resource management, market development, education, health, governance).
- Where possible, draw on unit cost and benefit data from AKF (Afg) completed projects to build a reference dataset the team can reuse.
- Align the framework with AKF and AKDN programme quality and reporting guidance, and with the requirements of AKF (Afg) key institutional donors.
Training and Applied Coaching on Live Proposals
- Design and deliver a structured remote training programme for a core group of [8 to 12] staff drawn from the Programme Support Unit, thematic units, MERL and Finance, combining short taught sessions with hands on exercises using AKF (Afg) data.
- Apply the framework on at least two live proposals or concept notes, with AKF staff leading the analysis and the consultant reviewing and coaching.
- Provide a quality review of the economic content of any proposal submitted during the consultancy period, with written feedback that explains the reasoning so that staff learn from each review.
- Identify and mentor two or three internal staff who will hold the capability after the consultancy has concluded.
Institutionalization and Handover
- Finalize the toolkit, guidance notes and training materials into a self-contained package with a user guide and worked examples.
- Support the integration of the economic analysis step into the AKF (Afg) proposal development process and quality review checklist.
- Prepare a capacity and sustainability plan setting out how the staff will maintain and refresh the capability, what refresher support may be needed, and how new staff will be inducted.
- Deliver a final report with lessons learned and recommendations.
Expected Deliverables
- Diagnostic report: assessment of economic content in recent proposals, gap analysis and capacity building plan.
- Framework and guidance note: AKF (Afg) cost-benefit and economic analysis framework and guidance note.
- Toolkit: Excel models for cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, including tools for multi-sectoral programmes and for comparing actual against projected benefits across the project cycle, with cost category standards, benefit valuation guidance, sensitivity analysis guidance, proposal templates and quality checklist.
- Training package: session plans, slides, exercises and worked examples using AKF (Afg) data, and a record of staff trained.
- At least two live proposals or concept notes with full economic analysis, developed by AKF staff with consultant coaching.
- Senior management briefing on using economic analysis for future programming.
Reporting
The consultant will report to the Programmes Director, with day-to-day coordination through the Programme Support Unit focal point and close collaboration with Sector leads who are involved in programme implementation.
Required Qualifications & Experience
Education
- Master’s degree or higher in economics, development economics, public policy, agricultural economics or a closely related field. Equivalent professional experience in applied economic appraisal may substitute for the postgraduate degree.
Experience
- Minimum eight years of professional experience in development economics or applied economic analysis.
- Demonstrated experience conducting cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness or value for money analysis for development programmes, ideally for institutional donors such as the World Bank; Asian Development Bank; Global Affairs Canada; United States Agency for International Development; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UK); and the European Union.
- Experience contributing economic analysis to competitive proposals or project appraisal documents.
- Experience designing and delivering training or coaching to non-economist staff, preferably remotely.
- Advanced Excel modeling skills.
Preferred
- Experience in fragile, conflict affected or data scarce settings.
- Familiarity with rural development, agriculture, health or education economics.
- Prior experience with AKDN or similar multi-sector development organizations.
Language
English proficiency required.
AKFC is committed to advancing gender equality and inclusion through our programming and operations in Canada and overseas. AKFC requires all employees to review and abide by the AKFC Gender Equality Policy.
AKFC recognizes the importance of safeguarding and is committed to ensuring it manages a wide range of risks such that beneficiaries, staff, other associates, and the organization as a whole are kept safe from harm.
AKFC welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
AKFC does not use artificial intelligence tools to assess or select applicants during the recruitment process. All application reviews and hiring decisions are conducted by selection committee. AI tools may be used in drafting communication, editing or interview question sourcing from time to time.
