New Jobs in Mbeya, Katavi, Rukwa and Songwe at SNV Tanzania

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Job Summary
We are looking for a well-organized and experienced consultant to run down the following project.
Job Description
Name of assignment: Participatory evaluation of the contract farming innovation

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Terms of reference title: Making Policies Work for Smallholder Farmers
Geographical focus: Mbeya, Katavi, Rukwa and Songwe
Open to: Individual consultants
Proposed start date & end date: 14th April to 14th May 2020
1.0. Introduction
SNV is implementing a two-year project called Transforming Agricultural Markets (TAM), which started in August 2018, and is funded by UKAID. The TAM project aims to improve livelihoods and economic opportunity for smallholder farmers by empowering them to effect changes in the dairy and sunflower market systems through engaging with government and private sector providers. This short-term consultancy assignment focuses on a participatory review of the use of the contact farming model in the sunflower sub-sector in Mbeya, Songwe, Rukwa and Katavi Regions, with the aim of promoting its role in improving sub-sector competitiveness and increasing employment opportunities and smallholder farmers’ income.


2.0. Background
SNV, Netherlands Development Organization is an international, not-for-profit, development organization, working in 36 of the poorest countries worldwide, including 17 countries in Sub Saharan Africa. We focus on achieving impact in Agriculture; Energy; and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene. By sharing our specialist expertise in Agriculture; Energy; and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, our global team of local and international advisors works with local partners to equip communities, businesses and organisations with the tools, knowledge and connections they need to increase their incomes and gain access to basic services – empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and guide their own development.
The TAM project Theory of Change is that by working with citizens, private sector and government at sub-national level on specific, actor-led systems issues to produce data and facilitate stakeholder analysis the project can broaden understanding, build consensus, and strengthen accountability relationships for collective action to:

  • make existing policies work at the local level, and to
  • provide documented evidence for national level policy dialogue and reforms. The project aims at achieving the following impact and outcomes: Impact: Improved livelihoods of SHFs and SMEs in the dairy and sunflower market systems
Long term outcome: Increased access and inclusiveness to basic services (production, financial, capacity services) and strengthened business environment for SHFs and agribusinesses in dairy and sunflower market systems.
Outcomes:
a) Increased responsiveness of Government to the issues of smallholder farmers and SMEs.
b) Increased collective actions of stakeholders for the improvement of access to basic services and entitlements, and business environment.
The TAM project focuses on making policies work for SHF and SMEs by enhancing good governance, accountability and responsiveness by government, local organisations, private sector and stakeholders in dairy and sunflower market systems. The targeted areas for increased responsiveness and accountability relations are, functional cooperatives and harmonization of regulations in the dairy market system, contract farming and women access to finance in the sunflower market system.
SNV promoted a Village Based Contract Farming (VBCF) arrangement which is a pro-poor market arrangement, first introduced by SNV in Singida Region in 2011 and later in Morogoro, Ruvuma,Mbeya, Iringa, Rukwa and Njombe Regions in 2013, engaging with sunflower value chain actors. In 2017, through its AMDT-funded work on market development, SNV conducted a Systemic Market Analysis of the sunflower market in Songwe, Mbeya, Rukwa and Katavi. The analysis indicated critical market constraints limiting greater uptake and/or increase in sunflower market development:
Supply side issues
  • Availability and accessibility of high-quality certified sunflower seeds
  • Availability of agricultural inputs, including fertilizers and pesticides
  • Management capacities of producer groups and farmers’ associations to sustainably increase sunflower production
  • Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
  • Access to finance
  • Postharvest losses
Businesses environment
  • Coordination of the sector
  • Trust and transparency between producers and processors
  • Complex and discriminatory application of fees and taxes
  • Capacity of key support institutions in the sector
Market development
  • Industry clustering to promote collective production and marketing of sunflower products
  • Targeted market development interventions

SNV found that a major issue in unlocking these constraints was the weak relations between producers and buyers/processors evidenced by lack of trust in the sector as a result of, the absence of premium/discount rates based on quality of seeds; and sufficient market information that would empower the farmers and other local stakeholders. SNV found – as have other key players in this industry – that much of the problem of mistrust comes from the absence of linkages and transparency across the sector, which would allow each party to better see and understand each other’s needs and realize that all parties benefit from improvements. The development of contract farming in the sunflower sector was considered essential to better match producers’ capacities with processors’ needs.

In the 2017 season, SNV pioneered activities in Rukwa, Katavi, Songwe and Mbeya, supported by AMDT, that demonstrated an approach to contract farming that addressed the issues above through an alternative deployment and engagement of Local Government’s legal and extension resources in the process. By early 2018, over 4,600 farmers had signed contracts, and 1,067 farmers had made an upfront cash investment using their own funds to procure subsidized hybrid seed. Also, By Trade, input suppliers, had invested in extension services promoting good agricultural practices to farmers who had signed.
It is therefore against this background that SNV is seeking the services of a consultant to carry out a participatory evaluation of the contact farming innovations in the sunflower sub-sector in Mbeya, Songwe, Rukwa and Katavi Regions, as detailed below.

3.0. Purpose and objectives of the assignment
The purpose of the assignment is to enable local level industry and government stakeholders in the four project regions to evaluate the contract farming innovation, in terms of its contribution to inclusive growth of the sunflower sector and the trajectory for impacts on regional development, in order to enable sub-national players to advocate the potential of contract farming for improving sub- sector competitiveness and increasing employment opportunities and smallholder farmer income.

The objectives of the assignment are:
a) An evaluation of SNV supported contract farming in the four regions, with particular focus on:
i) effectiveness including outcome results;
ii) processes: what worked well and what didn’t and why (contributing factors), and
iii) behavior change that is consistent with a more inclusive decision-making, planning or policy process e.g. instances of meaningful procedural improvements, relational change1 and transformative participation of key stakeholders, and the contributing factors and
iv) policy issues, e.g. contract guidelines, laws, levies, by-laws and regulatory structures that favor or hinder the operation of the contract farming arrangement.
b) Projected potential LGA revenue and stakeholder income per project district (Mbeya, Chunya; Songwe; Sumbawanga and Mpanda and Tanganyika District Councils) that could be generated from scaling the contract farming model, disaggregated across region, LGA and market players.
c) A policy brief for regional and national level advocacy for contract farming for improving sub-sector competitiveness and increasing employment opportunities and smallholder farmer income

4.0. Scope of work
The consultant will be required to undertake the following key activities and produce the related deliverables:
Key Activity 1: Inception: desk review, consultation and planning
i. Desk review: familiarization with the TAM project and the Edible Oil-seeds Programme documents, including the Village Based Contract Farming Study 2017. Review of relevant literature on the sunflower value chain and contract farming in Tanzania.
ii. Consultation with TAM project staff: seek clarification on the TAM project and Edible Oil-seeds Programme approach, process and results, and on the ToR objectives and deliverables.
iii. Draft an inception report
Deliverable; An inception report, not exceeding 8 pages, which provides details on:
a) the participatory evaluation methodology and main evaluation questions,
b) consultants understanding of the contract farming model and theory of change,
c) an evaluation report format and
d) a policy brief format.
Key activity 2: Individual and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and district consultation workshops (one per region).
1 Evidence of relational change between government and value chain stakeholders might include, but is not be limited to:
(a) more frequent or deeper engagement with a wider and more diverse set of stakeholders;
(b) more transparent and consultative processes;
(c) strengthened networks and relationships and greater instances of collective action, especially between actors from different sectors (e.g. political, civil society, private);
(d) more frequent utilization of reliable, relevant data about the policy problem at hand and which represents the voices and views of all the actors with a stake.
i. Identify the key contract farming stakeholders in the contract farming model. In
collaboration with the TAM project team agree on the FGD and workshop participants and
invitation modalities.
ii. Develop individual and FGD format and guiding questions, a workshop agenda and process,
and select facilitation tools.
iii. Facilitate FGD and consultation workshops in collaboration with TAM project staff.
iv. Produce a report on the FGD and workshop process and outputs.
Deliverables: Individual and FGD format and guiding questions; workshop agenda and process; and FGD and workshop reports detailing the process and key findings.

Key activity 3: Draft evaluation report: data analysis and synthesis
i. Analyse data to answer causal questions about what has produced the outcomes that have been observed: i) what worked well and what didn’t and why (contributing factors) and
ii) which policy issues favored or hindered the operation of the contract farming arrangement, e.g. contract guidelines, laws, levies, by-laws and regulatory structures.
ii. Synthesize: combine data collected to form an overall assessment of the intervention with particular focus on effectiveness and behavior change i.e. change that is consistent with a more inclusive decision-making, planning or policy process e.g. instances of meaningful procedural improvements, relational change 2 and transformative participation of key stakeholders, and the contributing factors.
iii. Develop policy recommendations
iv. Develop and present the findings in a report in a way that is useful for the intended users of the evaluation
Deliverables: a draft evaluation report, not exceeding 25 pages. The evaluation report will present the main findings which respond to the evaluation questions, and the policy recommendations.

Key activity 4: Validation workshop
i. In collaboration with the TAM project team agree on the workshop participants and invitation modalities
ii. Develop a workshop agenda and process and select facilitation tools.
iii. Facilitate a validation workshop in collaboration with TAM project staff
iv. Incorporate stakeholder feedback and recommendations in the draft evaluation report
Deliverables:
  1. a final draft evaluation report, not exceeding 20 pages, excluding annexes.
  2. Evidence of relational change between government and value chain stakeholders might include, but is not be limited to:
(a) more frequent or deeper engagement with a wider and more diverse set of stakeholders;
(b) more transparent and consultative processes;
(c) strengthened networks and relationships and greater instances of collective action, especially between actors from different sectors (e.g. political, civil society, private);
(d) more frequent utilization of reliable, relevant data about the policy problem at hand and which represents the voices and views of all the actors with a stake.

 Key activity 5: Develop a policy brief for use by regional and district stakeholders to advocate the potential of contract farming for improving sunflower sub-sector competitiveness and increasing employment opportunities and smallholder farmer income
i. Draft the policy paper based on the evaluation findings and recommendations and validation workshop output.
ii. Prepare and present a power point to selected stakeholders (4 from each region) and the TAM project team on the main points of the policy paper
iii. Finalize the policy paper based on the feedback
Deliverables: a final draft policy brief not exceeding five pages.

5.0. Methodology
The evaluation will be a participatory evaluation whereby the project stakeholders are the key participants in the evaluation and the main users of the evaluation findings. The consultant will propose a methodology for the evaluation and provide justification for the proposed methodology.
6.0. Time Frame and reporting
6.1 Time-frame
The assignment period is for a total not exceeding 21 working days, delivered within the period Tuesday 14th April to Thursday 14th May 2020.


7.0. Competence required
The consultant must clearly demonstrate skills and experience for this assignment in:

  • Proven experience in conducting participatory evaluations with a high degree of validity, reliability and usefulness.
  • More than 10 years’ experience in governance projects in East Africa, including Tanzania
  • Proven experience in agriculture sector development in East Africa, including Tanzania
  • Proven ability to produce high quality analysis and documentation

8.0. Selection criteria for engagement
Applicants are advised that applications will be evaluated using the following criteria:
**NB**
This section has a table. Copy and Paste link below to a new tab to view this criteria.
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9.0 Applicants are requested to submit:
A: Technical proposal with the following details:
  • Understanding of the assignment and its tasks,
  • Methodology and approach to be used,
  • A realistic Operational plan with clear timeline,
  • CV of consultant that will implement the work
B: A sample of a piece of work of similar scope generated by the consultant within the last 24 months.
C: Past Performance
  • Applicants must prove that they have enough experience in assignments comparable with the work they are bidding for in terms of scope and complexity. Applicants must prove this experience using only and exactly three references for work they have done in the last five years. Applicants must provide written proof for each of the references giving at least the following data:
  • Name of the contracting company/donor, name of the person who managed the contract for the company/donor and e-mail and telephone numbers of the contact person who managed the contract;
  • Title of the project or contract or grant and / or the contract/grant number;
  • Time and place of execution for the work done;
  • Clear description of the services provided by the applicant (no more than one page) organisations/contractors worked with and assignment performed in the last 3 years.
D: Financial proposal (in TZS) broken out to provide at least the following details
  • Consultancy fees (please note that under Tanzanian Law, withholding tax of 5% for national and 15% for international is deducted at source and paid direct to TRA.
  • Transport and per diem costs,
  • Communication and stationeries.
E: Mandatory Requirements - Copies of:
  • TIN certificate for individual consultant.
Application Procedures:
Failure to provide the above mandatory requirement will result to disqualification of the whole bid.
Please submit your Expression of Interest entitled “Participatory Evaluation of the Contract
Farming – TAM Project” in the subject line and email to: tanzaniaprocurement@snv.org no later than 17:00 hrs on 27th March 2020.

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