SNV is looking for a consultant to conduct a participatory learning evaluation with the horticultural team this year in Kenya, with a distinct focus on SNV’s value added to development results. The lessons learnt of this evaluation will be used to scale-up SNV Kenya’s horticultural activities in a larger horticultural program. The deliverable of this assignment will be a proposal outline for a large multi-annual horticultural project.
For more details regarding this consultancy, please read below:
Terms of Reference
Pre-Proposal formulation based on a learning evaluation of the Horticulture programme SNV-Kenya
Introduction
SNV is looking for a consultant to conduct a participatory learning evaluation with the horticultural team this year in Kenya, with a distinct focus on SNV’s value added to development results. The lessons learnt of this evaluation will be used to scale-up SNV Kenya’s horticultural activities in a larger horticultural program. The deliverable of this assignment will be a proposal outline for a large multi-annual horticultural project.
Horticulture Kenya
Horticulture is the largest subsector of Agriculture accounting for a third of the 26% direct contribution of Agriculture to the GDP of Kenya. It employs both directly and indirectly over 6 million Kenyans, mainly women who constitute 75% of the labour force in small scale agriculture and manage 40% of the farms. The sector has been registering a growth of over 15% annually compared to the 6% growth of the entire agriculture sector. This is against a backdrop of lack of government extension services due change in policy; poor crop husbandry knowledge; and uncoordinated market processes that cause
post-harvest losses of up to 33%. Over 96% of horticultural produce is produced by small scale farmers in rural areas where two thirds of the female population is engaged in subsistence farming. The horticulture subsector therefore has immense potential for poverty reduction, food security and as an engine of industrial growth. Besides it is one of the leading sectors flagged in vision 2030 which aims to transform Kenya into ‘a newly industrializing, middle income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens in a clean and secure environment’. It is entirely driven by the private sector with corporate agribusiness related companies, exporters (e.g. Finlays, Vegpro, KHE) and processors (e.g. Sunny Mango, Kevian and Milly fruits), investing in small holder farmers to increase their raw material supply. Development organizations such as USAID-KHCP have also supported the subsector with their efforts targeting increasing productivity of small holder farmers. SNV’s experience in the subsector recognizes the need for market driven solutions to challenges in the sector. It has therefore focused and its support to the subsector on development of business systems to improve efficiency of the supply chains, promoting commercial oriented localised extension and BDS service provider enterprises, and promoting the establishment of macro and meso (county) level producer organization with ability to influence the subsector to the advantage
of small holder farmers.
SNV Kenya’s Horticulture Programme
SNV Kenya horticulture program strategy is focussing on two main interventions: Increased trading capacity for medium and small scale farmers and Improved efficiency of market processes, which is leading to the following outcomes, see for more details the Country Multi-Annual Plan on horticulture.
The horticulture programme is currently implementing one project within the EKN funded; Horticulture and Food security project that aims to improve the incomes and livelihoods of horticulture smallholder producers and the food security situation in Kenya. The project targets a mix of horticulture products both for the domestic and export markets packaged in six businesses cases. To date the project is working with 9 horticulture export and marketing companies linked to producer
organizations that are composed of currently over 20,000 smallholder farmers in seven counties. This project is implemented by a consortium of SNV, Solidaridad and HIVOS. Key milestones achieved in January to May 2013
SNV is scaling-up the above approach in newly started project Mau Mara Serengeti Sustainable Water (MaMaSe) Initiative in the Mara River Basin.
The picture below gives an overview of SNV’s horticulture projects furthermore SNV has funded with its’own core funding horticultural activities and has actually a new project funded from competitive core-funding on potatoes and beans.
Purpose and scope of the assignment
The assignment aims to achieve a thorough reflection by SNV on the logic, outcome and impact results of its Kenya horticulture programme over the past years. It is expected that the will assist in reviewing and assessing the support SNV has provided to the development of the horticulture sector by reconstructing the intervention logic(s) and explaining what has worked, what has not, and why. Most important this reflection should support the formulation of SNV Kenya’s horticulture strategy for the coming years, by giving the outlines for a project proposal for large multi-annual horticulture program based on SNVs strengths and it’s partners
Key questions to be reflected on are: what does SNV contribute to this
sector, what are the current effects thereof on the horticulture value chain/sector, and what are the development results experiences by the farmers, especially poor households, and private sector actors along the chain?
Assignment questions
Together with the external consultant, the following questions are important especially within the context of the formulation of a horticulture project proposal:
Logic
Results
SNV’s contribution
Learn
Phases and deliverables
The assignment will be conducted in two phases:
1) Desk study Analysis of the SNV Kenya horticulture case studies and other documentation; and development of a generic logic model to be deducted from this (2days): a short inception report detailing review of program documents and in-country analysis
2) In-country visit to conduct study visits, in collaboration with local stakeholders (SNV staff, LCBs, partners, clients, funders, beneficiaries); 5 days visit, 3 days reporting: A report of country findings and outline for a horticulture project proposal
Profile consultant
- Expertise in the field of International and Dutch orticultural projects
- Expertise in horticulture evelopment especially private sector and market linkages
- Fluency in English and Dutch
Time schedule
April-May 2014
Request for proposals
Through this Request for Proposals SNV invites qualified consultants to submit proposals that include:
- Provide daily consultancy fee and overall budget, for this 10 days assignment
- Consultants CV
- Evaluator’s availability in the period April-May
