Consultant: Supporting Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) With Review of the National Agricultural Extension Strategy and Formulate the National Agricultural Extension Strategy

Job Description

Subject: Consultant to support MAAIF with Review of the National Agricultural Extension Strategy 2016-2021 and Formulate the National Agricultural Extension Strategy 2021/22-2025/2026

Contracting Entity: USAID Feed the Future Uganda Institutional and Systems Strengthening Activity, implemented by Cardno Emerging Markets USA, Ltd.

Location: Kampala, Uganda

Issuance Date: November 15, 2021

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF WORK (SOW)

The USAID-funded Feed the Future Uganda Institutional and Systems Strengthening Activity aims to mitigate institutional governance, management, and market systems constraints to improve how system actors work together to achieve agriculture-led economic growth. Employing majority of Uganda’s population, the agriculture sector is a key engine for sustainable and inclusive growth. Factors constraining agricultural institutions include weak internal systems and insecure relationships with other market actors. The Activity works with Government of Uganda Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and private sector Industry Apex Organizations (IAOs) to facilitate improvements.The ISS Activity is seeking applications from qualified individuals to conduct an analysis and draft an updated National Agricultural Extension Strategy, to include policy briefs and a costed GANTT chart of activities, to build upon successes and address gaps that remain at the expiration of the current Strategy this year. The ISS Activity anticipates awarding one consulting agreement on a fixed-price deliverables-based basis.

Cardno Emerging Markets USA

Cardno Emerging Markets USA, Ltd. (Cardno), the Contractor, acting on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as implementer of the USAID-funded Feed the Future Uganda Institutional and Systems Strengthening (ISS) Activity is soliciting bids from qualified individuals to conduct an analysis and provide support to draft an updated National Agricultural Extension Strategy (NAES) to build upon successes and address gaps that remain at the expiration of the current Strategy this year.

The ISS Activity is a five-year Activity that will improve effectiveness of Government of Uganda (GOU) Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and industry apex organizations (IAOs) that are vital to driving inclusive agriculture-led economic growth. Cardno’s approach will focus on reducing constraints and barriers within the agriculture sector market system through developing public-private dialogue platforms and reform coalitions to drive behavior change, targeting actions and attitudes that hinder agribusiness productivity and growth – particularly among MDAs within the GOU – and providing capacity building support for partner institutions. This approach will focus on private sector apex organizations and public institutions alike in order to align incentives and develop stronger connections between the two. Support to review successes and gaps and draft an updated NAES for effective extension service delivery that support increased production and productivity and make the agricultural sector more competitive, productive, and sustainable. Cardno seeks quotes from qualified individuals to support the analysis and drafting of the updated National Agricultural Extension Strategy. Individuals that meet the Specific Qualification Requirements outlined in the attached Request for Quotes (RFQ) are eligible to participate in this solicitation. The USAID ISS Activity anticipates awarding one consulting services agreement under this RFQ.

BACKGROUND

The Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) designed the National Agricultural Extension Strategy (NAES) 2016/17-2020/21 to operationalize the National Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP) 2016. The NAES was intended to address the various challenges that the agricultural extension system was facing and drew lessons from various extension systems implemented since independence.

The main aim of the strategy was to derive the most appropriate approach for effective extension service delivery for increased production and productivity and to make the agricultural sector more competitive, productive, and sustainable. The strategy was driven by the Ministry’s desire to transform the agricultural sector from subsistence farming to modern commercial agriculture. The current NAES was commissioned in 2016 to run for 5 years, until 2021, and is guided by the following objectives contained in the NAEP:

1. To establish a well-coordinated, harmonized pluralistic agricultural extension delivery system for increased efficiency and effectiveness.
2. To empower farmers and other value chain actors (youth, women, and other vulnerable groups) to effectively participate and benefit equitably from agricultural extension processes and demand for services.
3. To develop a sustainable mechanism for packaging and disseminating appropriate technologies to all categories of farmers and other beneficiaries in the agricultural sector.
4. To build institutional capacity for effective delivery of agricultural extension services.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

To develop an updated National Agricultural Extension Strategy (2021-26) in furtherance of the National Agricultural Extension Policy implementation which is in tandem with the current National Development Plan 3 (NDPIII) and Agro-Industrialization Programme.

SCOPE OF WORK

The consultant will work under the direction of the Uganda ISS Chief of Party or his or her designated ISS Activity representative. Technical direction will be provided in consultation with stakeholders at the Ministry of Agriculture, and must be within the general scope of this Agreement Terms of Reference. ISS will be represented during all meetings. The scope of work for the consultancy is as follows:

1. Undertake a desk study review of agricultural policies and strategies including statements by the Head of State; and analyse the transformational policy interventions required for an effective and efficient agricultural extension service delivery system.
2. Review the National Agricultural Extension Strategy 2016/17-2020/21 and document the achievements registered, the gaps, constraints and lessons learnt.
3. Undertake a situation analysis of extension services to get the lessons learnt from previous extension approaches as well as current challenges and opportunities.
4. Identify the strategic areas of intervention and develop the draft NAES 2021/22-2025/26 based on the identified areas of intervention.
5. Present the draft NAES 2021/22-2025/26 to the Technical Committee, MAAIF’s Senior and Top Policy Management at meetings convened by MAAIF in partnership with the Institutional and Systems Strengthening Activity.
6. Incorporate consultation feedback from stakeholder consultations and Cabinet into the draft NAES and submit a final draft to the Technical Committee.

DELIVERABLES

1. Inception Report
2. Situation Analysis Report
3. Draft progress report.
4. Gantt of costed activities included in the NAES in excel format
5. Final draft National Agricultural Extension Strategy for 2021/22-2025/26 both in soft and hard copies.
6. Final report in soft copy (Word document) and 4 hard copies.

The consultant will submit the deliverables above to MAAIF and to the ISS Chief of Party.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

The consultant should be a holder of at least a postgraduate academic qualification in agricultural extension, agricultural economics, development economics or related discipline. The applicants should:

1. Must be familiar with the Uganda’s agriculture sector in general and with vast knowledge of extension system in particular.
2. Must have led or participated as a consultant in policy and strategy development in the East African region in the last six years.
3. Must have Financial and M&E expertise with knowledge of costing strategies and developing M&E frameworks.
4. Must possess extensive knowledge on the evolution of agricultural extension system in Uganda as well as policy and strategy formulation skills, knowledge and experience.
5. Fluent in spoken and written English.
6. Good conceptual, analytical and report writing skills.

Must be a Ugandan citizen

DURATION AND TIMELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

The Consultancy is expected to be completed in a period of one (1) month from the date of offer. The estimated timelines for implementation are given in the table

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The consultant will submit deliverables according to the timeline in section 8 above between December 2021 and February 2022

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

Submission of Quotes

Quotes/Offers must be received no later than December 31, 2021. Late Quotes/Offers will be considered at the discretion of Cardno and may not be considered at all. All offers must be emailed with all required documents included to info@ftfugandaiss.com.

Please state the RfQ number (USAID ISS RfQ 2021-03) and “NAES” in the subject line of the email. Quotations will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Quotes must be provided in the format provided in Annex 1, Section C, in an all-inclusive, fixed-price deliverables-based format. Cardno reserves the right to request updated quotes that are not provided in this format.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Offerors include Ugandan individuals with the required skills and qualifications.

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