Job Description
SCOPE OF WORK
Food Security Consultant, with a focus on Agricultural Livelihoods and Value Chains
Bamako, MALI
5 month Consultancy
DEADLINE: JANUARY 24, 2014
Introduction: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs.
Purpose: CRS seeks a qualified candidate for a 5-month consultancy to undertake key activities of a capture plan in Food Security, with a focus on Agricultural Livelihoods and Value Chains, for CRS Mali and contribute to a positioning strategy.
Background: CRS Mali plans to expand the impact of its food security programming, including agricultural livelihoods and value chains programming, in line with its new 2012-2018 strategic plan. CRS will build on its current position as the lead of the USAID MYAP and other food security programming, including agricultural livelihoods and agro-enterprise, to better position it to capture additional funding.
Through the MYAP and other food security and agricultural livelihoods programming, CRS implements several successful models, including SILC, Positive Deviance/Hearth, Mothers’ Groups, Early Warning Groups (EWG), seed assessments and voucher fairs, value chains, and youth entrepreneurs in rural area. Evaluations from the MYAP and several value chain projects document the effectiveness and impact of these models and capture a handful of success stories.
Objectives:
- Increase knowledge and understanding of the food security sector, including agricultural livelihoods and value chains, in Mali in the face of climate change, including Mali’s Agricultural and Environmental policies and CAADP (The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, http://www.nepad-caadp.net/) objectives.
- Improve in-country technical expertise and knowledge/understanding of food security sector policies and implementation that will serve as references for decision-making and proposal development.
- Improve capacity to articulate CRS’ value proposition and position in the Agricultural Livelihoods Signature Program Area (SPA), including deepening and strengthening relationships and connections.
- Increase staff capacity in capture planning for 5 months, including a debrief on the donor landscape and any staff trainings that arise as necessary and within the scope of the consultant’s expertise, i.e. creating attractive success story documents, etc.
Specific Activities:
To pre-position CRS Mali for funding opportunities, including a potential 5-year award from USAID, the consultant will help implement pre-positioning research and a country-led capture plan for food security opportunities, including agriculture livelihoods and value chains, linked to resilience. The consultant will work under the guidance of the CRS Mali Business Development and Program Quality Manager and be supported by Regional Technical Advisors, Headquarters’ Communication/Marketing Department, CRS/Mali Agricultural Livelihoods Lead, and CRS Mali MYAP and administration/finance staff. Gender must be mainstreamed throughout. Key activities will include:
- 1. Pre-Positioning:
- Through a literature review and key informant interviews with technical experts, CRS’ technical advisors, government officials, leaders in local and international NGOs, researchers, professors, etc., compile innovative best practices that could be adopted or piloted in current or future programming in target zones. The consultant will:
- Produce an analysis of the latest policies and thinking of USAID regarding food security, agricultural livelihoods, value chains, and resilience.
- Identify key Government agricultural initiatives to respond in the face of climate change, and list priority technologies being promoted by the Government and leading research and development agencies.
- Identify lead initiatives by other development agencies, including crop and livestock upgrading, DRR activities, and climate change adaptation.
- Identify activities being undertaken by lead research agencies/institutions for value chain and DRR activities in target zones.
- Identify strategic opportunities in-line with the agriculture livelihoods SPA, through:
- Opportunity research, identification, and assessment.
- Donor and partner meetings.
- Through research and key informant interviews, analyse and map:
- Donors (USAID, WFP, FAP, AGRA, Gates Foundation, World Bank, etc.)—funding trends, priorities, and amounts, partners, geographic zones, perception of NGO partners, etc.
- Partners/competitors—including who, where, what, perceptions, funding sources, and strengths and weaknesses, complementing the 3W Cluster chart and other mapping activities.
- Private sector—including who, where, what, interests (either business interests or from the standpoint of social corporate responsibility), and innovation potential.
- CRS Mali’s strengths and weaknesses—in addition to interviews with informants listed above, this will include CRS staff at headquarters, the region, and national and local levels; Ministry and government representatives, government technical experts and implementation staff, civil society organizations, and staff from INGOs and local NGOs.
- External environment (sector policies and/or government mandates or initiatives, pilot studies, needs, etc.), including gaps and innovations.
- 2. Implement key activities of a Capture Plan for a 5-year USAID development opportunity:
- Competitive Analysis and Teaming—through desk research and key informant interviews, the consultant will analyse and map:
- USAID—funding trends and priorities, funding amounts, hot button issues, current partners, geographic priorities, perception of CRS and partners/competitors, innovation, lessons learned, etc.
- Competitors—including who, where, what, perceptions, funding sources, strengths and weaknesses, complementing the 3W Cluster chart and other mapping activities.
- Private sector—including who, where, what, interests (either business interests or from the standpoint of social corporate responsibility), and innovation potential.
- CRS Mali’s strengths and weaknesses—in addition to interviews with those informants listed above, this will include CRS staff at headquarters, the region, national and local levels, and MYAP/DFAP leads in the Sahel and elsewhere; Ministry and government representatives, government technical experts and implementation staff; civil society organizations; and staff from INGOs and local NGOs.
- Strategic partners for a winning consortium—including who, where, what, perceptions, funding sources, strengths and weaknesses, and potential role, complementing the 3W Cluster chart and other mapping activities.
- Sector Information—through desk research and key informant interviews, the consultant will:
- Provide an overview of the farmer segmentation in the target zones, based on income, vulnerability, and land area available to households.
- Provide a prioritization of value chains in target zones based on food security and income options.
- Describe the maturity, size, and buying approaches being used by leading firms engaged in buying and processing agricultural/animal products from the target zones.
- Provide a basic cost of production calculation for target value chains with market demand and general information on trends in demand and pricing.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of extension services in target zones, including the ratio of extension staff:farmers and gender aspects, and define key challenges in modernizing extension services in target zones.
- Evaluate maturity and reach of key business development services and who is involved in each (seed systems, fertilizer networks, agro-chemical, veterinary services, and associated financial options).
- Identify and evaluate mobile technologies in the agricultural sector (information services, linkages to industry, etc.).
- Action Planning—specifically focused on improving profile/reputation :
- As a complement to the MYAP evaluation publication (January), assist the MYAP Coordinator in organizing an evaluation workshop for stakeholders (Feb/March), including: strategic agenda planning, session facilitation, and logistics.
- Create marketing materials:
- Work with programming staff to document success stories and innovations.
- Work with programming staff to document approaches and their impact, including impact on production, income generation, livelihood diversification, and nutritional diversification.
- Work with HQ’s Communication/Marketing Department to create attractive materials that can be shared with Ministries, partners, donors, and other stakeholders.
Deliverables:
- A report/summary of the workshop (5-8 pages), including agenda, attendance list and contact information, summary of sessions, action items/next steps, etc.
- A report on innovations and initiatives in agricultural livelihoods that highlights documents reviewed and summarizes key findings and potential innovations (10-12 pages).
- A summary of key informant interviews (donors, partners/competitors, private sector, Government, other), including key findings, potential innovations, and tips/pitfalls (5-10 pages). Additionally, provide transcripts of interviews as an annex.
- An overview of farmer segmentation in the target zones (5-6 pages).
- A prioritization of value chains in the target zones with justifications, a summary of leading firms engaged in buying and processing products from these zones, and a basic cost of production calculation and information on trends in demand and pricing (5-6 pages).
- An evaluation of the effectiveness of extension services in the target zones (2-4 pages).
- An evaluation of key business development services (4-5 pages).
- An evaluation of mobile technologies in the agricultural sector (5-6 pages).
- 2-3 marketing documents on CRS Mali activities/programming in agriculture livelihoods linked to food security and resilience.
- Document key activities from the country-led capture plan, including:
- Analysis and mapping of donors (2-4 pages of who-what-where, historical funding and priorities, future priorities and funding, plus maps)
- Analysis and mapping of sector actors (3-5 pages of who-what-where, plus maps)
- Analysis of the external environment, including gaps and innovations (2-4 pages)
- List of identified strategic opportunities, partners, and recommendations (2-4 pages)
- Analysis of CRS Mali’s strengths and weaknesses (2-4 pages)
- Brief (5-10 page) report on the consultancy, summarizing work carried out, results, and conclusions.
Key Working Relationships:
Internal: Country program leadership and staff, including the Country Representative, Head of Program, Business Development and Program Quality Manager, Head of MYAP, Head of FFE, Head of Agriculture/Livelihoods, Emergency Coordinator, and other staff as necessary; Sahel West Africa (SWA) Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality and Growth (DRDPQ) and Regional Technical Advisors (RTAs) in Agriculture/Livelihoods; CRS headquarters Technical Advisors in Agriculture/Livelihoods.
External: Caritas and other international and local NGOs; Ministry and government agents in the capitals as well as in municipal offices; ICRISAT and other research institutions or universities; donors; current MYAP partners; etc.
Background, experience and capacities/skill required:
- Masters of Science (minimum) or PhD (desired) with a focus on agriculture, livelihoods, animal husbandry, resilience, food security, or a related field.
- 10 years of experience in agriculture, livelihoods, animal husbandry, resilience, food security programming (designing and implementing) in the Sahel, preferably in Mali; knowledge and understanding of rural development.
- Understanding and commitment to addressing gender equality in programming.
- Excellent relationships with ministry and donor representatives preferred, along with (required) strong interviewing skills.
- Proven self-starter, excellent analytical, problem-solving and planning skills; capacity to work well in a team environment (and also to work independently as needed); and strong writing skills.
- An understanding of donors in the sector (USAID, Global Fund, etc.) highly preferred.
- Experience working with faith-based organizations highly desired – and strong willingness to understand how they work (and sensitivities) in order to further define roles in the project.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and GIS/mapping software.
- Excellent English oral and written communication skills as well as fluency in oral and written French, required.
Place of assignment: Based in Bamako, Mali, with travel to Regions of Mali where CRS has or has had programming or that are USAID priority zones. Lodging will be covered in Bamako; lodging and per diem will be covered while on field visits.
Level of Effort and Timing: Full time for five months starting in February 2014 (approximately).
Process for Application: Send full CV and cover letter to scott.braunschweig@crs.org and jessica.garrels@crs.org. The subject line of your email should read: Food Security Consultant. Ensure that the cover letter includes: availability and consultancy rate (plus overall budget for the five months).
