Background and Context
AGRA is a farmer-centered, African-led, and partnerships-driven institution that seeks to catalyze agriculture and food systems transformation in Africa. AGRA places smallholder farmers at the centre of the continent’s growing economy by transforming farming from a solitary struggle to survive into a viable and growing livelihood for farm-based households. It supports the development of the system and enables an environment that shapes smallholder farmers’ ability to prosper. It also seeks to develop agro-processing and the food system so that economic and social transformation can be accelerated, the sector can adapt and mitigate climate change, African farming can become more sustainable, youth and women, in particular, can be empowered through work opportunities and pulled out of poverty, the sector’s expansion can be genuinely inclusive, also for marginalized groups, and the industry can become more nutritionsensitive.
Objectives
AGRA has been seeking an expert in delivering policy and state capability interventions and Mali’s agriculture and food systems transformation for six months. The expert will assist our country team in designing and starting the implementation of a highly impactful government support programme as part of implementing the AGRA Mali strategy. This will include designing grants and technical assistance to the government to accelerate the delivery of its priority agricultural and food systems agenda and strengthen institutional capabilities in doing so. The objective is to support the government in facilitating the better development of policy and government systems for an inclusive agricultural market systems strategy.
Scope of Work
The consultancy is expected to deliver the following tasks:
• Conduct a landscape mapping of the government’s capability to implement its priority agricultural and food systems agenda. This will be extended to the Ministry of National Entrepreneurship, Employment and Vocational Training; the Ministry of Finance and Economy; the General Secretariat of the Presidency and other key economic ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Investment Promotion Agency, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in charge of Civic Education and Citizenship Building.
• Bring prior knowledge and further understand the political economy, politics and coordination (intra-governmental, with the private sector and with development partners and non-state actors) and delivery mechanisms needed for rapid delivery on each priority value chain, government flagship project, agricultural corridor and each critical crosscutting reform area (e.g. fertilizer reform, seed reform, extension reform, land reform)
• Identify the triggers, drivers, and champions of change within the government for delivering the agricultural and food systems agenda, the political cycle, the political window they have available, and how to make the most of it to drive implementation.
• Identify how AGRA and its partners in the country can better support such champions of change to deliver their agenda in a synchronized way with other champions of change in different parts of the government and to strengthen the capability of the ministries, agencies, departments or units that they lead or are part of
• Identify and assess collaboration opportunities by the government with potential anchor firms that can source from smallholder farmers and support them by facilitating access to quality inputs, extension services, processing facilities, and access to domestic and international markets.
• Indicate how to steer the government to better rally around the development of value chains, growth poles, corridors, cross-cutting reforms and flagships that have the greatest scope for impact for smallholder farmers and youth job creation in the next four years.
• Support the emergence of coordination and delivery mechanisms within government and with key private sector, non-state actors, and development partners, anchored to the champions of change and their preferences, to accelerate the agenda’s implementation.
• Provide analytics of the implication of fiscal reforms of trade and tax regimes and other specific policy gaps for particular value chains to promote investment in agro-processing industries.
• Support the AGRA office in Mali to expedite the execution of key programs and activities with governments and departments spanning the Ministries of Agriculture, finance and Planning, trade and Industry, and Environment and Natural Resources, among others.
• Ensure that activities led by ministries are delivered on time and in a manner that fasttracks government activities related to advancing AGRA’s work and the government’s own agri-food systems changes.
Required Skills, Competencies, and Experience
The consultant should have the following qualifications and experience:
• At least 10 years of experience working in or with a government on delivery and institutional capacity strengthening, preferably with some in Africa.
• A master’s degree in public administration, management, economics, law or similar area.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of delivery and state capability techniques and approaches such as adaptive management, leadership and mentoring, and political economy mapping tools.
• An understanding of economics and market systems is a bonus.
• Proven skills and experience in working well with senior government officials to ensure implementation.
• Proven experience navigating government systems and political and political economy (government-business relations) challenges and situations.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and interpersonal skills, and ability to collaborate with diverse teams and partners
• Strong relational and team-building skills.
• Fluency in French is required, and knowledge of English is advantageous.
DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
DEADLINE EXTENSION: SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
