Pest Management Application Needs Assessment Consultant in Ghana

Job Description

Issued on: July 10, 2017

Submit by: July 28, 2017 5:00pm EST

For: Digital Development for Feed the Future - Pest Management Application Needs Assessment Consultant in Ghana

Period of Performance: August 14, 2017 – October 6, 2017

Location: Ghana and Remote – Travel required

LOE: 29 days of LOE

BACKGROUND

The Mobile Solutions, Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) project is a strategic investment by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to advance mobile solutions and close the gaps that hold back access and uptake of mobile technology. The project supports broad-based coordinated action by a range of market stakeholders — including governments, donors, mobile service providers, and their customers. mSTAR is designed to initiate and support game-changing interventions to support digital finance, digital inclusion, and mobile data collection and dissemination.

The U.S. Global Development Lab (Lab) and the Bureau for Food Security (BFS) are collaborating in an effort called “Digital Development for Feed the Future” (D2FTF) to demonstrate how the results and cost effectiveness of the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future Initiative can be increased when a Feed the Future country team leverages digital approaches holistically and according to best practices. The goal is to demonstrate how digital tools can accelerate progress towards Feed the Future high-level indicators of increasing agricultural income and improving nutrition in nineteen priority countries.

USAID/Ghana currently funds extensive efforts to scale-up agricultural investments to improve the competitiveness of the maize, rice, and soybean value chains in the Feed the Future Zone of Influence. Through USAID activities, smallholder farmers are linked to markets, finance, inputs, equipment, and information through larger commercial farmers and traders (nucleus farmers and outgrower businesses) who have the capacity and incentive to invest in smallholder production. mSTAR and the D2FTF team recently collaborated with two implementing partners and the USAID/Ghana Mission to explore opportunities for integrating additional digital tools to support these activities. A process of stakeholder consultations and discussions identified the potential to improve the identification and treatment of common crop pests using digital channels.

PURPOSE

Pest identification and treatment is a challenge facing many smallholder farmers unable to properly diagnose issues with their crops or, when diagnosis is possible, locate the appropriate pesticides or practices for treatment. Recent outbreaks of Armyworm have posed a threat to beneficiary livelihoods and overall agriculture production in Ghana. Studies have estimated Armyworm may affect up to 500,000 tons of maize and sorghum in the country, potentially costing up to $163 million in 2017. Overall, pests and diseases constitute the second most important risk for agricultural production in Ghana and can lead to approximately 30% loss of total crop yields on an annual basis. USAID/Ghana, D2FTF and mSTAR are seeking methods for using digital channels to enable farmers to accurately and quickly identify, diagnosis and manage crop pest outbreaks hindering productivity via digital channels and, ultimately, manage and treat their crops efficiently

This activity will be broken up into three sequential phases. Phase 1 will begin with a needs assessment and user design to inform the specifications of the digital channel, Phase 2 will commence content creation and development of a prototype platform, and Phase 3 will consist of a full deployment and communications campaign. Both Phase 2 and Phase 3 will build upon the work completed in Phase 1. For this scope of work, mSTAR seeks a consultant to complete Phase 1.

SCOPE OF WORK

mSTAR seeks a consultant to conduct Phase 1 of this activity. The consultant will support USAID to conduct a needs assessment and user design to inform the specifications of the mobile-based platform, avoid duplication and replication, and address sustainability from the outset. The consultant will conduct meetings with stakeholders in Accra and conduct focus groups and design sessions with potential user groups in the surrounding area. The objective of the needs assessment is not meant to be exhaustive, but a) should identify points of public and private sector collaboration and integration where possible; b) confirm the appropriate end-users and digital channels available to them; c) conduct focus groups with identified end users to confirm specifications; and d) define roles and responsibilities among partners and donors.

The scope will include completion of the following tasks:

Task 1: Identify points for collaboration and integration into existing pest management process, apps and products. This will be included into a needs assessment report.

1. Examine existing donor and private sector efforts to develop digital and analog tools for pest management. For example, Grameen Foundation is implementing a mobile software application, radio campaign and farmer-led video production and dissemination campaign that understand and analyze farmers needs and crop history; to deliver agricultural advice; and to enabler farmers to procure loans to procure inputs. Fifty agents are already working directly with 5,000 farmers in three regions of Ghana. Specifically, any new pest management service should be linked with the work that is already done by Grameen Foundation and AgroTech. At a minimum, the consultant should engage with the following stakeholders: USAID/Ghana, ACDI/VOCA, Grameen, Esoko, Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI) – currently running the Plant Wise programme - and relevant government ministries. These consultations will avoid replication and duplication of efforts and resources and further define gaps in existing pest identification and management tools and data flows.
2. Examine existing technologies that farmers are accustomed to using (e.g. WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, Skype). Also, assess how this pest management platform will complement and/or replace such apps or platforms.
3. Investigate the feasibility of developing a sustainable database of geotagged pesticide distribution points and fully costed.
4. Investigate how the mobile based platform could be tied to existing or planned national surveillance, national eradication efforts and alert systems for pest management.

Task 2: Confirm appropriate end-users and gather data through interviews and focus groups. This information will also be included in the needs assessment report.

1. The consultant will identify the constraints that prevent smallholder farmers from identifying pests (specifically the Fall Armyworm (FAW); as well as adequately adjusting to and ultimately combating recent outbreaks of the FAW. For example, it is unclear if smallholder farmers are unable to differentiate different strains of Armyworms (African Armyworm, Fall Armyworm etc) from other pests, if smallholder farmers do not have access to appropriate insecticides, or if smallholder farmers lack appropriate communication channels to share mitigation strategies, successes and failures
2. Develop Problem Statement that will establish causal relationship with features/functions of the new mobile-based platform;

Task 3: Develop Technical Requirements Report and integration strategy. The purpose of this task is to identify what is the most appropriate technical service that would meet the needs of the smallholder farmer. The report should include:

1. Both content and technological requirements. For example, if smallholder farmers find it most difficult to differentiate Armyworm (and the different types of the armyworms) from other pests, it would be likely more reasonable to design a knowledge repository of pests, containing their pictures and corresponding descriptions.
2. Assessment of technological capacity of farmers (e.g. mobile literacy, capacity of the networks, connectivity constraints, and affordability of the phones and of the solutions).
3. Functional characteristics of this platform optimized for a low-resource and low-connectivity area. This report must consider the reality that smartphones are not affordable for smallholder farmers now, and not even for many extension agents.
4. Capture the roles and responsibilities of donors and partners

This final report will capture specifications, requirements and roles and responsivities for the mobile-based platform. The report will include:

• Definition of problem to be addressed
• Expected Results and objectives
• Roles and responsibilities
• Detailed specifications of the proposed technology solution/platform (hosting options, short code/long code, aggregator or MNOs)
  • Description of how the solution will work, i.e. user interface[1] and data flows
  • Details on content needed, including types of pests included in content repository
  • Justification of the solution (open source/proprietary)
  • Technical design
  • Proposal to advertise mobile-based platform and/or train a subset of influencers

DELIVERABLES

FHI 360 is the primary manager of this Solicitation. The following deliverables are to be submitted by the Consultant in electronic form to the FHI 360 Technical Manager. The Consultant should anticipate that multiple drafts of the deliverable (revisions) may need to be produced and submitted for feedback before the deliverable can be considered final and approved as fulfilling the terms of the contract.

Deliverable dates are tentative and may change depending on client requirements. The following deliverables are required (see above for more details on the SOW):

Please see FHI 360’s procurement website for more details on deliverables, timeline, and LOE estimates.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

The ideal candidate will have:

• A graduate degree in a relevant field of study, such as international development, economics, technology
• At least three years’ experience working on the design and/or implementation of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) including agriculture development, agriculture extension services, agricultural information services, or other similar digital development initiatives related to agriculture
• Experience working with digital financial services (DFS), especially as it relates to integrating these services across agricultural value chains and/or working directly with rural communities to increase uptake of relevant services
• Understanding of the enabling elements to mobile and digital adoption, including affordable connectivity, digital literacy, locally relevant content and mobile enabled real time data collection and analysis
• Knowledge/familiarity with human-centered design principles, especially consumer-centric research methodologies, prototyping, and iterative design
• Demonstrated ability to work with a variety of partners to find a common platform across different sets of needs (i.e. private companies, governments, donor agencies operating both internationally and locally)
• Strong project management skills and ability to push towards results within complex environments
• Experience working with USAID preferred, experience working in or directly with USAID Missions will be seen as a strong plus
• Experience identifying, using and synthesizing large datasets in the agricultural industry
• Experience in working on improved efficiency of agricultural value chains, especially in terms of Feed the Future projects
• Experience with or understanding of the complexities of agriculture extension services including role of the public sector, private service providers, NGO’s and agribusiness
• Experience developing consumer segmentation profiles preferred
• Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills
• Demonstrated writing abilities and experience producing clear reports
• Fluency in English

LOCATION

This work will be conducted over a period of 1.5 months in Ghana and remotely.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Please follow the submission requirements on FHI 360’s procurement website here

CRITERIA/QUALIFICATIONS FOR EVALUATION

Selection will be based on best value, weighing price against technical factors as outlined below:

• Experience and Capabilities (50 pts): based on CV and references, as detailed in Section IV
• Budget (25 pts): based on daily rate and estimated LOE
• Education (25 pts): based on qualifications

Competitively ranked applications may be tested and interviewed, so applicants must address the required qualifications in their applications.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

To apply, please send all required application materials as stated above through the online application by the deadline listed at the top of this solicitation.

Please DO NOT begin work until a contract has been signed between FHI 360 and the consultant(s).

About the Organization

FHI 360 is a global development organization with a rigorous, evidence-based approach. Our professional staff includes experts in health, nutrition, education, economic development, civil society, environment and research. FHI 360 operates from 60 offices with 4,400 staff in the U.S. and around the world. Our commitment to partnerships at every level and our multidisciplinary approach enable us to have a lasting impact on the individuals, communities and countries we serve–improving lives for millions.