Consultant

at Farm Africa
Location Kampala, Uganda
Date Posted April 23, 2020
Category Consultancy
NGO
Job Type Full-time
Currency UGX

Description

About Farm Africa:

Farm Africa is an innovative charity that reduces poverty in rural eastern Africa by helping farmers grow more, sell more and sell for more: we help farmers to not only boost yields, but also gain access to markets, and add value to their produce. We place a high priority on environmental sustainability and develop approaches that help farmers to improve their yields and incomes without degrading their natural resources. Our programmes vary hugely, ranging from helping crops farmers to boost harvests, livestock keepers to improve animal health, and forest coffee growers to reach export markets, but core to all of them is a focus on the financial sustainability of the farmers' businesses and environmental sustainability. We currently work in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.

About the project.

Farm Africa is currently implementing a three-year project supporting coffee farmers in Western Uganda's Kanungu district. The project comprises of two distinct parts. The first part, funded by the European Union, is already under way and focuses on building the capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to create employment and self-employment opportunities within the coffee value chain for 4,800 young women and men Kanungu district. A broad range of CSOs are engaged ranging from coffee growers' cooperatives (4) to national stakeholder platforms representing both young farmers and coffee farmers. The second part, funded by UK aid, started in September 2019 and is focussing on ensuring that women are empowered and able to fully benefit from support given to coffee farmers in Kanungu, as well as financially benefit from their contributions to the coffee value chain.

Scope of Work: Farm Africa is seeking services of a consultant to conduct a staff training on Gender Action Learning System (GALS) methodology. The Consultant should implement a practical training methodology that;

  • Delivers technical training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) on coffee production
  • Empowers women and youth and farmers to implement and fully benefit from GAPs
  • Improves relationships and trust between farmers, farmer groups, NGOs, companies, traders and service providers

This is a 5 days assignment with an indicative budget of about UGX 3,000,000.

Objectives of the Consultancy Assignment:

The Gender Action Learning System (GALS) is a community-led empowerment methodology using specific participatory processes and diagram tools which aims to give women as well as men more control over their lives as the basis for individual, household, community and organisational development. GALS is not only a ‘methodology for women', but a mainstreaming methodology for women and men to address gender issues important to the effectiveness of any development, including coffee production. GALS in different forms has been used to promote gender justice by at least 100,000 women and men worldwide, including thousands of coffee farmers. For example, at the

Bukonzo Joint Cooperative Union in Uganda (BJCU), the use of the GALS methodology has led to women representing 85% of 5,200 members and 55% of its board. BJCU has also penetrated high- value speciality markets brought about by men working cooperatively with their wives on household farms to produce high-quality coffee.

The consultant's tasks include but not limited to the following activities:

  • Harmonize/Synchronize training materials on GALS
  • Conduct a 5-days practical training on GALs methodology to Fam Africa/CGC Extension Officers.
  • To provide the Farm Africa with the materials or manual (both soft and hard) as point of reference for the training and for reproduction and distribution to participants.
  • To produce a training report.

Expected Deliverables and Timeline:

All written documentation is to be submitted in English using Microsoft Word in soft copy. The main body of all reports should be written in simple, non-technical language, with any technical material being presented in annexes.

The consultant will provide the following deliverables within the timeframe stated:

  • Submit a training plan embedded in a technical proposal by 27th of April 2020
  • Share synchronized/harmonized training materials by 7th of May 2020
  • Conduct TOT training of participants in GALS methodology from 4th to 8th May 2020
  • Submit a comprehensive training report for review and approval by 8th of May 2020

Management and Implementation Responsibilities: The consultant will report directly to the Gender Specialist. However, s/he will also be expected work closely with the Project Coordinator (PC). Farm Africa will provide:

  • Guidance and technical support as required throughout the training.
  • Training venue
  • All training materials, such as stationeries; projector; markers, flip charts and many others.
  • Meals, refreshment, Transport refund & accommodation for CGC extension staff.
  • Ensure all participants are present during training

The consultant will be responsible for:

  • Developing training plan
  • Developing/ synchronizing training materials and tools;
  • Conducting the training in a participatory and practical way
  • Sharing training report and training materials for reproduction
  • Transport to/from Kanungu and any living/accommodation expenses incurred

Farm Africa Evaluation Principles: Farm Africa follows five basic principles of sound evaluation practice and the consultant is expected to adhere to these throughout the evaluation process. These are:

  1. Confidentiality and informed consent - all data collected during the evaluation will be treated as confidential and cannot be shared outside of Farm Africa. All respondents must be

advised as such and always given the opportunity not to participate, or to terminate or pause the interview at any time. The purpose of the study should also be clearly explained before commencing any interviews. Data collection must conform to Farm Africa's minimum standards on Informed Consent, which will be shared with the successful consultant.

  1. Independence and impartiality - Farm Africa is committed to impartial and objective evaluation of our projects. All evaluation findings and conclusions must be grounded in evidence. Researchers are expected to design data collection tools and systems that mitigate as far as possible against potential sources of bias.
  2. Credibility - Farm Africa is committed to learning based on credible evidence. The credibility of evaluations depends on the professional expertise and independence of evaluators and full transparency in the methods and process followed. Evaluations should clearly distinguish between findings and recommendations, with the former clearly supported by sound evidence. Methodologies should be explained in sufficient detail to allow replication, and evidence of failures should be reported as well as of successes.
  3. Participation - the views and experiences of beneficiary households, groups and partners should form an integral part of all evaluations.
  4. Openness - To maximise the learning potential of the evaluation process, Farm Africa may publish full evaluation reports or excerpts from them or may otherwise share them with interested parties.

Qualifications of Consultant

Essential

  • Extensive experience in delivering GALS trainings to trainers and farmers
  • Excellent community facilitation and communication skills
  • Excellent reporting and presentation skills
  • Fluency in spoken and written English
  • Good knowledge and understanding of gender equality issues, particularly in the context agricultural value chain.

Desirable

  • Understanding of the Coffee value chain and gender related issues in coffee small holder farmers.
  • Knowledge in gender mainstreaming of the farmer groups and cooperatives,
  • Fluency in Rukiga
  • A degree in Agriculture, Economics, or related field

Applying Instructions

Interested consultants or firms are requested to submit:

  • A full technical and financial proposal.
  • Please provide as much detail as possible, however at a minimum please clearly distinguish between consultancy costs and expenses, and detail any expenses that you will require Farm Africa to pay directly.
  • Copies of all relevant Curriculum Vitae (CVs). Only CVs for the specific individuals that will form the proposed evaluation team should be included.
  • A sample of a recent training report for a similar project completed within the last 24 months (this will be treated as confidential and only used for the purposes of quality assurance). Please only submit reports where the authors were the same as or inclusive of individuals named in the proposal team.
  • Contact details for two references (including one from your last client/employer).

All documents must be submitted by email to our ‘sealed' email address

tenders@farmafrica.org 

The email subject line should clearly indicate ‘Bid for GALS TOT Consultancy'.

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