CONSULTANT FOR PROJECT TRAINING STRENGTHENING CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE AND ADVANCING INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL WITH THE ADOPTION OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY T H R O U G H COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BORNO STATE.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

  1. Specific assessment title: Consultant Trainer
  • Justification or Rationale 

The relevance of this consultation is premised on the Training of the project participants to achieve the set goals of strengthening climate smart agriculture and advancing inclusive community development planning at the grassroots level with the adoption of agricultural technology. The project adopted localised and comprehensive integrative approaches to implement key climate smart agriculture and participatory planning initiatives that include community participant training, sensitization capacity building of selected beneficiary. This will geared to increased efforts by both governmental and non-governmental institutions like the Ministry of Natural Resources and agriculture, Ministry of Women Affairs, State Emergency Management Board (SEMA) and also National Emergency Management Board (NEMA) Local Government Development Coordination Committees (LGDCCs), and ward Development Coordination Committees (WDCCs) to increase the inclusion of marginalized groups and increased efforts in community development planning and development. Considering all these, it is therefore expected that the empirical evidence is gathered and analysed to validate the achievements. Similarly, there was a paucity of information and guidance on inclusive and gender responsive community development planning especially at the grassroots level, thus presenting varying heterogenous approaches. There is no doubt that this has affected grassroots inclusive development. The trainings, sensitization and capacity building are expected to contribute to bridging this gap by providing a guide that could be contextualised to aid inclusive development approaches to climate smart agricultural practices at the grassroots level. Additionally, the activity has the possibility of contributing enormously to a better understanding climate smart agricultural practices of the community. Practically, the activity will provide insights that will enhance understanding of the factors that presented as opportunities and challenges to addressing climate smart agricultural activities with reference to the indicators in the project’s logic framework, and the overall objective of the intervention. The activity will also uncover the level of inclusive participation in the grassroots with a focus on the project’s geographic location, and major factors and challenges that disenfranchise certain groups.

  • Overall Objective

Participants technical capacity is built and business enterprise is developed, sustainable linkage for business growth and quality production is enhanced.

  • Specific Objectives
  • Support technical and business development opportunities to generate income for household support and resilience.   
  • Value Chain Enhancement – Identify and strengthen key points along the value chains to maximize employment potential, with a focus on climate-resilient practices.
  • Scope of the assignment

The CSA expert will be responsible for the development of modules, providing technical support and monitoring of value chain-based climate smart agricultural practices, designing of sensitization message and capacity building of climate smart agricultural practices across the project outputs as well as dealing with climate risks and climate proofing value chains from production through to marketing of income generating activities.

The consultant’s work will also incorporate cross cutting issues such as social and environmental safeguards and climate related gender sensitive issues in liaison with the project resilience supervisor and the project Responsible Parties.

  • Broad functions to be performed by the CSA Expert include:
  • Capacity building to the beneficiaries on scaling up climate resilient agricultural production and diversification through increased access to climate resilient inputs, practices, and markets.
  • Develop value chain-based CSA packages and include it during the implementation in the project selected community.
  • Develop key sensitization message on climate smart agriculture
  • Design sensitization message on climate smart agriculture
  • Develop capacity building document modules to be use.
  • Writing activity report with good picture evidence, impact result outcome and lesson learn. (Timeliness).
  • Expected deliverables

The consulting firm is expected to deploy professional expertise and freely deploy relevant approaches in conducting the assignment within 4 months. Through this process, the firm will be expected to work with the project team to interact with a wide range of state and non-state actors including right holders and duty bearers across all wards in the LGA. Deliverables from this exercise will include and are not limited to.

  1. A detailed non-ambiguous and easy-to-read inception report capturing methods, approaches, and training tools to be used for the trainings.
  2. A detailed non-ambiguous and easy-to-read evaluation report at the end of the training, which should include:
  • Quantitative and qualitative end line data as captures the understanding and adoption level of climate smart agricultural practices.
  • Design of sensitization message on climate smart agriculture
  • Analysis of findings preferably in a matrix that would inform recommendations which will be addressed to development partners.
  • Activity briefs and Lessons learned matrix.
  • An executive summary of not more than 20 pages.
  • Pictures of field activities
  • Tables, graphs etc.
  • A brief PowerPoint presentation summarizing the activity of all training sessions.
  • Timely summation of activity report.
  • Training Agenda, slide presentation and report.
NoDeliverablesDue (temporal)
1.Capacity building Training on climate smart agricultural practices and income generating activities  5 working days after contract signing
2.Capacity building sensitization and awareness programming plan: Based on the approved activity, a detailed plan outlining climate-smart agriculture capacity building and programming activities tailored to the needs and priorities of agricultural in the target communities. This plan would include recommendations for climate-resilient crops, agricultural practices suitable for the local conditions, business management practices suitable for marketing to the owners, strategies for sustainable income generating activities and market linkage.  Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: Development of a framework for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of climate-smart agriculture initiatives. Including the development of indicators, data collection methods, and a reporting structure to assess the adoption and impact of climate-smart practices agricultural25 working days after approval of deliverable 2
3.Training Programs: Development and delivery of training programs for COWACDI selected beneficiaries on climate-smart agricultural practices. Training sessions covering techniques for sustainable climate smart technology, income business management, crop diversification, and post-harvest handling.15 working days after approval of deliverable 3      
  • Qualification:

Interested consulting firms and individual consultants with the required skills and competence should have the following qualifications, functional skills, and competencies:

An Advanced /Master’s degree in Agriculture, Climate Change, Environmental Sciences or other closely related field.

  • At least 4-8 years of implementing climate smart agriculture practices for both the crop production and income generating activities.
  • Experience with climate change adaptation in the agriculture
  • Excellent communication and analytical skills.
  • Demonstrated understanding of issues related to Climate Change Adaptation.
  • Experience in working with multi-disciplinary teams.
  • Good understanding of state government priorities, policies and planning process in climate change in Borno State.

Interested and qualified consulting firms and individuals are expected to

Submit an expression of interest to tender@cowacdi.org copying recruitment@cowacdi.org before April 15, 2024, including a technical and financial proposal specifying detailed approaches and methodologies to be adopted (this is highly required).

In order for the applications to be considered valid, COWACDI only accepts applications with an expression of interest not more than one page, addressed to The Procurement Unit, Concern for Women and Children Development Foundation (COWACDI) and with a subject line Consultant Trainer, Maiduguri.

  1. Filled Request for quotation form with proper withholding tax deduction.
  2. Recent professional CV of the team highlighting previous experiences with the application.
  3. At least provide two references (email & telephone) preferably similar INGOs/UN
  4. Four months’ detail start to finish work plan