Re-Advertise: Call for Interest of GEDSI Sensitive Market System Assessment

TERMS OF REFERENCE

GEDSI sensitive Market Systems Assessment

Better Food Better Health Project – Timor-Leste

Background and Context

Timor-Leste is a small tropical country of 1.3 million people with approximately 75% of the population are living in rural areas and dependent on rain fed agriculture. World Vision Timor-Leste (WVTL) began its first project in Aileu municipality in 1995. Shortly after the country’s independence referendum in 1999, WVTL opened its national office in Dili and is currently implementing projects in five municipalities including Aileu, Baucau, Bobonaro, Covalima, Manatuto, and Emera.

Better food Better Health (BFBH) is nutrition sensitive agriculture project implementing in four Municipality including Aileu, Baucau, Bobonaro, and Covalima.

The BFBH phase 2 will utilize World Vision’s inclusive Market System Development (iMSD) model that promotes working with and through market system actors, to improve/adapt/establish, new and existing market systems, to the benefit of whole value chains. At the same time, the project will also work with a group of vulnerable community members (Poor, Women, People with Disability, ethnic minorities) to increase their participation and benefit from the growth.

WVTL is seeking a consultant (individual or firm) to conduct a Gender, Disability and Social inclusion (GEDSI) inclusive Market Systems analysis of Agri-food livelihood options for smallholder households within the BFBH target areas.

The consultancy will identify GEDSI-inclusive market system development, specific gaps, challenges and opportunities that promote income, food and nutrition security, and consider environmental and climate change risk issues. This assessment will seek specific strategies for different sub-groups, with a strong emphasis on understanding GEDSI barriers for women compared to men as producers, micro and small entrepreneurs, workers, and consumers.

Input and output markets may include, but not be limited to climate and nutrition information, agricultural extension, value-addition and processing, transport and financial services.

The assessment will also deliver insights into balancing the twin deliverables of market development and community food/nutrition/income stabilization – very important considerations in the current local context.

Scope of Work

The consultancy will analyze a wide range of Agri-food livelihood options, and through a participatory process with the project team, produce a prioritized list of food system /value chains around which project interventions will be designed. The starting point for the list will be the six superfoods currently promoted within the BFBH project: mung beans; red kidney beans; moringa; eggs; soy beans; and orange sweet potato.

The stages of the assessment are described below:

The consultant is expected to undertake the following:

Stage 1: Produce a list of potential Agri-food value chain/livelihood options, including the six superfoods that support nutrition food and income in the four target municipalities.

• Consider recent reports and studies from other activities implemented by World Vision or other relevant stakeholders.
• Use own experience, and the knowledge of partners (include Government) and project team
• Commence collection of insights into finance issues, social norms, local household situation/coping mechanisms.

Stage 2: Filter and present list to the project team

• WV will provide a list of criteria and scoring/weighting protocols that will incorporate the GEDSI, food security/nutrition, market potential, climate risk, environment, etc. priorities of the project.
• Consultants will apply the criteria/scoring to the list developed in Stage 1 to produce a prioritized list.
• The list will be presented to the project team for comprehensive discussion
• Stage 2 will produce a verified list of value chains/livelihoods that have best likelihood of giving greatest benefit to the project beneficiaries.

Stage 3: Research and prepare intervention strategies for each value chain/livelihood identified in Stage 2.

• Stage 3 will rely on primary sources wherever possible.

• The iMSD approach will be followed for designing interventions. iMSD addresses both market system level interventions, and Household level interventions.

• Explore and map the current actors active in the market system, their roles in influencing economic behavior of the project beneficiaries and the power dynamics in the relationships between the actors.

• Identify and examine constraints and opportunities at all points along the selected value chains, that have good potential to benefit the whole value chain (and its actors), and specifically the different project beneficiary categories i.e., GEDSI. Factors may include, but not be limited to: infrastructure, finance, labour, advice/information/technical skills, post-harvest, inputs, land, etc.

• Consider actions that will help beneficiaries generate income and nutrition in local community stabilization (important in current fragile situation), and external market contexts. Actions will meet the needs of the different beneficiary categories i.e. GEDSI.

• Examine targeted household’s food security status (demand, availability, access, utilization) along with target community’s market linkages/relationships with local supply system. This should consider differences for women, men, people with disabilities (PwD) and ethnic minorities.

• Capture insights into vulnerable households (poor, PwD, women-headed, landless etc.) and their inherent capacity to identify opportunities and the systemic constraints that bar them from increasing this capacity.

• Explore saving practices, access to saving & loan products and mechanisms that support nutrition food production and income.

• Identify institutions and organizations working in the selected value chains from national to local levels that can contribute to pro-poor market system development, including recommendations of business models

• Analyze proposed market strategies for possible risk and negative impacts, recommending prevention and mitigation to be integrated in any livelihood intervention. Risk here should be broadly considered, and take into account the current, fragile situation, as well as possible improved situation:

  • ‘Technical’ risks such as environmental hazards, climate risks, or skill capacity
  • ‘Administrative’ risks e.g. engagement with uncertain bureaucratic processes
  • ‘Security’ risks

Deliverables

The following are the expected outputs from the consultant:

1. Inception Report: describing the conceptual framework planned for undertaking the analysis. The consultant should effectively state the data collection methods, sources, sampling etc. This inception report must contain:

   1. Study methodology to be followed for each stage.
   2. Work plan: indicating phases of the analysis, the timing, key deliverables and milestones.
   3. Contacts, sources to be utilized
   4. Final list of agreed criteria/scoring/weighting (for use in Stage 2).
   5. Initial list of publications and others sources to be used in Stage 1 analysis.

2. Comprehensive list of potential value chain/livelihoods (presentation and report)

   1. List is product of Stage 1 identification (including current superfoods targeted under BFBH Phase 1), and Stage 2 filtering/prioritisation, using criteria/scoring supplied by WV.
   2. Highlight key differences between four project areas.
   3. Provide all sources, contacts, description of the process followed, including notes recording the outcomes of presentation of results to project team.
   4. Restate plan for Stage 3 investigation.

3. Draft Value Chain/Livelihood Intervention Plan – for target value chains/livelihoods (Presentation)

   1. Present all value chain diagrams, interventions, highlighting GEDSI features, and supported by collected data.
   2. Include risk profiles, and options for current fragile situation, and what may be possible, if market situation improves.
   3. Include characteristics of local populations, social norms, coping mechanisms in current situation.

4. Final Report, including**:**

   1. Maximum 30 pages, including 2 page Executive Summary capturing all major recommendations.
   2. Overall market/food system environment
   3. Value chain mapping : Map market actors and locations, infrastructure, market accessibility, supporting functions, and the existing regulation including barriers and opportunities of the selected markets, as well as environmental degradation and climate projections.
   4. Analysis of access to information, input products, service and output market
   5. Social/Religious norms, institutional practices and behaviors, policies and laws that influence socio-economic resilience and power dynamics.
   6. Specific recommendation on:

5. Recommendation into which food products (include superfood) have the greatest potential for scale-up and raising incomes in each of the four Area Programmes

6. Recommendations into specific strategies (across the three areas: core supply and demand; rules; and supporting functions) to improve the production and value-add of identified food products for target communities

   1. Recommendations for mainstreaming GEDSI using the WEE domains.
   2. List of potential partners, especially private sector, and engagement opportunities.
   3. Risk analysis and post-shock recovery options
   4. identification of best practices and programming challenges.

WV appreciates that access to key stakeholders may be limited at present, however, information regarding similar activities in the same geographical areas exists. Also, WV is able to help arrange logistics, access to households for surveying.

It is envisaged that the work will be performed in close partnership with the project team.

Preferred consultant profile

• Extensive understanding of agricultural and rural development, from both a development cooperation and private sector perspective, demonstrated by previously performing similar analyses.
• Experience of assessment study or implementation of the activities related to market system development and/ or value chain development.
• Sound knowledge of, and experience with, GEDSI assessment
• University degree in a relevant area is an asset.
• Good understanding of agricultural (and other) businesses and value chain trends and direction, including major areas of interest and intervention, as well as interactions with the private sector
• At least 3 years’ relevant experience working in the area of agricultural and/or other business and value chain development
• Capacity to perform the work on-the-ground in the project area – either by self or via partner staff.
• Fluency in English.