TERMS OF REFERENCE BASELINE STUDY FAIRTRADE ALLIANCE ON CLIMATE SMART SUPPLY CHAINS IN AFRICA (FACSCA) PROGRAMME

ABOUT US

Established in 2005, Fairtrade Africa (FTA) is a member of Fairtrade International and the umbrella network organization representing Fairtrade-certified Producer Organizations in Africa and the Middle East. It has four (4) regional networks – Eastern & Central Africa; Southern Africa; West Africa; and the Middle East & North Africa. FTA currently represents 1,354,294 farmers and workers in 660 producer organizations spread across 28 countries in Africa and the Middle East by providing services to them that contribute to the improvement of their livelihoods.

PROGRAMME CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

The programme is supported by the Co-op (a major UK retailer) and is implemented by Fairtrade Africa (FTA) in partnership with Fairtrade Foundation (FTF) and close collaboration with Fairtrade-certified Producer Organizations (POs) in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.

FACSCA is a 28-months project which was launched in 2021. The overall objective of the programme is to enable farmers and workers to adapt to a changing climate and maintain adequate productivity levels that support the supply chain, stability and return on investment. This baseline study will contribute to the FACSCA project Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework and help measure the impacts of the programme.

Key Project Pillars and Objectives

The FACSCA programme has been designed to contribute to the realization of the right to sustainable livelihood for coffee, tea and flower producers’ households experiencing the effects of climate change in 12 Producer Organizations across East Africa. Specifically, the project intends to contribute to the following result areas:

1. Farmers and workers improve their institutional and management capacity to enable them to make decisions and take action to tackle climate change more effectively.
2. Improved farmers’ resilience to climate change for increased productivity and quality of produce.
3. Farmers make more efficient use of natural resources in an environmentally sustainable manner.
4. Increased opportunities for farmers and workers to diversify and engage in alternative income-generating activities.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

Purpose: In order to track and report on progress and promote accountability and learning in the FASCA programme, a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework has been developed. This framework has incorporated a set of indicators and processes for data collection at output, outcome and impact levels. Therefore, the consultant shall reference the MEL framework and the programme concept document during the development of tools and during the actual baseline study data collection.

Objectives of the baseline study shall include but not be limited to:

1. Provide Fairtrade Africa with an understanding of the status of producers’ farming practices, perceptions of their economic status, and resilience to climate change prior to the programme’s implementation.
2. Understand as best as possible producers’ perceptions, practices, and conditions before the programme was launched in 2021.
3. Determine the status of all the programme indicators at different intervention levels (impact, outcome and output).
4. Align the baseline findings and update the programme MEL framework baseline indicators and values.
5. Inform the monitoring benchmarks and aid in evaluating the programme implementation against the programme logical framework.

STUDY APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The baseline study shall target farmers and workers from 12 producer organizations in Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It is expected that the consultant(s) team will conduct a household survey for the baseline study.

In undertaking the study, the consultant(s) will review relevant programme documents and any other relevant statistics. Fairtrade Africa shall share key information sources and documents with the winning bidder. FTA would prefer consultants’ digital data collection tools during the implementation of the baseline study. A suitable proposed methodology and approach shall be considered for the assignment.

The programme is targeting 25,688 direct beneficiaries distributed across the 12 producer organizations (4 coffee, 4 tea and 4 flowers) in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. These beneficiaries are farmers and workers (male, female and youth). The projected sample size for the study is 1,086 beneficiaries.

OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES

Fairtrade Africa requires the following deliverables for the FACSCA Programme baseline study from the consultant(s):

1. Inception Report: A short summary report outlining the consultant(s) study plan, including an agreed-upon methodology, sampling strategy, data collection tools and timeline.
2. Methodology Summary: A detailed summary of the methods used to collect and clean the data, including any challenges experienced during data collection, an overview of the validation technique, and justifications for the removal of any participants from the cleaned dataset.
3. Cleaned data files: A complete cleaned set of all survey and interview data, provided electronically to FTA in suitable file formats (Excel, .csv, etc.).
4. Analysis of data: Following the cleaning of the data, produce an analysis of the results and submit and discuss with FTA before being finalized.
5. Validation and Learning Meeting: A sharing and learning session with FTA to share key results from the study and any learnings or recommendations for future assessments within the FACSCA programme.
6. Baseline Report: A detailed report outlining the key findings from the data collection. This will be shared to FTA and FTF for feedback ahead of a final draft.

CONSULTANCY EXPERTISE / QUALIFICATIONS

The proposed consultant(s) should have a strong background in quantitative social sciences and in-depth experience conducting household surveys with producers, ideally in coffee, flower and/or tea supply chains. The specific qualifications are:

1. 1. An advanced degree in any of the following or related disciplines: Social Sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation, Agricultural economics, Agribusiness and other relevant courses.
   2. Demonstrated experience conducting household surveys with farmers in East Africa
   3. Has the ability to conduct research in Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda
   4. Expertise and experience in project planning, project design, applying logical frameworks, project implementation, and monitoring, evaluation and learning;
   5. Experience in quantitative survey data management, cleaning, and reporting
   6. Excellent report writing and presentation skills;
   7. Experience/ understanding of coffee, flower, and tea supply chains, as well as Fairtrade principles and standards, will be considered an added advantage.

STUDY MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

The consultant(s) will be working closely with the Project Manager, Project Coordinator, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) officer to provide FTA internal guidance and key linkage between the project actors, and partners and sharing of relevant project documents/information.

WORK PLAN AND TIMELINES

The study is expected to take place from as of 7th November 2022 for a duration not exceeding 30 working days.