TOR: Fair value distribution study – Tea Kenya and Uganda

Preamble

Solidaridad is an international network organization with eight regional expertise centres worldwide. Its mission is to bring together commodity supply chain actors and to engage them to develop innovative solutions to improve production, thereby ensuring the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximizes the benefit for all. Solidaridad strives to be an organization that understands the signs of modern times, seeking to be a Civil Society Organization (CSO) with its own place and role in society, while simultaneously interacting with Governments and markets. With 50 years of experience Globally in facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains, Solidaridad is a frontrunner in the area of sustainable economic development. Solidaridad envisions a world in which all we produce, and all we consume, can sustain us while respecting the planet, each other and the next generations. Solidaridad embraces the public-private and people partnerships (PPPP) in order to test innovations, speeding up change, and take success to scale. Globally, Solidaridad works around Tea and other 12 commodities/sectors (http://www.solidaridadnetwork.org)

Program Summary

Solidaridad is implementing a RECLAIM SUSTAINABILITY! Program which is a 5-year program (2021-2025) supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands. The strategic objective of the RECLAIM SUSTAINABILITY! Program is to contribute to inclusive sustainable value chains and trade in an innovative way, in which the interests, voices and rights of farmers, workers and citizens (both male and female) are represented and heard in decision making for sustainable use of natural resources, decent work, fair value distribution, and sustainable consumption.

The program is being implemented in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia supporting Coffee, Cotton, Tea, Gold, Fruits and Vegetables value chains. For Tea, the project is being implemented in Uganda and Kenya.

In order to have a responsible private sector, a supportive private sector and a vibrant and strengthened Civil Society, the program will help farmers and workers to capacitate, collect, convene, consult, connect, create and co-design innovative solutions using the three impact pathways of advocacy through inclusive dialogue, accelerating disruptive innovations and amplifying the voice of the citizenry. With this advocacy, the position of the female farmers and workers will be optimized in the supply chain through innovative digital and fair business models, they will be able to influence agendas and develop solutions to address issues in value chains and trade in an inclusive way and be able to mobilize, activate and engage citizens and CSOs to change norms and influence policy agenda.

Tea Context In Kenya & Uganda

Tea is produced in 52 countries in the world which are mainly tropical and ;sub-tropical countries. In Kenya it is grown exclusively in the highlands at altitudes ranging from 1500 to 3000m;Kenya is the third largest producer of tea in the world after China and India. It’s world’s largest exporter of black tea;Tea cultivation and manufacturing are presently being practiced in 18 of Kenya’s 47 counties and impacts a large proportion of Kenya’s nearly 50 million people;In Kenya, tea is the largest employer in the private sector, with more than 5 million people working in the tea sector. Over 60% of Kenyan tea is grown by smallholders;It is the largest single export commodity and major foreign exchange earner for Kenya;In 2021 for example, Kenya exported 558.9 million kilograms of made tea, which resulted to over KES 136.6 ($ 1.22 b) billion foreign earnings.Tea is the second leading agriculture export crop for Uganda after coffee; over 1 million people derive their livelihoods from the tea sector. It is grown mainly in the Western and southwestern parts of Uganda, in Central (Buganda), and recently in West Nile (Zombo). Uganda is the second largest tea producer in Africa producing about 81 million kgs with an average sale price of 1.3 $ per kilo giving just over 100 million $ in earnings.

Problem Statement

The tea industry in Uganda and Kenya is characterized by closed ,unhealthy, complex power relationships. The absence of clear tea trade information in the tea value chain, in both Uganda and Kenya, compromises fair pricing for farmers and hence low incomes but also leads to poor wages for the workers in the sector leading to sustained poverty in the tea growing areas. Farmers do not know the real cost of doing business as market actors often engage in business practices that are understood to lead to inflated costs and transfer unnecessary costs to the producers. Farmers and Workers in Uganda and Kenya have very weak bargaining power as a result of a lack of access to market information. Farmers are never aware of a net price upfront, rather they receive the normal gross price as set by the tea factories.

Objective of the study

The objective of the study is to conduct research that adequately responds to the following questions on the basis of the contextual realities in the Tea sector in Kenya and Uganda and provide information to the target beneficiaries as per the indicators of project objectives and expected results specified in the project results framework.

1. What are the specific bottlenecks for farmers in accessing and sustaining equitable pay for their products and services offered in the tea supply chains?
2. Are there gender-specific peculiar challenges faced by women and youth in regards to fair value distribution?
3. What type of business model(s) are/is suitable for promotion for Tea farmers to adopt to take opportunities in participating and earning from the high-level return nodes of the supply chain?
4. What is the consumption pattern for tea? Can local consumption be promoted in the selected countries?
5. How are the Combined Bargaining Agreements(CBAs) between workers unions and tea factories carried out, the challenges faced by Workers Unions in the negotiations of CBAs and how to support the unions to have meaningful CBA negotiations.
6. To understand the relation between STGs and the existing Tea factories
7. To understand the price and market information systems models currently used by STGs and other market access avenues available for farmers e.g. are there digital platforms and speciality tea platforms through which farmers can sell their tea to increase their prices.
8. What are the specific unique challenges in the markets and what are suitable solutions.
9. What are the ongoing lobby and advocacy interventions in relation to fair value distribution by which the civil society organizations in the tea sector organizations in Kenya and Uganda?

The objective of the study is to provide information to the target beneficiaries(small tea farmers and workers unions, industry actors and governments) for use in advocating for fair tea pricing and wages but also for consideration in specific tea policy and regulatory frameworks.

Methodology:

The methodology for this assessment will include both direct and indirect data collection, analysis and cross-referencing, and formulating recommendations thematically and as area/site-specific to adequately meet the objectives of the survey. The consultant will finalize the assessment methodology to undertake this study in line with the scope of the assessment, presented and refined with the management during the inception meeting.

The methodology used during this survey will overall, include, but not be limited to the following:

1. Review existing relevant secondary information and reports related to the Kenyan and Uganda Tea value chains.
2. Review of previous Solidaridad related programme level documents and reports.
3. Discuss with key Solidaridad staff, partners, and key informants at Office and field implementation levels.
4. Carry out field visits in the implementation areas for data collection, observations, and triangulation.
5. Hold community-level participatory meetings and focused group discussions for data collection and information gathering. Carry our Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focused Group Discussion (FGDs) shall be utilized.
6. Data collection will also entail analysis of climate risks and vulnerability where both secondary data and primary data through qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be done.
7. Special emphasis will be put on women spaces, youth engagement, and people with disabilities participation, so as to understand and recommend interventions on issues concerning these interest groups from a gender, youth, and people with disability inclusion’s perspective.
8. Use of data from local institutions or organizations.
9. Data analysis and verification of analyzed data.

Responsibilities of Consultants

The composition of the survey team is left up to the consultant/ organization based on their internal system, ideas, and logic. However, Solidaridad recommends that the team comprise one Team Leader (TL) to coordinate/conduct the overall study and liaise with Solidaridad. To collect information from the field using an adequate number of Field Enumerators (FEs). Supervision of the fieldwork and quality (reliability and validity) of the data/information collected from the field is the primary responsibility of the TL. The TL will work closely with Solidaridad Tea Project Manager and M&E Manager. In each step and process, consultation with the Project Manager and the M&E Officer are vital. The survey will be conducted in the following locations: Kenya. – Nandi, Kericho,Kisii,Bomet,Murang’a,Meru and Nyeri.Uganda-Buganda, Ankole, Tooro, Bunyoro, Kigezi and West Nile regions.

The consultancy/consultant team will be primarily responsible for:

1. Development/design baseline survey tools including questionnaires for the survey and checklist and tools for group interaction including FGD with target beneficiaries at National/county/ village levels.
2. Share the study design including process, methods, and questionnaires/checklist with the programme team, collect feedback and finalize the study design.
3. Pre‐test questionnaires and other tools in one of the programme sites.
4. Submit an inception report.
5. Debrief/discuss with the programme team about effectiveness of questionnaire, checklists, and other tools used in the pre‐test, collect feedback and finalize them.
6. Orient, train, and supervise the enumerators.
7. Carry out fieldwork together with enumerators.
8. Ensure the quality of information collected from fields, cross-check with the validity of information collected and verify/revise where needed.
9. Update progress of the study on a weekly basis to the Tea Project Manager and M&E Manager.
10. Analyze data and prepare quality reports.
11. Give a presentation of the draft report to Solidaridad, and;
12. Submit a final report (a compiled version of the report ‐ both hard copy and electronic version in word format) to the project after incorporating the feedback and suggestions from Solidaridad.

Expected Deliverables:

The Consultant should deliver the following:

• I. Work plan and expression of interest (EOI) for the survey, outlining;
• A detailed methodology for implementation of the survey, including proposed sample sizes.
• Draft data collection tools (The Consultant shall refine proposed standard indicators in reference to the proposed programme indicators and other guidelines provided by Solidaridad)
• A detailed work plan for the survey

1. Inception Report: which covers the entire process of the preparation phase as per Solidaridad standard/template which will be provided on demand.
2. Draft Report: A draft report on the survey, present to key staff of Solidaridad and partners of initial findings. The consultant will address the feedback from Solidaridad and partners involved.

• IV. Presentation on the main findings of the study for validation involving project teams, and other stakeholders as agreed with the project team.

1. Final Report: in English incorporating all the comments received from Solidaridad staff and partners with a maximum of not more than 40 pages, excluding annexes and consisting both hard and soft (CD ROM/USB) copies. The consultant will be provided with the report template for the final report.
2. Raw Data and Study Resources: The consultant should annex any relevant documents related to the assessment. He/she will also submit raw data of the assessment to Solidaridad. The consultant should respect the property right of all primary data/information generated as a result of this survey. Any relevant documents related to the assignment should be annexed, and raw data of the assessment should also be submitted to Solidaridad.

Experts/Consultant’s Profile:

Consultancy firms/companies with verifiable research work in the Tea sector and who fulfill the following requirements are encouraged to express their interests.

• Relevant degree(s) in Agricultural Economics or Agricultural Research.
• Strong experience with and knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods and sampling strategies
• Experience in designing and conducting studies using experimental or quasi-experimental techniques.
• Statistical analysis skills and strong proficiency with data analysis packages.
• Proven experience in conducting research in the East African tea industry policy,regulatory and legislative frameworks.
• Research experience with tea farmers is an added advantage
• Excellent communication and written skills in English and Swahili.
• Demonstrated experience in analytical research in the fields of policy, industry, agriculture and environment.