Consultancy Jobs – Terms of Reference for Rapid Land Use Assessment – Farm Africa

Job Title:    Terms of Reference
for Rapid Land Use Assessment

Organisation: Farm
Africa

Duty Station: Kampala,
Uganda

About Farm Africa:

Farm Africa, founded
in 1985, is an international non-governmental organization working in Uganda,
Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. We drive agricultural and environmental change to
improve lives. Our strategy has three pillars: agricultural expertise,
management and preservation of ecosystems, and the power of business to drive
prosperity. We believe Africa has the power to feed itself and are helping make
this happen by establishing and spreading the best farming and forestry
techniques so that poor farmers and herders have more food to feed their
families and to sell. We help smallholders manage their natural resources
sustainably so that they can withstand climate change challenges and shocks and
ensure their families have enough food in the future as well as now. Farm
Africa works in partnership with communities, government, local and
international organizations, and the private sector to innovate, learn and
share best practices for maximum impact of our projects.

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 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.

Objectives of the Consultancy Assignment:

During the first
phase of the project, Farm Africa through cooperative extension workers,
engaged farmer groups on community workshops on voluntary land-use agreements.
Over 1,000 land-use agreements were signed at household levels. Farm Africa
would like to engage a local consultant to assess the uptake of these land-use
agreements.

The indicative
budget for the activity is UGX. 5,000,000 covering daily expenses and
professional fees for 6 working days. The data collection process will be
coordinated by Farm Africa staff and the cooperative extension staffs.

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

  • Review/revise the tool for rapid land use agreements as appropriate.
  • To advice on how best the data collection procedures will be done,
    including sampling of the respondents.
  • Train enumerators on the data collection tools, including pretesting
    the tool
  • Review the data collected, fact checking, ensuring accuracy and
    consistency
  • Conduct data entry, cleaning and analysis 
  • Provide a comprehensive report.

Expected Deliverables and Timeline

1.          Data collection and analysis plan:
Submit a data collection and analysis plan by 27th of November 2019

2.         Data collection 2nd-6th December 2019

3.         Reporting by 9th December, and Farm
Africa will provide feedback on the draft report, which must be incorporated
into the final report. This process will continue until Farm Africa is
satisfied with the final report. The main body of all report should be written
in simple, non-technical language, with any technical material to be presented
in annexes. All primary data collected and analysis conducted for the purpose
of the study will remain the property of Farm Africa and must be submitted
electronically and in a clear and comprehensible format.

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 research;
  • Copy of the draft land-use assessment tool
  • Copies of all relevant background resources identified;
  • Guidance to the consultant on the project locations and structures
    to ease data collection;
  • Comments and feedback on, and approval of, all deliverables within
    agreed timeline;
  • Conducting all data collection, including recruitment, training and
    payment of enumerators as well as all field logistics involved;
  • Vehicles, fuel and drivers for data collection as appropriate.

The consultant will
be responsible for:

  • Developing the detailed methodology and adapting data collection
    tools;
  • Analysis of data and reporting in a clear and accessible format;
  • Regular progress reporting to the Gender Specialists, including
    responding to any comments or technical inputs;
  • Seeking comments and feedback from Farm Africa, through the Gender
    Specialists, in sufficient time to discuss and incorporate these into the
    final report;
  • Production of the deliverables
  • 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:

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Participation
    the views and experiences of beneficiary households, groups and partners
    should form an integral part of all evaluations.
  • 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 carrying out baseline studies and final
    evaluations, with a focus on markets and value-chain projects and
    livelihood projects
  • Experience conducting studies in Uganda
  • Strong analytical, facilitation and communication skills
  • Excellent reporting and presentation skills
  • Fluency in spoken and written English
  • A degree in Agriculture, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics,
    Research Design, or relevant subject
  • Quantitative analysis skills in at least one statistical software
    (e.g. MS Excel, STATA, R, SPSS).

Desirable

  • Understanding of the coffee value chain
  • Fluency in Rukiga
  • Experience conducting data analysis in Microsoft Excel

How to Apply:

A completed
application should contain the following:

Interested
consultants or firms are requested to submit:

  • A summarised technical and financial proposal, not longer than 5
    pages of how you intend to execute the assignment with a clear a training
    plan/time-table. 
  • Copy of your Curriculum Vitae (CVs).
  • 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 by
27th November 2019 6pm East Africa Time. The email subject line should clearly
indicate ‘Bid for Land Use Assessment Consultancy’.

Deadline: 27th November 2019 by 6pm East Africa Time

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