Terms of Reference – Capacity Building of Coffee Cooperatives Boards of Management on Leadership, governance etc. & review of Institutional Documents 76 views0 applications

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Solidaridad Network is an international solution-oriented civil society organization working through eight regional expertise centres to transform markets to make them more sustainable and inclusive. Our eight regional expertise centres include Asia, Eastern and Central Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Southern Africa, South America, West Africa and our global Secretariat in the Netherlands. Solidaridad Eastern and Central Africa, one of the regional centres, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with country offices and programmes in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. We bring together supply chain players and engage them with innovative solutions to improve production, ensuring the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximizes the benefit for all. We facilitate strengthening of local capacity in developing countries, support the creation of enabling environments for economies to thrive, and improve market access. Solidaridad embraces the public-private and people partnerships (PPPP) in order to test innovations, speed up change, and take success to scale. Globally, Solidaridad works around Coffee and other 12 commodities/sectors (http://www.solidaridadnetwork.org)

2.0 The Traceable Organic Coffee from Kenya Project Summary (TRACE Kenya)

The DMDP-funded Traceable Organic Coffee from Kenya project (TRACE Kenya), is supporting smallholder coffee farmers (30% women; 10% youth) to enable them to convert from conventional to organic coffee production. TRACE Kenya is offering tailored interventions including interactive training on innovative organic coffee practices, facilitating access to high-yielding and disease-resistant coffee varieties and promoting eco-friendly technologies for organic coffee production. By promoting the adoption of organic agricultural practices among coffee farmers in the project region (Kericho, Nandi, and Bungoma Counties), TRACE Kenya has also paved the way for the development of organic inputs supply chains and innovations which alongside the project interventions are anticipated to contribute to improved coffee quality and volumes, increase farmers’ incomes and create more decent jobs. TRACE Kenya is also contributing to job creation for youth in coffee. The project is equipping youth with the requisite skills and knowledge to enable them to pursue on and off the farm economic opportunities. Within the Kenyan coffee sector, the shift to organic and sustainable practices is a strategic move that will expose local farmers to competitive and high-value markets while contributing to a reduction in the associated risks and negative impacts and promoting sustainable use of the earth’s resources.

Solidaridad is working with African Coffee Roasters (ACR) to deliver organic certified coffee to global markets by 2023. ACR will roast organic coffee locally and deliver sustainable coffee brands to their clients in Europe and beyond. The project aims to deliver premium coffees to global consumers, secure new markets for ACR, and competitive prices for local coffee farmers to ensure better incomes and livelihoods. The project also strives to create an inclusive, market-driven, and sustainable coffee sub-sector that generates increased income opportunities and creates decent jobs. Besides delivering the first organic certified Kenyan coffee from small-holder farmer cooperatives to global consumers, TRACE Kenya also targets to improve farmers’ productivity and quality of coffee produced beyond the transition/conversion to organic farming.

2. 1 Background

Institutional instability is a major problem derailing sustainable production, governance and management of rural cooperatives and their ultimate profitability. Through democratic processes, the Cooperatives Act makes provision for members to elect new leaders/Board of Managements every year. With the project now being on their 3rd year of implementation, there has been like a complete overhaul of the leadership. Despite conducting this training in 2020, new leaders who have since come in and they lack a good understanding of these good practices to adequately continue steering the processes and development initiatives from the previous regimes. It has therefore become imperative to train the incoming teams on Financial Management, Entrepreneurship, Resource mobilisation, Good governance, Marketing skills, Nursery Business Case Management, good Governance & Leadership and jointly review existing Institutional Documents and provide recommendations on the development on non-existent or outdated documents.

2.0 Assignment Objective:

The overall objective of the assignment is to enhance the capacity of smallholder coffee cooperatives board members through training on Financial Management, Entrepreneurship, Resource mobilisation, Good governance, Marketing skills and Leadership. Further, the consultant jointly with respective board members will review existing institutional management documents (Strategic plans, Business plans, Human Resource Policy, Quality management/control policy and Anti-child abuse policy) geared towards cementing institutional stability. Solidaridad seeks to recruit a qualified firm/ consultant to facilitate the training of respective boards of management and jointly review institutional management documents and provide recommendations on the development on non-existent or outdated documents. The target is to train 14 benefiting cooperatives spread in 3 Counties (Nandi, Kericho and Bungoma).

3.0 Scope of Work:

This Terms of Reference (TOR) seeks to have the consultant conduct the following;

a) Design a curriculum as well as develop training aids to build capacity of coffee cooperative societies/ farmer organizations on financial management, entrepreneurship, resource mobilization, governance, marketing skills and leadership for effective adoption and ownership

b) Develop pre and post-training evaluation questionnaires to be used in each training session towards the assessment of the delivery and understanding of the trainees

c) Design a training program using performance objectives provided as well as additional material contributed by the consultant out of their previous experience in handling similar assignments.

d) Deliver trainings to 140 Boards of Management members on financial management, Entrepreneurship, Resource mobilization, Good governance, Marketing skills and Leadership.

e) Jointly with cooperative board of management members review institutional documents prepared in 2020 (Strategic plans, Business plans, Human Resource Policy, quality management/control policy and Anti-child abuse policy) for the 14 benefiting cooperatives.

f) Provide recommendations on the development on non-existent or outdated documents

g) Develop and avail a tailored Monitoring and Evaluation System to assess training delivery and participants understanding as well as assessing and/or tracking adoption of these practices geared towards achievement of program objectives.

h) Develop and share training reports and documents thus developed after every session.

i) The consultant will present the manuscript flow for discussions during the inception meeting.

3.1 Methodology.

The consultant will;

a) Together with Solidaridad, map and Identify the target groups.

b) Develop the training curriculum for review and validation by Solidaridad prior to commencing physical training.

c) Review existing institutional documents for the 14 cooperative societies.

4.0 Deliverables:

I. Work plan and expression of interest (EOI) for the assignment, outlining;

● A detailed methodology for implementation of the assignment.

● A detailed work plan for the work.

II. An inception report before the commencement of the assignment detailing the approach, methodology and general concept to the entire process.

III. Train 140 BOM members as guided by the training curriculum.

IV. Detailed report of the gaps identified and recommendations for closure of the gaps as well as provide recommendations on the development on non-existent or outdated documents.

V. Final assignment report

5.0 Expert/Consultant’s Profile:

Qualified and experienced Consultancy Firms should develop a comprehensive expression of interest (E.O.I) outlining:

· A profile of the firm/consultant

· Firm/Consultants statement on the interpretation of the TOR

· Curriculum Vitae’s of consultant/firm outlining qualifications and demonstrable experience in training and developing institutional management documents (Strategic plans, Business plans, Human Resource Policy and quality management policy )on spanning not less than three years. Demonstrated expertise on agricultural cooperatives will be an added advantage

· A description of the methodology

· At least 3 references of similar assignments undertaken in the last 3 years

· Sample of some of the works delivered including but not limited to: reports, presentations, training modules and samples of developed documents.

· A detailed financial proposal (inclusive of relevant taxes) and a work plan for carrying out the assignment

6.0 Duration of the assignment.

The assignment is expected to take place within a maximum of 45 days after signing the contract. Application process:

The consultancy firms/companies are required to submit an EOI containing a statement on the candidate’s experience with similar assignments, curriculum vitae, financial proposal, and work plan by September 11, 2023 at 5:00pm (EAT). All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above, those unable to meet the requirement will not be considered.

Each EOI submission should be not more than 15 pages and include the following:

● A brief proposal for the study with methodology and work plan.

● Sample/samples of previous related work.

● A financial proposal with a budget with breakdowns of different costs involved, to the finer detail. Budget with aggregated figures will not be accepted.

● Updated CVs for the team leader and team members (each CV not more than 2 pages).

● Contact details of 3 references with complete contact information (i.e. name, organization, title position, address, email, telephone).