Production and Market Systems Analysis Consultancy Service 99 views0 applications

TERMS OF REFERENCE PRODUCTION AND MARKET SYSTEMS ANALYSIS SOMALIA

Somalia’s economy is based on the country’s natural resources, vast rangelands, grass, trees, and shrubs feed the livestock that dominate exports, provide sustenance and cash income to its pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, and underpin the food security of most of its population. In southern Somalia, crop and livestock production systems are anchored on two main river valleys[1]. Rural and nomadic areas account for at least 48.7% of the population, 53% of whom are classified as nomads, and 46.8 percent derive their livelihood from crops cultivation and fishing[2].

Somalia continues to emerge from protracted periods of conflict and fragility that caused severe deterioration of the country’s natural environment, physical infrastructure, and human capital as well as resulted in major weakness and in some cases the total absence— of government institutions until the early 2010s. Despite these challenges a review of Somalia’s GDP estimates shows an increase of more than five-fold in nominal size from 604 million dollars to 6522 million dollars from 1980 to 2017 and a tripling of the GDP per capita from 129.1 dollars to 472.3 dollars within the same period[3].Despite positive indications of growth in the economy, poverty is still widespread in Somalia with 82% of the population reported as poor across multiple dimensions[4].

In 2019 SomReP launched its phase II strategy that sought to provide a roadmap for its resilience action in Somalia. Borne out of a decade of experience in pioneering resilience action in Somalia, the strategy purposed to bridge the transition from response and early stage recovery action to a focus on long-term sustainable development action that sought to improve community and household resilience through a push and pull strategy. The SomReP strategy seeks to accelerate economic growth through inclusive market systems in which crop and livestock production systems can flourish and the ecosystems in which intensive and extensive production takes place, such as the rangelands are better managed and stabilized to arrest environmental decline and ultimately improve productivity, incomes and nutritional levels, and creating employment opportunities by modernizing production techniques[5].

In 2019 SomReP conducted an analysis of the value chain in Gedo, Bay and Lower Shabelle regions of Southern Somalia that sought to review and map 3-4 value chains, identify factors, weaknesses and opportunities at several levels of the value chain including but not limited to production, processing, technological, institutional and marketing. While the study identified four value chains (Sorghum, sesame, lemon and onion) with great potential in terms of viability as well as potential for secondary economic activities yet low risks in the form of perishability, storage, bulkiness, logistics, existing markets, the study also identified a number of impediments towards the successful engagement of smallholder farmers. These included low skill level as a result of weak or non –existent extension services, lack of appropriate storage facilities, and poor roads, poor or non-existent partnerships between farmers, government, private sector, agriculture research and development institutions[6].The study further reported high insecurity of land tenure among women partly reflecting complex dynamics extending from the interaction of multiple legal systems and socio-cultural norms that undermine women’s capacity and agency within Somali society community. Additionally land tenure systems dictating production relationships such as share cropping that contribute to growing inequalities between host populations and minorities as seen in a 2019 field monitoring report that identified exploitative relations between host and minority groups.

These challenges play a part in Somalia’s food insecurity as well as community resilience, by June of 2020 at least 3.5 million people were projected to be in need of Emergency Food Assistance due to the July to September dry season,[7] compared to a below-average deyr rainfall season from October to December 2020[8]. The situation was further compounded by the COVID 19 pandemic that contributed to a projected 30-50 percent decline in annual external remittances, anticipated 25-35 percent decline in annual livestock exports, lower labor demand, and above-average imported staple food prices affecting Poor urban and IDP households, as well as pastoralists in northern Somalia[9].Apart from climatic factors as well as historical environmental destructive actions, Somalia’s drop in per person food production occurred between 1960- 1970 driven by inappropriate government policies such as price controls in the 1970s which created disincentives for farmers to produce grain crops; unintended impact of large-scale annual and often poorly timed delivery of food aid, which depresses prices and drives farmers out of agriculture; and alienation of portions of the country’s most fertile irrigable land for cash cropping of bananas for export rather than grain[10].

The situation in Somalia points to an environment of strong potential to grow in terms of rural economies with a strong tie to both local and export markets that is hampered by a series of policy related challenges, systemic challenges around inequality between aggregators, host communities and small-scale producers that are driven by land tenure or social-cultural relations between clans. While food systems in Somalia remain promising across various emerging value chains and the opportunities for the growth of a vibrant smallholder production system in crop and animal value chains, challenges around policy, regulation of production relationships present a landscape who’s value chains remain vulnerable to unfair pricing models, gender and ethnicity driven biases. As SomReP seeks to support communities to work towards inclusive markets as part and parcel of their resilience journey, SomReP seeks to explore a fair trade study to better understand the policy and social cultural factors that could jeopardize the success of food systems in Somalia and develop a course correct action strategy to inform the design of new and existing value chain programmes in Somalia.

Through this study SomReP seeks to further understand 3 key principles that are core to making trading relationships between market players and producers fair with a focus on present agricultural policy and how it enables smallholder producers to benefit from agriculture economies, land tenure systems and how it affects smallholder farmers in terms of ownership and distribution of value from the supply chain lastly existing market structure and what barriers it presents for shared value from the supply chain. The underlying assumption is that if the market structure is designed to promote shared value for smallholder producers from a policy and socioeconomic perspective then small holder farmers’ incomes will improve, and they will be able to invest in quality and volume of production and as such there will be improved food security will improve. Fair Trade in this study does not relate to the certification process but the application of principles of the fair trade movement that promote and maintain a decent and dignified livelihood anchored on justice and sustainable development at the heart of trade structures and practices. Through this study we contextualize the barriers to decent and dignified livelihood for small-scale farmer such as land tenure systems and production relationships such as sharecropper relations, explore the impact of present agricultural policy and access to markets.

Objectives

· Explore the impact of land tenure systems on productivity and livelihoods among smallholder farmers in Somalia and identify potential solutions to improve incentives and bridge inequalities among smallholder farmers.

· Understand in what ways present agricultural policies enable or disable growth and development of sustainable value chains in Somalia and identify potential solutions.

· Explore producer and aggregator relations across crop and animal value chains and develop a strategy that promotes sustainability by addressing disincentives among various players in the value chain while promoting fair-trading relationships this includes country level tax regulations and trade agreements for international trade.

The study will be conducted in Afgoye,Eyl,Jowhar,Bosaso and Baidoa and will involve engagements with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Government of Somalia and counterparts at member state governments.

Outputs/ Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from the consultant:

· Develop a report detailing the fair trade relationships across the value chain that covers the following:-

o The impact of land tenure systems on productivity and livelihoods among smallholder farmers in Somalia and discuss proven and or potential solutions to improve incentives and bridge inequalities among smallholder farmers.

o Analysis of the effects of agricultural policies on the growth and development of sustainable value chains in Somalia and identify potential solutions.

o Analysis on the different power relations between the powerful and less powerful to inform policy and action planning recommendations[11].

· Use Food Security Cluster Somalia 2018, Analytical Framework for Targeting in Complex Settings to analyze different power relations between the powerful and less powerful to inform policy and action planning recommendations.

· Based on findings, co-create between different groups Fair Trade Action Plans to identify tangible strategies which different value chain actors can take to create enabling conditions for fair and equitable trade, inclusive of timelines, milestones and resource requirements.

· Facilitate a co-creation process between different groups Fair Trade Action Plans to identify tangible strategies which different value chain actors can take to create enabling conditions for fair and equitable trade, inclusive of timelines, milestones and resource requirements.

Management of the Consultancy and Reporting

The consultant to undertake the assignment will report directly to the Head of Quality Assurance for SomReP who will oversee the assignment. Regular consultation meetings will be arranged between the SomReP Technical Unit (TU) and the consultant as need arises.

Authority and Responsibility.

SomReP

· Ensure that the research team adhere to research ethics and child protection policy

· Ensure quality assurance throughout study implementation

· Review report and provide feedback to the consultant to ensure quality delivery and compliance to the study protocol

· Arrange key informant interviews and focus-group discussions as requested by the research team

· Review and approve operational approaches to be used by the consultant including the inception report

· Review the draft report and provide feedback to the consultant.

· Approve the final reports contingent on the reports meeting the intended objectives and quality assurances

Federal Government of Somalia- Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Livestock

· Provide the selected research team with necessary documents as requested by the consultant.

· Arrange key informant interviews and focus-group with government staff at the federal member states and with private sector players involved in different value chains.

· Review the draft report and provide feedback.

Consultancy Firm

· Develop an inception report before actual rollout of the assessment detailing study methodology and appropriate/relevant data collection tools.

· Work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to support the data collection process and engage as key informants for the study.

· Work closely with SomReP Head of Quality Assurance during the design of the methodology/ tools; agree on the tools that will be used.

· Incorporate feedback into tools and reports which will be given from the team.

· Conduct interviews

· Approximately one hour PowerPoint presentation of results and discussions to be delivered at either the Nairobi office or on Skype.

· Do de-briefing on preliminary findings. The result is expected to be shared with the stakeholders and the consultant needs to give due attention for the quality of the report.

· Submit draft and final reports as per schedule

EVALUATION CRITERIA**

1. Mandatory Requirements evaluation

I. Provide a certified copy of a certificate of business registration, Certificate of incorporation, business license or similar document (Companies/Organizations)

II. Provide a certified copy of tax registration, tax clearance certificates or similar documents (Companies/Organization)

III. Individual tax registration documents (for individual consultants)

IV. Provide information on ownership structure (Name of directors of the company / Owner) (Companies/Organization)

V. Provide last two years of audited financial statements or tax filing, or similar documents (Companies/Organization)

VI. Provide references from previous clients for similar works, At least three.

2. Technical Evaluation Criteria

Applications received will be evaluated against a combination of the following criteria:

I. Understanding of the TOR (General understanding of the project requirements; coverage of principal components as stipulated in the ToR)

II. Methodology (Adequacy of the proposed approach, methodology and work plan in line with ToR)

III. Qualification, experience and proposed team composition. A consultant/firm with a combination of Somali Researchers is highly encouraged.

IV. Previous experience(s) with similar assignments in a fragile context or in Somalia in particular

V. Track record of successful completion of past similar assignments

VI. Willingness and flexibility to work within the required deadline

3. Financial Evaluation

I. A financial proposal with a detailed breakdown of costs for the study quoted in United States dollars.

II. Payment Terms

III. Credit Period

IV. Any other cost related to the consultancy

Standards of Ethics and Child Protection

The consultant will be responsible for ensuring that data collection and analysis approaches are designed to mitigate child protection risks and protect participants’ privacy and well-being by establishing and following credible, ethical evaluation principles:

· The consultant shall ensure that all research assistants are oriented on research ethics and child protection policy prior to the commencement of data collection.

· The consultant shall ensure that each member of the research team adheres to research ethics and child protection policies.

· The consultant shall ensure that every piece of information collected is treated with all the confidentiality that it deserves.

· The consultant shall ensure that survey participants to be involved in the study are well informed of the objectives of the study, and their consent is sought prior to starting data collection. Participants will be informed of their rights to decline participation in the evaluation and that they will be at liberty to withdraw from the process if they wish to do so.

Application Process

All interested bidders are requested to submit their Technical Proposals and Financial Proposals in Separate documents as attachments (Bidders who will combine both technical and financial proposals shall be disqualified) via [email protected] on or before 20^th May 2021.

Bids received after deadline shall not be considered.

Email title should be; – Production and Market Systems Analysis Consultancy Service

Your financial proposal should have your professional fee and any other related cost well tabulated. Financial proposal should not be part of the technical proposal, it should be a separate document

Note:

As part of the Consultant selection process, the best candidates will be required to make a presentation of the technical proposal to the Supply Chain and Core Project Technical Team to inform the final decision on the award of the contract

[1] Value chain analysis on local and export marketable crops and crop products in Gedo,Bay and lower Shabelle of Southern Somalia- SomReP 2019.

[2] UNFPA Somalia Population estimate 2014.

[3] FGS (1989), World Bank (1991), World Bank-IMF Staff Estimates (2017)

[4] Somalia Human Development Report UNDP 2012

[5] SomReP Phase II strategy 2019

[6] Value chain analysis on local and export marketable crops and crop products in Gedo,Bay and lower Shabelle of Southern Somalia- SomReP 2019.

[7] July–September 2020 FEWS NET – June 2020

[8] NOAA/CPC NMME forecast

[9] July–September 2020 FEWS NET – June 2020

[10] Land Property and Housing Somalia NRC,UNHABITAT,UNHCR Gregory Norton