CBSP Data Collection and Analysis to Support Strategy Development
Job Overview
CBSP Data Collection and Analysis to Support Strategy DevelopmentConsultant Terms of Reference (ToR)
1. Background and Objectives of the Consultancy Assignment
The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (the Agency or ATA) is an initiative of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) which was established by federal regulation in January 2011. The primary aim of the Agency is to promote agricultural sector transformation by enhancing and supporting existing structures of government, private-sector and other non-governmental partners, to address systemic bottlenecks in the agricultural sector and deliver on a priority national agenda to achieve growth and food security.
ATA focuses on a set of high-priority program areas, sub-divided into Systems, Value Chains, and Cross-Cutting Initiatives. Across these program areas, the ATA engages public, private and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity, and test innovative models. The organization does this through leveraging best practice approaches, whether from the public or private sectors. ATA is financed by the GoE and a range of development partners.
Recently, ATA’s Seeds Program has jointly developed a Seeds Sector Strategy with other stakeholders in the sector, including findings and recommendations on the Community Based Seed Production (CBSP) systems. This includes both informal and formally registered producers’ or marketing cooperatives and unions that are producing and selling seed, outgrower groups that may become independent from public and private seed enterprises, as well as seed enterprises run by farmer-entrepreneurs, excluding informal production and use and trade. Such CBSPs are mainly focused on Self-Pollinating Varieties (SPVs) with high unmet demand (e.g. Wheat and Tef).
We are now commencing a more detailed assessment of the current state of CBSP systems in Ethiopia, in particular in ATA’s 2014 300 Focus Woredas and the corresponding four regions of the county. The study will assess feasibility of scaling-up these systems in the near-term (i.e. for 2014 and 2015) and support development of more specific and actionable recommendations to strengthen their capacity and sustainability. The Program is seeking a consultant to lead baseline data collection and analysis to support the first phase of this effort, and provide content expertise and validate findings and recommendations during the later phases of the project.
Specifically the output from the consultancy assignment will provide a robust baseline dataset and analysis of this data including:
- accurate estimates of current and future production by community based seed producers
- assessment of feasibility of scaling-up CBSP in a financially sustainable way to help satisfy unmet seed demand across the sector, and
- identification of specific recommendations and interventions to strengthen and scale-up CBSP systems in the near-term and longer-term.
Through interacting with community based seed producers and other actors in the sector, the consultant should also be able to identify additional key insights on these topics that will support the broader project objectives.
2. Scope of Services to be Provided
The consultant will be leading the first phase of the Project (6-8 weeks), focused on data collection and analysis. During Phase 1, key activities the consultant is expected to undertake include:
- Participate in an initial workshop with key stakeholders to refine project scope and activities
- Collect data on CBSP across ATA’s focus woredas / regions to assess demographics and current production levels
- Collect data on 20-30 large producers to assess and develop strategy for sustainable scale-up
- Validate and analyze data to produce specified outputs tables
- Identify key findings and insights from data analysis as well as from direct interaction with CBSPs and other actors, including:
- Estimate projected CBSP production for 2014 by geography and seed variety
- Assess feasibility of further scaling-up CBSPs and estimate maximum production in 2014 and longer-term
- Identify specific interventions to support sustainable scale-up in 2014 and longer-term
- Identify key challenges to sustainably scale-up to full supply potential
The specific data elements that should be collected and specified output tables for (ii) – (iv) above are detailed in Appendices 1 and 2 of this document respectively. The consultant will be required to produce a deliverable at the end of this Phase as specified in the next section. In addition, the consultant will be asked to participate in brainstorming, content validation, and stakeholder sessions in later phases of the project at an expected frequency of up to 4 hours per month.
CBSP Data Collection and Analysis to Support Strategy Development
Consultant Terms of Reference (ToR)
1. Background and Objectives of the Consultancy Assignment
The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (the Agency or ATA) is an initiative of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) which was established by federal regulation in January 2011. The primary aim of the Agency is to promote agricultural sector transformation by enhancing and supporting existing structures of government, private-sector and other non-governmental partners, to address systemic bottlenecks in the agricultural sector and deliver on a priority national agenda to achieve growth and food security.
ATA focuses on a set of high-priority program areas, sub-divided into Systems, Value Chains, and Cross-Cutting Initiatives. Across these program areas, the ATA engages public, private and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity, and test innovative models. The organization does this through leveraging best practice approaches, whether from the public or private sectors. ATA is financed by the GoE and a range of development partners.
Recently, ATA’s Seeds Program has jointly developed a Seeds Sector Strategy with other stakeholders in the sector, including findings and recommendations on the Community Based Seed Production (CBSP) systems. This includes both informal and formally registered producers’ or marketing cooperatives and unions that are producing and selling seed, outgrower groups that may become independent from public and private seed enterprises, as well as seed enterprises run by farmer-entrepreneurs, excluding informal production and use and trade. Such CBSPs are mainly focused on Self-Pollinating Varieties (SPVs) with high unmet demand (e.g. Wheat and Tef).
We are now commencing a more detailed assessment of the current state of CBSP systems in Ethiopia, in particular in ATA’s 2014 300 Focus Woredas and the corresponding four regions of the county. The study will assess feasibility of scaling-up these systems in the near-term (i.e. for 2014 and 2015) and support development of more specific and actionable recommendations to strengthen their capacity and sustainability. The Program is seeking a consultant to lead baseline data collection and analysis to support the first phase of this effort, and provide content expertise and validate findings and recommendations during the later phases of the project.
Specifically the output from the consultancy assignment will provide a robust baseline dataset and analysis of this data including:
- accurate estimates of current and future production by community based seed producers
- assessment of feasibility of scaling-up CBSP in a financially sustainable way to help satisfy unmet seed demand across the sector, and
- identification of specific recommendations and interventions to strengthen and scale-up CBSP systems in the near-term and longer-term.
Through interacting with community based seed producers and other actors in the sector, the consultant should also be able to identify additional key insights on these topics that will support the broader project objectives.
2. Scope of Services to be Provided
The consultant will be leading the first phase of the Project (6-8 weeks), focused on data collection and analysis. During Phase 1, key activities the consultant is expected to undertake include:
- Participate in an initial workshop with key stakeholders to refine project scope and activities
- Collect data on CBSP across ATA’s focus woredas / regions to assess demographics and current production levels
- Collect data on 20-30 large producers to assess and develop strategy for sustainable scale-up
- Validate and analyze data to produce specified outputs tables
- Identify key findings and insights from data analysis as well as from direct interaction with CBSPs and other actors, including:
- Estimate projected CBSP production for 2014 by geography and seed variety
- Assess feasibility of further scaling-up CBSPs and estimate maximum production in 2014 and longer-term
- Identify specific interventions to support sustainable scale-up in 2014 and longer-term
- Identify key challenges to sustainably scale-up to full supply potential
The specific data elements that should be collected and specified output tables for (ii) – (iv) above are detailed in Appendices 1 and 2 of this document respectively. The consultant will be required to produce a deliverable at the end of this Phase as specified in the next section. In addition, the consultant will be asked to participate in brainstorming, content validation, and stakeholder sessions in later phases of the project at an expected frequency of up to 4 hours per month.
Job Requirements
3. Deliverables and Timelines Required
The primary deliverable is the final output produced by the consultant at the end of Phase 1, by February 28th 2013. This should include both Excel worksheets with the required data and output tables specified in Appendices 1 and 2 of this document, notes from meetings with community based seed producer representatives and other relevant stakeholders engaged by the consultant, as well as a summary report of key findings and insights from the data analysis as well as interactions with stakeholders. This report should be in English, in MS Word or MS Powerpoint.4. Assignment Period
The assignment will commence on January 1st 2013, and run through April 30th 2013. The assignment will follow the structure of ATA’s CBSP Project, which is divided into three phases. As noted above, the consultant will be leading the first phase of the Project, focused on data collection and analysis, and expected to run for 8 weeks. The consultant will be required to produce final output at the end of this phase as specified in the previous section. In addition, as also noted earlier, the consultant will be asked to participate in brainstorming, content validation, and stakeholder consultant sessions in later phases of the project through April 30th 2013, at an expected frequency of 4 hours per month. These points are summarized in the graphic below.
5. Facilities, Services and Resources to be Provided by ATA
No services or facilities will be provided by ATA to the consultants, i.e. use of offices, computers and other office facilities, transport and vehicles. The consultant will be provided with documentation relevant to the study by the Seeds Program Team, including specifically a draft of the Seeds Sector Strategy, data and analysis related to community based seed production previously produced by the Seeds Program Team, contact details for relevant stakeholders known by the Seeds Program Team, and relevant external studies collected by the Team.
The primary deliverable is the final output produced by the consultant at the end of Phase 1, by February 28th 2013. This should include both Excel worksheets with the required data and output tables specified in Appendices 1 and 2 of this document, notes from meetings with community based seed producer representatives and other relevant stakeholders engaged by the consultant, as well as a summary report of key findings and insights from the data analysis as well as interactions with stakeholders. This report should be in English, in MS Word or MS Powerpoint.4. Assignment Period
The assignment will commence on January 1st 2013, and run through April 30th 2013. The assignment will follow the structure of ATA’s CBSP Project, which is divided into three phases. As noted above, the consultant will be leading the first phase of the Project, focused on data collection and analysis, and expected to run for 8 weeks. The consultant will be required to produce final output at the end of this phase as specified in the previous section. In addition, as also noted earlier, the consultant will be asked to participate in brainstorming, content validation, and stakeholder consultant sessions in later phases of the project through April 30th 2013, at an expected frequency of 4 hours per month. These points are summarized in the graphic below.
5. Facilities, Services and Resources to be Provided by ATA
No services or facilities will be provided by ATA to the consultants, i.e. use of offices, computers and other office facilities, transport and vehicles. The consultant will be provided with documentation relevant to the study by the Seeds Program Team, including specifically a draft of the Seeds Sector Strategy, data and analysis related to community based seed production previously produced by the Seeds Program Team, contact details for relevant stakeholders known by the Seeds Program Team, and relevant external studies collected by the Team.
6. Reporting
The consultant will be required to provide a brief progress update and share key findings on a weekly basis with the ATA Project Team, for the duration of the data collection and analysis phase of the project which he/she will be leading. This should be provided in written form, e.g. email, MS Word document, MS Powerpoint document, Excel workbooks for data.
7. Assignment Management and Administration
The consultant will report to the ATA Project Team, specifically the Seeds Program Team Director and the Analytics Program Manager, who will also be responsible for the administration of the consultant’s requirements from ATA. This includes content direction and support with engaging stakeholders. The final output produced by the consultant at the end of Phase 1 of the project will need to be signed-off by the full ATA Project Team.
8. Minimum Experience and Skill Requirements
- At least 10 years of experience working in agriculture and rural development, with at least 5 years focused on the Seeds Sector in Ethiopia
- Broad range of contacts in the Seeds Sector across major organizations and regions
- Previous experience undertaking data collection and analyses similar to this engagement
- MA/MS degree in Development Economics, Agricultural Economics, Agriculture/Rural Development, Statistics or closely related field; PhD preferred
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Able to manage high volume of work with minimal supervision
- Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service
- Fluency in English and Amharic, written and spoken, is essential.
9. Application Requirements
Interested candidates meeting the required qualifications should submit a cover letter and CV highlighting their experience with community based seed producers in Ethiopia. Each candidate should also provide a brief technical proposal describing (i) how the required data will be collected, including data outputs that will be based on secondary research and those based on primary data collection, and (ii) the approaches and methodologies that will be utilized to analyze the data and complete the deliverables described earlier.
Applications can be submitted through www.ethiojobs.net or Recruitment@ata.gov.et, clearly indicating the position title. Women are highly encouraged to apply. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.
Application Deadline: December 31st, 2013
