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
- Data collection and analysis plan: Submit a data collection and analysis plan by 27th of November 2019
- Data collection 2nd-6th December 2019
- 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
Missed This Job? or Interested in more?. See List of Current Job Vacancies / Opportunities in Uganda