Request for Proposal (RFP) - Consultancy to Support the Roll Out of the Government Readiness Framework at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Posted by Future on Wed 16th Feb, 2022 - nigeriantenders.com

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) invites interested and competent firms(s) to indicate interest by tendering RFP documents for the following works:

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is an organisation that seeks to transform African agriculture from a subsistence model to strong businesses that improve the livelihoods of the continent’s farming households.

AGRA is an alliance led by Africans with roots in farming communities across the continent. We understand that African farmers need uniquely African solutions designed to meet their specific environmental and agricultural needs so they can sustainably boost production and gain access to rapidly growing agriculture markets.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) - Consultancy to Support the Roll Out of the Government Readiness Framework in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda

Background

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is an African-led, African-based, not-for-profit organization. It works with African governments, development partners, civil society, private sector, and African farmers for an inclusive agricultural transformation (IAT) to increase incomes and improve food and nutrition security of at least 30 million smallholder farming households.

AGRA, in partnership with Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), has developed Government Readiness for Agricultural Transformation Framework (GRAT) to provide a comprehensive and replicable approach to measure state capability/government readiness to drive agricultural transformation. GRAT looks at the strength of government capacity for change, or the effectiveness of systems and processes in place to shape and deliver government leaders’ agendas, and drivers of change, or the extent to which political incentives and other enabling factors are in place to build and sustain momentum to move government leaders’ agendas forward. Unlike other state capability indices and assessment approaches, the GRAT framework aims to draw on the practical knowledge and insights of development practitioners who are embedded in government institutions and trusted by government counterparts, in a transparent and replicable manner.

In 2021, this framework was piloted in Nigeria and revised for clarity and robustness. AGRA plans to deploy the framework to generate baseline data on the government’s readiness of AGRA countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) for agricultural transformation. The activity will also enhance capacity of AGRA staff to support deployment of the tool in the country in this year and beyond.

The key challenges the activity is addressing include lack of comparable way of measuring governments’ progress and readiness in achieving agriculture transformation, including lack of consistent evidence linking changes in capability in a wider system to the contribution of technical assistance and advisory interventions, knowing what works and where there are challenges. There is also a need to avoid a situation of lack of baseline data to measure progress of AGRA investments in strategy 2.0. It is in this regard that AGRA is seeking to recruit a qualified firm (that will have national experts /counterparts) to roll out GRAT in all AGRA countries and enhance the capacity of the AGRA teams to operationalize the tool.

Objectives of the Consultancy

To roll out the Government Readiness for Agricultural Transformation (GRAT) Framework in the AGRA countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) and enhance the capacity of the AGRA teams to operationalize the tool. By doing so, the consultancy is expected to contribute towards strengthening the way we design, support, and evaluate state capability interventions.

Scope of Work

The consultancy firm is expected to carry out the following tasks:

Prepare a quality inception report of the activity to measure government’s readiness for agriculture transformation using the GRAT tool. The report should include a detailed approach for implementing the activity and the time frame (the implementation plan should not go beyond 31st July 2022). The proposed approach should follow the guideline provide in the GRAT implementation methodology.
Identify a team of experts (public, private, and civil society organizations).
Carry out Country Situation Analysis in all AGRA countries in relation to the GRT indicators (baseline data for GRAT)
Engage identified experts and get their input on the developed country assessment report. This will be done through organized meetings and workshops
Review the country analysis report using input provided by country experts.
Identify key priority areas for investment (short term, medium term and long-term) for strengthening state capability in each country .
Presentation of the GRAT country results to the responsible line ministry for their endorsement and validation.
Prepare 11 validated GRAT reports. Each country report should be accompanied by a power point presentation that provides a country situational analysis and areas of investment.
Build capacity of AGRA staff to implement the GRAT

Deliverables of the Assignment

The activity will produce the following deliverables:

An inception report which described the methodological approach.
A list of key experts (and their affiliation) to be engaged.
Expert engagements and minutes of the engagements.
A GRAT country situation analysis report.
GRAT report with experts’ input.
Validated GRAT reports with a summary PPT. Both the report and the summary deck must have an investment plan (short term, medium term and long-term investments to address the gaps identified). The consultant will be expected to produce three drafts of the reports (1st Draft, 2nd Draft and 3rd and final draft). The drafts will be reviewed by technical reviewers and the consultants will be expected to address all comments provided.
Well planned and effectively facilitated training and capacity building events.

Key Qualifications and Experience Required

The firm shall:

Have extensive experience in carrying out similar assignments in Africa.
Propose key personnel with the following qualifications, experience and competencies:
The team members should have skills that complement each other to facilitate effective delivery of the assignment. The key positions should include but not limited to the following: Lead Consultant/Project team leader, Associate Consultant, etc.

Team Leader:

Postgraduate degree in social sciences, development, planning, strategic planning, statistics, economics, agriculture economics, development studies, sociology, rural development, natural resource management, Knowledge Management and Communication, Policy Development, Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation or any other related degree.
At least 8 years professional work experience in project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, particularly in the context of agriculture and/or rural development projects.
Extensive experience in conducting evaluations of development projects and a proven record delivering professional results;
Proven experience in managing multi-country technical assignments is a must (the firm is expected to submit a list of similar tasks carried out by the team leader).
Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the policy landscape in Africa;
Proven experience in quantitative and qualitative research, as well as qualitative evaluation approaches;
Knowledge of and experience in project cycle management and well versed in theory of change;
Experience of working with government agencies and of working in development projects is a strong asset;
Experience in CAADP/ Malabo related issues is an advantage;
Previous experience in providing technical support/ conducting assessments to the AGRA target countries is an advantage.
Proficiency in both written and spoken English (Working knowledge of French will be required for team members that will be assigned to work in Francophone countries.
Excellent interpersonal and human relations skills.
Excellent communication, analytical and writing skills;
Stakeholder engagement skills
Workshop facilitation skills.
Demonstrated knowledge of current evaluation theory and practice
Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines;

Associate Consultant(s):

Postgraduate degree in social sciences, development, planning, strategic planning, statistics, economics, agriculture economics, development studies, sociology, rural development, natural resource management, Knowledge Management and Communication, Policy Development, Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation or any other related degree.
At least 5 years professional work experience in project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, particularly in the context of agriculture and/or rural development projects.
Experience in conducting evaluations of development projects and a proven record delivering professional results.
Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the policy landscape in Africa.
Proven experience in quantitative and qualitative research, as well as qualitative evaluation approaches;
Knowledge of and experience in project cycle management and well versed in theory of change.
Experience of working with government agencies and of working in development projects is a strong asset.
Experience in CAADP/ Malabo related issues is an advantage;
Proficiency in both written and spoken English (Working knowledge of French will be required for team members that will be assigned to work in Francophone countries).
Excellent interpersonal and human relations skills.
Excellent communication, analytical and writing skills
Stakeholder engagement skills
Workshop facilitation skills.
Demonstrated knowledge of current evaluation theory and practice.

Application Closing Date

17:00pm (EAT), 2nd March, 2022.

Submission of Documents

The proposals SHALL be submitted to: procurement@agra.org by the deadline indicated in the synopsis. Please include the subject line "RFP-034-SC-2022" of the email.

Note

The Proposals shall be prepared in English Language.
The technical proposal shall not exceed 20 pages.
The proposal and ALL Attachments submitted via email SHALL NOT exceed 10MB.
VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for a period of 90 days from the date of bid closure.
Financial proposal shall be sent as a separate attachment and MUST be password protected. The password shall be requested from firms that meet the minimum technical score of 75%).

Click Here (Ms Word) for a detailed description of the RFP.