UNDP Jobs - 49504- Document Lessons Learned from Implementation of Cl

Document Lessons Learned from Implementation of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Five Districts of Bugiri, Busia, Budaka, Namutumba and Buyende in Uganda

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

25-Sep-2014

Application Deadline :

15-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Whereas Uganda’s population largely depend on natural resource based sectors like agriculture, forestry and fisheries, climate change and the strain on natural resources, due to population growth and environmental degradation, are intensifying poverty and vulnerability of many people in the country. With a big number of Ugandans still depending on agriculture for livelihood, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is crucial for reducing widespread poverty and livelihood improvement; more especially to the poorest and vulnerable sections of society whose livelihoods depend on natural resource ecosystems.

The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) with support from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is implementing the project "Enhancing adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices in Uganda’s farming systems specifically focussing on five districts, namely Bugiri, Busia, Budaka, Namutumba and Buyende.

This project focuses on enhancing productivity of land through sustainable land management of soil and water resources, particularly integrating CSA as a climate change adaptation strategy to build climate change resilient societies. This will be achieved through scaling up CSA practices in the 5 districts, putting in place measures/ systems to improve input supply, develop produce markets for economic sustainability for CSA enterprises; and supporting research activities to generate baselines, monitoring and evaluation guidelines and national recommendations on CSA technologies and practices.

The project is contributing to efforts of the Government of Uganda to implement the Uganda SLM Investment Framework (USIF), an inter-ministerial cooperation by four sectors (including MEMD, MWE, MLHUD, MoFED and MAAIF) to harmonize their actions to address sustainable land management and land degradation. The USIF identified CSA practices such as Conservation Agriculture (CA) as relevant and underscored the need to address climate adaptation and mitigation measures in the agricultural sector to improve food security and minimize land degradation. Implementation arrangements also seek to contribute to objectives of the climate change National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA), which are within the Agriculture Sector Development Strategy and Investment Plan (DSIP). The project intends to use lessons learnt to inform policy and strengthen decentralized governance mechanisms and institutions and practices that empower local governments and CSOs in CSA and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The overall goal of the project is to promote sustainable land management practices and improve agricultural productivity in the face of climate changes. The CSA is expected to propel land users to attain higher levels of production, efficiency in use of agricultural resources and profitability from their land while improving soil health and contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. From a broad perspective, the project will contribute to development of a national CSA strategy as contribution to the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) agenda, to the current Uganda National Development Plan (NDP) and the DSIP.

The UNDP in partnership with MAAIF is therefore, seeking the services of a Consultant whose assignment will be to document success stories/lessons from implementation of this Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) project in the five districts of Bugiri, Busia, Budaka, Namutumba and Buyende in Uganda. The consultant will undertake field work in the five districts and document stories from the supported farmer groups. The project is currently supporting six farmer groups and five schools per focus district. This is a total of 30 groups and 25 schools. The consultancy thus seeks to document 55 stories arising out of the implementation of the CSA activities, basing on initial status of agricultural approaches that are being implemented prior to project interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of assignment:

The overall objective of the assignment is to utilize the baseline situations reported in reference to the bio-physical and socio-economic characteristics of the project districts at the start of the project to develop success stories (lessons) and thus come up with a story for each the targeted groups of farmers that can be shared with the outside world. The purpose is to document by use of Feature stories and Photography; the positive impact stories of CSA activities towards increased agricultural productivity and eventual elimination of poverty.

Specific objectives:

Study the baseline data report and information synthesis for the current agricultural approaches and CSA practices in the 5 districts; and
Develop 55 case specific stories (both for farmer groups and schools) chronicling impacts of CSA implementation.

Scope of work:

The Consultant will carry out the following tasks:

Identify the stakeholders nationally and at district level that will yield information for the assignment;
Carry out a comprehensive review (including stakeholder consultations) to capture existing information on agricultural approaches in the focus districts as well as attitudes to CSA in the focus areas;
Undertake focus group discussions with all the 30 project supported farmer groups as well as the 25 schools and document their experiences both CSA and non-CSA agricultural practices;
Write 55 Feature Stories that indicate the progress of change to the supported farmers and the schools involved in CSA implementation;
Use photography to document the activities undertaken by the project and current results from the CSA implementation;
Identify appropriate methodologies to effectively scale up CSA in the country;
Propose the most appropriate policy, legislative and institutional measures for ensuring appropriate and effective CSA upscaling in Uganda;
Present a draft report composed of 55 CSA stories; each of 2-3 pages for stakeholders validation;
Prepare a final report and policy brief(s) with recommendations to inform policy.

Working Arrangements

Institutional Arrangement
The consultant shall work closely with and under the supervision of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) through the SLM steering committee. The Project Management Unit (PMU) in MAAIF shall monitor progress against planned activities/deliverables and report to UNDP. Disbursement of funds from UNDP to the consultant shall be made upon receipt of certification from MAAIF. S(he) will consult with relevant stakeholders and will report to the UNDP Country Director on all contractual obligations.

The consultant should accomplish the task preferably by closely linking up with NARO and NAADS to strengthen the capacity of the relevant local government teams and CSOs to generate data and draw inferences from the up-scaling initiatives and demonstration gardens. Current approaches used for CSA and management of catchments, preparing guidelines, mobilizing and sensitizing relevant stakeholders on the best practices for CSA and supporting development and implementation of action plans for recommended interventions shall be used.

Competencies

Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
Mature judgment and initiative;
Ability to present complex issues in a simple and clear manner;
Ability to work under pressure;
Initiative and independence.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

An Advanced degree in agriculture or Environment and natural resource management expertise with good report writing skills.

Experiences:

A solid track record in rural appraisals and documentation, with at least five (5) years of experience;
Knowledge and experience in Agriculture extension work and rural development or journalism will be an added advantage;
Must have undertaken similar or related assignment in East Africa or Uganda in the last 5 years;
Familiar with socio-economic set up of crop and livestock producing communities in semi-arid / dry land farming systems;
Demonstrated experience of working with government agencies and communities will be an added advantage;
The consultant should have a clear understanding of the Agriculture sector systems of Uganda;
The consultant should have good communication and organisational skills;
Excellent writing skills with demonstrated evidence of capacity to produce and present good reports;
Excellent Analytical Skills;
Ability to act professionally and flexibly to engage with government officials, donor representatives, and local communities.

Language:

Fluency in English.

Schedule of Payments

Payments shall be made in three instalments upon satisfactory completion of deliverables as shown below:

20% upon approval of the inception report;
40% upon completion of the report of farmer and school stories on impact of CSA implementation;
40% upon completion of a Final report, validation by stakeholders and after any final modifications.

Evaluation of Proposals (Method and Criteria)

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis
The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. 70%-30%;
Technical Criteria weight; [70%];
Financial Criteria weight; [30%].

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Technical Criteria – Maximum 70points:

Relevance of education – 10 Points;
Language skills – 5Points;
Knowledge of the area of work and expectation from the activities being covered-15points;
Relevance of professional experience in conducting assignments of similar nature and scope especially in the area of agriculture-25 points;
Experience in storytelling and writing/publication- 15 points.

Financial proposal (Maximum 30 points): appropriateness shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal’s offer to the lowest price among the proposals received by UNDP.

Financial Assessment

Lump Sum Amount approach shall be used with the following expectations:

The lump sum amount must be “all-inclusive”;
The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components;
For duty travels, UN’s Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rates prevailing at the time of sourcing, for the duty station and all other cities indicated in the TOR as part of duty travel destinations will be used. This will give offerors an indication of the cost of living in a duty station/destination, to aid their determination of the appropriate fees and financial proposal amount, but it does not imply that Offerors are entitled to DSA payment; and
The initial payment includes the actual cost of the IC’s travel to arrive at the designated Duty Station. This implies that the completion of the journey can be considered as one of the deliverables payable upon arrival.

Application Procedure:

Applicants are requested to apply online at http://jobs.undp.org by 15th September, 2014. Individual consultants are invited to submit applications together with their CV for these positions.
For any clarifications or for Annexes, please contact justine.naiga-bagonza@undp.org and diana.nabbanja@undp.org.

The application should include the following documents/information:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (see Annex II);
Updated Personal CV highlighting past experience in similar assignments and with 3 professional references with contact details (email and telephone);
Technical Proposal: suggested outline for technical proposal;
The offeror’s interpretation of the assignment;
Approach and methodology for undertaking the assignment;
Work-plan.