Background

Tanzania is an agro-based economy, where the agricultural sector currently employs 75% of the population, and contributes to approx. 25% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (BRN,2015). Its contributions surpass that of key sectors, such as – the extractive industry, telecommunications, financial services and oil and gas, and ultimately plays a critical role in the reduction and alleviation of poverty. Economies where growth is agriculture-led, such as in Tanzania, continue to invest in the sector given its excellent socio-economic prospects: ability to create jobs for women and youth, and cover domestic food needs.  Improved farm productivity and agro-processing, particularly for small holder farmers and pro-poor growth, remains a key strategy in the Tanzanian agricultural landscape, more so as approx. 70% of the country’s population is based in rural areas where agro-processing supports livelihoods (THDR, 2014). 

Challenges faced by the sector are rife:   youth employment is estimated at 11.7%, while there are a million new entrants joining the labour market annually. The cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Tanzania is approx. $105 million per year, even though women constitute the main part of the agricultural labour force (FAO). Other sectoral challenges are characteristic: post-harvest losses, inadequate physical infrastructure (e.g. insufficient storage), lack of access to quality farm inputs, weak farming methods, reliance on rain-fed agriculture and traditional crops, weak extension services, low level production technology, market constraints on pro-poor growth, unfair and uncompetitive farm gate prices, in adequate finance mechanisms and a lack of understanding of markets etc. Poor people engage with value chain(VC)s at all nodes as producers, intermediaries, workers and consumers, in both rural and urban markets. Agriculture is also central to women’s livelihoods. The task to achieve increased economic transformation for greater poverty reduction, and increased opportunities for decent and productive employment is thus considerable and pertinent.  

Soya bean, a type of legume, is high in protein content and is beneficial for food security (for both human consumption and livestock feed purposes), poverty reduction and reduced vulnerability to climate change. This project will support the pro-poor development of soya bean value chains in Tanzania and agribusiness process improvements within. It is envisioned that the development intervention will cater for the increasing domestic market demand for livestock and fisheries feed. The active inclusion of marginalised groups – particularly women and youth, and their effective participation as market actors will form the basis of remaining pro-poor.

The proposed 5-year project (2017-2021), at its core, will prioritise soya bean value chain development towards pro-poor inclusive growth and entail a market oriented approach, focusing on better processing capacity and better quality controls. It argues that strengthening the input supply, production and processing nodes, will catalyze linkages between the middle of a VC and the market. The capacitating of these nodes, and the upgrading of SHFs (as market actors) along the VC may form the nucleus of the projects strategy. Interventions will focus on marginalised women and youth among subsistence agricultural households and microenterprises, and empower them as knowledgeable, capable and commercial market actors. Furthermore, there is a need to exclusively understand factors which enable or constrain women’s economic empowerment in the soya bean VC.

The overarching rationale for the proposed project is that a number of youth and women’s enterprises will benefit from increased income and market access. This is in alignment with the UNDP country programme strategic plan, and indicative outputs (2016-2021; target youth enterprises: 500 & target women enterprises: 500). Furthermore, it will support the UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) output where stated ‘capacities of women’s and youth enterprises are enhanced to grow and add value to their products for increased income’.

The project objectives will align with the development agenda of working toward the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly no.1 – No Poverty, no.2 – Zero Hunger, no.5 – Gender Equality, and no.8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. They will also conform with:

i) the United Nations Development Assistance Plan II (2016-2021) outcome whereby “the economy is increasingly transformed for greater pro-poor inclusiveness, competitiveness and increased opportunities for decent and productive employment” and
ii) the Tanzanian Agricultural Sector Development Program II, whereby there is ‘enhanced agricultural productivity and profitability’.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Undertake desk review including an analysis of existing documents regarding soya bean and relevant agribusiness processes, research papers, journal articles, publicly available documents, census data, 2nd Five Year Development Plan, Agriculture Sector Development Programme II and any other relevant documents for the assignment. This process should validate the feasibility and way forward of and for a VCD approach in the context of this project.
• Organize consultations with all relevant public and private stakeholders, project beneficiaries, as well as development actors, to map out existing initiatives undertaken for soya bean development in the country, and further assess how the interests of those stakeholders should be addressed in a project plan.
• Conduct onsite visits to different regions in Tanzania that will be selected in order assess capacity needs of the intended primary beneficiaries in rural and urban settings.
• Identify regions and districts where critical mass of farmers and SMEs are involved and where the potential for soya bean development / growth is maximum.
• Advice on lead firms, CSOs and financial institutions, location of Small Holder Farmers and SMEs to target, appropriateness of existing farming equipment, and the potential for agribusiness entrepreneurship.
• Organize a stakeholder validation workshop to present and discuss the draft project document for critical engagement, to build ownership, validate different priorities to be included in the project and to achieve sufficient consensus.
• Document a strong results framework, along with a multi-year work plan and budget, where outputs and activities are at an appropriate level and relate in a clear way to the projects theory of change.
• Clearly link the projects Theory of Change (ToC) to the Country Programme Document (CPD)’s ToC by stating how the project will contribute to the United Nations Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) II and CPD outcomes.
• Integrate the cross-cutting themes of gender equality & mainstreaming and disability, as appropriate in the new Project.
• Any other methods applicable

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN and UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic information collection, analysis and results-based use of information;
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation, prescribed in a results framework;
• Ability to conceptualize problems and generate innovative, practical solutions;
• Ability to apply resource mobilization and partnership building theory to specific institutional contexts;
• Strong writing and presentation skills.

Knowledge and Learning Management:

• Shares knowledge and experience from within and outside UNDP;
• Encourages UNDP staff to share knowledge;
• Develops deep understanding in UNDP, UN System reform and SDGs. Management and Leadership:
• Focuses on impact and result for the client;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in agricultural economics, economics, business administration or a development-related subject.

Experience

• A minimum of 6 years’ relevant professional experience, including aspects of agribusiness development and value chain development, as well as experience in relation to soya bean development
• Experience in supporting farmer groups / organisations;
• Familiarity with gender-related challenges for youth and particularly young women engaged in agriculture
• Demonstrated client orientation, teamwork, business judgement and analytical decision making
• Knowledge of and experience of working with the United Nations System, UNDP is an advantage
• Expertise in cross-cutting issues, including gender and youth considerations in programmes and projects is an added advantage
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations

Professionalism

• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment;
• Shows pride in work and in achievements;
• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;

Planning & Organizing

• Organizes and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, deadlines, available resources and multiple reporting relationships.
• Plans, coordinates and organizes workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines.
• Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and clients to achieve the planned results.

Language requirements:

• Excellent communication skills in spoken and written English and Swahili.

The evaluator must not have had any involvement in the design or implementation or consultation contracts for this consultancy and have no present affiliation with UNDP, its funding partners or other key project stakeholder organizations that in any way could jeopardize their objectivity in relation to the assignment. Contract will be output-based and payment issued only upon delivery of satisfactory outputs

How to Submit Proposals:

• Proposals should be submitted to icprocurement.tz@undp.org e-mail address not later than not later than Thursday, 23 March 2017;
• Applications with no financial offer or missing P11 form and CV or the required documents for the technical evaluation will not be considered for evaluation;
• All necessary information for this post (TOR, Deliverables, Target dates, etc. are presented in the ICPN) therefore applicant must download it from the following link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=36144&view=admin
• Each email should be less than 8MB; emails over this size will not be received to the above mentioned account;
• Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the e-mail address tenders.tz@undp.org