Terms Of Reference For The Consultancy Assessment Of The Landscape Of Agroecology (ae)/ The Ecological Organic Agriculture (eoa) Initiatives In Africa

1. Introduction

Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) wishes to recruit a consultant or firm to undertake the above assignment under the African Union Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative. The EOA Initiative is an African Union continental undertaking started in 2011 and currently implemented in nine countries (Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda) in which BvAT is an Executing Agency and host to the AUC-CSC Continental Secretariat.

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The EOA Initiative is implemented under the guidance and oversight of the AU chaired Continental Steering Committee (CSC) to establish an African organic farming platform based on available best practices; and to develop sustainable organic farming systems and improve seed quality. Its mission is to promote ecologically sound strategies and practices among diverse stakeholders involved in production, processing, marketing, and policy making to safeguard the environment, improve livelihoods, alleviate poverty and guarantee food security among farmers in Africa. The goal is to contribute to mainstreaming of Ecological Organic Agriculture into national agricultural production systems by 2025 in order to improve agricultural productivity, food security, access to markets and sustainable development in Africa. In addition, these efforts are hoped to reduce exploitation of the organic farmers in Africa. The initiative embraces holistic production systems that sustain the health of soils, ecosystems, and people, and relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions rather than reliance on the use of external inputs with adverse effects on people’s total health (human, animal, plant and environmental).
BvAT, a not-for-profit organization established in Kenya in 2009 and based in the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE)Nairobi, with the goal to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Kenya and other African countries through supporting dissemination of information and knowledge on appropriate technology to improve human, animal, plant, and environmental health. It is the lead agency for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) grant support to the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative.

In 2019, the African Union and BvAT commissioned two studies, for 50 countries and 5 Eastern Africa countries respectively, to assess the extent of implementation of the African Union Heads of State and Government’s decision on Organic Agriculture1 (Ex. CL/Dec. 631 (XVIII)) among African States2 . The results of this study revealed five categories where the member States lie in terms of their policy, legal and institutional development for EOA in this context:

1. Advanced EOA Sector – where Organic policies and product standards are in place, they have government support, organic farmers are organized, and they participate in both export and domestic markets.
2. Active EOA Sector – where there are efforts in developing Organic policies and product standards, the government has promised support, organic farmers are organized and the participate in both export and domestic markets.
3. Infant EOA Sector – where there’s little government support, organic farmers are organized and the participate in both export and domestic markets.
4. Nascent EOA Sector – with weak farmer organizations and some export and little domestic markets and finally,
5. Awaiting Inspiration – where none of these conditions exist.

Table 1: Summary of EOA status of the 55 countries of North, West, Central, East and Southern Africa

NOAM – National Organic Agriculture Movement  FA – Farmer Association

Specifically, of the 55 countries in Africa, 4 (7%) countries (Madagascar, Morocco, Tunisia, and Uganda) lie in the first category of advanced EOA sector with an EOA policy, organic production standards, strong government support for EOA and a well-developed National Organic Agriculture Movement (NOAM). Further, 11 (20%) countries have an active EOA sector, whilst 12 (22%) other countries have an infant EOA sector. In addition, 10 (18%) countries were described as having a nascent EOA awareness. The remaining 18 (33%) countries are waiting for inspiration to adopt EOA in their countries, they have very little institutional capacity, no government support, and no exports.
2. Purpose and Scope of the Assessment

Given the varied distribution of the countries across the five categories, the findings point to the need for an assessment that provides status of landscape of initiatives, programmes and projects in these countries sampled across the 5 typologies and establish if there is a correlation between the landscape and findings of the policy and legislation study.
The objectives of this assessment will be:

1. 1. )Assessment of previous (last 10 years) and ongoing interventions (initiatives, programmes, projects) related to EOA in these countries, providing an overview of the distribution of the interventions against the prevailing policy and legislation environment and establish key donors/funders of such interventions.
   2. Assessment of current status from the baseline to ascertain level of investment, impactareas, spatial coverage, longevity and focus on the value chain stment and target beneficiaries and establish the organizations implementing the interventions.
   3. Identification and documentation of successful interventions in each country during the last ten years, the drivers of success and key lessons learnt.
   4. Ranking of countries according to their “agroecologicalness” on the basis of policies and interventions formulation and implementation.
   5. Identification of constraints and opportunities in the context of development priorities and how far the selected countries have progressed with supporting EOA related initiatives.
   6. Provide a road map for priority setting for EOA related initiatives at national, regional, and continental levels.
   7. Preparation of regional and continental policy briefs resulting from this assignment.

 3. The Deliverables
The expected key outputs of the assessment are:

• An Inception Report: Elaboration of the assessment methodology and tools to be applied including a detailed schedule of activities to be undertaken across the selected countries. This should be ready within 2 weeks before signing the contract.
• Draft Report: A report with findings related to all the objectives and should be ready within 75 days from the day of signing the contract.
• Final Report: The technical report should include the executive summary, background, methodology, key findings, conclusions, lessons and recommendations, and annexes (key officials interviewed, documents consulted, and data collection instruments applied). The final report to include inputs from the CSC and RSC.
• Policy Briefs: Preparation of national, regional and continental policy briefs resulting from this assignment.

4. Background Documents

In addition to relevant documents and reports to be sought at country and AU level, various documents valuable to this study will be provided including but not limited to:

• Report of the study on the legal, policy and institutional development of EOA in Southern, Northern, Central and Southern Africa undertaken by AUC under the EOA-I
• Report on the legislation and policy development of EOA-I in 3 eastern Africa countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
• Country specific reports, plans and strategies on Agriculture and particularly EOA, if any.
• AU Decision on Organic Farming, (the basis of Ecological Organic Agriculture)
• EOA Strategic Plan (2015-2025) and EOA Action Plan (2015-2020)
• SDC and SSNC Project Documents (for the period 2013-2018)
• Report of the Assessment of SSNC contribution to first phase of EOA in Eastern Africa
• EOA Mid-term Review Report 2016
• Report of the Organizational and Capacity Assessment (2018)
• Baseline Study of EOA Initiative in Africa- Phase 2 – 2019

5. The Assessment Methodology/Approach 

The country-specific assessments will be conducted through a consultancy expected to develop an appropriate approach/methodology to address the scope provided. The study will be conducted using various tools including desk reviews, household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussion. Overall, the methodology will include but not limited to:

1.  Identification and review of relevant documents on initiatives, programmes, projects etc. implemented in the country over the last 5 years and ongoing, and where possible capturing upcoming initiatives.
2. Data collection approaches and tools, appropriate to allow for triangulation of findings.
3. Data analysis techniques that are rich and informative to allow for quality decision-making.
4. Validation meetings for the results obtained.

The study will be conducted between February 2023 and April 2023.

6. Budget Considerations
The budget is expected to cover:

1. Field activities for data collection in at least 15% (8) of African countries, focusing on the EOA-I participating countries in Eastern African and Western Africa and randomly sampling from 7-10 from the other regions (Central, Southern and Northern Africa) including selection across the five categories of the policy study to sample of size of 15-20 countries.
2. Consultancy – Data collection, analysis, and reporting
3. Inception and validation meetings
4. Preparation of national, regional and policy briefs

7. Consultants & Minimum Qualifications

The study will be conducted by a consultant or team of consultants with the team leader and partners having the following main qualifications:

• At least a master’s degree or equivalent in agriculture, sociology, development studies, economics, or related social sciences.
• At least 5 years of experience in conducting policy assessment/evaluations, policy impact assessments or similar assignments in agricultural development programmes and projects.
• Demonstrated ability to assess complex situations to analyze critical issues succinctly and clearly and draw conclusions and recommendations.
• Proven in-depth understanding and consulting experiences on institutional set-up of complex development programmes.
• Substantive knowledge of participatory M&E processes and experience with multistakeholder/community development interventions.
• Excellent English writing and communication skills.

8. How to apply
Interested candidates should submit the following:

1. A brief proposal indicating their understanding of the assignment and methodology including gender aspects and workplan for successfully conducting the study.
2. Financial proposal showing the cost of conducting the study, breakdown of consultancy costs and any other costs associated with this assignment.
3. At least one report of a similar assignment conducted in the past three years.
4. A concise curriculum vitae of the consultant(s), with at least one being a woman with a gender orientation. A gender balanced team would be preferred.
5. Names and contacts of three referees (phone numbers and email).
6. A one-page write-up showing why you are the most suitable team for the consultancy.

If you are interested in the above consultancy and can demonstrate your ability to meet the qualifications required, then submit your expression of interest with the above mentioned documents to info@eoai-africa.org with the subject heading: Consultancy for Assessment of Landscape of EOA Initiatives in Africa.
The closing date for applications is 27th January 2023. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews.

Biovision Africa Trust is an EOE