Junior Consultant - Livestock Intensification at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

About the project

The Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes (ISLA) Kenya is a partnership set up by IDH in 2015 in response to deforestation and forest degradation in the South West Mau Forest block in western Kenya. ISLA aims to conserve 60,000 hectares of the forest by 2030. The partnership is built on the interest of tea and other companies to conserve the forest for its microclimate and of the Kenyan government to improve livelihoods of communities.

The South West Mau is the largest of 22 blocks of the Mau Forests Complex (MFC). The MFC covers over 400,000 hectares and is critical for Kenya and parts of East Africa. More than 10 million people depend on its rivers. The forest also influences the region’s microclimate such as rainfall patterns, creating ideal conditions to produce crops such as tea. Furthermore, the area is one of Kenya’s main water towers and much of its hydroelectric power is generated here.

In recent decades, more than 25% of the forest has either been cut down or degraded, putting tea production, other sectors and community livelihoods at risk. This is caused by growing populations, unsustainable livestock grazing, charcoal burning and timber extraction from the forest.

In response, IDH created a strong coalition of the Nakuru, Kericho and Bomet national government agencies; tea, energy, telecommunications and timber companies; and civil society made up of NGOs and community groups, implementing partners and knowledge institutions to work together across the landscape. Together, we developed an integrated action plan for holistic landscape management in the South West Mau Forest across four key themes: forest conservation, water conservation, sustainable energy with livelihoods as an important cross-cutting theme. The focus of ISLA Kenya is on the northeast boundary of the forest, where threats are highest. Based on baseline and feasibility studies done by IDH, it was clear that overstocking (of livestock) in the forest is a key threat.

For more information on the ISLA partnership, please visit: https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/landscapes/south-west-mau-forest-kenya/

This pilot was successful and gave rise to two twin projects; the livestock intensification upscaling project intended at upscaling the activities at the pilot and an integrated livestock approach intended at organizing community members to adopt a controlled forest grazing system. These two aims at reducing forest grazing.

The Livestock Intensification Upscaling Project.

The livestock intensification upscaling project is a three -year project co-funded by IDH, James Finlays Kenya-JFK, Unilever Tea Kenya-UTK, Kenya Tea Development Agency-KTDA, Rhino Ark and Rabo Bank Foundation through Global Agricultural Foundation, and implemented by SNV-Netherlands Development Organization. The objective of the project is to promote livestock intensification among forest-dependent communities along the NE boundary of the SW Mau with an aim of increasing their income levels while at the same time reducing deforestation. This project was born out of the realization that livestock over- grazing and browsing is one of the main causes of forest loss in the SW Mau, which is an important water source, vital for local and downstream communities, businesses, and wildlife reserves alike. This is in addition to the fact that for the surrounding communities, livestock is an important source of income and livelihood. The livestock intensification project is part of the bigger Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes (ISLA) Program being implemented by IDH and its partners in the SW Mau.

Job Description

The consultant will be responsible for:

• Facilitating and supporting activities to enhance efficiency of raw milk collection system/process.
• Facilitating training for farmers based on agreed curriculum
• Identifying, training and coaching Service provider Enterprises (SPEs) and farmer trainers
• Supporting design and roll out of an (environmentally sustainable) T&E programme.
• Providing leadership in identification, selection and establishment of model farms.
• Facilitating linkages with private input suppliers and service providers.
• Facilitating farmer learning and knowledge development through field days and exchange visits.
• Facilitating farmer learning and knowledge development on fodder planning.
• Support to farmer groups with Feed & Fodder training programs and design and implementation of demonstrations for fodder establishment & preservation.
• Facilitating linkages with Feed & Fodder suppliers for quality seeds and quality feeds.
• Supporting the farmer groups with linkages for feed/fodder.
• Supporting in the development of forest grazing plans
• Perform any other task (s) that may be assigned by the Project Manager from time to time.

Reporting by the consultant

1. A weekly report detailing activities done within the week, outputs from those activities and next courses of action
2. Monthly and Quarterly report detailing milestones achieved versus envisioned targets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture or livestock production/training and extension, or equivalent work experience in the dairy industry
• At least 3 years Technical experience in dairy management
• Extensive work experience in a multicultural environment
• Good communication, negotiation, public speaking, interpersonal and organization skills
• Good computer skills
• Good networks in the Kenya agriculture sector is an advantage.

Additional Information

Contract duration

6 months with possibility of extension.

Expected start date

01 July 2021