Short-term Consultancy - Development of a Communication Strategy for KILIMO VC Programme at Self Help Africa

Assignment type Short-term Consultancy

Title of the Assignment Development of a Communication Strategy for KILIMO VC Programme

Duration 25 Days

Self Help Africa is seeking a consultant to develop a communication strategy for its new KILIMO – Value Chains programme which, aims to increase sustainable investment in agribusinesses with smallholders as suppliers or customers in Kenya and increase the involvement of poorer smallholders in value chains.

KILIMO – Value Chains: Kenyan Initiative for Long-term Integration of Market Operators in Value Chains is a EUR 24m five-year agribusiness support programme that is part of the European Union’s Kenya-AGRIFI programme that supports productive, adapted and market integrated smallholder agriculture, including a contribution to the Africa Investment Facility.

Self Help Africa and Imani Development are the Fund Managers for the challenge fund managed under the KILIMO-VC programme.

Self Help Africa is an international NGO dedicated to the vision of an economically thriving and resilient rural Africa. SHA has 50 years’ experience working with smallholder farmers, farmer associations, cooperatives and agribusinesses across Africa to help farmers grow and sell more food, improve diets, diversify incomes and make their livelihoods more sustainable and resilient to external shocks.

Imani Development is a private economic and development consultancy firm that facilitates the process of economic growth and poverty reduction in the developing world. Imani has been active in East and Southern Africa, the Caribbean, South East Asia and the Pacific for over 30 years, advising policy makers, governments, development agencies, regional and international organisations, and the private sector in our core areas of work.

KILIMO PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND

The overall objective of the KILIMO-VC programme is to improve the capacity of 100,000 smallholder farmers/pastoralists to practise environmentally sustainable and climate-smart agriculture as a business in inclusive value chains. Self Help Africa (SHA) and Imani Development are the fund managers for the programme which will work with 50 value chain partnership deliver:

• 10,000 net equivalent jobs within sustainable agri-enterprises
• A 70% increase in smallholder/ pastoralist production marketed
• At least 20,000 hectares under climate-smart land management practices.
• Increased turnover for at least 50 agri-enterprises
• Increased incomes for at least 100,000 smallholders/ pastoralists as agri-enterprises expand in their markets
• 90,000 households with increased dietary diversity and decision-making power of female farmers

KILIMO-VC’s interventions seek to catalyse positive and sustained change in the behaviour of market players involved in agricultural VCs in Kenya, including the livestock and fisheries sectors. KILIMO-VC will:

• Establish a funding scheme blending investments and commercial loans.
• Implement agreed business plans that will support investments in at least 50 firms / value chain partnerships to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of priority agricultural value chains and the integration of smallholders/pastoralists within them. This will increase capacity of 100,000 smallholders/ pastoralists and downstream VC actors to collaborate in inclusive agriculture value chains
• Provide a technical advisory services component for 50 agri-enterprise actors.
• Increase access to finance (credit, banks, investment) for complementary investments by downstream VC actors, primary through working with Kenyan banking partners of the European Investment Bank.

Through a programme inputs and activities, that include setting up match-funded investments based on robust and viable business plans (loans, grants and firm’s own resources) and providing technical assistance to agri-enterprise actors in the selected VCs, KILIMO-VC will contribute to market system change to make value chains work more efficiently and inclusively, responding to the needs of poor people, especially smallholders and pastoralists (in particular youth and women). We anticipate this will result in greater resilience (anticipatory, absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacity) in VCs for the smallholder/pastoralist, thus reducing poverty through increased production and incomes, and increased profits and jobs created in agri-businesses. Through targeted technical assistance, the action will improve the investmentreadiness of agri-enterprise actors and contribute to increasing financial investments into the agricultural sector in Kenya.

There will be three funding windows which as fund managers would like to create as much publicity and marketing as possible to potential applicants. KILIMO-VC will use a two-stage process of concept notes and full proposals/business plans, and there will be three distinct call windows. Call I will be launched in month eight (August, 2018) of the project with the theme ‘climate-smart inputs’. This will raise visibility of the newly-launched Challenge Fund and will contract 10-15 agri-enterprises. Call II will be launched in quarter one of 2019, and will draw on lessons from Call I, making any necessary refinements to the application process. Call II’s theme will be ‘Inclusive climate-smart agriculture value chains’ and we expect to contract 30-40 firms. Call III, launched in month 18, which will be a ‘gap-filling’ call with a theme agreed upon following a review of the contracted portfolio at that stage. We expect to contract 5-10 grants in the final window. In total we expect to contract 50 agri-based SMEs into the project.

ABOUT AGRIFI

The European Commission and the Government of Kenya signed a Financing Agreement called AGRIFI Kenya: Support to productive, adapted and market integrated smallholder agriculture, including a contribution to the Africa Investment Facility (hereafter AGRIFI Kenya). This component includes also the complementary EIB Kenya Agriculture Value Chain Facility to Financial Institutions in Kenya, which has been be funded through credit line(s) provided by the EIB combined with a grant from the Africa Investment Facility and implemented by the European Investment Bank (EIB) through local banks in Kenya.

The AGRIFI is the 11th EDF National Indicative Programme Focal Sector 1: Food Security and Resilience to climate shocks in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands. The said programme contributes to Result 2 for this focal sector, namely for Productive climate resilient agriculture and community investments to safeguard productivity against climatic shocks. The rationale of AGRIFI Kenya is based on the need to ensure sustainable food security and growth of agriculture, livestock and fisheries sector with more intensive farming systems as indicated in the Kenyan Agriculture Sector Development Strategy 2010 – 2020 (ASDS), the Medium Term Plan 2 and the Medium Term Economic Framework for Agriculture. Smallholders can greatly benefit from stronger integration in their value chain, by partnering with agribusinesses who can facilitate input and output market access.

Objectives of the AGRIFI Programme

The global objective is: Capacity of smallholder farmers/pastoralists to practice environmentally sustainable and climate smart agriculture as a business in market-integrated value chain on functional and equitable terms improved.

The specific objective is: Smallholder farmers/pastoralists are better integrated within their value chain through the establishment of a funding scheme blending grants and commercial loans providing incentives to investments in the agribusiness sector in Kenya.

KILIMO – VC COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

An innovative and effective communication strategy is therefore, important to ensure smooth information flow among project partners and beneficiaries and to support coordination. In addition, the strategy will ensure that all external audiences including partners and beneficiaries are aware of the progress and achievements made in the project. The strategy will ensure that smallholder farmers and other stakeholders who stand to benefit from agri-enterprises remain sufficiently informed and engaged. Finally, the communication strategy will support the project overall goal which is to ensure that 100,000 smallholder farmers and pastoralists are better integrated in inclusive value chains.

The communication function will be key to this transformation and will play an even more crucial role in ensuring that stories of change, impact and messages are identified, packaged and disseminated to their intended recipients by use of multiple platforms.

SCOPE OF WORK

• Conduct a needs assessment. This includes a situation analysis to identify needs and a media content analysis. The inputs require desk research, a perception survey, and indepth interviews and focus groups discussions. Outputs include an analysis of the findings of the needs assessment, a SWOT analysis and implications for the findings on the communications strategy
• Develop and deliver the project’s 5-year communications strategy with clear audience definitions, context, objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), key media to communicate and effective messengers. This should cover aspects like branding, media engagement and the digital aspect in appropriate forums etc
• Identify and develop communication strategies and a messaging framework for each of the targeted audiences
• Carry out a risk analysis based on the project’s risk management framework and develop a crisis response communication plan to manage any reputational risks for the project and all the partners involved
• Provide a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the communications function of the project
• Develop a 2-year workplan with clear deliverables and milestones, indicators and tools for the implementation of the strategy.

DURATION

The services above are to be carried out over a period of approximately 25 working days.

DELIVERABLES

The consultant is expected to submit the following deliverables.

1. Inception report – Submission of detailed methodology demonstrating a good understanding of the literature review, detailed work plan (indicating dates and activities), an outline of the communication and visibility strategy and data collection tools
2. Draft Communication Strategy
3. Final Communication Strategy revised according to comments provided, and approved by the Country Director

Note: Actual days and dates for each deliverable will be discussed and agreed upon by the successful candidate

PAYMENTS

30% will be paid upon submission of the Inception Report 70% will be paid upon successful completion of the work

QUALIFICATION

• Advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent), preferably in communications, journalism, public relations or another related field.
• Knowledge in agriculture and trade in the Kenyan context
• Demonstrated experience in writing communication strategies

The total contract value will be negotiated based on the agreed scope of work and the consultant’s qualification and experience.