Consultant at Solidaridad Eastern & Central Africa Expertise Centre (SECAEC)

FOSEK

Solidaridad, in partnership with Nestlé, Coffee Research Institute (CRI), C. Dorman Limited, Coffee Management Services Ltd, Ecom Agro-industrial Corp. Ltd and, Sustainable Management Services Ltd, Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union, Sidama Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union and Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union are implementing the Food Security Program for Ethiopia and Kenya (FOSEK), financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The program’s main objective is to improve food security in East Africa by increasing local agricultural production and the income of small scale coffee farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia. The program demonstrates improved farmer resilience based upon combining coffee as a cash crop with the production of a considered selection of food crops, intercropped or side cropped with coffee, for farmers’ own consumption and/or for sale to the local markets. The project is piloting dairy enterprise in 3 cooperatives modelled as fully-fledged business cases. This will generate a more stable income for coffee farmers throughout the year; contribute to access in improved and nutritious food at producer households, symbiotically facilitate improved quality and quantity of coffee & food crops produced at farm level eventually increasing the availability of food for the local markets.

Assignment Objectives

Food insecurity is a major global problem. Based on the FOSEK baseline study findings in Kenya, most smallholder coffee farmers lack access to sufficient and healthy food in at least 3-4 months per year and this negatively affects their livelihood. This is despite the fact that regions where coffee is grown enjoy suitable agro-ecological conditions and enablers that can sufficiently support viable sustainable dairy systems.

A key element to address food and nutritional security sustainably among smallholder coffee producers in East Africa is through the establishment of dairy business cases domiciled at producer organizations/cooperatives. It premised on the strong symbiotic relationship among coffee-food crops-dairy enterprises. In the quest to sustainably establish the business case, FOSEK will issue cooling and dairy processing equipment to 3 smallholder coffee cooperatives with high potential for dairy.

To achieve optimal uptake and sustainable dairy management practices among the beneficiaries and farmer organization, capacity enhancement of the cooperatives board officials, workers and producers is vital. It is on this backdrop that Solidaridad seeks to recruit a qualified firm/ consultant to enhance the capacity of cooperative board officials, workers and farmers on the following areas:

• Dairy production in the Kenyan industry context
• Smallholder dairy farm planning
• Dairy feeds (pasture production & management) and feeding management to increase quantity and quality produced (nutritional value of dairy and dairy products)
• Genetics, herd management, handling and health monitoring
• Dairy and dairy products handling and safety practices
• Dairy and dairy products marketing and linkages
• Cooperate governance of the beneficiary cooperatives
• Beneficial optimal waste management
• Mentoring and modelling of cooling plants as fully fledged dairy hubs

The training sites will be at the respective pilot cooperatives as enlisted below:

• Kangunu Farmers’ Cooperative Society – Kiambu County
• Karithathi Farmers’ Cooperative Society - Kirinyaga County
• 3^rd beneficiary pilot Cooperative – To be determined

The target is to reach out to enhance the capacity of 45 cooperative board officials and workers (15 per cooperative) and is to reach to train 90 TOTs who in turn train 450 Promoter Farmers who eventually reach out to 10,000 farmers targeted by the project.

Expected outputs & Deliverables

The Consultant shall deliver on the following outputs:

• Develop training curriculum/modules as well as aids (learner guides/booklets/handouts) to assist in the training of cooperative officials and workers for effective adoption of sustainable dairy management practices. These shall be availed to Solidaridad beforehand for review and approval
• Develop pre and post training evaluation questionnaires to be used in each training session towards the assessment of the delivery and understanding of the trainees
• Design a training program using performance objectives provided as well as additional material contributed by the consultant out of their previous experience in handling similar assignments.
• Deliver trainings to cooperative board officials, workers and producers in the respective cooperatives piloting the dairy business case guided by the training curriculum and materials provided.
• Link the face-to-face training and mobile extension service provision methodology
• Develop and share training reports after every training sessions
• The consultant will present the manuscript flow for discussions during the inception meeting

Coordination and cooperation

• The Consultant undertaking the study will work under the coordination of Solidaridad (SECAEC)

Inputs

• Solidaridad shall provide the consultant with background information on the Food Security program
• Solidaridad shall introduce the consultant to the relevant Program team for preparatory planning. It will be the responsibility of the consultant to make contact with any external relevant organization while keeping Solidaridad in correspondence
• The consultant shall refer and adhere to statutory regulations of Cooperative Act and Dairy Industry Act in Kenya
• Solidaridad in consultation with program partners undertakes to mobilize and avail trainees for the particular exercise as per the schedule shared by the consultant and agreed with SECAEC.

Experts/Consultant’s;

Develop a comprehensive expression of interest (E.O.I) outlining:

• A profile of the firm/consultant
• Firm/Consultants statement on the interpretation of the TOR
• Curriculum Vitae’s of consultant/firm outlining qualifications and demonstrable experience in training on dairy management spanning not less than five years’
• A description of the methodology
• At least 3 references of similar assignments undertaken in the last 3 years
• Sample of some of the works delivered including but not limited to: reports, presentations, training modules
• Demonstrable functional market linkages in dairy and dairy products
• A detailed financial proposal (inclusive of relevant taxes) and a work plan for carrying out the assignment