Consultancy for Baseline Study for Project Increasing the Resilience of Farming Systems with Agroecology, with a Focus on Gender at at Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT)

  Introduction

• Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) wishes to recruit a consultant to undertake assessment of the status of output and outcome indicators on the above project and provide recommendations to inform evaluations, accountability and learning in the 3 counties (Kakamega, Busia and Bungoma) in Western Kenya where the project will be implemented

About Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT)

• BvAT is a not-for-profit organization established in Kenya in 2009. It is situated on the main campus of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kasarani, Nairobi. The organization’s goal is to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Kenya and other African countries, through dissemination of information and knowledge and building capacity of famers for uptake of appropriate technology, to improve human, animal, plant, and environmental health.
• BvAT runs a Farmer Communication Programme in East Africa supported by Biovision Foundation of Switzerland and IKEA through ENVIU East Africa, the African Union Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) initiative supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and BvAT in collaboration with PELUM Uganda coordinates the Knowledge Hub for Eastern Africa (KHEA) under the global Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa (KCOA) covering the five regions of Africa – West, East, North, Central and Southern Africa. Consequently, BvAT has strengthened its position as a leading organisation championing the development of the agroecology in Kenya and the African continent.
• BvAT’s theory of change is that when farmers are supported to embrace sustainable agroecological practices through dissemination of information and training, agroecology is mainstreamed into public policy, and linkages among the value chain actors fostered; then farmers productivity will improve, food and nutrition security for both rural and urban communities improved; and environmental sustainability of agricultural production systems enhanced.

About the Project

• The project is implemented in 3 counties of Busia, Kakamega and Bungoma in Western Kenya. The project is nested within BvAT’s Farmer Communication Programme setup which runs farmer resource centres and complemented by The Organic Farmer (TOF) Magazine, The Organic Farmer (TOF) Radio and the one-stop shop knowledge platform Infonet (https://infonet-biovision.org). The project is also tightly linked to the Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in Eastern Africa (KHEA) activities in western Kenya, including but not limited to leveraging on the Continental Digital Knowledge Platform and the Multiplier network in the region.
• Experiences from numerous projects in the region show that intervention success, efficiency and sustainability are highly related to appropriate sustainable models, processes and initiatives that take relevant climate-smart and resilient practices to scale. Hence, the project will innovatively scale up agroecology practices in the farming households and promote engagement in organic farming as a business beyond just subsistence farming. Overall, the project interventions will be aiming at achieving environmental and social economic benefits that will build resilient farming systems and livelihoods.
• The project’s objective is to improve the livelihoods of farmers in western Kenya through the adoption of agroecological practices in agroforestry, indigenous vegetables, and poultry value chains as well as practices of improving soil health and fertility. Four key areas of interventions, activities and results detailed as per the table (see table in the pdf version – link here  Printable version :

 Purpose and Scope of the Study
The overall objective of the study is to determine the status of output and outcome indicators and provide additional information within the project context which are related to the project to inform evaluations, accountability and learning in the 3 counties, in Western Kenya.

The specific objectives of this study are, to:

• Assess the current status of farmers, especially women and youth practicing ecological sustainable agriculture (ESA) practices under the four key areas of intervention among the smallholder farmers.
• Derive key project indicators and establish their baseline to constitute the basis of measuring the project performance in relation to expected outputs and outcomes.
• Evaluate the gaps in the current situation in relation to the main elements of the project to develop a business case for enhancing resilience of farming systems while improving farmers’ livelihoods with appropriate future interventions.
• The scope of the assignment is to collect detailed information on the current situation in relation to the four main elements of the project amongst the target beneficiaries within the targeted geographic regions in the 3 counties of interest to develop a business case for agroecology resilience around agroforestry, indigenous poultry and vegetables enterprises and soil health and fertility management. The study will establish the baseline for the project´s key indicators and constitute the basis to measure the project performance, while the assessment of the resilience of farming systems provides the resilience situation including gaps where the four interventions can be applied. The entire exercise will focus on two specific target groups:
  • smallholder farmers especially women and their involvement on agribusinesses in the indigenous poultry and vegetables enterprises and soil health improvement initiatives, and;
  • youth involvement in indigenous poultry and vegetables enterprises and soil health improvement initiatives.

Background Documents
In addition to relevant documents and reports to be sought from BvAT, various documents
vital to this study will be provided including but not limited to:

• Project Proposal
• Project Results framework
• BvAT Strategic Plan
• BvAT’s Annual Reports

Methodology
The county-specific evaluations will be conducted through a consultancy expected to develop an appropriate approach/methodology to address the scope provided. The study will be conducted using mixed methods and tools including desk reviews, household survey, key informant interviews, focused group discussion. Overall, the methodology will include but not limited to:

• Identification and review of relevant documents on initiatives, programmes, projects etc., implemented in the counties.
• Data collection approaches and tools, appropriate to allow for triangulation of findings.
• Data analysis techniques that are rich and informative to allow for quality decision-making.
•  Validation meetings for the results obtained.

Deliverables
The expected key outputs are:

• An Inception Report: Elaboration of the evaluation methodology and tools to be applied including a detailed schedule of activities to be undertaken across the selected counties. This should be ready within 1 week after signing the contract.
• Draft Report: A report with findings related to all the objectives and should be ready within 14 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 farmers interviewed, documents consulted, data collection instruments applied), appendices and dataset (excel or STATA or SPSS upload) with raw data in soft copy

Timeframe

• The baseline study is expected to start on 24th August 2023 and end by 7th September 2023.

Budget Considerations
The budget is expected to cover:

• Field activities for data collection in all the 3 counties.
• Consultancy – Data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• Inception and validation meetings.

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 evaluations, 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 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.