Consultancy Opportunity to support Traidcraft's new strategy at Traidcraft Exchange

Terms of Reference for consultancy to support Traidcraft new strategy in Kenya.

• Introduction Traidcraft Exchange is changing the way it works. We are seeking to shift the power of decisions, planning, and grant making to the organizations and communities that we have always sought to support. This means that our partners and stakeholders will have more control over where they think that funds will be best spent. We aim to become a grassroots investor, advocate and intermediary that focuses on trade justice, particularly through producer organizations, empowered workers, and climate and environmental justice. To do this, we will identify relevant partners which are having a positive impact in their community and have great potential to do more. Their work will have a clear link to our portfolios of work. We will listen to them and work towards an agenda which they set. Our role will be to support them build their communities, organizations, enterprises, and the strength of their voices, drawing on our decades of experience in programmatic and advocacy work. We will also focus on gender and climate change to ensure we support gender diverse and excluded communities and improve climate resilience of farmer and artisan communities.
• The Organisation Traidcraft Exchange is a UK’s development charity specializing in making trade work for the voiceless and unseen entrepreneurs, farmers, and artisans in Africa and Asia for purposes of growing their businesses, find markets and engage effectively in trade. Traidcraft vision is a world without poverty where all trade is fair. Working within the Trade Justice and Climate Justice movement we believe trade can be a powerful and sustainable solution to poverty. https://traidcraftexchange.org/. We are embarking on an exciting new strategic model for our work. Putting #shiftthepower at the heart of our new approach, we will root our work in the specific country contexts, through partnership with communities and organisations of farmers, artisans, and workers, putting them in the driving seat of decisions and strengthening a local/national eco-system of support and sustain change.
• Purpose of the consultancy assignment The purpose of this consultancy is to support the Traidcraft Exchange new strategy of shifting power to local communities. The specific objective is to identify and establish strategic partnerships, collaborations and effective dialogue in East Africa with smallholder farmers collectives, CSOs, government and private sector, for co-creating effective interventions to support the Traidcraft Exchange implement the new strategy of shifting power in East Africa.
• Key activities and deliverables • To map out existing ecosystems for national and local actors (CSO, Govt, private sectors, producers' organizations) and assess their capability, strength, gaps and opportunities for collaboration. • Identify change makers among farmer, worker communities/businesses/collectives. • Promote the #ShiftthePower philosophy among all stakeholders on Participatory Grant Making.
• Building a database of individuals /networks /organizations working in this way across Kenya, Tanzania and across East Africa.
• Engage with stakeholders in Kenya and Tanzania understand climate justice issues, best practices and opportunities in both policy and programming.
• Support the scoping of the key issues in the Tea and Small-Scale Agriculture sectors.
• With input from appropriate stakeholders, develop a framework for a prioritized list of strategic partnerships for TX in EA (starting with Kenya).
• Develop a partnership management system that ensures we continually capture knowledge about our working and strategic partners (e.g., organization charts, current projects, our understanding of their goals). Support dialogue with community organizations/businesses
• Provide accompaniment support to farmers organizations as needed through a participatory process, supporting the organizations to understand their issues better, support inclusive working, help the business take decisions on what needs to change (providing necessary information that may be needed).
• Support the process of evidencing and documenting the processes and successes for the pilot on TX new strategy.
• Timeframe This is a parttime consultancy and is expected to last for 4 months and shall commence on or about 15th May 2022, shall be completed on or before 30th September 2022.

You will have 

• Experience of developing innovative partnerships, process design and implementation in a multi- sectoral context.
• Experience and understanding of sustainable trade issues.
• Experience in using participatory approaches and methodologies, including participatory grant making.
• A drive to develop a good understanding of participatory, #ShiftthePower approaches, and community philanthropy.
• Good communication and rapport development skill.
• Good in speaking and writing skills in English and Kiswahili.
• Willingness to travel in Kenya or Tanzania.
• A bachelor’s degree in social sciences/ development studies/business management/other relevant fields.