Developing Guidelines for Sustainable Product and Country Networks in Fairtrade Africa at Fairtrade International

Introduction

Fairtrade Africa has implemented multiple approaches to delivering producer support services and advocacy interventions over the past decade. Drawing on this experience, Fairtrade Africa will place greater emphasis on product and country networks as a primary means of delivering support services and advocacy to maximise impact and efficiency.
The purpose of this consultancy is to develop guidelines that will be used to strengthen our country and product networks:
i. Guidelines for existing and potential partners on how to establish and maintain networks. This will help those managing and participating in networks to be successful in creating and contributing to fulfil their own specific objectives, and importantly ensure a level of accountability necessary to be credible advocates and attract 3rd party support and collaboration. This document will also include an analysis of training and support needs at various stages of network evolution, and how this can be provided (via Fairtrade Africa or 3rd parties).
ii. Internal operating guidelines for Fairtrade Africa to provide a consistent and effective approach to the establishment, maintenance and accountability of networks. This will include an analysis of key individual competencies and associated training for staff who are tasked with supporting networks.
To achieve these outcomes, the consultancy will draw out the experiences and insights associated with past and present product and country networks through extensive consultation with those involved and desk reviews of relevant documentation. This will ensure the richness of information that exists can be made accessible and useful for future day to day operations.

Milestones and Outputs of the Consultancy

Consultation and information gathering

• Preliminary:
• Collation and review of existing documentation at Fairtrade Africa
• Establish contacts with six (6) product and country network collaborators past and present
• Establish dialogue with the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fairtrade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC), for their contribution given their similar approach.
• Online interviews with network collaborators to understand and collect:
• Examples of best practices and pitfalls: governance and operational management
• Samples of control systems and policies adopted by networks to function effectively
• Training and support need at different points of maturity, from conception to set up through to ongoing operations
• Online interviews with relevant Fairtrade Africa management and support staff to establish:
• Different operational approaches to facilitating networks
• Key competencies and associated skills training required to provide effective support to networks
• Map existing and potential future networks versus capacity
• Establish common support resources available to networks
• Desktop review:

• Lessons and insights external to Fairtrade for consideration

Collate information into a draft operational guide(s)

Guidelines For Existing And Aspirational Networks

•  Conditions for success
• ‘How to’ guidance to establish, govern and run a network
• Roles and responsibilities of the network versus Fairtrade Africa staff
• Minimal accountability obligations for credibility, and how to fulfil these commitments
• Sample policies and control systems as a common resource

Internal Manual For Fairtrade Africa Support Staff

• Best practise and scope of work for staff facilitating networks - for a consistent approach
• Capacity considerations to meet existing and future projected demand
• Delivering support centrally through Fairtrade Africa versus through the network
• Networking of networks
• 3: Consult and finalise guide(s)
• Fairtrade Africa Management And Staff
• Review and feedback on draft(s)
• Alteration of drafts based on this feedback
• Project Collaborators
• Review and feedback on draft(s)
• Alteration of drafts based on this feedback
• Fairtrade Africa Management
• Review and finalisation of documentation

Deliverables

• Guidelines for existing and potential networks;
• An internal manual for Fairtrade Africa support staff; and
• A report that outlines the key achievements, challenges, recommendations (to FTA) as well as lessons learned.
• Timelines It is proposed that the assignment begins on 1 September 2020. However, the precise dates of will be agreed on with the consultant prior to kick off.

A tentative schedule is provided in the table below.

• Work stage Proposed Allocation (Days).
• Review of existing documentation at FTA, planning the assignment 2
• Interviews with network collaborators and collection and analysis of operational documentation 12
• Online interviews FTA 5
• Desktop review - including CLAC interview(s) and review of CLAC documentation 1
• Developing network guidelines 2.5
• Developing FTA guidelines 2.5
• Consulting and refining with FTA staff and collaborators 3
• Estimated Duration of Assignment 29 days

Required Qualifications

• Masters’ degree in a relevant area;
• Demonstrable experience in developing the organizational capacity of producer organizations or producer organization networks;
• Good understanding of Fairtrade and global agricultural supply chains, especially from the producer nations perspective;
• Strong command of written and spoken English, with demonstrated ability to produce well-written documents, in the clear, concise and correct language.