Terms of Reference for a Baseline Survey Scaling Investment for Resilience of East Africa Coffee Producers Program - (Extension Phase) at Solidaridad Eastern & Central Africa Expertise Centre (SECAEC)

Preamble:

Solidaridad strives to be an organization that understands the signs of modern times, seeking to be a Civil Society Organization (CSO) with its own place and role in society, while simultaneously interacting with Governments and markets. The organization envisions a world in which all we produce, and all we consume can sustain us while respecting the planet and the next generations. Solidaridad embraces the public-private and people partnerships (PPPP) in order to test innovations, speeding up change, and take success to scale. Globally, Solidaridad works around coffee and other 12 commodities/sectors (http://www.solidaridadnetwork.org)

Program Summary:

The Coffee Resilience Program 2018-2022 dubbed Practice for Change (PFC) is a multi-country program with 2 main result areas as per Solidaridad’s Strategic vision: Good practices (GP) and Robust Infrastructure. The program supports small and medium scale coffee farmers/producers across 3 East African countries; Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. The program was designed to address a myriad of challenges facing East African Coffee farmers which include; high costs of production, poor governance at the cooperative level, decreasing coffee productivity, poor quality of coffee, erratic weather conditions, low income earned by coffee farmers, limited access to finance for coffee farmers and the need for a data-driven sector

Despite the above issues, smallholder farming is a resilient practice and has a strong future for East African coffee producers. Smallholder farming has stood strong despite the tribulations that some of these countries have undergone since the ’70s. It is, however, imperative that the sector players should continue to work in a more coordinated and collaborative manner. Solidaridad East and Central Africa in a consortium with the public and private sector players work towards driving an inclusive, resilient, and economically viable coffee production region that moves from slow and small to speed and scale. In the first phase of the program (2018-2020), 23,500 farmers were reached in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. In the extension phase (2021-2022), an additional 27,000 farmers will also be reached in the same countries.

Program expected Outcomes:

• Increase productivity to 4 kg of cherry per tree (from a national average of 2 kg per tree) for smallholder coffee farmers and 6 kg of cherry per tree (from a national average of 3 kg per tree) for medium-scale farmers as a result of Good practices (GP) by 2023.
• Increase quality by 25% (premium grades reaching 70% from 45%) as a result of GP package by 2021.
• 20% increase in income for farmers as a result of increased coffee productivity & diversification.
• 10% women membership and direct access to knowledge and income from coffee by 2021.
• Economic and farming performance data available to farmers, cooperatives, and financial institutions through ICT solutions.
• Farmers’ access to finance to invest in good practices and/or new technologies.
• One (1) million Euro of blended finance secured from financial institutions or investors to implement in good practices and robust infrastructure by 2021.
• Improved governance, efficiency, and accountability in coffee cooperatives involved in the project.

Baseline Objectives:

The main objective of the baseline survey is to prepare a pre‐project / baseline information of the target beneficiaries as per the indicators of project objectives and expected results specified in the project document and the project results framework.

The specific objectives of the baseline survey are:

• To collect and analyze data on the verifiable indicators from the project results framework.
• To collect and analyze the key information of the existing situation of the project’s targeted beneficiaries (including coffee farmers, cooperatives, and coffee boards among others), service providers, and/or related stakeholders.
• Survey Methodology:
• The methodology for this study will include both direct and indirect data collection, analysis and cross-referencing, and formulating recommendations thematically and as area/site-specific. The Consultant will finalize the methodology to undertake this study in line with the scope of the assessment, presented and refined with the management during the inception meeting.
• The methodology used during this assessment will overall, include, but not be limited to the following:
• Review existing relevant secondary information and reports related to the East Africa coffee origin.
• Review of previous Solidaridad coffee project level documents and reports.
• Discuss with key Solidaridad staff, partners, and key informants at Office and field implementation levels.
• Carry out field visits in the implementation areas for data collection, observations, and triangulation.
• Hold community-level participatory meetings and focused group discussions for data collection and information gathering.
• Carry out a household-level survey for data collection through structured questionnaires.
• Data collection will also entail analysis of climate risks and vulnerability where both secondary data and primary data through qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be done.
• Special emphasis will be put on women spaces, youth engagement, and people with disabilities participation, so as to understand and recommend interventions on issues concerning these interest groups from a gender, youth, and people with disability inclusion’s perspective.
• Use of data from local institutions or organizations.
• Data analysis and verification of analyzed data.

Responsibilities of Consultants/Scope of Work:

The composition of the survey team is left up to the consultant/ organization based on their internal system, ideas, and logic. However, Solidaridad recommends that the team comprise one Team Leader (TL) to coordinate/conduct the overall study and liaise with Solidaridad. To collect information from the field using an adequate number of Field Enumerators (FEs). Supervision of the fieldwork and quality (reliability and validity) of the data/information collected from the field is the primary responsibility of the TL. The TL will work closely with Solidaridad M&E Officers and the project team. In each step and process, consultation with the Project Manager and the M&E Officer are vital. The survey will be conducted in the following locations;

• Kenya- Kisii, Nandi, Kericho, Kitale Counties
• Tanzania- Moshi DC
• Uganda- Sironko, Bulambuli, Masaka, Wakisio Districts

The consultancy/consultant team will be primarily responsible for:

• Develop/design baseline survey tools including questionnaires for HH survey and checklist and tools for group interaction including FGD with target beneficiaries at village levels.
• Share the study design including process, methods, and questionnaires/checklist with the project team, collect feedback and finalize the study design.
• Pre‐test questionnaires and other tools in one of the project sites.
• Submit an inception report.
• Debrief/discuss with the project team about effectiveness of questionnaire, checklists, and other tools used in the pre‐test, collect feedback and finalize them.
• Orient, train, and supervise the enumerators.
• Carry out fieldwork together with enumerators.
• Ensure the quality of information collected from fields, cross-check with the validity of information collected and verify/revise where needed.
• Update progress of the study on a weekly basis to the M&E Officer.
• Analyse data and prepare quality reports.
• Give a presentation of the draft report to Solidaridad, and;
• Submit a final report (a compiled version of the report ‐ both hard copy and electronic version in word format) to the project after incorporating the feedback and suggestions from Solidaridad.

Deliverables:

• Work plan and expression of interest (EOI) for the baseline survey, outlining;
• A detailed methodology for implementation of the survey, including proposed sample sizes.
• Draft data collection tools (The Consultant shall refine proposed standard indicators in reference to the proposed program indicators and other guidelines provided by Solidaridad)

A detailed work plan for the survey
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• Presentation of survey methodology to Solidaridad team in an inception meeting and later incorporate suggestions in the final inception report.
• A draft report of the study for feedback and comments from Solidaridad and partners involved.
• Presentation on the main findings of the study for validation involving project teams, and other stakeholders as agreed with the project team.

A final report in English with a maximum of not more than 40 pages, excluding annexes and consisting both hard and soft (CD ROM/USB) copies, with the following sections:

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Findings of the study.
• Conclusions and recommendations as per the project’s outcomes, outputs, activities, and indicators
• Electronic annexes with the site-by-site raw data used for the analysis.
• Expert/Consultant’s Profile:
• Consultancy firms/companies with verifiable research work in the coffee sector are encouraged to express their interests.
• Relevant degree(s) in social sciences or development studies,
• Strong experience with and knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods and sampling strategies
• Experience in designing and conducting studies using experimental or quasi-experimental techniques. Experience with longitudinal study designs desired.
• Statistical analysis skills and strong proficiency with data analysis packages.
• Proven experience in conducting baseline study surveys, impact studies and evaluations, preferably on the coffee industry
• Research experience with coffee farmers is an added advantage
• Excellent communication and written skills in English and Swahili.

Consultancy Period:

The overall time frame of the survey will be around 30 working days, which will include inception meetings, finalizing the survey methodology, training of enumerators, data collection, data analysis, report writing, and presenting findings of the survey.