Consultants at Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT)

Purpose and Scope of the Study
The purpose of this study is to:

1. Underscore the importance of and potential for youth participation in agroecology transformations.
2. Identify and clarify opportunities and entry points for youths as agents of change in promoting sustainable food systems frameworks in Africa.
3. Provide recommendations to donor agencies, policy makers and other stakeholders interested in strategies for youth inspirations/ aspirations, imagined futures and future orientations in AE/EOA

Specifically, the country-specific assessments will focus on the following: 

1. Identifying position of youth in agroecology/EOA transformations.
2. Assessment of scope and role of youth in interventions related to Agroecology/EOA to provide an overview of the entry points for effective youth engagement.
3. Assessment of aspirations and strategies of youth participation in supporting Agroecology/EOA interventions.
4. Constraints and challenges to youth participation in Agroecology/EOA initiatives across dimensions of practice & advocacy, production, supply chains and consumption.
5. Recommendations on priority setting for youth engagement in agroecology/EOA at national, regional, and continental levels across dimensions of practice & advocacy, production, supply chains and consumption.

Deliverables
The expected key outputs of the assessment are:

1. An Inception Report: Elaboration of the assessment methodology and tools to be applied including a detailed schedule of activities to be undertaken across the selected countries. This should be ready within 2 weeks before signing the contract.
2. Draft Report: A report with findings related to all the objectives and should be ready within 60 days from the day of signing the contract.
3. ) Final Report: The technical report should include the executive summary, background, methodology, key findings, conclusions, lessons and recommendations, and annexes (key officials interviewed, documents consulted, and data collection instruments applied). The final report to include inputs from the CSC and RSC. The final report to be submitted by 30th June 2023.
4. Policy Briefs: Preparation of national, regional, and continental policy briefs resulting from the findings and recommendation of this assignmen

Background Documents

In addition to relevant documents and reports to be sought at country and AU level, various documents valuable to this study will be provided including but not limited to:

• Report of the study on the legal, policy and institutional development of EOA in Southern, Northern, Central and Southern Africa undertaken by AUC under the EOA-I
• Report on the legislation and policy development of EOA-I in 3 eastern Africa countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
• Country specific reports, plans and strategies on Agriculture and particularly EOA, if any
• EOA Strategic Plan (2015-2025) and EOA Action Plan (2015-2020)
• Report of the Assessment of SSNC contribution to second phase ( 2016-2020) of EOA in Eastern Africa
• EOA Phase I ( 2014-2018) External Evaluation Report 2020
• Report of the Organizational and Capacity Assessment (2018)
• Baseline Study of EOA Initiative in Africa- Phase 2 – 2019
• EOA Phase II ( 2019-2023) External Evaluation Report 2022

Methodology
This assessment will be conducted through an assets approach to youth participation in agroecology which appreciates and mobilizes individual or group talents and strengths, rather than focusing only on deficits (needs), problems or threats and is referred to as the three-lens approach to youth participation: Youth as target beneficiaries, with youth as partners, and be shaped by youth as leaders.

1. The ultimate aim is to develop youth as partners and leaders in development. This is based on youth having agency: their capacity to act, their skills and capabilities and their ability to change their own lives and is the central tenet of the asset-based approach to youth participation.
2. For statistical purposes, the UN defines youth as individuals between the ages of 15 and 24. Youth do not constitute a homogeneous group; their socio-economic, demographic and geographical situations vary widely both within and between regions.
3. Identification and review of relevant documents on initiatives, programmes, projects etc. implemented in the countries over the last 5 years and ongoing, and where possible capturing upcoming initiatives where youth are involved or targeted.
4. Data collection approaches and tools, appropriate to allow for triangulation of findings
5. Data analysis techniques that are rich and informative to allow for quality decision-making.
6. Validation meetings for the results obtained.

This assessment will be conducted between February and April 2023.

Budget Considerations

The budget is expected to cover:

1. Field activities for data collection in at least 15% (8) of African countries, focusing on the EOA-I participating countries in Eastern Africa and Western Africa and randomly sampling from 7-10 countries from the other regions (Central, Southern and Northern Africa) including selection across the five categories of the policy study (Advanced EOA Sector, Active EOA Sector, Infant EOA Sector, Nascent EOA and Awaiting Inspiration) to sample of size of 15-20 countries.
2. Consultancy – Data collection, analysis, and reporting
3. Preparation, editing, design and layout of national and regional policy briefs

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 policy assessment/evaluations, policy impact assessments 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 institutional 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.

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Purpose and Scope of the Assessment

Given the varied distribution of the countries across the five categories, the findings point to the need for an assessment that provides status of landscape of initiatives, programmes and projects in these countries sampled across the 5 typologies and establish if there is a correlation between the landscape and findings of the policy and legislation study.
The objectives of this assessment will be:

1. Assessment of previous (last 10 years) and ongoing interventions (initiatives, programmes, projects) related to EOA in these countries, providing an overview of the distribution of the interventions against the prevailing policy and legislation environment and establish key donors/funders of such interventions.
2. Assessment of current status from the baseline to ascertain level of investment, impactareas, spatial coverage, longevity and focus on the value chain stment and target beneficiaries and establish the organizations implementing the interventions.
3. Identification and documentation of successful interventions in each country during the last ten years, the drivers of success and key lessons learnt.
4. Ranking of countries according to their “agroecologicalness” on the basis of policies and interventions formulation and implementation.
5. Identification of constraints and opportunities in the context of development priorities and how far the selected countries have progressed with supporting EOA related initiatives.
6. Provide a road map for priority setting for EOA related initiatives at national, regional, and continental levels.
7. Preparation of regional and continental policy briefs resulting from this assignment.

 The Deliverables
The expected key outputs of the assessment are:

• An Inception Report: Elaboration of the assessment methodology and tools to be applied including a detailed schedule of activities to be undertaken across the selected countries. This should be ready within 2 weeks before signing the contract.
• Draft Report: A report with findings related to all the objectives and should be ready within 75 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 officials interviewed, documents consulted, and data collection instruments applied). The final report to include inputs from the CSC and RSC.
• Policy Briefs: Preparation of national, regional and continental policy briefs resulting from this assignment.

Background Documents

In addition to relevant documents and reports to be sought at country and AU level, various documents valuable to this study will be provided including but not limited to:

• Report of the study on the legal, policy and institutional development of EOA in Southern, Northern, Central and Southern Africa undertaken by AUC under the EOA-I
• Report on the legislation and policy development of EOA-I in 3 eastern Africa countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
• Country specific reports, plans and strategies on Agriculture and particularly EOA, if any.
• AU Decision on Organic Farming, (the basis of Ecological Organic Agriculture)
• EOA Strategic Plan (2015-2025) and EOA Action Plan (2015-2020)
• SDC and SSNC Project Documents (for the period 2013-2018)
• Report of the Assessment of SSNC contribution to first phase of EOA in Eastern Africa
• EOA Mid-term Review Report 2016
• Report of the Organizational and Capacity Assessment (2018)
• Baseline Study of EOA Initiative in Africa- Phase 2 – 2019

The Assessment Methodology/Approach 

The country-specific assessments will be conducted through a consultancy expected to develop an appropriate approach/methodology to address the scope provided. The study will be conducted using various tools including desk reviews, household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussion. Overall, the methodology will include but not limited to:

1.  Identification and review of relevant documents on initiatives, programmes, projects etc. implemented in the country over the last 5 years and ongoing, and where possible capturing upcoming initiatives.
2. Data collection approaches and tools, appropriate to allow for triangulation of findings.
3. Data analysis techniques that are rich and informative to allow for quality decision-making.
4. Validation meetings for the results obtained.

The study will be conducted between February 2023 and April 2023.

Budget Considerations
The budget is expected to cover:

1. Field activities for data collection in at least 15% (8) of African countries, focusing on the EOA-I participating countries in Eastern African and Western Africa and randomly sampling from 7-10 from the other regions (Central, Southern and Northern Africa) including selection across the five categories of the policy study to sample of size of 15-20 countries.
2. Consultancy – Data collection, analysis, and reporting
3. Inception and validation meetings
4. Preparation of national, regional and policy briefs

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 policy assessment/evaluations, policy impact assessments 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 institutional 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.