Consultant at Frontier Counties Development Council

Introduction and background

FCDC and SFAL. Kenya‘s northern and lowland frontier counties of Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Marsabit, Tana River, Lamu, Samburu, Turkana and West Pokot account for 61% of Kenya‘s landmass with a population of approximately 6.2 million people who are mainly dependent on livestock production as a source of livelihood. The livestock sector accounts for close to 80% of the economic performance in these counties, where up to 60% of the population live in abject poverty and have suffered from historical marginalization, climate change, violent conflict, displacement, food insecurity, and limited public services and infrastructure. The region borders Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan; and has a strong transboundary movement of animals and trade Building resilience and sustainable livelihood options of vulnerable pastoralist communities in these counties, strengthening institutions to more effectively deliver relevant services and promoting peace and cohesion are key factors to the realization of a sustainable socio-economic development in line with Kenya’s vision 2030.

• The Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) is a collective platform set-up by the County Governments of the frontier Counties in the aftermath of devolution. The council promotes cooperation, coordination and information between counties in view of enhancing socio-economic development and promoting peaceful co-existence among its member counties.
• FCDC wants to enhance the benefits of the devolution process in their member counties by serving as a catalyst and trigger for sustainable development and prosperity in the FCDC region. FCDC experiences could then also serve as a model for other regions in Kenya. The Vision of the Council is to create a secure, peaceful, just and prosperous FCDC region, where people achieve their full potential and enjoy a high quality of life.
• In order to make this vision a reality FCDC promotes cooperation, coordination and information flow between counties and with the national Government in view of:
• Creating a stable and peaceful environment, conducive to socio-economic development;
• Enhancing sustainable socio-economic development;
• Strengthening devolution and subsidiarity of counties, sub-counties and wards.
• In 2017, FCDC has set up the Sector Forum for Agriculture & Livestock (SFAL) as an instrument to enhance cooperation, coordination and information flow between counties and with the national Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries on issues related to agriculture and livestock. The Forum harmonizes county policies and sector plans, creates synergies among counties, debates on inter-county issues related to agriculture and livestock and comes up with recommendations or binding agreements to resolve issues or enhance collaboration.
• CECs of the 10 FCDC members form the General Assembly and meet regularly to deliberate on issues and topics raised by the Counties, the Government of Kenya and development partners. They decide on what issues and businesses their Secretariat should work on. The secretariat is responsible for the day to day running of the SFAL, mobilizes resources and implements requests and decisions taken by the General Assembly. For 2018/19 the SFAL identified regional rangeland management, the integration of fodder into livestock production systems, regional disease control, advocacy & knowledge management, institutional strengthening of their departments, and diversification of livelihoods as their key priorities.
• Development / review of County Sector Plans for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries 2

Problem statement

In line with the CIDPs 2013 – 2017 County departments have also been asked to produce 10-year sector plans or sector strategies for the sectors they are working in. Sector plans are one of the key statutory source documents for county-level planning. Together with the SDGs, Vision 2030, County Spatial Plan, the Governor’s Manifesto and the relevant National and Sector Policies, they inform the development of CIDPs and other strategic planning tools. To date, most of the counties have their ten-year sector plans in place. However with the change of leadership in most FCDC Counties and the development and approval of CIDPs 2018 – 2022 it has become important to review and adjust these plans. Such an exercise will also contribute to the harmonization of plans among counties.
SFAL is now looking for an individual consultant or a consultancy firm to assist, guide and mentor counties in this review exercise.

Overall objective of the assignment

• The overall objective of this assignment is to lead a participative and consultative process for the development/review of 10-year County Sector plans for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (DALF) which in some counties include irrigation.
• This exercise should also contribute to the strengthening of the planning capacities of the County DALF of the 10 FCDC counties so that they implement their mandate effectively.

Scope of work

• Develop guidelines for the development of the sector plans
• Adopt common thematic areas that should be addressed in all the sector plans
• Review and analysis of sector plans and strategies in place;
• Summary of key conclusions on existing plans;
• Discussion with SFAL and individual counties on the exact status of existing plans;
• Setting up of county teams of 3 – 5 people to lead the process at county level;
• Organization of tailor-made cluster “write-shops to review and update the existing plans;
• Mentor, coach and guide individual counties in the finalization of reviewed plans;
• Assist in the final editing of the plans;
• Suggested methodology and scope of work
• The assignment will build on already existing County sector plans or county strategies for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and on County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) that have been developed for the period 2013 – 2022 and 2018 – 2022. The suggested methodology must include the following steps:
• A desk review & analysis of different existing plans and strategies;
• Clustering of the ten counties into 3 – 4 groups to reduce costs and time and to enhance peer to peer exchange and learning during the review process; to harmonize the
• Sector Plans along the FCDC Region.
• Facilitation of workshops/write shops to review and update existing plans; discussions/reflections with various stakeholders involved in providing support to county departments for agriculture and livestock.
• Mentoring the finalization of plans by the ten-county departments;
• The suggested methodology is subject to thorough review and recommendation by the consultant.
• Development / review of County Sector Plans for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries 3

Profile of consultant

• The consultant(s) should fulfill the following criteria:
• Master’s degree in development, project management or any related field;
• At least ten years’ practical experience in institutional development, planning, governance and strategy development;
• Should have developed other strategies related to agriculture & livestock in the last three years;
• Proven working experience in Kenya’s pastoralist areas;
• Strong political and cultural sensitivity; ability to capture political and social dimensions of peace & conflict the identification of risks & threats, mitigation measures, etc.
• Strong analytical capacity combined with ability to synthesize/communicate conclusions and recommendations;
• Excellent facilitation skills;
• Fluent in English (written and spoken); knowledge of local languages is an added value. Excellent writing skills;
• Preference will be given to Kenyan Nationals;
• Approximate time frame and duration of the study
• The estimated time frame for the development /review of the sector plans is around 100 working days starting in February 2019 and spread over a period of 4 months.

Expected Outputs

• It is expected that the consultant(s) will provide:
• An approach paper (inception report) at the beginning of the assignment (approximately ten days after the start date) outlining the approach, work plan and time frame for the assignment.
• 10 (revised) County sector plans for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries