Consultancy to conduct Formative Research and Baseline Study for Farm Radio International in Uganda at Farm Radio International

Consultancy to conduct Formative Research and Baseline Study for Farm Radio International in Uganda

1. Background and Introduction

FRI aims to establish and develop sustainable dialogue and knowledge sharing communication platforms, housed and hosted by community-oriented radio stations in East Africa. The focus of the platforms will be on facilitating and enabling inclusive, circular and regenerative agriculture.

Over a 24-month period, with a grant from the IKEA Foundation, the Dialogue and Knowledge Sharing Communication Platforms in Uganda Project, will establish the building blocks for an enduring network of dialogue and knowledge sharing communication platforms, hosted by community-oriented radio stations, serving many rural communities of Uganda. At least half of those served will be women, and one third will be youth – defined as under thirty years of age.

In the first phase of the project, a network of 12 communication platforms will be developed, each serving a unique geography and in language(s) spoken in Uganda. The building blocks established through this grant will take us toward the ultimate aim of providing a majority of rural people in both countries with reliable, continuous and powerful communication service through interactive platforms that share knowledge, facilitate dialogue, give voice, and stimulate positive change toward inclusive, circular, regenerative agriculture.

Those who access and use the service will gain:

• much greater knowledge of planet positive circular and regenerative agriculture
• sustainable shifts in practice toward more circular and regenerative agriculture
• stronger more profitable links with short value chains
• a greater sense of agency among farmers and opportunities to participate in debate, dialogue and feedback

Project proponents – including the other partners of IKEA Foundation – will be able to scale up the reach and impact of their evidence-based planet positive agricultural solutions. Government extension services and public research systems will provide more cost-effective and consistent extension and advisory services to all farmers. Farmer-serving organizations will form stronger connections with their members, share information with them, and gather their feedback. The private sector will better connect with rural producers – generating more local sales and sourcing more and better products from local farmers. A range of voices and perspectives, including those of people and groups that are critical of mainstream approaches, will be brought to the table and engaged in constructive debate and dialogue.

One of the initial steps in this project will be to conduct a formative research to better understand needs, perspectives and priorities regarding access to and use of sustainable communication services by rural women, men and youth, including key content themes and value chains of importance in select locations. The work will also include a baseline study to collect data on a series of performance indicators related to key outcomes of the project. Both the formative research and baseline study will be gender-sensitive and be used to gather data on issues related to gender equality and inclusion that will inform the development of the Dialogue and Knowledge Sharing Communication Platforms.

Through this Request for Proposals, FRI is seeking to engage a consultant to work with FRI’s Knowledge Management Team to conduct the formative research and baseline study assignment in selected regions in Uganda from May- June 2022.

1. Objectives of the Assignment

The primary goal for this engagement is to collect both qualitative and quantitative data that will (i) allow for the design and facilitation of dialogue and knowledge sharing communication platforms and (ii) provide baseline information on key performance indicators at the start of the project.

The following are the objectives of the formative research and baseline study:

1. To understand the channels of communication currently available to and used by rural women, men and youth, as well as other value chain actors to access information, make decisions about and introduce new practices, provide feedback and share their views, needs, and perspectives
2. To better identify the gaps that current channels leave, and the needs that should be addressed by the new dialogue and knowledge sharing communication platforms
3. To understand radio listening patterns and preferences (preferred radio stations, time of day, day of week, type of host, desired features including music, celebrities, etc.), including ICT usage among farmers.
4. To gather information on current attitudes, knowledge, and practices with respect to agriculture, particularly in relation to circular and regenerative farming practices.
5. To better understand gender equality and inclusion issues in relation to access to information, radio, and ICTs and select agricultural value chains
6. To identify other value chain actors and stakeholders, and ways in which their contribution can be strengthened and made more mutually beneficial
7. To collect quantitative data on key performance indicators related to (i) the channels of communication used by smallholder farmers, (ii) their current knowledge and practice of regenerative agriculture, (iii) their perception about their quality of life, gender equality and the resiliency of their community.

The consultant will be engaged for up to 50 days between May and June 2022. Through this level of effort, the consultant will be expected to deliver the following by the end of the engagement:

• A report combining the results of the formative research and baseline study organized around the following topics:
• Quantitative and qualitative results on perspectives, needs and priorities regarding access to and use of sustainable communication services by rural women, men and youth, including
• Key content themes and value chains of importance to women, men and youth in select areas/districts, especially with regards to regenerative agriculture
• Preferred radio stations and ICT channels to be integrated into the communication platforms
• Radio listening patterns and preferences (preferred radio stations, time of day, day of week, type of host, desired features including music, celebrities, etc. among women, men and youth in select areas/districts
• Baseline quantitative results on key performance indicators
• Key gender-related issues to be integrated in the development of the platforms
• A copy of the datasets
• Transcriptions of focus group discussions and key informant interviews
• Household survey dataset
• Methodologies

It is expected that the consultants will use a combination of qualitative (e.g., focus group discussions, key informant interviews) and quantitative (e.g., household survey) methods. The consultants’ experience and skills gathering and analyzing these types of data should be clearly highlighted in their proposal.

The development of data collection tools and sampling strategies will be done jointly with the Knowledge Management Team of Farm Radio International.

1. Timelines
2. Deadline for submissions: April 8, 2022
3. Preliminary assessment of submissions: By April 14, 2022
4. Interviews with shortlisted candidates: April 19-22, 2022
5. Select and contract consultant(s): By April 27, 2022 **