Capacity Building of Coffee Cooperatives Boards of Management on Leadership, Good Governance, Financial Management, Entrepreneurship…… At Solidaridad East & Central Africa

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Capacity Building of Coffee Cooperatives Boards of Management on Leadership, Good Governance, Financial Management, Entrepreneurship, Resource Mobilisation, Marketing Skills and review of existing Institutional Documents for the Pathways to Prosperity Coffee Projects in Kenya and Tanzania – Solidaridad East and Central Africa

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Solidaridad Network is an international solution-oriented civil society organisation working through eight regional expertise centres to transform markets to make them more sustainable and inclusive. Our eight regional expertise centres include Asia, Eastern and Central Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Southern Africa, South America, West Africa and our global Secretariat in the Netherlands. Solidaridad Eastern and Central Africa, one of the regional centres, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with country offices and programmes in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. We bring together supply chain players and engage them with innovative solutions to improve production, ensuring the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximises the benefit for all. We facilitate strengthening of local capacity in developing countries, support the creation of enabling environments for economies to thrive, and improve market access. Solidaridad embraces the public-private and people partnerships (PPPP) in order to test innovations, speed up change, and take success to scale. Globally, Solidaridad works around Coffee and other 12 commodities/sectors (http://www.solidaridadnetwork.org)

1. The Pathways to Prosperity Coffee Project in Kenya and Tanzania Summary
   1. Assignment Objective(s):

The Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) Coffee Project is a seven-year project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign affairs supporting smallholder coffee farmers through 3 pathways; (i) creating viable and resilient production systems ii) catalysing inclusive service delivery systems and iii) championing inclusive markets. The programme will co-create and implement tailored interventions to facilitate transformation in the coffee sector contributing to increased sustainable production (productivity and quality) and incomes, enhancing resilience to the impacts of climate change and other shocks and the creation of decent jobs and inclusive supply chains.

The P2P project aims to build the capacity of 203,000 smallholder coffee farmers (30% women and 15% youth) from Nandi, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Bungoma, Transnzoia, West Pokot and Bomet Counties of Kenya and Mbeya, Ruvuma and Songwe Regions in Tanzania to produce good quality coffee. Also, strengthen the leadership and governance of 273 cooperatives and provide a platform for cooperatives to link & interact with over 1,000 service providers in their respective countries to establish long term relations that go to serve the interests of both.

The intended long-term impact is that small- holder coffee farmers thrive by participating in the supply chain that is economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally sound by 2029. Smallholder coffee farmers will have an opportunity to participate in economically viable value chains by increasing their productivity through adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP’s) for increased incomes. It prioritises the inclusion of women and youth. Environmental conservation is a key element focusing on adoption of climate resilient practices, implementing carbon projects as well as adopting agroforestry.

2. 1 Background

Institutional instability is a major problem derailing sustainable production, governance and management of rural cooperatives and their ultimate profitability. Most smallholder coffee cooperatives lack institutional management documents while those that have are outdated. Besides, the respective boards of management lack the requisite skills for their development thus hindering the institutionalising and adoption of good governance practices interventions by the project. Solidaridad is certainly convinced that addressing institutional inadequacies and weaknesses by bolstering systems, practices, processes & structures will catalyse developments for the smallholder cooperatives. It has therefore become imperative to train the Cooperatives’ Boards of Management on Financial Management, Entrepreneurship, Resource mobilisation, Good governance, Marketing skills, Nursery Business Case Management, good Governance & Leadership and jointly review existing Institutional Documents and provide recommendations on the development on non-existent or outdated documents.

The overall objective of the assignment is to enhance the capacity of smallholder coffee cooperatives board members through training on Financial Management, Entrepreneurship, Resource mobilisation, Good governance, Marketing skills and Leadership. Specific Objectives include;

1. Carry out a Needs Assessment Analysis – the consultant will together with respective board members review existing institutional management documents (Strategic plans, Business plans, Human Resource Policy, Quality management/control policy, Gender Policy and Anti-child abuse policy) geared towards cementing institutional stability. This will form a basis for the capacity-building initiatives feeding into the curriculum to adequately address gaps in the system. They will also provide recommendations on the development of non-existent or outdated documents.
2. Capacity-building Initiatives – the consultant will train respective boards of management from 273 cooperative societies spread across 8 Counties in Kenya (Bomet, Kisii, Nyamira, Nandi, Kericho Transnzoia, West Pokot and Bungoma) and 3 Regions in Tanzania( Ruvuma, Mbeya and Songwe) on areas mentioned in 1 above.
3. Post -Training Technical Support to the Cooperatives -Tailor-making coaching and mentorship programs post the training to follow-up on the implementation of recommendations made during fact-finding and training Sessions. This will be applicable for at least 50 of the benefiting cooperatives leading to the completion of at least 5 key documents in each of the cooperatives selected.
   1. Scope of Work:

This Terms of Reference (TOR) seeks to have the consultant conduct the following;

1. Conduct a desktop review to map out cooperatives in the regions under the project scope by adopting criteria for clustering cooperatives unlimited to proximity, production levels, infrastructural or organisational development, level of visibility etc.
2. Jointly with cooperative board of management members review existing institutional documents (Strategic plans, Business plans, Human Resource Policy, quality management/control policy and Anti-child abuse policy) for at least a third of the benefiting cooperatives.
3. Design a curriculum as well as develop training aids to build capacity of coffee cooperative societies/ farmer organisations on financial management, entrepreneurship, resource mobilisation, governance, marketing skills and leadership for effective adoption and ownership.
4. Develop pre and post-training evaluation questionnaires to be used in each training session towards the assessment of the delivery and understanding of the trainees.
5. Design a training program using performance objectives provided as well as additional material contributed by the consultant out of their previous experience in handling similar assignments.
6. Deliver training to at least 550 Boards of Management members on financial management, Entrepreneurship, Resource mobilisation, Good governance, Marketing skills and Leadership.
7. Provide recommendations on the development of non-existent or outdated documents and mentor at least a quarter of the benefiting cooperatives to complete 5 documents.
8. Develop and avail a tailored Monitoring and Evaluation System to assess training delivery and participants understanding as well as assessing and/or tracking adoption of these practices geared towards achievement of program objectives.
9. Develop and share training reports and documents thus developed after every session.
10. The consultant will present the manuscript flow for discussions during the inception meeting.
11. Methodology.

The consultant will;

1. Together with Solidaridad, map the target groups/cooperatives.
2. Carry out a desktop review and Needs Assessment of the beneficiaries.
3. Develop the training curriculum for review and validation by Solidaridad before commencing physical training of 550 BOM members.
4. Coach and mentor 50 of the benefiting cooperatives leading to the completion of at least 5 key documents in each of these cooperatives.
5. Review existing institutional documents for at least a fifth of all benefiting cooperative societies (273), these will be selected jointly with Solidaridad.
6. Deliverables:
   1. Work plan and expression of interest (EOI) for the assignment, outlining;
      1. A detailed methodology for the implementation of the assignment.
      2. A detailed work plan for the work.
      3. An inception report before the commencement of the assignment detailing the approach, methodology and general concept to the entire process.
      4. Detailed report of the gaps identified and recommendations for closure providing recommendations on the development of non-existent and/or outdated documents.
      5. Train 550 BOM members as guided by the training curriculum. These include the representation from the executive and supervisory committees of the cooperative societies.
      6. 5 key documents finalised for 50 of the benefiting cooperatives.
      7. Final assignment report.
7. Expert/Consultant’s Profile:

Qualified and experienced Consultancy Firms should develop a comprehensive expression of interest (E.O.I) outlining:

• A profile of the firm/consultant

• Firm/Consultants statement on the interpretation of the TOR

• Curriculum Vitaes’ of consultant/firm outlining qualifications and demonstrable experience in training and developing institutional management documents (Strategic plans, Business plans, Human Resource Policy and quality management policy )spanning not less than three years. Demonstrated expertise on agricultural cooperatives will be an added advantage

• A description of the methodology

• At least 3 references of similar assignments undertaken in the last 3 years

• Sample of some of the works delivered including but not limited to: reports, presentations, training modules and samples of developed documents.

• A detailed financial proposal (inclusive of relevant taxes) and a work plan for carrying out the assignment

6.0 Duration of the assignment.

The assignment is expected to take place within a maximum of 90 days after signing the contract. Application process:

The consultancy firms/companies are required to submit an EOI containing a statement on the candidate’s experience with similar assignments, curriculum vitae, financial proposal, and work plan by July 24th, 2024 at 5:00pm (EAT). All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above, those unable to meet the requirement will not be considered.

Each EOI submission should be not more than 15 pages and include the following:

• A brief proposal for the study with methodology and work plan.
• A sample/samples of previous related work.
• A financial proposal with a budget with breakdowns of different costs involved, to the finer detail. A budget with aggregated figures will not be accepted.
• Updated CVs for the team leader and team members (each CV not more than 2 pages).
• Contact details of 3 references with complete contact information (i.e. name, organisation, title position, address, email, telephone).