Develop strategies for training, roll out, implementation and monitoring of community-based natural resource assessment and management and Agroecology At Trócaire

Organisational Profile
Trócaire is the development and humanitarian agency of the Irish Catholic Church. For 50 years, Trócaire has been working in partnership with local organisations in Asia, Africa, Central America and the Middle East with an aim of achieving its core approaches which include defending human rights, achieving food and livelihood security, climate and environmental justice, ensuring women’s and girls’ protection, voice and influence, saving lives and protecting human dignity and mobilizing the public to achieve global justice. With our partners we work with some of the world’s most marginalised population, supporting communities for long-term change.
Trócaire has had presence in South Kordofan, Sudan since 2011 reaching an average of 200,000 people with humanitarian aid annually. Trócaire works in partnership with local organizations and authorities in the region with a focus on improving access to quality health, nutrition, and food security as well as financial inclusion of the vulnerable groups. Currently, Trócaire works with three local organisations in areas of health, agriculture, nutrition, and food security, with natural resources management and economic empowerment.
Background and Rationale of the Project
Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state1 was a conflict zone between the Government of Sudan and Sudan People Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM) between 2011 and 2016. As a result, the region with a current population of close to three million people including the IDPS displaced by the current conflict in Sudan has been lagging in development and therefore characterized by extreme remoteness with little to no communication and transport infrastructure. The ongoing unrest in Sudan coupled with the economic impact of Covid 19 has resulted to a big population of returnees and IDPs from government-controlled parts of Sudan coming into the region, which is deemed to be relatively peaceful now. This has increased the pressure on the already meagre resources. The community in Nuba practice a range of productive activities for their livelihood including livestock rearing, farming, foraging, and hunting; however, agriculture is the main stay. Agriculture production and productivity are still underdeveloped and majority of the of farmers are practicing shifting cultivations, with uncontrolled clearing and
1 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Kordofan#:~:text=South%20Kordofan%20(Arabic%3A%20%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%20%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86,centered%20on%20the%20Nuba%20Mountains](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Kordofan#:~:text=South%20Kordofan%20(Arabic%3A%20%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%20%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86,centered%20on%20the%20Nuba%20Mountains).
Trócaire envisages a just world where people’s dignity is ensured, where rights are respected and basic needs are met, where there is equity in the sharing of resources and where people are free to be the authors of their own development.
burning being rampant in the area. The farming methods used are traditional where land is cleared, and all biomass burned; this exposes the soil to wind erosion. Besides, climate and environment changes have impacted on natural resource degradation and is contributing to the loss of diversity.
Trocaire is funded by the Irish Government to undertake an agroecology project, which focuses on enhancing the capacity of the farming communities in applying agroecological principles to their farming activities, to their food systems and to enhancing their management of Natural resources in South Kordofan. The project is being implemented in two counties through a partner organization for a period of five years, January 2023 to December 2027. These are the largest counties in the region and possess large fertile land and water sources suitable for investing in improving agriculture production. Even though, agriculture production and productivity are low, this is what has kept the people living over time; this need to be enhanced to continue supporting the ever growing population (including returnees and IDPS in the region) and the majority of the of farmers are practicing shifting cultivations. Land clearing and burning is rampant in the area thus posing a risk of high loss of soil fertility. In the region there is no access to agro chemicals including inorganic fertilizers and therefore the farmers use no chemical on the farm, not even for animal production. It makes this area ideal for application of agroecological principles and practices. Crop cultivation, being the main source of livelihoods for the communities here, focuses on sorghum, simsim, maize, groundnuts, tomatoes, onions, cow peas among others.
The expected Long-Term Outcome of the intervention are:
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Poor and marginalized people, especially women and youth, have sustainable lives including diverse food sources and economic well-being. To realize this, the project targets rural women and youth to adopt agro-ecological approaches at household and community levels. And to achieve this the targeted women and youth should increase their knowledge on agro ecological practices.
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Women and men in communities affected by crisis transition from reliance on relief assistance towards meeting and/or protecting their food and livelihoods needs independently.
As the project is being implemented, it is noted that there is need to enhance the understanding of the implementing partner’s project staff as well as the Secretariat of Agriculture technical staff on Agroecology principles and practices to achieve the above long-term Outcomes. This being a very remote area, there is a gap in the capacity of the Secretariat technical staff and the partners’ project staff to implement the agroecology training to the farmers.
Furthermore, to achieve sustainable improvements in environmental restoration and farming practices, it is vital to first identify and document natural the resources which exist, and the issues and opportunities related to the resources.
Therefore, there is need to support in designing a five-year implementation design and strategy of the agroecology project in the context of South Kordofan and an accompanying training guide on key concepts, principles and relevant concepts used in Agroecology to be used as well as orienting the implementers on the use of the guide and their understanding of agroecology.
It is also crucial to adopt participatory techniques for identifying community needs, prioritizing issues, and opportunities, and designing long-term Community Natural Resources Management (NRM) Strategies and short and medium-term Plans. Acknowledging this, acquiring Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) skills is crucial for project staff to effectively facilitate participatory community visioning, strategizing and action planning. These skills will enhance community engagement and ownership throughout the process and outcomes.
In alignment with these out comes, Trocaire, with funding from Irish Aid, is engaging a consultant to assist the partners and community in the targeted Counties of the Nuba mountains to:
1)
Developing an agroecology strategy that includes development of training guide, capacity enhancement of the agriculture project teams and Secretariat of Agriculture technical staff and review of MEAL framework.
2)
Develop training and implementation strategy for community based Natural Resource assessment, and Management.
To accomplish the above, this initiative will involves holding inhouse trainings on agroecological principle and practices, carrying out field practical activities on soil and water conservation and management as well as documenting the best practices on enhancing sustainable and ecofriendly farm productivity.
It will also involve utilizing a Participatory Rural Appraisal approach to support the communities to document, inventorize and assess existing natural resources, their distribution, importance, and gathering information on the potentially depleted resources that require restoration, the drivers of degradation, the human resources and skills available, the structures, rules and other protection and usage systems in place and /or enforced. The consultancy will help the communities to come up with community Natural Resources Management action visions, strategies, structures, and plans that will be implemented by them in collaboration with relevant authorities and sectoral departments.
For over three years, Trocaire has been enhancing the capacity of the Secretariat of Agriculture to deliver its mandate. This was particularly in developing the structure and in training of the staff especially during field workshops. Objective and Scope of the Assignment
The assignment is structured into three components as outlined below:
A. Develop a contextualized agro-ecology implementation strategy for the SKN region of Sudan and roll out trainings to partner staff and SOA agricultural extension agents. Methodology for the development of Agro Ecology implementation strategy:
1) Review and use the FAO ten elements of Agroecology and FAO TAPE tools, the agro-ecology manual of CTP South Sudan, and the Seirra Leone agro-ecology manual as references.
2) Consult with relevant stakeholders in SKN and various experts in Trocaire country teams.
3) Develop a skeleton training guide
4) Deliver in house and practical trainings to partners and SOA Agricultural Extension staffs.
5) Incorporate any feedback and observation into the training guide and finalize for publication or for printing.
6) Develop an implementation strategy
B. Develop a contextualized community based natural resource assessment and management training and implementation guide for the SKN region of Sudan and roll out trainings to partner staff and SOA agricultural extension agents. Methodology:
1) The consultant uses CTP CBNRM, Seira Leone CBNRM manual as reference.
2) In corporate key PRA and other interactive and contextualized technologies and tools for the assessment, identification and mapping of natural resources.
3) Consult with relevant stakeholders in SKN and various experts in Trocaire country teams.
4) Carry out or facilitate practical NRM assessment, mapping and management action plans within two communities together with key stakeholders, such as the NRM committee, partners staff, and SOA staff.
7) Capture and address key observations and feedback obtained during the practical sessions and finalize the training guides for printing and publications.
8) Develop the training and implementation strategy jointly with the implementing partners.
C. Review and enhance the existing Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework including indicators, data collection tools, as well as a data plans, to assess and track the progress of farmers in adopting agroecology practices and implementing Natural Resource Management (NRM) in targeted households and wider communities. Activities to be carried out This assignment will be done through a mix of remote engagements with the technical teams within various Trocaire and two field visit trips to SKN, Sudan to carry out the actual assignments. The following is the logical flow of the engagement and the activities:
1) The first remote engagement of the consultant will involve.
a. inception meeting and review of the work plans,
b. desk review of the resources available and development of skeleton training guides for agroecology principles and practices, and the Community based Natural resources Management. These guides will be reviewed by Trocaire teams and upon agreements will be used for training of the technical team.
c. The consultant will also develop a schedule for the training of the implementing partner’s staff and the SoA technical staff on both Agroecology and the CBNRM.
d. Develop the CBNRM mapping checklist and data collection tool.
e. Develop a guide on CBRNM actions planning for the Community Natural Resources management committees
2) The first trip is to engage with local stakeholders, including SOA staff, partner staff, and other organizations working on agricultural support in SKN. The consultant will:
a. conduct in-house and hands-on training for key personnel, including both partners and SOA staff on agroecology principle and practices. The training will be both in-house and on-site practical trainings. Importantly is that the training will include the use of TAPE tools.
b. finalize the agroecology training guide based on lessons learned and inputs from the field during the trainings, review the M&E framework and
c. eventually prepare an implementation strategy for the agroecology project.
3) The second trip will focus on rolling out trainings to partner staff and SOA agricultural extension agents on Community Based Natural Resources Management including mapping out of natural resources. The consultant will:
a.
Carry out or facilitate practical training on PRA and natural resources management. This will include the practical sessions where the check lists and data collection tools will be piloted.
b.
Working with the trainees and the community based NRM committees, carry out mapping exercises for selected payams (one payam per county) and come up with the CNRM action plans within community together with key stakeholders, such as the NRM committee, partners, and SOA staff in the payams.
c.
Complete the training guides for CBNRM) using some selected PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) tools relevant to natural resource management and particularly Community Resource Mapping, Venn Diagram, Historical profile (timeline), Problem tree analysis, and Community Action planning, flora a fauna identification (with scientific and local names), mapping use and protection zones among others.
d. Develop the implementation strategy jointly with the implementing partners To conclude the consultancy, the consultant will:
i. Carry out the validation workshop for both training guides
ii. Prepare and submit the consultancy report.
Note: The target stakeholders for this exercise will include but not be limited to community members, natural resource management committees, community elders, and representatives from relevant secretariats technical staff and departments. Deliverables
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Inception report on how the consultancy will be conducted, process, techniques, tools, and revised time frame as per the discussion during the inception meeting.
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Training guide for agroecology principles and practices (3 well bounded hard copies and a soft copy).
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Training and implementation guide for CBNRM (3 well bounded hard copies and a soft copy)
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CBNRM mapping checklist,
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Reviewed M&E framework for Agroecology project
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Reviewed M&E framework for CBRNM.
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Community Natural Resources Maps for the two Payams.
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A summarized versions of the guides with graphics and photographs in English.
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Raw and cleaned datasets (inventories, lists), maps, photographs, sketches, other graphical visualisations, and transcripts.
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CBNRM implementation strategy.
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Agroecology implementation strategy.
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Final consultancy report.
Expertise Required
This consultancy is open to research consultants or organisations with technical expertise and practical experience in Natural Resource Management, Ecology, Ecosystems, Land Use Planning, agroecology, Wild Habitat and Product Valorisation and Sustainable Exploitation/Biological-based Enterprises, Drylands Biodiversity, Wild Food Systems (including bee keeping, fruit, leaf, root and nut processing, preservation, and marketing, and Dryland Livelihoods. The Consultant is expected to have the following experience and qualifications:
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The consultant/team leader have to a post-graduate or equivalent qualification/ degree in Social Work/Social Science, Development Studies, Humanities, Ecological Science, Ecosystems Mapping, Natural Resource Inventory and Management Science, Environmental Science, or any other relevant field.
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Substantial experiences in social and applied research, especially in PRA methodology, GIS, digital recording, GPS use, digital App.
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Extensive experience and understanding of agroecology and experience in developing simple training guides and practical learning exercises, preferably on agroecology, permaculture, or organic agriculture.
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Ability and willingness to travel and carry out the assignment in South Kordofan, Sudan.
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Skills in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, drawing findings from
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Sound knowledge of long-term development theory and practice and empathy for the natural resources rights of the communities living within and nearby wild resources.
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Strong participatory, inclusive communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to communicate detailed concepts clearly and concisely in writing and verbally.
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Gender-sensitivity with skill in proactively enabling full participation of girls, women, and shier, less vocal members of the community.
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Additionally, the consultant with previous experience working in South Sudan or Sudan.
Timeframe
The assignment is expected to take approximately 55 working days from the date of signing the contract, with approximately one (3) day to meet Trócaire team. This will include the time to develop the training guide and holding validation workshop as well as holding the onsite trainings.
No.
Task
Allowable time in days
Notes
1.
Prepare and submit the inception report
3
Virtually Meet with the project management team to explain how the consultancy will be conducted, process, techniques, tools, and time frame as per the discussion during the inception meeting
Submit the proposal and discuss the workplan to agree on the timelines for the development of the guide and for training of the teams.
2.
Desk review of the available literature on both agroecology and CBNRM
5
This will help in developing draft training guides and have a clear understanding of Trócaire’s work as done in other countries and regions. The consultant will develop a draft
3.
Develop the draft training guides and the training schedules, separately one for agroecology and the other for CBNRM:
6
This will be complete with description of methodologies to be used, resource materials to be used, ideal site locations, time per activity etc. for review and comments by Trocaire. the consultant to develop/ adapt a simple training guide and set out a day -by-day curriculum that will be used for the practical training of community members on Natural Resources Mapping and Action Planning in the Nuba mountains. This will be shared with the Trócaire’s Goal 2 advisors for inputs and reviews before being adopted.
4.
Review the training guides and the training schedules developed
2
Trócaire’s comments received and incorporated in the field manual.
Hold online review and adoption of the training guides and the training schedules.
5.
Organize and hold a training of the Implementing partners programme team and the secretariate technical staff on the use of the Agroecology training guides:
10
This will be an onsite workshop that will be in South Kordofan. It will include both theory and practical session as the recipients of the training have low education levels.
The onsite practical training will be in the village in one of the two chosen counties (Thobo or Umdurein)
6.
Conduct training for the Community Natural Resources Management
5
This will be an onsite workshop that will be in South Kordofan. It will include both theory and practical session as the recipients of the training have low education levels.
Committees and the project staff
The onsite practical training will be in one payam per county (Thobo or Umdurein)
The developed tools for collecting data and the checklists will be tested for validity and effectiveness.
7.
Conduct the mapping exercise for the selected Payams
4
Working with the CNRMC and project teams carry out Mapping exercise to collect info on flora and Fauna as well as other natural resources. This will involve community members mobilization, Actual mapping out of resources for the two payams (one per county).
8.
Prepare the CBNRM maps and action plans`
2
The maps of the Community Natural Resources and the action plans developed for them for the two payams will be prepared
9.
Refining the training guides after inputs from the community and technical staff in the secretariats
5
The final training guides will be customized for the region after incorporating the lessons learnt and understanding the context.
10.
Production of a summarized version of the guides hard and soft
4
The training guide and the tools will be finalized after testing them during the training and mapping exercise.
11.
Preparation of Implementation strategies for both CBNRM and agroecology principles and practices.
4
The consultant will prepare the strategies based on the ICSP project proposal and the grant management Framework.
12.
Hold a training guide, Implementation Strategies and M&E Framework validation workshop.
2
The validation of the guides will be done through a validation workshop with different stakeholders including Trócaire the goal 2 advisors and technical team as well as partner staff and other actors.
13.
Prepare and provide the final report for the assignment
3
The consultant to share the end of assignment report to Trocaire before the final payment is done
Intellectual Property
All information pertaining to this project (documentary, audio, digital, cyber, project documents, etc.) belonging to the client, which the Consultancy firm may come into contact within the performance of his/her, duties under this assignment shall remain the property of the Client who shall have exclusive rights over their use. Except for purposes of this assignment, the information shall not be disclosed to the public nor used without written permission of the Client in line with the national and International Copyright Laws applicable.
REMUNERATION
The Consultancy firm’s payment shall be based on the financial proposal developed for this consultancy.
The Consultant shall thus specify their proposed assignment fee, including professional fees, reimbursable, and statutory taxes. The proposed budget should exclude accommodation, transportation and training costs associated with delivery of the assignment as these will be catered for by Trocaire.
Payment shall be made in three instalments of:
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30% down payment upon signing contract, invoice and following approval of the inception report by Trócaire.
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Another 30% of the payment will be after completion of training on Agroecology, and preparation of training guide for agroecology and starting the second training on CBNRM.
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40% final payment upon receipt by Trócaire of the final outputs that meet expectations for quality, including photographs, accompanying information and all raw materials.
Notably, each payment tranche will need to be supported by an invoice outlining the delivery of contractual tasks/deliverables.
SAFEGUARDING
All consultants who work for Trócaire will be required to sign and abide by Trócaire’s official position statement on exploitation and abuse, including zero-tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse. Trócaire recognises that abuse of power has led, and continues to lead, to many forms of exploitation and abuse. The nature of Trócaire’s work creates a power differential between those employed by or working with Trócaire and programme participants and partners. Trócaire acknowledges that the potential exists for those who work with programme participants and partners to abuse their position of power. Trócaire’s commitment to safeguarding is inclusive of its staff and all those with whom it comes into contact through its work.