Development of Vanilla Sector Roadmap At Catholic Relief Services

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The consultant will review the ISP as a foundational source of information and strategic insight for the development of the vanilla sector roadmap, identify and closing on any gaps. During, the development of the ISP extensive stakeholder consultations were made. As such the focus of this assignment will be updating the current context in terms of developments in the sector and market changes and addressing information gaps such as opportunities and requirements of the international market including importers and end users of vanilla.
The main part of the consultancy will be the development of a inclusive vanilla roadmap for Uganda with key stakeholders (exporters, processors, MAAIF, other GoU bodies, local government, service providers, farmer organizations, trader organizations etc.) which will involve a 2/3 day workshop in Kampala, where the consultant will be expected to facilitate participants to develop and agree on a common vision for the vanilla sector in Uganda, followed by a roadmap with clear and agreed focus areas and key actions which are taken on by specific actors in the sector in the short and medium term (next 5 years). The result should be an inclusive vanilla sector roadmap that is concise, data and market driven, has a common vision that is understandable, actionable and measurable and owned by sector actors.

The VINES Project developed a Vanilla Industry Strategic Plan (ISP) in 2022. The overall purpose of this assignment was to develop a strategy for radical transformation of the VANILLA sub-sector for the benefit of value chain players. The four key elements to be brought out by the ISP were: Industry and market dynamics, Value chain participants and their functions, Market system structure, and recommendations for actions and interventions that will grow the sub-sector. After an extensive multi stakeholder consultation process, an industry strategic plan was developed, a stakeholder review and validation workshop conducted, and the plan presented to the Ministry of Agriculture.
It was anticipated that this ISP would be adopted as the strategic plan for the sector by the Ministry of Agriculture, however, turnover of key staff within the ministry and delays in presenting the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) to the senior management have meant that the adoption of the ISP has remained at an impasse with limited buy in and ownership by the Ministry or the sector. The anticipated approval of the RIA in early 2024 will give the green light for the development of a vanilla sector strategy which may be part of the wider food beverages and spices policy or horticulture policy of MAAIF. In addition, in August 2023 a vanilla multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) was launched, with MAAIF as the secretariat, and whose vision is to ‘build a vibrant, resilient, competitive and sustainable vanilla sub sector in Uganda’.
In September 2023 the Vines project undertook a Mid Term Evaluation. After review, the MTE recognized that although the ISP had been developed, the mid-term point of project is a good moment to take stock of the lessons learned to date and assess the implications for sector transformation, particularly considering the market downturn in Vanilla that is anticipated to remain for the next 1-2 years. These changes in the market have necessitated the project to also look at the current state of the international market, and how Uganda can position itself given the challenges faced in Madagascar and intention of international buyers to redirect more sourcing towards second origin countries. Questions that emerged are what is the vision for the Uganda vanilla sector in the immediate and medium term? What does ‘success’ look like, how should the industry develop in terms of composition of market actors (who does what?), what are the promising business models to support this and by when can the industry realistically achieve this point?, Who should be the key actors to lead this transformation and how long will be required to achieve sector transformation? Overall, it was felt this learning needs to be incorporated in an updated industry roadmap that is developed with and owned by the industry stakeholders.
The international consultant/firm will support the development of an inclusive vanilla sector roadmap that builds on the ISP with updated information, early initiatives of the MSP, takes the relevant lessons of the Vines MTE on board, and positions Uganda to be competitive vis a vis the opportunities and requirements of the international market.