Terms Of Reference Consultancy For Dairy Emissions Dashboard Development At Solidaridad East & Central Africa

1. 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 East and Central Africa (“Solidaridad”), one of the regional centres, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with country offices and programmes in the 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 maximizes the benefit for all. We facilitate the strengthening of local capacity in developing countries, support the creation of enabling environments for economies to thrive, and improve market access.

Oromia Dairy Farmer’s Bounty Project (ODFBP)

ODFBP is a Solidaridad project that aims to contribute to the professionalisation of dairy farming through dairy service hubs development in Aleltu, Barek, Kimbibit and Sululta districts in Ethiopia by 2025. It targets smallholder dairy farmers who face challenges such as low productivity, high greenhouse gas emissions, and limited market access, as well as commercial farms and milk processors, and dairy cooperatives. The project is developing three innovative business cases in collaboration with three dairy processors which will be piloted to confirm their economic viability, including the strategy development for further acceleration and scaling. The project is implementing a series of activities to strengthen hubs to enhance farmers’ access to key quality inputs e.g., feeds and good dairy farming practices to minimise the carbon footprint of the milk they produce. To measure and validate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the project interventions, farm and farmers data on herd characteristic, manure management, milk production, energy use, feed and transport is periodically collected and used to calculate the emissions. The overall intervention aims to prove a system that enables halving greenhouse gas emissions to 130,000 tons of CO2 equivalent in the dairy sector.

1. OBJECTIVE

To measure, report and verify the GHG emissions reductions in the project, Solidaridad is seeking a consultant to design, develop, test and deploy a reporting system – dashboard. The dashboard should provide a comprehensive and accurate mechanism to report on greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms increasing transparency on emissions, improving informed decision-making on cost-effective solutions and prioritising actions that will have the greatest impact.

1. SCOPE OF WORK
2. Functional System Requirements

• Field Data Module: Ingest the data collected from the field on farm locations, farmer details, milk production, feeds, manure management, herd size, energy use and transport details. The data has been collected using an Open Data Kit (ODK) tool. Data points are based on Cool Farm Tool Dairy Assessment and other institutional farmer profile data models. The data is periodic and will be collected annually.
• Cool Farm Tool (CFT) Integration Module: CFT will be used to calculate the GHG emission quantities. This module will integrate with CFT, sending the collected data in a format specified in the CFT APIs, retrieving and storing the emissions calculated from CFT for reporting and verification purposes.
• Reporting Module: Develop a dashboard showing:
• A report on emissions at the household or farm level.
• Cumulative and individual gases (C02, CH4, N20) emission amounts based on factor variable such as herd characteristics e.g., breed and animal type, grazing, animals diets, enteric fermentation, milk production, milk and feed transportation, feed production practices and fertiliser use for grassland fertilisation, manure management, dry matter intake and energy use and processing.
• Emissions per district and kebele per year, in total and aggregated by factor variables.
• Variable factors emissions depending on animal types (milk cows, lactating cows etc.)
• Transport and energy use emissions based on modes and types.
• Cumulative and factor variables emissions comparison graphs and visuals on an annual basis.
• Add provision for annual feature data to be automatically visualised and compared against the previous years in the dashboard.
• Annual and biannual visualisation of business as usual (BAU) and progressive target values assumed at the national level and emissions reductions.
• Other visuals and graphs found necessary for reporting of the data during the feedback sessions.
• Verification Module: Exposes the field data collected and the calculated GHG emissions in the system. Should allow contracted third-party organisations to login into the system, view and download the field data and emissions calculated. Should enable the third party to conduct an off the system assessment verifying the correctness of the reported emissions against the farm data. Should allow the third-party organisations to upload verification assessment reports and comments.
• Data Reporting Plan Module: It should show dairy emissions monitoring and reports intended audience, data required, the format of the data and the frequency of the data collection. Should have a page demonstrating calculated emissions reductions alignment to Ethiopian Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goals/targets and indicate the responsibilities of the different stakeholders. Solidaridad will provide some of this information.
• Users’ Management Module: Users authorization and authentication. Users signup and login. Used to give access to third-party organisations to download and verify the data.

1. Non-functional System Requirements

• The platform should be compatible with common web browsers; Chrome, Firefox, Safari & Edge.
• Must be fully responsive and functional on medium and large devices.
• Scalable and able to handle up to multiple active users without performance deterioration.
• Robust security measures ensuring proper and secure authorization and authentication and data privacy and protection.
• Rich and engaging user interface & experience.

1. Duration

This assignment is expected to be carried out for a period not more than four (4) months starting from 06 May 2024. The handover of the system will occur at the end of the duration.

1. CONSULTANT’S RESPONSIBILITIES AND DELIVERABLES
2. Key responsibilities

• Initial assessment: Review existing dairy emissions reporting, systems, documentations and frameworks. Review the collected data and get a good understanding of the Cool Farm Tool system.
• Design and development: Design an outline of the phases of design and development, including both technical and system functionality mockups of the dashboard.
• Testing and implementation: Develop and test the dashboard (i.e., Beta and Alpha versions), bug fixing, and implementation.
• System deployment: Provide the dashboard alpha version for user testing and acceptance before going live.
• Training: Provide training on how to use and maintain the dashboard.
• Documentation: Develop a concise user and technical manual of the system.
• Technical support: Provide technical support for 3 months after the development of the dashboard.

Throughout the assignment, the consultant agrees to co-design, co-develop and engage with the Solidaridad Project, Digital and Climate and Natural Resource Management teams, gathering their feedback and making sure all dashboard requirements are developed, deployed, and tested. Solidaridad shall provide an institutional GIT repository for the system development version control where necessary.

Performance is measured based on the submission of the below deliverables.

Deliverables and Timeframe

1. Dashboard Beta Version. The first version of the dashboard, hosted in a test environment and tested by the users for feedback. Dashboard version and source code. End of 2nd month
2. Dashboard Alpha Version. A fully working, responsive, user-friendly and ready to be deployed to production dashboard. Dashboard version and source code. End 3rd Month
3. Dashboard user manual, Detailed document covering information related to the operations, standards and guidelines, troubleshooting guides, functionalities and more. A written documentation. End of 4th Month
4. User training manual, Knowledge transfer through user training. Physical and/or virtual sessions. End of 4th Month
5. Dashboard Handover – Knowledge transfer through dashboard handover, Physical and/or virtual sessions. End of 4th Month
6. Technical Documentation – Technical documentation of the dashboard, including used plugins, integrations, configurations, credentials, technology stack, etc. A written documentation end of 4th Month
7. Technical Support – Technical support for 3 months after the rollout of the dashboard, Format is Bug fixes for 3 months after dashboard rollout.

   Technology knowledge:

The selected firm/ contractor will require knowledge of:

• Backend: Python
• Frontend: ReactJS (recommended) or VueJS
• Database: PostgreSQL (main) plus any other databases for other purposes.

1. EXPRESSION OF INTERESTS
2. EOI format:

Expression of interests (EOIs) must include:

1. A profile of the firm/contractor including a portfolio of relevant previous work.
2. Firm/ contractor statement on the interpretation of the TOR.
3. A description of the methodology and additional information(processes)
4. A detailed work plan for carrying out the assignment based on clear deliverables
5. Detailed financial proposal clearly outlining the assignments/activities. Costs should include all applicable taxes.
6. The firm shall present at least 3 CVs (max. 2 pages) and Github links of the individuals showing demonstrable experience.
7. At least three (3) references to similar or related assignments undertaken in the last 2 years with complete contact information relevant to assignment.

Note: The EOI should be a maximum of 20-pages, excluding CVs and references which can be provided as an annex.

1. Desired skills and knowledge:

• Proficiency in software engineering, especially the ETL process.
• Proficiency in web systems data visualisation and presentation systems and technologies.
• Proficiency in relational and non-relational databases design and development i.e. PostgreSQL.
• A good understanding of human-centred design, tests driven and agile software development.
• A good understanding of User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design principles to create intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
• Good planning and communication skills.
• Excellent communication and written skills in English.
• Working with NGOs is an added advantage.