Consultancy Services to Conduct Baseline Study

Consultancies

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REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES-FIRM SELECTION)
Country: Malawi
Project Name: Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme II
Assignment title: Consultancy Services to Conduct Baseline Study
Reference No.: 019/SAPP 11/BLS/FS_1/2024/25
Issue date : 24th August 2024

1.0 Background

The Malawi Government has received financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) towards the cost of Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme Phase II (SAPP Il) and intends to apply part of the proceeds for the recruitment of consulting services provided by a firm.

The use of any IFAD financing shall be subject to IFAD’s approval, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the financing agreement, as well as IFAD’s rules, policies and procedures. IFAD and its officials, agents and employees shall be held harmless from and against all suits, proceedings, claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature brought by any party in connection with Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme 11

The consulting services (“the services”) include conduct baseline study

The attention of interested consultants is drawn to IFAD’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Policy and the Revised IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption its Activities and Operations. The latter sets forth IFAD’s provisions on prohibited practices. IFAD further strives to ensure a safe working environment free of harassment, including sexual harassment, and free of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in its activities and operations as detailed in its IFAD Policy to Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

Interested consultants shall not have any actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest. Consultants with an actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest shall be disqualified unless otherwise explicitly approved by the Fund. Consultants are considered to have a conflict of interest if they a) have a relationship that provides them with undue or undisclosed information about or influence over the selection process and the execution of the contract, or b) have a business or family relationship with a member of the client’s board of directors or its personnel, the Fund or its personnel, or any other individual that was, has been or might reasonably be directly or indirectly involved in any part of (i) the preparation of the REOl, (ii) the selection process for this procurement, or (iii) execution of the contract. Consultants have an ongoing obligation to disclose any situation of actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest during preparation of the EOl, the selection process or the contract execution. Failure to properly disclose any of said situations may lead to appropriate actions, including the disqualification of the consultant, the termination of the contract and any other as appropriate under the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Projects and Operations.

2. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The consultant or team will be responsible for the following tasks:

  1. Review project documents including the Project Design Report, the Project Implementation Manual and other relevant documents to fully understand the intervention logic for the project.
  2. Design the baseline survey methodology taking into account the objectives of the survey as described above.
  3. Design and test the data collection tools to be used for gathering both qualitative and quantitative data according to the M&E framework
  4. Data collection for the baseline study which should include but not limited to the following means: household interviews, Key Informant interviews (KII’s) and Focused Group Discussions (FGD’s).
  5. Ensure that the baseline survey is carried out according to plan, and establish systems to ensure that the quality of the data collected is of high standard.
  6. Analyze the data and interpret information collected during the baseline survey and make recommendations for project implementation.
  7. Assess the indicators and M&E framework and other key project documents in light of the information collected and make recommendations for adjustments if necessary; Ensure also that the development of survey tools should be guided by IFAD’s Core Outcome Indicator guidelines.
  8. Provide updates on progress of the study on a weekly basis to the Department of Agriculture Planning Services (DAPS);
  9. Prepare a draft baseline report that clearly describes major findings, conclusions and recommendations
  10. Organize a validation meeting, and submit a final report (a compiled version of the report both hard copy (3) and electronic version in word format) to the project after incorporating feedback from the validation meeting
  11. Submit all the data/information collected for the study, which should include quantitative, qualitative and geo-referencing data.

3. QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

The Consulting firm or team of consultants should have experts with the following qualifications, skills and experience:

  1. The team leader should have a PhD in Agriculture Economics/ Economics or its equivalent with a minimum of 5 post-doctoral years of traceable experience, or at least a minimum of Masters’ Degree in Agriculture Economics/ Economics or its equivalent with a minimum of 10 years’ traceable experience.
  2. An Institutional Development Specialist with a Masters’ Degree in relevant field or its equivalent with a Minimum of 7 years of traceable experience.
  3. An agronomist with a masters’ Degree or its equivalent in a related field with a Minimum of 7 years of traceable experience
  4. Climate Smart Agriculture specialist with a masters’ Degree or its equivalent in a related field with a Minimum of 7 years’ experience
  5. Nutrition Specialist with a masters’ Degree or its equivalent in a related field with a Minimum of 7 years’ experience
  6. Agribusiness Specialist with a masters’ Degree or its equivalent in a related field with a Minimum of 7 years’ experience.
  7. Gender equality and Women empowerment specialist with a masters’ Degree in Social Science, or its equivalent in a related field with a Minimum of 7 years’ experience in research and programming.
  8. The consultant should have at least 10 years of proven expertise in conducting baseline study.
  9. Statistician with a Masters’s Degree in Statistics, Bio-Statistics, Data Science, or its equivalent in a related field with a Minimum of 7 years’ experience.
  10. High-level skills in project development and evaluation including knowledge in logical framework preparation
  11. Good understanding of agricultural development activities in the country
  12. Proven ability to liaise with district councils, communities, NGOs and other stakeholders in the sector and
  13. Excellent oral and written communication skills

4. ELIGIBILITY
The Malawi Government through the Ministry of Agriculture now invites eligible and qualified consulting firms (“consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services in the form of a curriculum vitae (CV) of the firm and the subject matter specialist

5. SELECTION METHODS
A consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method set out in IFAD’ Project Procurement Handbook that can be accessed via the IFAD website at www.ifad.org/project-procurement.

Any request for clarification and Detailed Terms of Reference (ToR’s) on this REOl should be sent via e-mail to the address below sdimas@sapp.mw/ rexbaluwa@sapp.mw no later than 2nd September 2024. The client will provide responses to all clarification requests by 5th September 2024.

6. SUBMISSION
Expressions of interest in the form of Curriculum Vitae (CV) and certified copies of certificates / delivered in a written form must be submitted to the address below by 9th September 2024 at 10:00 am local time and clearly marked Expression of Interest for Consultancy to Conduct Baseline Study. For those wishing to submit electronically, the address is rexbaluwa@sapp.mw/ sdimas@sapp.mw

The Chairperson
Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee
Ministry of Agriculture
Capital Hill
Box 30134
LILONGWE 3

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