Roster of Consultants for Training on cooperative management, cooperative accounting and financial m

Value Chain Development of Fruit and Vegetables project (VCDP) is the joint initiative of Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) with the support from Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aimed to increase income of 10,000 smallholder farmers of 37 rural/municipalities aside BP highway and Prithvi highway extending to Syangja and Hetauda-Dumkibas section of the East-West highway. The project has three major outcome areas (1) improve agricultural productivity through increased capacity of government agencies and better access to production technologies by farmers, (2) reduce postharvest losses of selected fruit and vegetables by postharvest technology development, and (3) better market linkages at local level.

The project has considered agriculture producer cooperatives as potential business vehicle to increase market access to smallholder farmers. VCDP has planned to support the agricultural cooperatives for the better market linkage outcome. In the past, some initiatives have done to support cooperatives to start collective business either aggregation or trading or value addition of agricultural produce. VCDP has recently conducted rapid assessment of potential cooperatives from the project areas and found that the cooperative management is fairly at low level than expected. Their current management practices, governance structure, clear business plan, available operational guidelines and procedures were found substantially poor. Apart from this, there is poor linkage between cooperative and their member’s business. On this backdrop, VCDP has planned to hire few consultants to deliver following responsibilities.

üDraft training of content (TOC), guideline and handouts for 3 days’ cooperative management training (see footnote-1) to deliver at primary cooperative level, incorporate feedback from project team and finalize.

üReview of national, regional and global practices of agricultural cooperative management and incorporate in this training design,

üCoordinate with respective rural municipality/municipality while conducting those trainings and acknowledge their potential contribution,  

üDeliver agreed number of cooperative management training for primary cooperatives

üPrepare a brief event completion report of each slot of training and submit within 7 days of the completion of the training,

üProvide critical feedback on the capacity gap of cooperatives observed during the training and special recommendation for the betterment.

üUpdate the specific section of the training content and guideline where necessary,

There will be about 25-30 training slots from August 2019 to June 2020 however service contract will be done on part and partial. At first stage, 7-10 training slots is planned within November 2019. The consultant(s) needs to submit the final report within 10th December 2019.

Table 1: Workdays distribution for different activities for cooperative management training

The consultants should have following qualifications and competencies:

üAt least master’s degree in related field,

üProven experience of successfully facilitating cooperative management trainings (at least 5 in last 2 years) for agricultural cooperatives,

üSound knowledge on relevant policy provision relating to cooperative sector in Nepal,

üExperience of designing training content, manual and guideline,

üHave basic computer literacy, and good command on both English and Nepali language in speaking and writing,

üPriority will be given to women, Dalit, Janajati and ethnic communities.  

üDetailed table of content, schedule, guideline and handouts

üWork/assignment delivery plan

üEvent completion report

üAssignment completion report 

üConduct meeting with VCDP team to get acquainted with the project objective, geographical area, and brief information about the selected cooperatives,

üReview to gather updates on cooperative accounting and financial management related policy, guideline and directives from the central, provincial and local governments.

üDesign the 3 days’ training schedule, and detail content and relevant reference documents incorporating the input/feedback from the project team.

üCoordinate with respective rural municipality/municipality while conducting those training and acknowledge their potential contribution,  

üDeliver agreed number of trainings for primary cooperatives

üPrepare a brief event completion report of each slot of training and submit within 7 days of the completion of the training,

üProvide critical feedback on the capacity gap of cooperatives observed during the training and special recommendation for the betterment.

üUpdate the specific section of the training content and guideline where necessary,

There will be about 10-15 training slots from August 2019 to June 2020 however service contract will be done on part and partial. At first stage, 3-5 training slots is planned within November 2019. The consultant(s) needs to submit the final report within 10th December 2019.

Table 2: Workdays distribution for different activities for cooperative management training

The consultants should have following qualifications and competencies:

üAt least master’s degree in related field,

üProven experience of successfully facilitating similar trainings (at least 5 in last 2 years) for agricultural cooperatives,

üSound knowledge on relevant policy provision relating to cooperative sector in Nepal,

üExperience of designing training content, manual and guideline,

üHave basic computer literacy, and good command on both English and Nepali language in speaking and writing,

üPriority will be given to women, Dalit, Janajati and ethnic communities.  

üDetailed table of content, schedule, guideline and handouts

üWork/assignment delivery plan

üEvent completion report 

üAssignment completion report 

üQuick review of national, regional and global experiences of cooperative business management on fruit and vegetables and design our local context relevant business planning template

üConduct meeting with VCDP team to get acquainted with the project objective, geographical area, and brief information about the selected cooperatives,

üDesign the business planning workshop schedule(3-days), detailed content, defined template and guidelines to prepare/facilitate the business planning incorporating the input/feedback from the project team. It also includes the pre- and post-workshop activities, document review, synthesis and business plan finalization.

üConsult with project team and/or respective cooperative to gather basic information about the cooperatives, and plan for the business planning workshop,

üCoordinate with respective rural municipality/municipality while conducting those training and acknowledge their potential contribution,  

üFacilitate business planning workshops (3 days each) as per agreed plan, document the discussion points, plans and strategies to meet the set targets, and translate them into concrete business plan,

üEnsure the business plan has addressed all the business/service sectors of the cooperative,

üShare the draft business plan to the project team and cooperative for review and feedback

üFinalize the business plan incorporating feedbacks,

üPrepare and submit event-wise brief report within 7 days of each event completion and consolidated assignment completion report within 10 days of completion. The report will include the socio-demographic segregated participant profiles, observation, feedback from participants, and original sizes of pictures taken during the training.

From August 2019 to June 2020, VCDP is supporting 10-15 cooperatives to develop their business plan. It is expected that at least 5 cooperatives will have their business plan with support from VCDP within November 2019. The total duration of the service contract will be of 45 days (see footnote-6)for five business planning workshops from August to November 2019.

Table 2: Workdays distribution for different activities for business plan preparation

The consultants should have following qualifications and competencies:

üAt least master’s degree agricultural economics, economics, business management, business administration or in related field,

üProven experience of successfully facilitating cooperative business planning workshop and develop business plan (at least 5 in last 2 years) for agricultural cooperatives,

üExperience of designing training content and preparation of manuals/guidelines,

üSound knowledge on relevant policy provision and practices relating to agriculture cooperative sector in Nepal,

üHave basic computer literacy, and good command on both English and Nepali language in speaking and writing,

üPriority will be given to those having experience of similar assignment for cooperatives having agricultural marketing business,

üPriority will be given to women, Dalit, Janajati and ethnic communities,

üDetailed table of content, schedule, guideline and template

üWork/assignment delivery plan

üFinalized business plan(s)

üEvent completion report

üAssignment completion report

The Consultant(s) will work in close coordination and strategic guidance of Marketing and Value Chain Specialist of the Project and report regularly on the progress. VCDP will organize an induction meeting to brief the project and overview of the selected cooperatives. Project will coordinate with the cooperative/palika for the logistics part. The physical output and field delivery by the consultant(s) will undergo review for verification and acceptance. VCDP has rights to all the outputs of this assignment. The final report will be provided to project at the end of the service. In some cases, the consultant will be hired via the project palika and payment will be made from there however the strategic guidance and collaboration with project is a must. The selected consultant(s) will be in VCDP’s roster of experts and contacted in future events.  

üThe daily consultancy fee is based on expertise and experience. Interested candidates should quote his/her rate in application cover letter. The mentioned consultancy fee will be applicable tax as per prevailing rule,  

üTo cover the food and accommodation expenses during the travel days and field work, a consultant is eligible to claim DSA at rate of Rs 2000/day. When the event is residential, the organizer will manage the food and accommodation however the consultant is eligible to claim incidental allowance at the rate of Rs 500/day.

üThere should be clear and specific field travel plan duly approved by the concerned point person of the project,

üWhen the consultant needs to travel to and from the event venue(s), project will manage appropriate mode of transportation.

üPayment installment will be as stated in table 3 below. The applicable DSA will be reimbursed with the final installment

Table 4: Distribution of payment schedule

Interested and eligible candidates are requested to submit updated CV highlighting the relevant competency, expertise and experience along with an application letter mentioning the daily consultancy fee. The application can be submitted via email to info@vcdp.org.np no later than 22 August 2019. Sharing of past work outputs is appreciated.