TERMS OF REFERENCE: Consultant -Program Officer

TERMS OF REFERENCE: Consultant -Program Officer

1. Background

HPIN works with communities and partners to advance sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food and farming systems. In Nepal, HPIN collaborates with farmer institutions, cooperatives, government agencies, private-sector actors, financial institutions, service providers, research organizations, and development partners to strengthen locally led development and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farming families. HPIN seeks two experienced Consultant-Program Officers to provide time-bound program coordination, technical support, monitoring, partnership facilitation, and capacity strengthening for projects that advance farmer-led food system transformation in assigned project sites. The consultancy will focus on stronger farmer collectives, regenerative agriculture, inclusive market systems, private-sector partnerships, and an enabling policy and institutional environment.

2. Purpose of the Assignment

This consultancy supports the timely, high-quality, compliant, and adaptive implementation of assigned projects and sub-awards. Working with HPIN thematic leads and program teams, the Consultants shall provide strategic and operational guidance to project partners, farmers' collectives, and local governments on social capital development, cooperative strengthening, value-chain and market-systems development, regenerative agriculture, and local food-system transformation in a sustainable manner.

3. Specific Objectives

• Translate approved project objectives into practical implementation guidelines, detailed plans, coordinated rollout, and timely follow-up.
• Strengthen the technical, institutional, governance, and business capacities of project partners, cooperatives, farmer institutions, MSMEs, and local stakeholders.
• Facilitate inclusive partnerships, market linkages, service-delivery mechanisms, and public-sector co-investment that support sustainable and scalable outcomes.
• Strengthen monitoring, adaptive management, learning, documentation, reporting, and compliance throughout implementation.
• Promote regenerative, climate-resilient, biodiversity-positive, and socially inclusive approaches across assigned activities.

4. Scope of Work 

4.1. Project planning, facilitation, and systems change

• Build alignment and stakeholder ownership around shared food-system priorities, strengthening coherence and accountability throughout project delivery.
• Translate project goals into practical guidance, coordinated plans, and enabling arrangements that improve the quality, adaptability, and local ownership of the initiatives.
• Establish and strengthen partnerships with local governments and other stakeholders that expand collaboration, resource access, and coordinate action among governments, producer organizations, private-sector actors, financial institutions, service providers, and other stakeholders.
• Strengthen the sustained capacity of producer organizations, institutions, and food-system actors to identify, access, and capitalize on emerging opportunities, resources, markets, and finance.
• Advance system change that integrates local food-system priorities into government planning, budgeting, policy implementation, and co-investment processes, as appropriate.
• Institutionalize shared learning, knowledge exchange, and evidence-informed adaptation, enabling institutions to improve sustainability, effectiveness, and scalability of results.
• Strengthen organizational systems and resource-mobilization capacity, improving the timeliness, efficiency, quality, and responsiveness of project outcomes.

4.2. Project coordination, monitoring, learning, and reporting

• Coordinate local government entities, partners, and stakeholders to build partnership, ownership, align priorities, and deliver agreed project results.
• Synthesize monitoring data, stakeholder feedback, field observations, and learning reviews to facilitate adaptive management and measurable improvements.
• Facilitate structured field engagements with farmers, self-help groups (SHGs), SHG networks, cooperatives, enterprises, and partners to assess progress, quality, context, and follow-up priorities.
• Strengthen partner capacity and data use by facilitating the collection, verification, analysis, and reporting of plans, outcome and system-change indicators, milestones, deliverables, and budgets.
• Broker collaboration among private-sector actors, business development service providers, and other stakeholders to establish and sustain effective service-delivery mechanisms.
• Surface implementation constraints and facilitate timely, stakeholder-led problem-solving, corrective action, and solutions that strengthen accountability and ownership.
• Document and communicate results through technical reports, progress updates, success stories, case studies, lessons learned, technical briefs, baseline assessments, reviews, evaluations, and accountability processes that support replication and sustainable systems change.

4.3. Partnership development, technical support, and capacity strengthening

• Identify and address systemic constraints affecting smallholder farmers, enabling measurable improvements in inclusive and resilient local food systems.
• Build and manage trusted partnerships across government, producer organizations, private-sector enterprises, financial institutions, business development services, research institutions, and development partners to mobilize resources and secure stakeholder ownership.
• Provide technical guidance and facilitation to project partners, supporting collaborative problem-solving and timely achievement of agreed results.
• Design and facilitate tailored capacity-support interventions, including training, mentoring, coaching, peer learning, and technical backstopping, with changes in skills and performance tracked.
• Strengthen the leadership, governance, inclusion, accountability, and business capacities of farmer institutions so they can lead locally owned food-system transformation.
• Support farmers, cooperatives, government actors, and market actors to adopt institutional and behavioral changes that improve resilience, inclusion, market participation, and access to opportunities.
• Mentor the lead farmers, entrepreneurs, and cooperatives to become champions of transformation, leverage public and private resources, and sustain results beyond project support.

5. Deliverables and Acceptance Criteria

The detailed timing and frequency of deliverables will be confirmed in the inception workplan. All deliverables must be evidence-based, professionally presented, submitted in editable electronic format, and accepted by the designated HPIN supervisor.

Note: Some of the deliverables listed here can be reported collectively and to be specified in the inception work plan. 

6. Assignment handling and working arrangements

• Supervision: The Consultant shall report to the assigned regional program manager and while maintaining efficient working relationships with multi-disciplinary departments and functions.
• Duty station and travel: The assignment will be field-based, with deployment to designated project locations and extensive travel to rural project sites. Travel will be undertaken in accordance with the approved work plan and applicable HPIN procedures.
• Coordination: The Consultant will participate in agreed planning, review, learning, and coordination meetings and maintain regular communication with the designated supervisor and project leads.
• Facilities and inputs: HPIN will provide access to relevant project documents, approved plans, reporting formats, and key stakeholders. Access to any equipment, workspace, communication, travel, or logistical support will be specified in the contract.
• Consultancy status: The Consultant will serve as an independent contractor. The consultancy does not create an employer-employee relationship or entitlement to employee benefits.

7. Required Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university with a minimum of five years of relevant professional experience in areas of agriculture/livestock sector development projects management and support.
• Sound understanding of farmer-led development, social capital, inclusive market systems, regenerative or climate-resilient agriculture, and institutional capacity strengthening.
• Demonstrated experience working with local governments, farmer organizations or cooperatives, private-sector actors, service providers, and implementing partners in Nepal or a comparable context. Exclusive experience in partnership with local and provincial governments is an added value.  
• Demonstrated ability in facilitation, coaching, partnership management, adaptive management, monitoring, technical documentation, and report writing.
• Sound leadership, communication, interpersonal, coordination, and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, electronic mail, virtual collaboration tools, and internet-based research; Microsoft Office proficiency is preferred.
• Professional proficiency in Nepali and English, including the ability to prepare clear technical and management reports.

8. Professional Fee and Payment Schedule

The professional fee and payment schedule will be specified in the consultancy contract. Payments will be linked to satisfactory completion and acceptance of agreed deliverables and submission of required supporting documents. Applicable taxes will be deducted in accordance with the laws of Nepal. Pre-approved travel and reimbursable costs, if any, will be governed by the contract and applicable HPIN procedures.

9. Confidentiality, Ownership, and Standards of Conduct

• All data, reports, resources, tools, photographs, case studies, and other products produced under this assignment will be treated as confidential and used only for authorized purposes.
• Ownership and permitted use of consultancy outputs will be governed by the agreement. The Consultant may not publish, share, or reuse these materials without prior written authorization from HPIN.
• The Consultant must comply with applicable HPIN policies and standards, including safeguarding, prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, child protection, anti-fraud and anti-corruption, conflict of interest, data protection, and ethical communication requirements.
• Any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest must be disclosed promptly to HPIN.

10. Application Requirements

Interested candidates should submit the following documents by 15 October 2026, 5:00 PM through                       Procurement-NP@heifer.org with the email subject line “Application for Consultant-PO (for …..district)”.

• An application letter indicating suitability, availability, and expected monthly remuneration for the agreed deliverables.
• An updated CV highlighting relevant experience.
• A copy of the citizenship certificate.
• A copy of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) certificate.
• A copy of the academic certificate for the highest qualification.