Terms of Reference (TOR) of consultant trainer for Agricultural Value Chain Development and Market Linkage Training

Terms of Reference (TOR) of consultant trainer for

Agricultural Value Chain Development and Market Linkage Training

1. Project Background

Value Chain Development of Fruit and Vegetables project (VCDP) is a 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 39 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. By default, VCDP has been implementing wide range of activities to address the critical gaps and issues at different nodes of the value chain. Project has partnered with NARC, Local Governments, Cooperatives, and other private sector partners. for the delivery of project outputs and outcomes.

In Nepal, conventional extension approach is more supply driven and production focused where the marketing problem remained untouched for a long time. Later on, farmers’ group and cooperative approach were introduced aiming for scaling up of production and setting up collective marketing mechanisms which has contributed for commercialization in production to some extent but couldn’t achieved tangible results for market linkages at scale for sustainable commercialization of the value chain. Digging deeper, important segments of the agriculture market system particularly the market intermediaries and business development service providers were found beyond the agriculture extensions system or development interventions in the past. On this backdrop, few initiatives have been initiated from agribusiness and value chain development approaches which was also adopted by the Agriculture Development Strategy of the Government of Nepal, but majority of the front-line extension staffs do have limited understanding, exposure, and experience to this, or set of skills to implement the approach for the intended results.

VCDP has given due importance to enhance the capacity of the front-line extension staffs and had organized numerous events like trainings, workshops, exposure visits to enhance the knowledge and skills on crop husbandry and postharvest handling to large extent. Against the project’s assumption, we realized limited understanding of value chain approach among the extension staffs led lower-level confidence to deal with different value chain actors for coordinated efforts and smooth functioning of the chain. To address this gap, to the possible extent, VCDP has been integrating different topics like value chain thinking, agriculture marketing, cooperative, programme planning, stakeholder engagement with different training slots during initial period. It is not rational to expect high confidence and thereof efforts on value chain from such part and partial training slots, but it has greatly raised their interest to learn more and have been requesting for the same. So, VCDP is This time, a dedicated training on agricultural value chain development and market linkage has been planned for the selected agricultural technicians of the local government. For the same, project has planned to hire consultant(s)/firms and mobilize to deliver the training.

2. Scope of Work

By definition, a value chain is the network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, service providers and others which are involved in bringing a product or service to market. Understanding and effectively managing a value chain is critical to build or scale business associated with the chain. But majority of the front-line extension staffs do have limited understanding, exposure, and experience to this, or set of hands-on skills, whatever they do have, to implement the approach for the intended results, at least for the local value chain development and market linkages. Therefore, VCDP is hiring consultant(s) to enrich the understanding, knowledge and skills of the agriculture extension personnel associated with the project through a training workshop. There may be maximum two consultants (one lead trainer and one co-trainer).

The selected consultant(s) will design the training content in consultation with the project team and deliver the contents in participatory learning approach. There will be about 23-25 participants from different project Palikas. The primary objective of the training is to impart knowledge and skills to learn how value chain approach can support or enable innovations and collaborative efforts to create a competitive advantage in the selected value chain. The contents and delivery of the training should familiarize the participant with the approach, use of appropriate tools and techniques to analyse the value chain; identify leverage points for VC interventions; prioritize constrains and opportunities of the selected value chain; impart facilitation skills for upgrading the value chain and create conducive environment for sustainable market linkage for smallholder producers. The training content and delivery should address the key project outcomes along with GESI and Climate Change as cross-cutting issue.

Key responsibilities of the consultant 

• Draft training schedule, training materials and handouts for the training,
• Incorporate feedback received from project team
• Deliver the training being organized by the project. 
• Adopt the participatory learning approach in training delivery, 
• Prepare a brief training report and submit within 10 days of completion of event. 

Duration of the work

The duration of the training will be full 4 days in residential form. It will be organized in May or June 2022 depending on project priority. This training will be organized in Dhulikhel, Kavre. The trainers must provide detail of days required for the training and quote the cost of consultancy fee on per event basis. However, the below is indicative task breakdown to be completed as part of this assignment. 

Task 1: Training Preparation 

• Meeting with project team 
• Training design – Detailed training content and methodology
• Training Materials Preparation
• Presentation slides, cases, games, and stories relevant to the fruit and vegetable value chain,   
• Training hands-out and reference materials preparation  
• Incorporate inputs from project team

Task 2: Training Delivery 

• Delivery of training content
• Encourage active participation of the participants 
• Learning synthesis and key take-home message

Task 3: Reporting 

• Preparation of detailed training report, 
• Incorporate input from project team to finalize the report and submission
• Submission of invoice and financial claims, which applicable.

Physical output/deliverables  

• Detailed table of content, schedule, presentations, and handouts
• Event facilitation 
• Event completion report

3. Qualifications of the consultant 

The consultants should have following qualifications and competencies: 

• At least Master’s degree with 10 years’ experience on relevant field,   
• Proven experience of successfully facilitating value chain trainings. Clear evidence of such assignment completion should be submitted while applying, 
• Experience of designing training content, manual and guideline,  
• Priority will be given to consultants from women, Dalit, Janajati and ethnic communities.

4. Institutional arrangements and reporting 

Under the overall supervision of National Project Manager, the consultant(s) shall work in close collaboration and guidance of the Marketing and Value Chain Specialist of the Project.   

5. Consultancy fee, benefits and payments 

• The consultancy fee is based on expertise and experience. Interested candidates should submit the financial proposal including total consultancy fee, transportation cost and on-route food/beverage expenses. The financial proposal can be reflected in application cover letter or in separate financial proposal. The mentioned consultancy fee will be applicable tax as per prevailing rule, 
• Project will provide the food and accommodation at the training venue. 
• The consultant should be PAN/VAT registered. In case of VAT registered, recent tax clearance certificate should be submitted,    
• Payment to consultant shall be upon submission of assignment/event completion report and acceptance by the project. Payment shall be made via bank transfer,  
• The consultant should have PAN/VAT registered. In case of VAT registered, copy of registration document and recent year’s tax clearance certificate need to submit during the application. 

6. How to apply?

Interested and eligible candidate(s) are requested to submit updated CVs highlighting the relevant competency, expertise, and experience along with an application letter and financial proposal. Incomplete applications will not be considered. The application can be submitted via email to info@vcdp.org.np within May 17, 2022, of publication of RFP notice.