Consultancy Opportunity at Rikolto

 

 Consultancy Opportunity at Rikolto

 

Read here information about a  Consultancy Opportunity at Rikolto

Terms of Reference For a Consultancy at Rikolto

Terms of Reference for a consultancy to conduct GESI assessment to understand gender inequalities revolving around smallholder  farmers in the southern highlands of Tanzania.  

1.Introduction  

Rikolto is an international NGO with over 50 years of experience partnering with farmer organizations and  food chain stakeholders across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Our work is focused on three global  programs: the Rice, the Cocoa & Coffee Programs, and the Good Food for Cities Program. Our mission is  to promote sustainable income for farmers and provide nutritious, affordable food for everyone through  trust and trade among the food industry, governments, research institutions, financial bodies, and  farmers’ organizations, addressing the pivotal question: ‘What will we eat tomorrow?’ Rikolto’s global  strategy aims for structural changes in the agri-food system and the up scaling of effective practices and  policies that unlock the farming potential of a critical mass of smallholder farmers. Clear agendas for  structural change and upscaling are established, leading to the development of specific strategies and  actions. This is followed by designing concrete interventions in pilot chains to experiment, learn, and  gather evidence to influence the agreed changes.  

2. Project background and Summary  

Rikolto in Tanzania has recently secured funding from REDAA to implement a project titled NATURE FUNDI (Nature and Agriculture Transformation by Unlocking Resources to Ensure Funding for the Unbanked and  Deepening Inclusion), which will run from 2024 to 2027.The project was developed in response to  environmental challenges caused by unsustainable farming practices among smallholder farmers. In  sectors such as rice, horticulture, and cocoa-coffee, farmers operating near sensitive ecosystems often  contribute to environmental degradation. Therefore, this project targets the implementation of a credit  based incentive mechanism, designed and tested by local stakeholders to address this issue. In the first  phase involving 5,000 smallholders, with an expansion to 100,000 over ten years, the initiative emphasises  stakeholder-led action research. This approach not only facilitates sustainable resource use but also  informs policy and guides other actors, thereby demonstrating effective environmental conservation  practices in tandem with agricultural productivity.  

3. The Assignment:  

Gender inequality and social inclusion are critical components in achieving sustainable development.  RIKOLTO Tanzania seeks to consult a gender expert to conduct a GESI assessment for the NATURE FUNDI  project in Mbeya and Katavi regions. The consultant will highlight the roles and responsibilities of women,  youth, and marginalized populations in the agriculture sector in different steps of the targeted value  chains (production, input supply, aggregation, transport, processing, marketing, and consumption) and to  identify opportunities to expand their profitable business opportunities and to increase access to  finance.The assessment will also consult formal and informal financial institutions to understand the  challenges in providing credit and financial services to women, youth, and marginalized populations, and  identify opportunities for NATURE FUNDI to further the inclusion of these populations in the provision of  financial services. The assessment should draw on qualitative and quantitative data, through primary data  collection and secondary desk research review.  

The consultant will be expected to examine the following areas intensively: 

1. Review relevant existing studies, data, and information on the gender context in Tanzania,  specifically within the finance and target Value chains  
2. Collect primary data by interviewing local stakeholders in Tanzania such as financial  institutions (FIs), farmer groups, women groups, youth groups, and relevant agri-enterprises  to discuss the current roles and opportunities for women in the agricultural finance sector,  and to identify the bottlenecks faced by women, youth, and other marginalized populations  to access agricultural financial services in Tanzania, including access to collateral, productive  resources, knowledge, and other factors to be determined.  
3. Analyze the data and information gathered to identify the roles and contribution of women,  youth, and marginalized populations in the agricultural and finance sectors in Tanzania, the  gaps and challenges faced by them; and to propose recommendations for how the program  can address  
4. Asess Intra-household power dynamics, roles, and resource allocation/control decisions  within households involved in agriculture espeicially on Rice, Horticulture, Cocoa and Coffee  5. Understand Household and community dynamics, including formal and informal finance  sources for women, youth, and marginalized populations. Gender and age dynamics in  agricultural production, entrepreneurship, and agri-enterprise operation, to understand  women’s and youth’s access to property and other forms of collateral that may affect  bankability and access to formal financial channels.  
5. Enabling environment factors in Tanzania (laws, policies, etc) influencing women, youth, and  marginalized populations’ access to finance  
6. Asess Availability of both specialized and non-specialized financial products and services that  meet the needs of women, youth, and marginalized populations in the targeted value chains;  and identification of the required product terms/structure to expand opportunities for these  target groups (ie, alternative collateral mechanisms such as digital transaction history, etc)  
7. Understand Financial institutions’ perception of risks and opportunities of lending to women,  youth, and marginalized populations in the agriculture sector  
8. The GESI assessment will also propose specific targets about gender, youth, and the inclusion  of marginalized populations in the target value chain and finance sectors to be integrated into  the NATURE FUND Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan.  

Specific tasks:  

1. Develop an implementation schedule for the assignment in consultation with the RIKOLTO team.  2. Review, assess, and summarize relevant desk research before traveling to the field.  
2. Develop interview questions for each stakeholder type to be visited, including supply-side  financial institutions and demand-side institutions (e.g., cooperatives, farmer groups, youth  groups, women’s groups, agribusinesses) in Tanzania’s access-to-finance ecosystem.  
3. Conduct field visits in Mbeya, Songwe, and Katavi to engage with stakeholders, including projects  and actors working on gender-specific agricultural finance activities.  
4. Engage with youth, women, and marginalized populations involved in rice, horticulture, cocoa,  and coffee production to understand their activities—especially in operations, finances, decision making, and development planning through individual and household interviews.  
5. Conduct a gender assessment during fieldwork, focusing on community microfinance groups  participating in the Nature Fundi Project.  
6. Assess gender dynamics related to access, ownership, and use of assets, resources, opportunities,  services, benefits, and infrastructure.  
7. Analyze household and community-level decision-making processes and participation in societal  affairs, including access to systems and structures of power. 
8. Identify and assess systems that promote equity, inclusion, and an enabling environment for the  engagement of women, youth, and marginalized groups.  
9. Review and analyze all relevant data collected from fieldwork and literature.  
10. Identify and document the challenges and opportunities faced by women, youth, and  marginalized populations.  
11. Develop a list of recommendations to improve access to finance and bankability among target  groups, including an engagement strategy tailored to their specific needs.  
12. Submit a final report summarizing findings, gaps, recommendations, specific targets and  outcomes related to gender, youth, and inclusion in Nature Fundi Project  

Deliverables:  

• Literature review: summary of findings before field study. 
• Interview questions by stakeholder type and Complete set of tools used for data collection and  Analysis
• Assessment of final report on findings, including recommendations.
• Validation/Presentation of the report to Nature Fundi stakeholders
• A list of stakeholder interviews conducted in Annex Format

Qualifications:  

• Post-graduate or undergraduate university degree in gender studies or related fields. 
• 5 or more years of experience conducting gender assessments in the field of agri-business and/or  agri-finance; 
• Self-motivated, proactive, detail-oriented, mature, professional team player with excellent  interpersonal and communication skills;
• Ability to address issues, challenges, questions, and concerns in a professional, respectful, logical,  and timely manner;

4. Mode of Application.  

Qualified candidates (either Individual Consultants or Consultants Firm) are invited to submit their  Technical and Financial proposal with the following documents:  

• Cover letter,  
• CV of proposed consultant/Expert including reference details of previous clients.  
• References with detailed contact addresses of at least 3 organizations in which the consulting firm  /Individual provided similar services recently.  
• Samples of 2-3 similar previous work pieces (assessment/survey/ survey/evaluation). 
• Submit your proposals via email eastafrica.recruitment@rikolto.org by 30 June 2025 and should indicate  the source of advertisement and indicating the title of the survey on the subject line.
• Only shortlisted  candidates will be contacted.
• If you do not hear from us within two weeks, please consider your  submission unsuccessful. For more details on this consultancy opportunity, please visit HERE

 

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