Consultancy to develop a user-friendly compendium of forgotten food commodities in Africa
Name of Project:
FARA/FAO-RAF
Activity Ref No:
GF.RAFTD.RA4030226HP00.5575
Procurement Ref:
FARA/CS/IC/2022/01
Date:
Monday, January 31, 2022 : Submission deadline February 14, 2022
Food and nutritional security are significant developmental challenges in recent times. Africa is recorded to have the highest number of malnourished populations globally; Africa was estimated to have a 19.1 percent prevalence of undernourishment (PoU, 2019). There is the need for an accelerated approach and coordination at the continental level to provide solutions to these problems and advance necessary action to achieve the zero-hunger target.
A recent report indicated that Africa is home to diversified indigenous food commodities, that are well adapted to the environment and thrive well with little or no external inputs. These indigenous foods offer dietary diversity and are potent sources of micro and macronutrients. However, they have received little or no research and development attention towards their genetic improvement, value addition, and marketing. This earned them the label, “Neglected or forgotten food commodities”.
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has identified forgotten food as a potential source of solutions to ending hunger, malnutrition, and other dietary challenges in Africa. FARA and its partners proposed to carry out scoping studies, stakeholders’ engagement, and other activities to identify and characterize forgotten food commodities with the potential to be mainstreamed into the food system. To carry out this assignment, FARA requires the services of a consultant to support its staff in carrying out specific activities.
The overall objective of the assignment is to re-integrate the African indigenous, forgotten, and underutilized food commodities into the emerging food systems for sustainable food and nutritional security.
This request for expression of interest aims at engaging a consultant to carry out the following functions:
Carry out a systematic review and consultations to define the scope of traditional or forgotten foods. This will include the moderation of a D-group discussion to define what forgotten food is and what it is not, and/or a more apt term to describe the kinds of foods referred to as forgotten.
Draw a list of important forgotten foods and prioritize at least 100 common traditional food crops based on geographic coverage, nutritional density, other environmental and cultural values, and cross-cultural acceptability.
Undertake a desk review on the nutritional information for the identified forgotten food commodities and compile their nutritional values.
Coordinate the analysis to validate the nutritional value of the identified 100 food commodities.
Develop a compendium of the nutritional content, availability, accessibility, and utilization of common indigenous foods in the four sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis will include their environmental and economic benefits; it will be developed into a user-friendly format that documents at least 100 commodities. The compendium will be made with high-resolution images and succinct information on each commodity.
Facilitate stakeholder’s dialogue to validate the compendium of Forgotten Foods in Africa.
The detailed terms of reference are in the link below:
The Executive Director of FARA invites interested consultants to express interest in carrying out this assignment.
Consultants interested in this call must provide an Expression of Interest no longer than 10 pages, outlining proposed methodologies, references related to the execution of similar contracts, experience in similar areas, or evidence of knowledge and a proposed timeline. Brochures, CVs, and other supplementary materials submitted shall not be accounted for as part of the 10-page limit.
The anticipated period of performance for this consultancy is 42 man-days spread over three months. The work is expected to be carried out from the 22ndof February to 14th May 2022.
The individual consultant shall be selected based on procedures defined in the Procurement Guidelines of FARA.
Interested consultants may obtain further information from the Senior Technical Cluster Leader/Innovation Systems Specialist,Fatunbi Oluwole [[email protected]], and copy the Procurement Expert, Mr. Callistus Achaab [[email protected]], during the following hours: 9h00 to 15h00 GMT.
Please download the Terms of Reference below for further information on this opportunity.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to [[email protected]] and addressed to Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA, No 9 Flower Avenue, New Achimota, Mile 7, Accra, Ghana, no later than Monday, 14th February 2022, at 14h00 GMT. Tel: +233 302 772823/744888
FARA Affirmative Action Statement on Recruitment: there is no discrimination based on gender race, religion, ethnic orientation, disability, or health status.
Engagement of a firm to facilitate the recruitment of the next Executive Director of FARA
Organisation:
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
Procurement Ref:
FARA/CS/QCBS/2022/01
Date:
Thursday, January 27, 2022
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) invites interested and eligible firms to indicate their interest in the following assignment: Facilitate the recruitment of the next Executive Director of FARA.
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) is an apex organization forming and bringing together coalitions of major stakeholders in agricultural research for development (AR4D) in Africa. It is the technical arm of the African Union with the mandate of developing and coordinating Agricultural Research for Development in FARA serves as the entry point for agricultural research initiatives in Africa designed to have a continental reach or a sub-continental reach spanning more than one sub-region. Headquartered in Accra, Ghana, FARA has been in existence since the late 1990s. Over this period, FARA has provided a continental forum for stakeholders in AR4D to shape the vision and agenda for this sub-sector, and to mobilize themselves to respond to key continent-wide development frameworks, notably the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
FARA Management Board has authorised the recruitment process of a new Executive Director. This will involve engaging an Independent Recruitment Firm to assist the Board’s Recruitment Advisory Committee (RAC) throughout the process.
The services and activities to be provided under the assignment are as follows; Under the supervision of the RAC, the Independent Recruitment Firm will:
Develop a workplan for the recruitment process covering planning, recruitment, and candidate assessment,
Develop a vacancy announcement based on an available draft and ensure that the selection criteria are properly
Develop and launch the vacancy advertisement in the appropriate
Receive applications, act as the contact point for those seeking information and/or proposing candidates and communicate with applicants where and when
Conduct an executive search for candidates, using networks, rosters, referrals, and other appropriate means, whilst striving for regional and gender balance in the selection
Screen the applications and establish a long list of candidates (approximately 12)
In consultation and in compliance with a process agreed upon with the RAC, including remaking reference to background checks, establish a short list of candidates (approximately 6).
Assist the RAC in establishing the final list of three candidates, interviewing them, and preparing a detailed final report that will be presented to the Board for decision-making.
Provide advice on successful onboarding of the new Executive
Prepare a final report and closure of the recruitment
FARA invites Recruitment Firms to indicate their interest in providing the above service. The selection criteria for the Recruitment Firm should include (i) at least 10 years’ demonstrated experience in conducting executive recruitments for International Agencies, Development Organizations, and International NGOs in Africa, (ii) The firm should demonstrate evidence of completion of at least three (3) assignments of recruitment of Chief Executives in the last seven (7) years with evidence of excellent performance of selected candidates. Interested Firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services (supporting documentation, reference for similar services, experience in comparable assignments, availability, and CVs of qualified staff, etc). Interested Firms should provide a detailed financial proposal with budget lines and resources for activities to be performed.
The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a shortlist and the selection procedure shall conform with the Procurement Guidelines of FARA for the Recruitment of Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Recruitment Firm does not imply any obligation on the part of FARA to include it in the
The estimated duration of services shall be for a period of 18-man days spread over the period March 2022 to December 2022.
Interested firms may obtain further information from the HR and Administration Manager, Ms Ama Pokuah Asenso [[email protected]], and copy the Procurement Expert, Callistus Achaab [[email protected]], during the following hours: 9h00 to 15h00 GMT.
Please download the Terms of Reference below for further information on this opportunity.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to [[email protected]] and addressed to Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA, No 9 Flower Avenue, New Achimota, Mile 7, Accra, Ghana, no later than Thursday, 17th February, 2022, at 14h00 GMT. Tel: +233 302 772823/744888.
FARA Affirmative Action Statement on Recruitment: there is no discrimination based on gender race, religion, ethnic orientation, disability or health status.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was formally established in March 2018 at the 10th Extraordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda. It is one of the key priorities of the Africa Agenda 2063 and a major step towards African continental economic integration. It also featured highly in the political declaration of the fifth AU-EU Summit of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Recently, remarkable progress has been made. Fifty-four of the 55 AU Member States have now signed the Agreement. The Agreement went into force on May 30 and entered its operational phase on 7th July 2019, following the 33rd Extraordinary Summit of the African Union. As of September 2021, 39 member states have ratified and deposited ratification instruments. Trading under the AfCFTA was launched on 1st January 2021 “based on a single rule-book for trade and investment”.
The AfCFTA aims at providing a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of people and investments. Its goal is to accelerate Intra-Africa trade through better harmonisation and coordination of trade liberalisation. A dramatic boost to economic growth and the attraction of investments from both within Africa and the world are among the expected outcomes. The potential gains from increased regional and economic integration are substantial, as the continent has the lowest percentage of intra-regional trade. Only 15% of exports take place within Africa, compared with 25% in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and over 60% in the EU. In addition, exports are often limited to natural resources with little added value from other sectors of the economies. The EU, with its extensive experience with creating an internal market, has been supporting the Africa Free Trade Area since its inception in 2015 and remains committed to supporting its ratification and implementation process.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the African Union Commission (AUC) Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) are currently finalizing an assessment of economic effects of the AfCFTA on African countries with a focus on the agri-food system. The study analyses the economy-wide (continental, regional and national) and distributional impacts of policy and/or structural shocks, sectoral transmission of sector-specific policies for sectors and regions. The output of the study includes projections of GDP, employment, bilateral trade, capital flows, household consumption and welfare. The results of the model will be presented to the Policy Organs including the 4th Specialised Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment in December 2021.
Please download the full guidelines for applicants and call for proposal in both English & French:
Proposals developed must be submitted in English. To facilitate the evaluation procedure, proposals developed in French, Portuguese, and Arabic should be translated into English before submission.
FARA and JRC are available for further clarification and can be reached via email at the email listed below. Proposal submission should be done no later than 10th November 2021. Proposals should be submitted to [email protected], [email protected] and, [email protected]
Name of Project: CAADP-XP4
Activity Ref No: CAADP-XP4 Output 3/ Activity 3.5.2 / 2021
Procurement Ref: FARA/CAADP-XP4/CS/IC/2021/08
Date: Friday, July 16, 2021
1. The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) together with the Sub-Regional Agricultural Research Organizations (SROs) offer a strategic platform that fosters continental and global networking to strengthen the innovation capacities of Africa’s agricultural research system. FARA also has a mandate from the AUC to serve as its technical arm in the advancement of the Science Agenda in Africa’s Agriculture.
To achieve transformation in the agricultural sector, FARA has identified an increasing need for deeper collaboration among Agricultural Research for Development practitioners and private sector partners in Africa. FARA has therefore embarked on an inclusive process together with the Sub Regional Organizations (ASARECA, CCARDESA, CORAF) and AFAAS, to develop a new vision of collaboration and operationalization with private sector partners. This is being done through the European Union (EU) FUNDS under the Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) initiative. The initiative aims to implement a 4-year project in Africa called CAADP Ex-Pillar 4 (CAADP-XP4).
Recent indication recommends that the export of agro-processed and other value-added goods made in Africa is greater in regional markets than in external markets, typically dominated by mostly low-value raw material exports. The 2013 World Bank estimates show that the value of Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness market could expand to USD 1 trillion by 2030. However, this growth is likely to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 shock.
Lessons learned from the pandemic crisis include maintaining open trade channels safely, policy coordination and transparency between member states and protecting essential workers to ensure that public health and food systems continue to operate.
Overall progress on achieving the Malabo Declaration commitments by 2025 and on regional integration, in general, has been slow due to country disparities in the levels of development, inconsistent and conflicting regulations and standards, as well as infrastructure and connectivity problems at the border and behind the border that add to the cost of doing business in Africa (Benin, 2020).
There is, therefore, the need to assess existing sub-regional trade mechanisms and develop a framework to support cross-border trade on the continent. To support Africa to better feed Africa, an enhanced framework on agricultural food and trade is needed. It seems that regional integration processes can be the key to this development, and this makes the role of continental organizations such as the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) important. Such organizations need to assess the trade in agricultural inputs and commodities to improve the implementation of existing trade policies to support cross-border trade among African countries.
2. The overall aim of this assignment is to conduct regional reviews of trade in agricultural inputs and commodities to improve the implementation of existing trade policies to support cross-border trade in Africa. This is aimed at enhancing cross-border or intra-continental trade among African countries.
3. This request for expression of interest aims at engaging a consultant to carry out the following functions:
a) Conduct studies aimed at assessing existing sub-regional agricultural trade mechanisms that influence cross-border agricultural commodities and inputs.
b) Develop a framework that supports cross-border trade for agricultural inputs and commodities.
The detailed terms of reference is in the link below:
4. The Executive Director of FARA invites interested consultants to express interest in carrying out this assignment.
5. Consultants interested in this call must provide an Expression of Interest no longer than 10 pages, outlining proposed methodologies, references related to the execution of similar contracts, experience in similar areas, or evidence of knowledge and a proposed timeline. Brochures, CVs, and other supplementary materials submitted shall not be accounted for as part of the 10-page limit.
6. The anticipated period of performance for this consultancy is 35 man-days spread over two months. The work shall be carried out from 12th August 2021 to 12th October 2021.
7. The individual consultant shall be selected based on procedures defined in the Procurement Guidelines of FARA.
8. Interested consultants may obtain further information from FARA’s Policy Officer, Dr. Kwaku Antwi [[email protected]], and copy the Procurement Expert, Mr. Callistus Achaab [[email protected]], during the following hours: 9h00 to 15h00 GMT.
9. Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to [[email protected]] and addressed to Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA, No 9 Flower Avenue, New Achimota, Mile 7, Accra, Ghana, no later than Friday, 30th July 2021, at 14h00 GMT. Tel: +233 302 772823/744888
10. FARA Affirmative Action Statement on Recruitment: there is no discrimination based on gender race, religion, ethnic orientation, disability, or health status.
Development and Promotion of Guidelines for Inclusion of Relevant Climate STI Indicators into NAIPS, for use by Regional and Continental Institutions
Name of Project:
CAADP-XP4
Activity Ref No:
CAADP-XP4 Output 3/ Activity 3.1.3 / 2021
Procurement Ref:
FARA/CAADP-XP4/CS/IC/2021/05
Date:
Friday, June 25, 2021
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) together with the Sub-Regional Agricultural Research Organizations (SROs) offer a strategic platform that fosters continental and global networking to strengthen the innovation capacities of Africa’s agricultural research system. FARA also has a mandate from the AUC to serve as its technical arm in the advancement of the Science Agenda in Africa’s Agriculture.
To achieve transformation in the agricultural sector, FARA has identified an increasing need for deeper collaboration among Agricultural Research for Development practitioners and private sector partners in Africa. FARA has therefore embarked on an inclusive process together with the Sub Regional Organizations (ASARECA, CCARDESA, CORAF) and AFAAS, to develop a new vision of collaboration and operationalization with private sector partners. This is being done through the European Union (EU) FUNDS under the Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) initiative. The initiative aims to implement a 4-year project in Africa called CAADP Ex-Pillar 4 (CAADP-XP4).
An inherent element of CAADP-XP4 is to strengthen the collaborative mechanisms of the continental supra-national AR4D institutions to jointly operate and deliver global public good to transform agriculture on the African continent. This consultancy is to develop and promote guidelines for the inclusion of relevant STI indicators into national agricultural investment plans to facilitate agricultural transformation and aid the tracking of progress of STI at national, regional, and continental levels towards national, regional, and continental, as well as global SDGs.
The overall aim of this assignment is to engage an individual consultant to develop and promote guidelines for the inclusion of relevant STI indicators into national agricultural investment plans to facilitate agricultural transformation.
This request for expression of interest aims at engaging a consultant to carry out the following functions:
Develop relevant climate STI indicators, define them, provide means of verifying them, and develop a methodology for tracking them at the national, regional, and continental levels.
Harmonize the national action plans into sub-regional action plans, and further harmonize the sub-regional action plans into a continental action plan.
Develop technical guidelines to support African countries and governments to mainstream the identified relevant climate STI indicators in NAIPs.
The detailed terms of reference are in the link below:
The Executive Director of FARA invites interested consultants to express interest in carrying out this assignment.
Consultants interested in this call must provide an Expression of Interest no longer than 10 pages, outlining proposed methodologies, references related to the execution of similar contracts, experience in similar areas, or evidence of knowledge and a proposed timeline. Brochures, CVs, and other supplementary materials submitted shall not be accounted for as part of the 10-page limit.
The anticipated period of performance for this consultancy is 35 man-days spread over two months.
The individual consultant shall be selected based on procedures defined in the Procurement Guidelines of FARA.
Interested consultants may obtain further information from FARA’s Policy Officer, Kwaku Antwi [[email protected]], and copy the Procurement Expert, Mr. Callistus Achaab [[email protected]], during the following hours: 9h00 to 15h00 GMT.
Please DOWNLOAD the Terms of Reference below for further information on this opportunity.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to [[email protected]] and addressed to Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA, No 9 Flower Avenue, New Achimota, Mile 7, Accra, Ghana, no later than Friday, 9th July 2021, at 14h00 GMT. Tel: +233 302 772823/744888
FARA Affirmative Action Statement on Recruitment: there is no discrimination based on gender race, religion, ethnic orientation, disability, or health status.
Recruitment of the pool of experts to constitute the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEC) for the AIRTEA Project
Name of Project:
AIRTEA
Procurement Ref:
FARA/ AIRTEA/CS/IC/2021/02
Date:
Friday, June 25, 2021
A consortium consisting of FARA, ASARECA, and EAFF is implementing the project Strengthening Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Ecosystem for Inclusive Rural Transformation and Livelihoods in Eastern Africa (AIRTEA) sponsored by the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) through the ACP-Innovation Fund which itself is funded by the European Union (EU) through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF). The OACPS is supported by a Technical Assistance Unit (TAU) – which oversees the management of the OACPS Research and Innovation Programme (https://oacps-ri.eu).
The AIRTEA Project is expected to produce a series of outputs that include but not limited to the following:
Capacities of youth and women involved in East Africa’s innovation platforms strengthened (Output 1.1);
Innovation Platforms and linkages along country priority value chains established and supported (Output 1.2);
Technologies, innovations and management practices generated or adapted to address challenges of marginalized rural communities (Output 2.1);
Knowledge products and solutions developed or sourced to address challenges of marginalized rural communities (Output 2.2);
National ABLA platforms established (Output 2.3);
Collaborative partnerships within ABLA supported (Output 2.4);
Technology transfer and uptake developed and made available for dissemination of knowledge products among value chain actor (Output 2.5); and
New business services offered by operators along the value chain (Output 3.1).
The overall aim of this assignment is to engage the services of Independent Experts is to evaluate proposals responding to the call for proposals launched for stakeholders from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The specific objectives of this Assignment are:
To assess, using the scorecard criteria, all proposals submitted in response to the call and fulfilling the administration criteria after a check done by the AIRTEA coordination.
To recommend, for funding, the best proposals to the Project Steering Committee (PSC).
To produce a report of the evaluation process and its outcome.
3. This request for expression of interest aims at engaging Experts to carry out the following functions:
Participate in the session that will nominate the chairman and the vice-chairman of the IEC.
Read, provide review comments, and score all proposals that will be assigned by the chairman and the vice-chairman of the IEC. Each proposal must be assessed by a minimum of 2 evaluators and a maximum of 3.
Participate in the development of a timetable/timeline/timeframe of the assignment. The assignment is expected to be completed by 16 August 2021.
Deliberate/decide on the proposals to be awarded and funds to be allocated based on the scores from different evaluators.
Produce a synthetic but detailed report on each proposal: strengths and weaknesses. And therefore, why was it recommended or not to be funded.
The detailed terms of reference is in the link below:
4. The Executive Director of FARA invites interested Experts to express interest in carrying out this assignment.
5. Individuals interested in this call must submit an Expression of Interest and CVs, outlining references related to the execution of similar contracts, experience in similar areas, or evidence of knowledge and educational qualifications.
6. The anticipated period of performance of the IEC for this assignment is 15 man-days spread over two (2) months. The assignment is expected to be completed by 16 August 2021.
7. The individual consultants shall be selected based on procedures defined in the Procurement Guidelines of FARA.
8. Interested consultants may obtain supplementary information from the Research, Policy and Investment Lead Specialist, Jonas Mugabe [[email protected]] and copy the Procurement Expert, Mr. Callistus Achaab [[email protected]], during the following hours: 9h00 to 15h00 GMT.
Please DOWNLOAD the Terms of Reference below for further information on this opportunity.
9. Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to [[email protected]] and addressed to Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA, No 9 Flower Avenue, New Achimota, Mile 7, Accra, Ghana, no later than Wednesday, 14th July 2021, at 14h00 GMT. Tel: +233 302 772823/744888
FARA Affirmative Action Statement on Recruitment: there is no discrimination based on gender race, religion, ethnic orientation, disability, or health status.
