Call for Expression of Interest or the recruitment of a consultant to conduct the reference situation for phase 3 of the Regional Farmers' Organisations Support Programme

Submission Deadline:

16 October, 2023 - 11:00

Description:

The ECOWAS Commission has received funding from the Swiss Cooperation and intends to use part of it to make payments under the third phase of the Regional Farmers' Organisations Support Programme in West Africa, (PRAOP3).

The purpose of the Consultant's Services will be to « prepare the baseline study for phase 3 of the regional farmers' organisations support programme ».

ECOWAS, represented by the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF) now invites Candidates to express their interest in providing the Services described above.

Eligibility and qualifications

This tender is open to all individual consultants, having the required qualifications as detailed in the attached Terms of Reference.

The attention of interested candidates is particularly drawn to Article 117 of the revised ECOWAS Procurement Code ("Fraud and Corruption"), which provides information on corruption and fraudulent practices in the award or execution of a contract. Also, please refer to Article 118 of the same code setting out the ECOWAS policy on conflicts of interest.

The consultant needed is a senior individual consultant. He will be responsible for recruiting an associate consultant as an expert in the Monitoring and Evaluation of Development Projects, who meets the qualifications below.

The senior consultant will work in collaboration with the associate consultant proposed by him and under his supervision.

The qualifications and experience required for the senior consultant and the associate consultant are described below :

The senior consultant

General qualifications

Hold at least a Master's degree (BAC+5) in project management, agronomy, agro-economics, rural development, statistics or any other equivalent field relevant to the assignment.
A PhD will be an additional asset ;
Have carried out at least two (2) missions (projects) in the conduct and/or management of multi-country baseline studies financed by multilateral donors ;
Have fundamental knowledge of agrosylvopastoral and fisheries aspects;

Mission relevance

Have carried out at least three (03) project/programme evaluation missions as team leader or have at least one (1) experience (missions) of coordinating studies on a sub-regional or international level, involving the management of a team of consultants across several countries ;
At least one (1) experience in conducting evaluations of development cooperation programmes/projects relating to agro-sylvopastoral and fisheries value chains ;
Good command of quantitative and qualitative data processing and analysis tools ;
Sound experience of literature review and analysis.
Sound knowledge of ECOWAS procedures (having conducted at least one mission).
Be proficient in planning, programming and monitoring-evaluation software

Experience in the region and language skills

At least two years' experience in the countries targeted by the project, including at least one in an English-speaking ECOWAS member country ;
Fluency in French and English ;
Excellent writing skills in French and English ;
Knowledge of Portuguese would be an asset.

The associate consultant, Expert in monitoring and evaluation of development projects

General qualifications	Hold at least a Master's degree (BAC+5) in economics, statistics, agronomy, project management, or another field relevant to the assignment; At least five (5) years' experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
Mission relevance	At least one (1) experience of carrying out studies as part of programmes/projects dealing with agro-sylvopastoral and fisheries issues; Have participated in the completion of a baseline study for programmes/projects relating to agricultural value chains and agro-industrial cluster. Good command of quantitative and qualitative data processing and analysis tools; At least one professional experience in an English-speaking or Portuguese-speaking ECOWAS member country would be an advantage.
Experience in the region and language skills	At least one project experience covering at least two of the countries covered by the PRAOP3 programme; Fluency in French and English; Excellent writing skills in French and/or English; Knowledge of Portuguese would be a strong asset.

NB : The senior consultant must include the CV of the associate expert in his proposal. He/she will also assess the need to mobilise the pool of national experts for whom he/she will be responsible for coordinating.

Application documents

The application documents consists of

- A letter of expression of interest written in French, duly dated and signed, including the period of availability;

- Methodology and work plan proposed for carrying out the Services;

- Recent curricula vitae (including the CV of the associate expert) detailing professional experience and similar assignments;

- Three professional references (full names, current and previous positions, e-mail and telephone contacts);

- Certified copies of the highest diplomas;

- Copies of work or service certificates mentioned in the curricula vitae.

Submission of applications

Deadline for submission : 16th October 2023 at 11:00 am GMT

Submission links: applications must be submitted by uploading to the Dropbox address https://www.dropbox.com/request/wNcUjgtcucYUvWuPyopb with the subject line "SCI-PRAOP3- Study of the reference situation for phase 3 of the regional farmers' organisations support programme".
Application format : Applications must be submitted in one (01) unmodifiable pdf document.

The RAAF reserves the right not to consider applications that do not comply with the above submission requirements.

Selection process

The consultant will be selected according to the qualification-based selection method as defined in the ECOWAS Public Procurement Code. An interview to assess knowledge, skills and abilities will be organised with the best candidates.

Only short-listed consultants will be contacted. Where skills are equal, preference will be given to female candidates.

The RAAF reserves the right not to proceed with this tender.

Request for additional information

Interested Candidates may obtain additional information by writing to the following e-mail addresses: procurement@araa.org cc : ctienon@araa.org, pbessi@araa.org; mnakorba@araa.org, five (05) working days before the deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest, with the subject line "SCI038-PRAOP3-Baseline study".