Objectives of the assignment
The overall objective of this analysis is to inform the final design of project activities and provide evidence-based information for programme intervention development and assurances that this design is contributing to the aims of the project.
The assessment will determine appropriate opportunities for market development and value-chain strengthening as well conduct an economic and financial access assessment to determine opportunities and constraints for access to finance for smallholder farmers, cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium sized enterprises in the relevant value-chains.
It will also identify potential partnerships and opportunities to cooperate with private sector value chain actors and financial institutions for the project delivery, and the subsequent support the project will be required to provide to farmers, financial institutions and enterprises in order to enable this access to finance.
The assessment will also ensure that the project design meets a number of criteria, namely that the agricultural practices, business models and value chains promoted by the project, are socio-economically sustainable (other activities will assess agronomic suitability, technical feasibility and the environmental impacts and sustainability) i.e. the practices promoted by the project must:
- Improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the target landscapes.
- Be sustainable – i.e. viable in the long term, clearly supported by market demand (domestic or international).
- Improve economic resilience of the farmers to market and price volatility.
The assignment will be conducted in tandem with other assessments and analyses e.g. concerning landscape analysis and agronomic suitability; a livelihoods and socio-economic assessment; Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) analysis and environmental and social safeguards assessment; and a biodiversity assessment. SNV will coordinate these assessments and ensure complementary information gathering and analytical efforts.
Methodology
The consultants/consultancy group will be expected to use various methods in carrying out this assignment. The successful consultants will be expected to propose an appropriate methodology and an analytical framework. SNV and the consultants will agree on final methodology and structure of the report during the inception phase.
These methods would, however, be expected to include some or all of the following:
- Desk review of the project and requirements, background information and related reports (existing relevant VCA reports, provincial/district government reports and statistics, etc.) on agriculture, agroforestry and forestry models in the project sites in Northwest region and Central Highlands. The desk-review will help enable the formulation of ideas and questions for further discussion with local authorities, communities, and other stakeholders during the inception visit.
- Conduct a research visit to each province to meet relevant government departments and stakeholders to obtain an overview of the local agriculture/forestry development (i.e. agricultural-forestry production situation, local development and orientation plans and programs), identify and meet potential private companies and buyers, develop a list of relevant contact points for each targeted project site (including relevant local authorities, value chain actors) to be in-depth surveyed. The inception phase will help the consultant/consultancy group refine the key product value chains and design detailed field surveys and questionnaires.
- Conduct field surveys and data collection of key agricultural, agroforestry, forestry product value chains in the project areas with special attention to the analysis of chain weaknesses and strengths on on-farm practices and off-farm side such as planting, harvesting and postharvest processing knowledge/practices, agri inputs, financing, and commercial viability for potential value chain upgrading. Note that certain key information could also be collected through other assessments e.g. the livelihoods and socio-economic assessment is likely to involve household interviews and collect data on farmer practices, products produced, access to finance etc. The surveys are expected to allow development of economic and financial analysis (such as cost-benefit analysis, or cash flow modelling) of the farm models promoted by the project market potential and demand assessment (levels of domestic and global consumption, capacity to absorb additional supply, demand trend and requirements for local and global market access for small-holders, etc.), and recommendation of initial Market-based Solutions for project interventions.
- Conduct local-level ground-truthing and consultation (for example focus group discussions with farmers participating in the selected value chains) facilitated by the SNV team, to collect data and/to test and revise the findings;
- Conduct interviews with selected officials (local and national government officials) and other key actors from the private sector and financial sector in relevant supply/value chains.
- Interviews of farmers organizations, agricultural-forestry cooperatives, and trader's associations, among others participating in value chain activities.
- Develop a farm and household-level CBA/EFA based on secondary data, cross validated with interviews and on the ground research.
The final output of the analysis will be an internal report.
Key deliverables and timeframe
The work specified above is expected to be completed within 5 months, commencing June 2024 and completed by October 2024.
The precise timeframe for the deliverables will be discussed based on a submitted workplan with the successful bidder. The expected deliverables are:
- Detailed and phased workplan, theoretical framework and methodology no later than a week after signing the contract.
- Participate in kick off workshop with SNV, consortium partners, and other consultant teams supporting this inception phase (early April, exact date TBC).
- Desk-based report based on existing data and literature on market system, value chains and access to finance, 6 weeks after signing.
- Field visits to both project sites for local consultations.
- Other consultations in Hanoi, online, etc., as needed.
- Report on market system, value chains and access to finance.
- Participate in and present at, in close cooperation with SNV and consortia partners, a validation workshop with stakeholders to validate the findings of the study
- Final report with incorporated comments from ICRAF, IUCN and key stakeholders from the validation workshop.
- Prepare and deliver a PowerPoint Presentation of the report to the consortium partners
