Agriculture Value Chain Consultant - Remote

Job Description

The purpose of this Agriculture Value Chain Consultancy is to provide an in-depth value chain analysis for 1 to 3 agriculture products in NWS including: (1) stakeholder analysis for the selected value chain ; (2) identification of major gaps in the value chain; (3) suggest solutions that meet IRC requirements and industry best practices when working with households, small holder farmers, and micro and small market supporters (market actors).

A political economy analysis (PEA) will be incorporated into the assessment design, tools development and final report. The PEA will be carried out via desk review as well as integration of PEA-specific questions into Key Informant Interviews (KII’s). Key questions to be answered/analysis areas as part of the PEA are:

1) How does the current context affect/influence the selected value chain(s)? (Brief context analysis specific to the selected value chain)

2) Who are the stakeholders and how do they influence the selected value chain(s)? (Stakeholder analysis specific to the selected value chain)

3) What are the strategic decision-making entry points, engagement, and risk mitigation actions which should be employed specific to the selected value chain(s)?

Technical support on PEA, including tool design and data analysis can be provided as necessary by IRC’s Governance Technical Advisor.

The final report should be fit-for-purpose to allow the IRC to use this analysis to design humanitarian programming in NW Syria which will aim to enhance individual and community level food security by increasing production and decreasing its cost.

Scope of Work:

The consultant is expected to undertake the following:

- Within the project area, identify growth potential, market trends and competitiveness of selected value chains. - Value chain mapping that depicts the chain actors and their functions and inter-relationships. - Identify and examine constraints and opportunities within the selected value chains. - Identify the underlying policy, institutional, and infrastructural issues that affect the competitiveness and exclusion of the selected value chains. - Identify institutions and organizations working for selected value chains from national to local levels that can contribute to pro-poor value chain development. - Conduct a political economy analysis (PEA) of the NW Syria context and address the key questions identified above, mapping out mitigation strategies for the chosen value chains (IRC PEA Technical support can be provided if the selected consultant is inexperienced in this field). - Provide training for IRC’s Syria-based agronomists. - Ensure that gender, age, and disability are well considered in the analysis and recommendations.

Specific Consultancy Deliverables****:

The following are the expected outputs from the consultant:

Deliverable 1:

Provide training for IRC’s staff on (general) Market-Based Approach to programming and Value Chain Assessment:

- Develop the detailed workplan based on the agreed deliverables - Conduct an introduction section for the relevant staff about the market-based approach and value chain analysis (1-2 days). - Train the team on the data collection techniques and different approaches to value chain assessments. - Through the interactive training, set up the selection criteria and scoring in order to select the agricultural value chain.

Deliverable 2:

Desk review and value chain selection

- Conduct the desk review for the value chains (products) - Conduct value chain selection in coordination with the IRC agriculture team to select 1 to 3 products

Deliverable 3:

Design the data collection tools

- Identify the data collection mechanism for both qualitative and quantitative data. - Design data collection tools for each data set (qualitative and quantitative). - Identify the list of interviewees and the random sample

NOTE: IRC team can support in conducting the actual data collection in the field

Deliverable 4:

Analyze the collected data

- After receiving all the collected data, organize the analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. - Conduct a stakeholder analysis - Develop both narrative and visual representations (e.g. graphs, charts etc.) to support explanation of the analyzed data.

Deliverable 5:

Final report and training

- Submit the final report in Word format in addition to PDF, which include but not limited to: - Develop a presentation detailing main insights and findings in the report and conduct a 2 hour presentation to IRC members on the analysis findings.

Duration, level of effort, and payment schedule:

The initial timeline expected to complete the analysis is 40 days were it will be reflected in the detailed working plan.

Payment will be based upon the submission of high-quality deliverables. Quality standards will be established by IRC with expectations clearly outlined to the consultant at the start of the project. The payment schedule will be as follows:

- Payment 1: 40% | On completion of Deliverables 1 ,2 and 3 - Payment 2: 60% | after completing deliverables 4 and 5

Note: The final report will be subject to review and approval by IRC’s technical advisory team prior to finalization.

Key Working Relationships:

Consultant Reports to: IRC NWS Economic Recovery & Development (ERD) Coordinator.

Position directly supervises: none

Other Internal and/or external contacts: ERD Senior Manager, ERD Implementation Manager, Agriculture Sr. Officer.

Working Environment:

The consultant can choose to work from IRC’s office in Amman in Jordan, Gaziantep in Turkey or to perform the work remotely. No travel is required for this consultancy.

Qualifications

· An advanced university degree in Agricultural Development, Agricultural Economics, or other related subject areas;

· Strong understanding of agricultural and rural development from both a development cooperation and private sector perspective, NW Syria, the Middle East or any similar conflict area is highly preferred;

· Excellent understanding of international development and its implementation and funding mechanisms (public and private);

· Good understanding of agribusinesses and agricultural value chain trends and direction, including major areas of interest and intervention, as well as interactions with the private sector;

· At least 5-7 years’ relevant experience working in the area of agribusiness and agricultural value chain development;

· Previous experience on integrating political economy analysis (PEA) into value chain assessment is a strong advantage.

Language Skills: -----------------

- Fluency in English is required.

- Arabic language is preferable.

- Arabic translation is required when conducting the training/meeting with the field team

Supporting documents needed: -----------------------------

- CV and Cover letter

- Reference letter (if available)

- Proposal for the work to be completed (no more than 5 pages in length) including quotation.

- Example of previous work in the same field (if available)