Consultant (Farmer Producers Groups)

Consultant

Overview

Provide technical support to the Department of Agriculture in FPO development

You have:

• Master's degree or equivalent in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Rural Management or closely related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Farmers Based Organization, Rural Livelihoods & Value Chain development.
• Experience of working with Central and/or State Governments, international agencies on similar assignments will be preferred.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in English and working knowledge of Odia.

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

Agriculture in India is predominantly production-oriented confined in large number of fragmented small holdings. It provides employment to around 56 per cent of the Country’s workforce, contributes to overall growth of the economy and reduces poverty by providing employment and food security to the majority of the population. However, due to highly fragmented, scattered and heterogeneous landholdings, rising cost of cultivation and limited access of small/marginal farmers (SF/MF) to public resources and markets, etc., the small holding-based agriculture has gradually become unviable. Low marketable surplus, lack of farmers’ access to public resources; lack of access to quality inputs, credit facility, modern technologies, etc. and frequent crop failures, lack of assured market, income safety, lengthy and fragmented supply chain, etc., have resulted in high dependency of farmers on the exploitative intermediaries and local money-lenders. Small and marginal farmers constitute around 85% of the total land holdings and hold around 44% of the land under cultivation.

thus, the Indian producers face several challenges to secure their household’s income, food provision while making an important economic contribution for the country. And one reason for the rising farm distress is crop failures and yield losses triggered by the vagaries of climate. The livelihood of a large proportion of India’s population—as the largest private enterprise with ~138 million farm families with an 18% contribution to national GDP—is at risk. Any shock on agricultural production already has social and financial repercussions for both the population and the country as a whole; it impacts rural income levels, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and, in the worst years, poverty rates.

Small holders constitute about 85% of total agricultural families in Odisha. The Government of Odisha has set a vision to upgrade skill, capacity, vision and bargaining power of people in this sector by organizing Farmers and forming Farmer Producers Organizations. Farmers’ Producer Organizations (FPOs) are farmers' collectives with membership mainly comprising small/marginal farmers (around 70 to 80%). APICOL acts as the State nodal centre for promotion of FPOs but FPOs are also being formed by other government departments and local institutions and NGOs. Majority of these FPOs are in the nascent stage of their operations with shareholder membership ranging from 100 to over 1000 farmers and require not only technical handholding support but also adequate capital and infrastructure facilities, including market linkages for sustaining their business operations.

The nationwide and statewide Covid 19 induced lockdown has impacted business operations of the FPOs. Many surveyed by different organization have reported a shortage of finance, logistics breakdown and loss due to reduced demand of goods. Farmers were specially hit due the norms of social distancing and limited hours of operation made access to essential services difficult for member farmers, particularly those living at a distance. It is important to strengthen the disaster resilience of the FPOs and equip them with tools and techniques that would support FPOs to cope up with the impact of weather induces disasters.

The Country Programme Document (2018-2022) of United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) approved by the Government of India has defined one of its foremost programme priorities and outcomes as “Institutional and systems strengthening for service delivery” as the single most innovations to achieve last mile developmental impact. UNDP will leverage its expertise in systems strengthening to support the Department of Agriculture to review the current progress and support setting up the Technical Support Unit for the implementation of FPO, to improve institutional and programme responsiveness, increase coverage and better access among the marginalised and excluded farm households offering innovative measures for risk management and reduced crop loss for the rural population in Odisha.

UNDP is planning to hire an Individual Consultant to provide technical support to Department of Agriculture, Government of Odisha in FPO development across the state.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions: As Consultant (FPOs), the person will be responsible for supporting the department in strengthening the governance system of FPOs in Odisha.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Consultant (FPOs), will be based at Bhubaneswar and shall work out under the guidance and supervision of the Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Department, and the Director of Horticulture, Government of Odisha. The Consultant (FPOs) will be responsible for:-

• To develop an FPO data repository for the department for analysis and policy inputs in developing FPOs across districts of Odisha,
• Provide technical platform on collectivization process, access of market, access to finance, institutions building, registration and compliances processes for FPO.
• Provide technical web-based support for effective operationalization of FPOs policy, 2018 and to act as bridging platform with NABARD, SFAC, NCDC at state level and national level and facilitate partnerships with various entities on more equitable terms with Govt of Odisha.
• Conduct desk research to identify and collage existing content on availability of selected commodities, fluctuation in prices, market demand of already selected commodities in selected geography.
• Conduct supply chain assessment with FPO in the blocks and districts of Odisha.
• Preparing web-based Marketing strategy for FPOs in Odisha.
• Coordinate with civil society organizations, OLM, Mission shakti etc regarding information sharing on FPO formation.
• Ensure final submission document is of high quality and compliant with the requirements and quality standards of UNDP and the donor regulations and instructions in the solicitation.
• Any other requirement in regards of FPO Promotions & Stabilization requiring web intervention to be assigned by Director of Horticulture is to be compiled with.

Liaison

• Liaise relevant government agencies and all project partners for effective coordination of all project inputs;
• Provide technical backstopping for inputs for training activities supported by the Project;
• Provide timely inputs for the timely submission of all progress reports as may be required by UNDP, the Ministry of Agriculture;
• Foster partnerships with key national and state government departments, and insurance regulator.
• Support the TSU team for successful achievement of the project objectives;

Other tasks

Perform any other tasks consistent with the level of the post and/ or assigned by the Reporting Officer; Director Agriculture/ Head of Office-UNDP-Odisha.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the organisation

Functional Competencies: Job Knowledge/ Technical skills • Demonstratable Technical Expertise in two of the following thematic areas o Skills & Employments o Rural Livelihoods & Value Chain (Farm & Non-Farm) o Entrepreneurship Promotion o Women Economic Empowerment o Access to Finance o Making Market Work for Poor o Improving public systems for delivery of services • Proven demonstrable experience in writing large scale competitive proposals, evidenced by customer and donor feedback and proposal win rate; • Excellent research and writing skills with proven technical writing skills and track record of creating compelling, clear, and succinct documents; • Sound knowledge and experience with capacity to function independently with minimum supervision. • Sound knowledge of the legal and regulatory environment in the insurance sector • Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and requirements of the post with excellence; • Possesses the capacity for strategic planning, result – based management and reporting; Communication Skills • Good communication skills • Tailors and presents information to diverse audiences using a variety of communication delivery methods (e.g., written, electronic, oral, interpersonal) Documentation • Good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity; Management skills • Demonstrated skills connecting with a wide range of stakeholders – insurance agencies, insurance regulator, state agencies etc., • Ability to participate and contribute consultative meetings at national and state level with partners and senior stakeholders to identify priorities and manage the timely delivery of project activities. • Reliable in delivering own parts of the work as part of a team effort • Demonstrates excellent work/project planning skills; • Is open to change and ability to manage complex, ever-changing environments; Language Requirements: Excellent oral and writing skills in English and working knowledge of Odia.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Master’s degree or equivalent in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Rural Management or closely related field. Experience: Essential

• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a lead in dealing with Farmers Based Organization, Rural Livelihoods & Value Chain (Farm & Non-Farm), establishing market linkages, promoting rural entrepreneurs and empowerment.
• Experience of working with Central and/or State Governments/ international agencies/ on similar assignments will be preferred.

Desirable

• Relevant Experience at the national level working with Governments and private entities in the insurance sector
• Prior experience of technical advisory services in the insurance sector

Deliverables and Schedule of Payment: Monthly payment up to maximum 22 working days on submission of time sheet and monthly reports of work done.

Evaluation Method and Criteria: The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as Responsive to the requirement. Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation; Technical Criteria weight - 70%; Financial Criteria weight – 30 % Technical Criteria (70% of total evaluation)

Technical Criteria (70% of total evaluation)

1. Experience of working on/with Farmer producer organizations - 20%
2. Having relevant experience of providing technical support in developing marketing strategy , analysing the costing of the commodity and working suplly chain management of the product 20%
3. Experience of working with the Central and/or State Government agencies - 10 %
4. Education qualification – 20%

Financial Criteria: (30% of the total evaluation) based on the total all-inclusive lump sum amount for professional fee for tasks specified in this announcement

Financial Proposal:

Technically qualified consultants will be requested to submit their daily fee rate i.e. consultants who score more than 70% i.e. 49 marks with respect to the above-mentioned evaluation criteria. Consultant should not specify their consultancy fee on their CV or with the submission. The CV will not be evaluated further in case the consultant submits the same

Note: Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. internet, phone, relocation charges etc. will not be reimbursed; Travel, lodging and boarding as per UNDP rules subject to prior approval Please note proposals without financial proposal will not be considered.

Please apply online by visiting www.in.undp.org (Careers)

General Conditions for Individual Contract- http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india /docs/procurement/UNDP%20General%20Conditions%20for%20Individual%20Contracts.pdf

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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Potential interview questions

Added 5 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org