TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR ENGAGEMENT OF CONSULTANTS

Transcription

1 TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR ENGAGEMENT OF CONSULTANTS Fairtrade Africa and UK based NGO Shared Interest Foundation are working together to deliver a project aimed at improving financial capacity and access to loan finance for farmer s co-operatives across 5 countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Cote D Ivoire). 1. About the Commissioning Organizations Fairtrade Africa (FTA) is a member of Fairtrade International and is the independent non-profit producer network representing all Fairtrade certified producers in Africa. Fairtrade Africa is owned by its members, who are African producer organizations, certified against international Fairtrade standards. The Fairtrade Africa remit is to: 1. Represent producers within the global Fairtrade system 2. Ensure producers are co-owners of the Fairtrade system and can influence decisions that will impact their lives. 3. Build producers capacity through training, partnerships and knowledge exchange. 4. Promote intra-african trade opportunities to create extra market access and offer African consumers the opportunity to shop sustainably 5. Raise awareness on trade justice by drawing attention to the concerns and challenges producers face. Shared Interest Foundation is a registered charity that provides business support to fair trade businesses. It works within international fair trade systems with the belief that socially responsible businesses are a route to building sustainable employment opportunities to work your way out of poverty. It works with partners in a number of countries across Africa to look for sustainable, contextually relevant methods of supporting growing businesses. Shared Interest Foundation is the sister organisation of Shared Interest Society, a UK based social lender. The Society has been in existence for 22 years and primarily offers loan assistance (usually in the form of export credit facilities) to producers in the developing world so that they can trade their way out of poverty. 2. Project Background It is now commonly accepted that small scale producers hold enormous potential for accelerating local economic progress and pulling developing communities out of poverty. They occupy a vitally important part of global value chains which is increasing each year as large multinationals refine sourcing and introduce ethical and sustainable policies to their businesses (Dalberg, 2012).Yet many of these businesses cannot access the finance they need to grow. They are seen as too much of a risk for commercial banks and investors and are too large to qualify for microfinance schemes. Described as the missing middle these businesses can turn to social lenders to finance their growth needs; term loans for investment or export credit to satisfy orders. However, even though social lenders are more flexible and may be able to take greater risk than commercial banks and investors, as responsible stewards of finance, they still have terms and conditions for lending. These conditions, designed to minimise bad debt, will mean that many potential producer groups and co-operatives require capacity building in order to be able to access the finance.

2 3. Project Outline This project will pilot an approach to capacity building with fair trade businesses in East and West Africa. It creates a methodology for improving the skills and knowledge of businesses in financial management and understanding the expectations and requirements of sources of finance, especially those of a social lender. The project partners are seeking locally or regionally based trainers to refine the methodology and ensure that delivery is culturally appropriate in each of the 5 countries. Through this approach we aim to give socially responsible businesses in Africa the tools to enable them to develop and grow by understanding how to access the finance they need. The 150 businesses will receive practical training in key financial concepts, with 45 qualifying for further, intensive one-to-one mentoring. From this group 30 will then be guided through the process for making an application for finance to a social lender. The pilot project will work with fair trade registered businesses. Alongside social lenders it will also raise awareness of a range of potential financing options to ensure that the choice remains with the businesses concerned. The project will primarily be suited to agricultural co-operatives but will also be appropriate for handcraft businesses registered under the WFTO system or by associated in-country networks. 4. Project Activities Over the course of two years the project will train 150 co operative businesses in basic financial management at the cooperative level. 45 businesses will then be chosen to undergo a more tailored mentoring phase to further improve financial capacity and 30 businesses will then be assisted to make good quality applications to a specified social lender. The project will break down over two years as follows: YEAR ONE YEAR TWO 100 BUSINESSES TRAINED 50 BUSINESSES TRAINED 30 BUSINESSES SELECTED 15 BUSINESSES SELECTED FOR MENTORING FOR MENTORING 20 BUSINESSES ASSISTED TO 10 BUSINESSES ASSISTED TO MAKE A LOAN APPLICATION MAKE A LOAN APPLICATION The co operatives participating in this project will primarily be Fairtrade commodity businesses, with additional places available for WFTO registered handcraft businesses. There will be a broad range of Fairtrade commodities, but predominant will be cocoa, coffee and tea producers. The training curriculum will largely consist of pre existing material developed by private sector partners. However the project partners will negotiate the delivery of content with successful applicants should they wish to incorporate their own existing training material into the programme.

3 Stage 1 Group training The training period will take two days in each participating country, with approximately 20 participants in each workshop. The materials developed will cover the following broad areas: Understanding business growth: Why the need for finance as a business grows Satisfying the needs of a lender: How to complete profit and loss balance sheets, cash flow projections and annual reporting requirements Potential sources of finance available to participant businesses and what is the right route for them Training will also need to include a module on what a social lender is and how they can assist fair trade businesses. This module will be developed by the project partners themselves but delivered in conjunction with the trainers selected. Full information and guidance on this will be made available. The workshops are expected to take place in the following locations, subject to changes: Kenya Nakuru 23 rd 25 th July Tanzania Mbeya 29 th 31 st July Uganda Mbabara 16 th 18 th July Ghana Kumasi July (exact dates to be confirmed) Cote d Ivoire Abidjan or Abengourou July (exact dates to be confirmed) Stage 2 Mentoring Each co operative selected for the mentoring phase will be entitled to a minimum of 3 days of follow up mentoring. Mentoring will take place at the business location within each country and successful applicants for the training will be expected to travel to the businesses to work with them. The mentoring phase for the first year of activity will take place between August and September A maximum of 6 businesses can be selected from any one of the five countries to proceed to the mentoring phase; however it should be noted that this maximum number may not be reached if it is judged that there are not 6 participating businesses that meet the relevant criteria. The materials and methods used for this phase of the process will be discussed with the successful applicants at the induction session. Stage 3 Process of loan application At the conclusion of stage 2 the successful applicants will work with the project partners to agree those businesses who will be invited to move on to the final stage, applying for a loan. There will be no more than 5 businesses in any one country and, as with the previous stage, this number will be dependent on how many are assessed as relevant. Each business will be entitled to an additional 1.5 (of which.5 days can be remote guidance) days of mentoring specifically aimed at guiding them through the application process. This stage will take place during October and November Successful applicants will be made fully aware of the details of the loan application process before this stage begins.

4 Monitoring and Evaluation Consultants will be required to submit time sheets accounting for their time in the field alongside a narrative and financial report every quarter. The reporting format will be provided by the commissioning organizations. Annually there will be regional strategic reviews for which all successful applicants should be present to review key successes, learnings and make changes to project structure where required. In addition all producer organizations accepted for one on one mentoring will be subject to a credit risk and financial profiling assessment which will give them a credit worthiness score. All producer organizations that participated in the next stage of the project will be subject to this assessment at the end of the project cycle to assess success and implementation of training aspects. 5. Year one activities The trainers selected will be expected to deliver the following activities in year 1. Activity description 1. Liaise with Fairtrade Africa project managers based in Nairobi and Accra to agree delivery methods for workshop content. Selected trainers will be expected to attend an induction session in Nairobi for East Africa and Accra for West Africa 2. Deliver one of the 2 day workshops in the locations specified above for approximately 20 participants (to be confirmed by location nearer the time) 3. Work with Fairtrade Africa staff to evaluate the businesses trained in the workshop you deliver and identify appropriate businesses to move on to stage 2 4. Provide a minimum of 3 days of one on one mentoring support for businesses moving on to stage 2 from your workshop (a maximum of 6 businesses in any one country). The precise locations of the mentoring will be dependent on the businesses selected to move forwards to this stage but trainers will be expected to travel to their location of operation 5. Work with Fairtrade Africa staff to evaluate the businesses mentored and agree on those businesses to be put forward to the final stage, to make a loan application 6. Provide a minimum of 1.5 days of follow up mentoring support specifically designed to assist with loan applications (to a maximum of 5 businesses in any one country). Trainers will be provided with the necessary information on the loan application process in advance 7. Participate in programme evaluation with the project partners and, where relevant, external evaluators Timescales June 2013 July August 2013 July August 2013 August September 2013 Early October 2013 October November 2013 February March 2014

5 6. Requirements Good financial management skills and ability to support workshop participants with a wide range of financial understanding to grasp the principles, methods and terminology used Excellent and proven facilitation and training skills to build capacity effectively in a group setting Have the appropriate language skills for the country of delivery (good English language skills for liaising with project partners will be an advantage) Some understanding of co operatives, agricultural management and Fairtrade is desirable The contract offered will be for two years of delivery, with the renewal into the second year dependent on satisfactory performance during year 1. Satisfactory performance will include adhering to reporting requirements of the project partners. 7. Application Requirements Interested applicants should send a detailed budget, delivery plan, details of any relevant training materials already held, indication of availability according to the activity plan outlined above and a CVs of all consultants to be engaged on the project. Applications should be made, by only, to recruitments@fairtradeafrica.net by 5.00pm East Africa time on Wednesday 5 th June Prices quoted should include costs for delivery of workshop based training, follow up mentoring, travel to workshops, food and accommodation in the expected locations listed. Given the potential for the number of days mentoring per country to vary (depending on how many businesses are considered relevant for stage 2) applicants should make clear their per day rate for mentoring and their availability over the time periods indicated for this stage of the project. Quotes that exceed a $500per day rate will not be considered for this project. A breakdown of how all costs have been arrived at is required. Applicants who wish to be considered for multi country delivery are encouraged to apply and should break down their costs accordingly. Participatory/interactive training methodologies will also be highly supported.