Somalia: Rapid Value Chain and Community Livelihoods Assessment for the Building Resilience through Social Safety Nets in South Somalia Project

Terms of Reference: Rapid Value Chain and Community Livelihoods Assessment for the Building Resilience through Social Safety Nets in South Somalia Project

Organization: Social Safety Nets Consortium (SSNP Consortium)

Project: Building Resilience through Social Safety Nets in South-Central Somalia Program

Position type: Short-Term Consultancy

Study/Assessment Topic: Consultancy Assignment for a Rapid Value Chain and Community Livelihoods Assessment of Building Resilience through Social Safety Nets in South Somalia Program

Position location:

Kismayo, Lower Juba Region (ACTED)

Afmadow, Lower Juba Region (Adeso)

Dhobley, Lower Juba Region (Adeso)

Duration: 35 days

Reporting to: Consortium Coordinator

Wor**king with:** SSNP consortium staff, ACTED and Adeso Monitoring and Evaluation units

Starting Date: First week of August 2016

Application Deadline: 22nd June 2016

Vac**an**c**y Contact:** Please send applications to consultancy@adesoafrica.org Adeso will only respond to short-listed applicants.

PROJECT SUMMARY

The Building Resilience through Social Safety Nets in South Somalia Program implemented by ACTED and Adeso is a long-term, predictable, market-based intervention which has the potential to help households manage their own coping mechanisms and livelihood opportunities, minimizing the negative impacts of shock events. It aims at reducing lower Juba community’s vulnerability to acute and chronic food insecurity.

The ACTED-Adeso Social Safety Net Programme (SSNP) Consortium aims to provide a sustainable opportunity for resilience building for communities chronically affected by food insecurity and humanitarian crises in Lower Juba. The project will include regular cash transfers, livelihood support, improved access to early warning systems, disaster risk reduction, scale-up of cash transfers in the event of a shock or disaster and undertake research on Social Safety Net Programming. Targeted communities will benefit through the delivery of predictable and regular cash transfers to vulnerable households, alongside investment in diverse livelihood bases and the provision of support and community led preparedness, early warning and timely response systems. Resilience will be strengthened not only at the household level directly, but through implementing improvements to systems and policies in terms of early warning and disaster preparedness.

The program will reach 5,000 households with regular cash transfers and livelihood support, and the overall communities - an estimated 15,000 households, will benefit from improved access to early warning messaging, disaster risk reduction and a scale-up of cash transfers in the event of a shock or disaster event. The project will support a body of research on Social Safety Net Programming, enabling service providers to continue to deliver better designed Safety Net interventions into the future.

The target locations for the proposed project include three districts of Lower Juba region, namely Kismayo, Afmadow and Dhobley, where ACTED and Adeso each have a strong presence.

SOCIAL SAFETY NETS PROGRAM (SSNP) CONSORTIUM

The ACTED-Adeso SSNP Consortium, established in early 2013, aims to provide a sustainable opportunity for resilience building for communities chronically affected by food insecurity and humanitarian crises in Lower Juba. Targeted communities will benefit through the delivery of predictable and regular cash transfers to vulnerable households, alongside investment in diverse livelihood bases and the provision of support and community led preparedness, early warning and timely response systems.

Both ACTED and Adeso have extensive experience of and presence in humanitarian programming in Somalia, in particular in South-Central Somalia and Lower Juba.

ACTED has been working in South-Central Somalia since 2009, and has developed strong relationships with communities and local authorities through the provision of food security, WASH and livelihood programming. ACTED Somalia's areas of intervention are located in South Central Somalia, across the Juba’s (Middle and Lower), Bay and Gedo regions supported by an operational area office in Mogadishu. ACTED has operated emergency response programs, most notably offering vital humanitarian assistance during the 2011 drought, and is now moving towards resilience building. In 2012 the security context and constraints on programming in Dinsoor and Sakow forced the organization to make a decision to close these project sites and relocate activities to Baidoa, El Waq and Kismayo following needs assessments done in both areas. As a result, in 2013 ACTED adapted programming to support urban communities including IDPs, host and minority groups to enhance food security, strengthen livelihoods and improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene.

Adeso, formerly known as Horn Relief, is an African-based organization established in 1991 in response to Somalia’s devastating humanitarian crisis and civil war. Adeso has been working in Somalia since 1994, and in this time has worked in Lower Juba (Dhobley, Afmadow, Kismayo and Badhaade districts) and Gedo Regions (El Waq, Luuq, Belet Hawa and Dollo districts), as well as in Galmadug, Bari, Sanaag, Mudug and Sool Regions in Puntland and Somaliland. The organization was been working with Somalia’s pastoralist groups, particularly women and youth, to prevent, manage and overcome situations that adversely affect a community’s well-being. Adeso’s Somali operations include 10 field offices delivering programs in five thematic areas: integrated food security, education, water and sanitation, natural resource management and humanitarian response interventions.

ASSESSMENT GOAL

The assessment goal is to allow the consortium refine the design of the new project to help build household and community level resilience; to drought and other hazards in Lower Juba region, South Somalia.

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

SSNP consortium is looking for a reputable consulting firm with experts in the field of food security, economics and livelihoods to help undertake a value chain and community livelihoods assessment that will help in proper orientation of the programme while highlighting a number of aspects of the project that are properly designed during the inception phase of programme implementation.

The assignment purpose is to carry out a comprehensive assessment and perform an in-depth analysis in the project areas which offers the opportunity to assess and identify potential value chains and linkages in the pastoral, riverine, agricultural and agro-based sector of the Lower Juba economy to determine which income generating activities (IGAs) are best suited to substitute negative copying mechanisms - production and trade.

The consultant will undertake a Value Chain and community livelihoods assessment utilizing relevant research methodologies focusing on-but not limited to:

• Identification of Lower Juba’s suitability and comparative advantage in the establishment of Income Generating Activities (IGA’s) such as crop production, frankincense, honey production agro-pastoral products etc.;
• Collection and documentation of statistical evidence on cultivatable land availability; production inputs, necessary processing capacities available and adequacy etc.;
• Development of a value chain framework/system that would integrate all the identified activities and processes including primary and support services that are capable of encouraging entrepreneurs desirous in taking advantage of the numerous potentials available in the SSNP coverage areas of Dhobley, Afmadow and Kismayo.
• Collect data base of agricultural production in Dhobley, Afmadow and Kismayo.
• Identification of the local production linkages (honey, Frankincense, and agricultural productions) that abound in Puntland and assess their relevance; adequacy; strengths and challenges etc.;

The value chain assessment is designed to provide alternative viable sources of income that enables households to move away from negative copying mechanisms and increase food production. Because some of the most viable alternative sources of income (e.g. honey & gum Arabic) are also based on natural resources, this activity will be phased to follow upon the improvements in rangeland management initiated in other activities of the program. Rehabilitation of eroded lands, soil and water conservation will strengthen the local natural resource base which will make non-timber forest products a more viable livelihood strategy. The income generated by these non-timber forest products will in turn provide an added incentive for continued and better management of the local natural resource base.

The consultant will conduct a rapid value chain assessment to develop a more detailed understanding of markets for local non-timber forest products; in particular whether there is sufficient demand that it would be possible to increase supply without driving down prices to producers as well as whether there are opportunities for collective marketing or simple quality assurance / grading of produce in order to access better prices. Beneficiaries for this activity will be self-selected from amongst existing charcoal producers in the 100 villages where rangeland management plans have been developed and erosion control / soil and water conservation structures have been constructed.

As for the livelihood support assessment, the consultant will need to help answer the below questions;

• What livelihood opportunities should be strengthened to positively drive lower Juba communities’ value chain and reduce livelihood related risks?
• What livelihood and community assets should be concentrated on as mapped in the implementation area? This should include market reinvigoration for local products.
• What sufficient commodity demand will be possible to increase supply without driving down prices to producers?

• What opportunities are available for collective marketing or quality assurance of produce in order to access good quality produce at better prices?

• What threats and drivers pose significant challenges to the realization of community livelihood access?

• What threats and driver’s increases community vulnerability to livelihoods opportunities?

This shall include recommendations on geographical, household and clan livelihoods selection to ensure proper approach in SSNP programming.

METHODOLOGY

The comprehensive assessment will be coordinated by an external consulting firm bringing together several set of expertise by different skilled consultants who will further review the methodology and selection of parties to be interviewed. In this regard the firm shall provide SSNP consortium with an inception report, containing an overview of their understanding of the assignment, time schedule, planned activities, suggested methods and potential interviewees as well as any other parties they wish to engage so as to be approved by the consortium managers.

As the assessment comprises different sectors, the consulting firm should briefly propose and discuss available methodologies including specific thematic area tools to be used or in use in the proposed assignment sectors.

In order to provide a comprehensive analysis, it is expected that the firm will use a balanced range of qualitative and quantitative methods which includes but not limited to the below list.

• Desk Review: Review of existing secondary information and reports relevant to the project and to the context of Lower Juba will be done. This will provide an analysis and discussion of facts and data within the assignment context. The literature will include among others Project proposal; contextual information or other projects’ information on food security, livelihood, security and socio-economic context of Lower Juba as will be found necessary by the selected firm.

• Quantitative data collection: This will include: Interviews with key informants and other stakeholders using informants guides; Field visits in the implementation areas for sampling, data collection and observations; Conduct structured household interviews with sampled project stakeholders; using PRA tools, thematic area specialized tools e.t.c

• Qualitative data collection: Focus group discussions and interviews with field staff and with sampled potential beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries;

• Field observations and reflections for triangulation of information; Reflection and feedback sessions with consortium team members in the field, Nairobi based and other key informants;

i. Value chain assessment through market or assets mapping to describe the movement of market items from the producer to the consumer, and the associated costs and profits as items move along the value chain. The value chain assessment on markets will focus on the invigoration of available market systems and establish whether the building resilience through Social Safety Nets in South-Central Somalia project intervention can increase or reduce the capacity of the market to absorb new commodities and services.

ii.Analysis livelihood opportunities and community assets and livelihoods zoning where potential interventions will be implemented. This will be to help determine the current status of the target population: profile, market opportunities and livelihood status; Identifying criteria for the most vulnerable households in the target communities, whilst simultaneously measuring the optimal transfer value, livelihood support mechanisms, and political landscape. Ensuring the size of the entitlement to meet basic nutritional and household needs.

Survey Design

With the facilitation of SSNP Consortium coordinator, the consultant should develop a participatory design where the main project stakeholders will be involved to give their inputs and views in the assessment process. The data collection tools to be used should capture crosscutting issues particularly gender and accountability, to the extent possible. The tools developed will be pre-tested to ensure that enumerators and the study population alike have the same understanding of the assessment topics, and revised based on identified shortcomings. This also includes translation of the study tools into Somali language where necessary.

As these are two different studies, the consultant will come up with two survey designs for each thematic area. The consultant will determine but make sure the target groups and samples for the two studies should are different

Data Collection and Analysis

The data collection team must have required technical and localized knowledge, experience and integrity and show how they will mitigate data collection abuses and make it reliable. This will give the exercise the credibility it requires for wider acceptance of the survey findings by the community. Enumerators will be contracted and trained by the consultant on how to collect and analyze data in the field to build capacity at that level. A combined analysis will be done for the collected data to allow program level conclusions to be drawn. Analysis of the collected data needs to be done in comparison by region, district and village where necessary. Further necessary statistical tests/analysis should be performed in order to determine relationships between various factors.

The consultant will decide which statistical software to use for data analysis and provide human resource to undertake the data analysis. A data mask will be developed for entering the completed questionnaires after finalization following pre-testing.

Presentation of Survey Findings

The consultant will be responsible for writing and presenting the survey report to both field and Nairobi based teams working closely with SSNP consortium team.

DELIVERABLES

1. Inception Report to be reviewed and validated by SSNP consortium team: includes initial work plan and detailed methodology, analysis plan, report outlines of final products, each assessment sector survey tools, process of data collection, analysis as well as final set of data-collection tools and the revised budget if needed.

1. Draft report of the comprehensive survey for the feedback and comments from SSNP Consortium staff.

2. Presentation on the main findings of the comprehensive assessment at Nairobi and field level involving project teams, community representatives and local authorities.

3. Final report (three hard copies and a soft copy on CD ROM) in English not exceeding a length of specified pages:

4. Summary version of the final report to be shared with project communities.

5. Raw data summaries and data sets used.

CONSULTANCY PERIOD

The consultancy will be for 35 days including travel days.

NB: - This assessment is paramount in the implementation of the consortium activities hence timelines agreed by the firm are strictly to be adhered to.

QUALIFICATION PROFILE

Qualifications of the Team Leader

· Master’s degree in planning, food security and livelihoods, monitoring and assessment, economics or social sciences and other areas relevant for the assignment.

· At least 10 years of relevant professional work in social research or related studies with specific reference to community profiling in an insecure environment context (community profiling in volatile environment is a plus).

· Experience working and collaborating with diverse sets of stakeholders, such as local NGOs, government officials, donor representatives, local and international staff.

· Thorough knowledge and understanding of social protection programming approaches and its linkages.

· Extensive experience in working with INGOs and local NGOs, local authorities and beneficiaries.

· Demonstrated analytical and writing skills.

· Previous work experience in Somalia.

· Excellent knowledge of English with supportive Somali speaking capabilities.

Qualification of Each Team Member

The bidding firm/team should have experts specialized to lead in each key area of the study. The technical proposal should highlight whose taking lead in what study area with their resumes highlighting their expertise related to the specific sector.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

All documentation related to the assignment shall remain the sole and exclusive property of the SSNP Consortium.

Applications should be submitted to consultancy@adesoafrica.org with the subject line**: SSNP consortium comprehensive assessment** not later than 22^ndJune 2016.** The selection committee consisting of Project staff will review all applications as they arrive. All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described. The application must have one page cover letter; Technical proposal and proposed comprehensive budget for the whole assignment. The application package should include the following:

• A one page application letter addressing:

• The lead consultant’s previous experience and how it’s relevant to the proposed assignment.

• The names, expertise, years of experience and relevance of team members in undertaking this assignment.

• A comprehensive proposal. Showing the firms understanding of the Terms of reference. Broken down into assessment areas showing how each assessment sector is going to be undertaken.

• Updated CVs for all consultants of the bidding firm including relevant work, number of days required, specific roles, experience and qualifications.

• An explanation or a chart of showing how the team will be organized and an estimate number of days for each team member and the team leader.

• Detailed comprehensive budget. Covering all assessment costs i.e. Total number of days verses individual man-days, per diem, flight tickets, assessment training costs, transportation & accommodation costs; visa fees e.t.c. The consortium will not cater for any costs or be liable for other additional costs due to other factors.

• Samples of recently written reports on similar assignments. Individual sector assignment reports can also be submitted in lieu of the above i.e. reports on conflict dynamics, markets, FSL e.t.c.

• An updated company profile detailing the composition, management and areas pf expertise.

• Contact details for three references the consortium can contact.