USAID West Africa Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for Sustainable Systems in Agriculture, Environment and Trade (USAID/West Africa ASSESS Project)

 

Development of USAID/WA Program on Seeds and Agriculture Innovation and Technologies – Senior Agricultural Program Design Expert

 

The USAID/West Africa Regional Economic Growth Office (REGO) Agriculture Team (AGR) is herein initiating the strategic phase of designing a new five-year program for the next generation of program activities to Scale Up availability, access and use of regionally endorsed varieties of Seeds and Agriculture Technologies in West Africa. This new program, guided by the Mission’s Feed the Future (FTF) or Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS), will serve as the next generation of USG supported program investments with the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) and other key stakeholders, including private sector investors, women and youth, working collaboratively to advance agriculture growth and development across the region. The new program evolving from this design, should align with the Mission’s Regional Cooperation Development Strategy (RDCS) for West Africa, as well as with the frameworks provided by the ECOWAS-led ECOWAS Policy (ECOWAP), the Regional Agriculture Investment Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (RAIP-FNS) and the Regional Agriculture Inputs Strategy.

 

The USAID/West Africa Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for Sustainable Systems (ASSESS1) project is seeking to recruit a Senior Agricultural Program Design Expert to lead the design and drafting of the new, five-year seeds and agriculture innovation and technologies regional program.

 

The Program to be developed is expected to build upon the 15+ years of investments USAID/West Africa has made to build and strengthen the regional research capacity to generate and promote the development of regionally sound packages and technologies needed to respond to a rapidly changing environment. The Mission has built a significant track record of progress on regional efforts to improve food security through strengthened systems for quality input supply, harmonization of policies for integrated input and output markets, improved cross-border trade and movement of food commodities including seeds, improved regulation and quality control of food, among other efforts. Furthermore, a strategic thrust of the West Africa FTF program, in alignment with the RDCS, has been the strategic partnering with regional groups and institutions to enhance the effectiveness of food security programs in West Africa, and to contribute to more sustainable long-term outcomes by assisting African institutions to fulfill their mandates.

 

To  date,  the  USAID/West  Africa/REGO  Agriculture  Team  has  been  responsible  for  directing approximately $16 million USD annually of technical assistance to meet the regional challenges of food

 

ASSESS is a flexible inter-agency mechanism (between USAID and USDA) for Evaluations, Monitoring, Knowledge and Learning, and other analytical support services serving the USAID/West Africa Regional Mission. ASSESS is responsible for program evaluations in the Regional Economic Growth Office (REGO) portfolio of the U.S. Government’s foreign assistance programs to the West Africa region.

 

 AGR delivers direct support to regional institutions and targets critical gaps in the agriculture sector such as a lack of access to quality seeds and fertilizer, the inability to trade efficiently across borders, the lack of market and trade related information for all those involved in the industry, and other barriers.

 

As outlined in its GFSS Strategy, the REGO Agriculture team aims to ensure that critical areas are covered. These include work on inputs supply and use, scaling of agricultural technologies that contribute to resilience and nutrition objectives, and continued partnership with regional lead institutions where support will have a strong if not certain contribution to improved food security, greater resilience and response mechanisms, and strengthened mechanisms for addressing inherently cross-border issues that impede growth, threaten productivity gains, and/or prevent the flow of agricultural commodities, including seeds. The priorities also include strengthening the capacity of the private entrepreneurs and creating a “corps” of leading agents to increase quality seeds production and improving the adoption of the promising agriculture technologies.

 

The new Program for Seeds and Agriculture Technologies Scale Up in West Africa will prioritize a coherent framework which is expected to guide investments that will yield measurable increases in access to quality seeds and to expanded adoption of promising and proven agriculture technologies in West Africa, made available through private seed businesses with established capacity to deliver quality services. Strategic focus and priority will be placed on leadership and inclusion of women and youth entrepreneurs throughout the program framework.

 

The new Program design will not require drafting from a blank slate. The AGR team has conducted a performance evaluation of the PAIRED program and the findings and recommendations were shared with the regional stakeholders during a learning event organized on April 3, 2023. Following up on this learning event, a three-day consultation workshop was organized with the same partners to discuss the next steps in  guiding  USAID/WA’s  future  seeds  and  agri-inputs  programming.  The  Event  engaged  stakeholders towards solutions that will continue the necessary systemic changes and continue to produce sustainable results to advance the food and nutrition security goals.

 

USAID/WA AGR Team seeks to hire a consultant to lead the design and drafting of a new, five-year seeds and  agriculture  innovation  and  technologies  regional  program.  ASSESS–  the  USAID/WA-funded mechanism implemented by USDA and its partners (US and Africa University partners) – will take the lead in recruiting an international Agricultural Program Design Expert to assist the USAID/WA REGO Team to design the new West Africa Seeds and Agriculture Innovations regional Program. The expert will work closely with AGR throughout the process of program design and meet with various stakeholders in the region for separate periods of time totaling approximately 40 days LOE, between May 22 and September 2023.

 

The following will be the specific tasks of the expert (40 days LOE max):

The expert will be required to submit an action plan to USAID/WA REGO/AGR by the end of the third week after being contracted. The action plan will detail the procedure to be used to implement the assignment including travel schedules, institutions to be contacted (meetings and consultations), timeline for milestones, and suggested process for review and consultation on the draft program document.

 

The deliverables of this assignment include:

All deliverables will be submitted by the expert directly to the USAID/WA REGO/AGR Team Lead. The expert will also submit to ASSESS a one-page report on the completion of each deliverable (travel, meetings organized, list of stakeholders met, support received from ASSESS, etc.), to facilitate the payment process.

 

The period of performance will be up to 40 days Level of Effort (LOE) during the period May and September, 2023.

Timelines

 

The following are the applicable timelines:

 

Activity	Timelines
Compile and review pertinent reports and technical program documents, finalize plan for literature review and compiling of pertinent analysis, and collection of information. Plan schedule for consultations, development of Workplan.	May 22-June 5
Undertake consultations and work on initial drafting	June 12 - July 31
Development of final program description, including incorporation of comments and changes that emerge from the final process of reviews and approval.	August 15 - September 30

 

The consultant will be remunerated at an agreed fixed price per day to cover the assigned LOE for the completion of the assignment.

 

It is USAID’s expectation that 2/3 of the time of this consultancy will be conducted remotely. ASSESS will assist with setting up the online meetings through Zoom or other platforms as determined, appropriate and efficient. The expert will include in her/his proposed work plan/approach how the 1/3 in-person meeting/engagement time will be utilized. This includes meeting/consultation with the USAID team.

 

The consultant will be contracted under the USAID/WA ASSESS mechanism. ASSESS will be responsible for the administrative management of the contract. This will include monitoring of LOE and payments. The  USAID/WA Agriculture  Team Lead,  or  his/her designee,  will  provide  technical  guidance  to the consultant. This will include approval of the consultant’s work plan, assigning tasks within the scope of the contract, reviewing technical outputs and providing feedback.