Job Description

Heifer International Kenya

Project / Activity Name: Kenya Market Led Dairy Supply Chain Project (KEMDAP)

Request for Expression of Interest: Kenya Market Led Dairy Supply Chain Project (KEMDAP) Impact Evaluation

Funded By: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)

RFP Release Date: August 13 th 2021

Performance Period: 2 weeks/14 Days

Proposal Submission Deadline: August 26th 2021

Question / Inquiry Submission Deadline: August 19th 2021

Electronic submission to the attention of: Procurement

Electronic submission:

Contact information for inquiries about this RFP: procurement-ke@heifer.org

Terms of Reference

General Information: This document is being issued in order to solicit applications from potential consultant(s) to conduct the Kenya Market Led Dairy Supply Chain Project (KEMDAP) Impact evaluation.

This is 4-year, $3,200,000 project, funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), that is being implemented in Embu, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet and Trans-Nzoia counties, from September 2017 to December 2021.

The activity requires at least 602 quantitative interviews and 60 qualitative interviews.

The terms of reference contain background information, the desired methodology, including objectives, the timeframe for conducting the final evaluation, and a list of deliverables.

This document also contains information about the kind of expertise that Heifer International seeks for this activity and guidance on how to submit a proposal to conduct the activity.

Heifer anticipates awarding a fixed award for the Kenya Market Led Dairy Supply Chain Project (KEMDAP) End of Project Impact evaluation and make payments based on submission and Heifer’s approval of deliverables.

The award agreement will include a payment schedule with specific deliverables; all payments require 15-business days processing after approval of deliverables.

Background: Heifer International is a global non-profit working to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth by using sustainable practices and engaging smallholder farmers in agricultural development.

Heifer was founded on the simple belief that ending hunger begins with giving people the means to feed themselves, generate income and achieve sustainable livelihoods.

Since 1944, Heifer has helped 20.7 million households – more than 105 million people – in over 125 countries, through community-based training, appropriate technologies and agricultural resources, enabling communities to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger on to a path of self-reliance and economic prosperity.

Kenya Market Led Dairy Supply Chain Project (KEMDAP)

The Kenya Market-Led Dairy Value Chain Supply project is a four-year project (2017-2021), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The background to market-led dairy supply chain project was the need to utilize the great potential of small holder milk production in Kenya to meet the growing demand for milk and dairy products by the dairy industry and consumers.

This project was developed jointly by the project partners Heifer Project International (HPI-K, New KCC (NKCC), Tetra Laval Food for Development Office (FfDO) and Tetra Pak Kenya (Tetra Pak).

The project targets to reach 30,000 smallholder farmers in 6 counties namely, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Trans Nzoia and Elgeyo Marakwet counties in the North Rift Region of Kenya and Embu and Tharaka Nithi counties in Eastern Kenya.

Other beneficiaries include dairy value chain service providers and local governments.

The distribution of the beneficiaries per region and county is as follows: 20,000 in the Rift Valley (Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet and Trans-Nzoia counties) and 10,000 in Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties.

These beneficiaries are coalesced into 21 dairy Producer Organizations (POs) with 16 in North Rift Region and 5 in Eastern Region.

At the local level, the farmers are organized into dairy Interest groups (DIG) engaged in milk production. The 21 POs are engaged in collection, bulking, and selling, and in some cases processing milk into pasteurised milk, yoghurt, and other dairy products.

The Project works to build strong POs by strengthening governance, leadership and business structures as well as developing social capital, savings groups and promoting gender equality. This approach ensures farmers’ resilience and sustainability far beyond the project intervention period.

Project Goal: The project’s overall goal is to improve the livelihoods of 30,000 small holder dairy farmers and their families, through increased dairy productivity, increased incomes and increased participation of women and youth in the dairy value chain.

This was in line with Heifer’s strategic 2030 goal of accelerating 30,000 producers towards achieving a living income, the National development policy, Vision 2030 on the country being a middle-income country by 2030, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) development plan and New Kenya Cooperative creameries (NKCC), Tetra Laval vision and mission.

The Project Objectives

1. Increase milk productivity for 30,000 smallholder dairy farmers in Rift Valley (12 liters per cow per day) and Eastern Kenya (15 liters per cow per day).

2. Increase milk collection volumes in milk collection centres and bulking centres to at least 125,000 liters per day.

3. Improve milk quality

4. Increase the incomes of 70% of participating farmers and households to at least USD 3,285 per annum by the end of the project period

5. Ensure gainful participation of women and youth in the dairy value chain and Producer Organizations to increase employment and incomes– reaching 15,000 women (50% of farmers

6. Increased use and adoption of environmentally friendly dairy production practices amongst 30,000 farmers

Purpose and Objective

The main purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to conduct the project impact evaluation study to
establish the achievement of the project deliverables to date against stated indicators.

The impact evaluation will also focus on corrective actions needed to achieve maximum program outcomes beyond the project period.

The evaluation’s learnings and recommendations will also be important to assist Heifer Project International, NKCC, Tetra Laval and other stakeholders in the possible scale out of this project and future implementation of similar projects in other locations.

Specific Evaluation Objectives

a) To assess the success of HPI-K and its partners in meeting the project goals, objectives and targets as outlined in the project proposals and results framework.

b) To assess the effectiveness of the extension system driven by the Dairy Farm assistants, Extension officers and community facilitators in the achievement of the project objectives and effectiveness of current strategies to improve dairy productivity and sustainability.

c) To evaluate the extent to which the stakeholders and partners have been involved in the project implementations and recommend the best practices for enhanced suitability through partnerships and stakeholder engagements.

d) To evaluate the relevance of the project activities and strategies in addressing the local conditions and evolving needs of target program stakeholders

e) To interrogate the efficiency of the project results in relation to the inputs to determine how the resources used have contributed the desired results.

f) To assess the impact of the KEMDAP project i.e., positive, and negative changes brought about by the project directly or indirectly, intended, or unintended.

g) To assess the coherence of the KEMDAP in relation to other interventions carried out by heifer international.

h) To identify learnings and include recommendations for local stakeholders, producer organizations and the community to support them in managing activities after the project exits.

i) To recommend key changes in the future project design and implementation strategy and approach for enhanced impact and suitability of the project.

j) To what extent the Market System approach adopted by the project established the foundation for longer term sustainability? What key lessons can consortium members learn for future programming?

k) To assess the market system approach, where it has worked and challenges that affected this approach

l) To assess the impact of COVID 19 and the project response to COVID 19 issues through Digitization and how these have been integrated into the project to enhance sustainability

m) To assess the impact of the nexus between KEMDAP and ASDSP II and Trade Facilitation Project through RetailPay

Scope of work

The project impact evaluation should use both qualitative and quantitative methods, including but not limited to a household survey, focus group discussions with target program participants, and key informant interviews with community leaders, government officials and other relevant public and private stakeholders.

The evaluation will be informed by the information obtained through project progress documents review, including baseline; follow up/monitoring data, including rapid assessments data/reports; project work plan; MTE report; direct observation during field visits to project sites; household survey using a mixed methodology; interviews with partners; and interviews with key informants, including the donor.

CLICK HERE for a detailed Terms of Reference and submission information.

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