FY23 Retrospective Farmer's Survery Consultant (Togo) at Creative Associates International for West Africa Trade and Investment Hub

Creative Associates International is a dynamic, fast-growing global development firm that specializes in education, economic growth, democratic development and post-crisis stabilization. Based in Washington, D.C., Creative has a field presence in more than 25 countries with a strong client portfolio that includes the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, among others. Since its founding in 1977, Creative has earned a solid reputation among its clients and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: FY23 Retrospective Farmer's Survery Consultant  

Location: Lome, Togo
Employment Type: Contract
Department: MEL Unit    
Reports to: MEL Director   
Estimated Period of Performance:  May 1st – 30th 2024
Estimated Level of Effort: 10 Days
Estimated total cost: xxx

Project Summary

• Through a market-based approach, the five, $116 million West Africa Trade and Investment Hub (hereinafter referred to as the Trade Hub) project, funded by USAID, aims to improve private sector competitiveness in West Africa through a market-based approach.
• By working in partnership with the private sector and fostering co-investments, the activity generates new private-sector capital investment in critical sectors to create jobs and increase two-way trade.
• Through these USAID-funded co-investment partnerships, the private sector companies and the Trade Hub are collaborating to improve food security; boost employment among women and youth; build resilience to climate change; foster agribusiness competitiveness and productivity; and boost international and regional exports.
• Through a blended finance approach, the Trade Hub is co-funding catalytic activities with the grantees through funding from 10 different sources to unlock $400 million in new private investments, create 60,000 jobs, and increase exports to the international market.  The project comprises of three main components.
• Through this Co-Investment Fund and technical assistance, the Trade Hub improved companies’ abilities to expand business operations, increased productivity, and created jobs that build on the talents and aspirations of West Africa’s growing population.
• The Trade Hub has collaborated on specific commercial opportunities with firms, service providers, research organizations, as well as other business network actors to access private capital that contributed to large-scale jobs, exports, and investment, particularly with strong demonstrated or potential links to the U.S. companies and investors.
• Through its co-investment partnership, the Trade Hub provided support through its partners to smallholder farmers in the 2023 farming season to increase their productivity, profitability, and improve their livelihoods.
• This activity will focus on the USAID West Africa Mission grantees and participants in Ghana, Togo, Mali, and other West African countries.

Position Summary

• The consultant will report directly to The Trade Hub MEL Director (or anyone assigned by the MEL Director), in connection with the performance of the duties under this Agreement and shall fulfil any other duties reasonably requested by the company and agreed to by the subcontractor.

Objectives of the Consultancy

• The Trade Hub seeks to conduct a retrospective farmers’ survey on the outcome level indicators in other to measure improvement in the productivity and profitability of supported smallholder farmers across the project implementation locations in West Africa and value chains (Shea, Oil Palm, Fonio, Cashew etc.).
• Data collected from this survey will enable the Trade Hub to report on Outcome level indicators contained in the project AMELP.
• The results will be compared with the project baseline results to help measure progress towards achieving the project outcome objectives and will help understand the project’s achievement as well as identify potential gaps, if any for continuous quality improvement.

List of Indicators to be Measured in the Retrospective FY23 Annual Farmers’ Survey in West Africa:

Methodology
The methodology for the data collection will be through quantitative and qualitative survey among the smallholder farmers supported by the Trade Hub in West Africa (Ghana and Togo).

Sampling Methodology

• Trade Hub MEL team will coordinate with each grantee to determine the number of smallholder farmers to be interviewed. The number of smallholder farmers to be interviewed will depend on available resources, security situation and available time which will be discussed with each grantee during the survey initiation process.
• To ensure uniformity across the grantees, a list of sampled farmers will be randomly selected from the total farmers supported by each grantee. Apart from the listed outcome indicator, the questionnaire will also address and collect information on productivity, access to finance, gender, and youth within the communities.
• The sample for the FY23 West Africa annual farmers’ survey shall be determined by the TradeHub MEL team. This sample will be further distributed across the various value chains to ensure data collected is representative of actual information from the supported farmers.

Survey Design:

• For the purpose of gathering data, the Trade Hub will employ exiting tools. The Trade Hub MEL team will supervise the data collection process in conjunction with the grantees and train their field officers and agric-extension workers on how to gather high-quality data using the tools that have been specifically designed for this purpose.

Survey Team:

• The Trade Hub MEL team, the grantee MEL officers, grantees’ enumerators and or extension agents will make up the survey team. A consultant will be hired to lead and further engage the enumerators in the two locations (Togo and Ghana) where the survey will take place.
• The MEL team alongside the consultant will train the enumerators, supervise, and support the data collection process, and ensure that all data collected are uploaded on the MEDAL platform.

Main Tasks
The Consultant: Is expected to have the overall responsibility for the administration and supervision of the entire survey process with close supervision by the MEL Team. His/her responsibilities will include:

• With oversight from the Trade Hub MEL team, inform local authorities about the administration of the farmers’ survey.
• Finalize the survey instrument with oversight from the Trade Hub MEL team.
• Monitor the implementation of the field research phase.
• Oversee the data entry process and perform data cleaning.
• A final report that provides information about the:
  • Sampling methodology.
  • Field research approach implemented.
  • Results of fieldwork completed including response rate (a table specifying targeted and number completing interviews per community), fieldwork logs, data quality checks, etc.).
  • Challenges faced in carrying out the work and how these were resolved; and
  • Other findings, conclusion and recommendations
• Submit to the Trade Hub all the documents related to the study training materials for enumerators/others, completed questionnaires (if applicable), the final electronic database in SPSS (.sav and syntax file if created), and any other supporting documentation.
• Participate in survey findings workshop/seminar to present key findings to relevant stakeholders of the project.

The grants field officers who will serve as the enumerator - will hold the following responsibilities and report daily to the MEL Team:

• Ensure that they follow all the survey implementation procedures and complete their allocated interviews within the allocated times.
• Carry out and follow quality control measures, daily, throughout the fieldwork.
• Manage team logistics.
• Gather, record information from the survey
• Review data for accuracy and completeness before submitting
• Conducting callbacks on respondents.
• Recognise and give an account of problems in obtaining data
• Provide technical advice regarding the implementation of the sampling plan.
• Interpretation and coding of difficult field responses, and
• Send daily feedback and reports to their supervisors

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Diploma in Administration, Management, or other relevant field.
• Must have at least 1+ year of experience related to the position.
• Familiar with all MS Office applications.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• U. S government (USAID preferred) administrative compliance experience.
• Ability to work with and achieve results with a diverse group of staff located in different countries (Preferred).
• Excellent record-keeping and documentation skills.
• The consultant should and must be based in the location where the survey will be conducted.
• The consultant should have a degree in statistics, economics, agricultural extension, policy and development, or any relevant field.
• The consultant should possess expertise in agricultural development, including knowledge of best practices, technologies, and productivity enhancement approaches in the agricultural sector.
• Strong analytical skills and experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis are essential.
• Ability to pay full attention to what others are saying, understand the points being made, and ask appropriate questions.
• A clean background and related work experience
• Familiarity with USG-funded agricultural development programs or similar initiatives is desirable.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required, with the ability to present complex information in a clear and accessible manner.
• Physical Stamina to engage in data collection.
• Must speak English and Frech language

Results and/ or Deliverables
Deliverables:

• Clean dataset with coded variables and value labels in excel or SPSS or syntax file by indicators and by value chains.
• A comprehensive report with a title page, table of content, executive summary, background and objectives, methodology, results, presentation of key findings, including numerical data, trends, charts, graphs, patterns, conclusion, appendices etc.
• Highlight key recommendations for enhancing the impact and outcomes of the Activity.
• Submit any supplementary materials such as data tables, charts, or visual aids to support the analysis and findings

Proposed Implementation Schedule
We estimate the entire survey will take a total of 10 days (Monday to Saturday) starting from May 1st, 2024. However other preliminary activities will happen in the month of April 2024.

Application Closing Date
26th April, 2024

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Expression of Interest and CV either in PDF or Word format as one document to: procurement@westafricatih.com using "OPS-ABJ-2024-04-003" as the subject of the email.

Click here to view Scope of Work (SOW)  (Ms Word)

Click here to view Terms and Conditions (MS Word)

Click here for Request for Quotation (Ms Word)

Click here to view Budget Template (Ms Excel)

Click here to view Annex A (Ms Word)

Click here to view W-9 form (PDF)

Click here to view Vendor Information (PDF)

Note

• Only finalists will be contacted.
• The Subject of your email should be; OPS-ABJ-2024-04-003. (Failure to do so will lead to disqualification).
• Creative Associates International is an Equal Opportunity employer.