2022-04-23

Terms of Reference for Rapid Performance Assessment of the Community Seed Bank (CSB) Component of the Improved Seed, Food and Livelihood Security for Agro-pastoralists Project in Somalia

Somalia
Posted on April 23, 2022

Development Fund (DF)

Terms of Reference for Rapid Performance Assessment of the Community Seed Bank (CSB) Component of the Improved Seed, Food and Livelihood Security for Agro-pastoralists Project in Somalia

Terms of Reference

Rapid Performance Assessment of the Community Seed Bank (CSB) Component of the Improved Seed, Food and Livelihood Security for Agro-pastoralists Project in Somalia

1 About the Development Fund of Norway and the Somalia Country Programme

For more than 40 years the Development Fund (DF) has collaborated with local communities and civil society organizations in developing countries to improve the production of food and income generation of highly vulnerable and marginalized rural communities. DF’s vision is a sustainable and just world with freedom from hunger, poverty and marginalization. Hundreds of thousands of small-scale farming households have received DF-support to develop resilient livelihoods and eliminate hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in their communities.

DF has stood steadfast in the forefront among development organizations promoting the empowerment of marginalized rural communities, pro-poor policies and appropriate solutions, particularly through approaches such as crop diversification, model-farmer, adaptive climate villages, affordable climate-smart agriculture techniques, community seed-banks, small scale irrigation and mechanizations, local natural resource management, microcredits and capacity building of civil society and grassroots organization. DF mobilizes the assets of small-scale farmers to ensure local contribution, involvement, and ownership, which is key to a sustainable, resilient, and equitable development.

DF has been supporting local NGOs under various programmes in both Somaliland and Puntland since 2009 with the overall goal of improving food security and nutrition among pastoralists and agro-pastoralist communities in Somaliland and Puntland. The Somalia Country Programme is concentrated around the Building Local Resilience and Adaptation to Climate (BRAC) Programme supported by Norad, the Community Resilience in Somaliland and Puntland (CRISP) Project funded by the European Union, and the Improved Seed, Food and Livelihood Security for Agro-pastoralists Project funded by the Darwin Initiative (UK). These projects are implemented in Awdal, Maroodijeex, Togheer, Sanaag and Sool in Somaliland and Bari and Nugaal in Puntland.

2 Project background and context

2.1 Project description

The Improved Seed, Food and Livelihood Security for Agro-pastoralists Project (the Project) in Somalia is funded with a £440,000 grant by the Darwin Initiative (DI), a UK government grants scheme that supports the preservation of biodiversity. The Project was implemented by DF together with three local partners – ADO, HAVOYOCO and KAALO – between 1st September 2020 and 31st March 2022 (including a No Cost Extension of 15 months). The Project is implemented in three villages: Beer and Galooley villages in the Togdheer and Maroodijex regions of Somaliland, respectively; and Cuun village in Nugaal region of Puntland. The target group comprises 1,100 agro-pastoralist households in Somaliland and 500 households in Puntland, corresponding to about 9,600 people.

The goal of the Project is to strengthen the resilience of agro-pastoralist production systems in Somaliland and Puntland through improved access to diverse, quality seeds, improved soil and water management, and increased awareness of farmers’ rights among government and other local stakeholders. In this respect, the role and effectiveness of Community Seed Banks (the CSB Component) represents a central aspect of the intervention logic.

2.2 The CSB Component

Under the Project, it was intended that agricultural biodiversity would be enhanced through the collection and repatriation of at least 40 crop varieties from 13 crops which will be conserved in community seed banks. The sustainable on-farm use of these crop varieties is expected to be enabled/improved by facilitating access for local communities via loans from the CSB, as well as through sales/marketing operations. Somalia does not currently have a national gene bank. As such, the CSBs are expected to play an important role in building up germplasm collections in the country and encouraging their sustainable use.

2.3 Objective of the Project

The Project objective is to reduce poverty through improved seed, food and livelihood security for agro-pastoralist families in Somaliland and Puntland.

Outcome 1: Resilience of agro-pastoralist production systems in 3 communities enhanced through improved access to diverse, quality seeds, improved soil and water management, and increased awareness of farmers’ rights among government/local actors.

Outputs

Seed security assessments (SSAs) conducted with participating communities and other local agencies
Initiatives supported to improve access to high-quality seeds for women and men agro-pastoralists
Support provided to reclaim and rehabilitate degraded agricultural land
Support provided to raise awareness among government agencies and other local actors on farmers’ rights, seed security and related policy instruments (ITPGRFA).

2.4 Project implementation modality

The Project implementation approach is participatory in nature whereby the target communities and key stakeholders jointly participate in planning, implementation, and monitoring. The DF is the lead organization and responsible for the overall coordination of the project working closely with, the three local implementing partners – KAALO, HAVOYOCO and ADO – each of which is responsible for implementation in the focal villages where they have strong established working relationships with local communities.

The Project builds on a pre-existing partnership with ADO and HAVOYCO, who have partnered with DF since 2009. KAALO has been a partner since 2017 in Food Security and Livelihood programmes funded by the Norwegian government. The implementing partners worked closely with the establish community seedbank committee members. For effective implementation, the Project collaborated closely with the Somaliland Ministries of Agriculture and of Environment and Natural Resources, respectively, and Ministry of Agriculture in Puntland.

Darwin-Initiative_CSB-Rapid-Performance-Assessment-ToR_ff-22042022

12 Offer/proposal submission and contact details

Offers to conduct the Assessment will be accepted from consultants based in Somalia or from consultants located in the region. Offers must be submitted electronically by 03 May 2022 to thor-jurgen@utviklingsfondet.no. The offer must contain a technical proposal within the specified budget frame, with attached CV.

For further details or questions regarding this ToR for the Assessment, kindly contact Nafisa Abdirahman, MEAL and Documentation Advisor at nafisa@utviklingsfondet.no with copy to issmael@utviklingsfondet.no.

[1] DF’s application to the Darwin Initiative for a second phase of the Project was approved in April 2022.

[2] Ref report: OECD DAC Evaluation Criteria, Updated (OECD, December 2019) https://www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm

[3] The Assessment methodology, process and outputs must adhere to the OECD Development Quality Standards for Development Evaluation (OECD 2010). These standards include a requirement for the Consultant to be mindful of gender roles, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, language and other differences (eg power dynamics) when designing and carrying out the Assessment.

[4] The methodology will be adapted as needed to the prevailing Covid-19 situation and restrictions. Innovative and flexible approaches/methodologies and methods for remote data collection (incl online surveys) should be suggested when appropriate and the risk of doing harm managed.

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