Announcements

Expression of Interest (EoI)
Consultant Services to Support the establishment of the ECOWAS Rice Observatory (ERO) Competitive African Rice Platform (CARP) in Sierra Leone
PN: 21.2199.4-105.00
Cosoft No: 83430676

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH through the Market Oriented Value Chains for Jobs and Growth in The ECOWAS Region (MOVE) project invites qualified individual consultants to express their interest for the above consultancy work.
Background

The Market-Oriented Value Chains for Jobs and Growth in the ECOWAS Region (MOVE) project is commissioned by the Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) and co-financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the European Union (EU). The project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The overall objective of MOVE is to build market-oriented and resilient value chains (rice and cashew) that contribute to the creation of income and employment in the ECOWAS region. Specifically, the goals of MOVE are:
- Increasing the value creation of processing in the ECOWAS region
- Improving the economics/environmental sustainability of agricultural systems
- Improving the marketing of regional products
- Disseminating good practices in promoting inclusive business models
- Strengthening public-private cooperation in policy making

MOVE is implemented in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal, and represents the merger of two previously well-established regional projects: The Competitive Cashew Initiative (ComCashew) and the Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI). Both respective brands CARI and ComCashew are kept under the umbrella of the MOVE project.

MOVE is implemented in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal, and represents the merger of two previously well-established regional projects: The Competitive Cashew Initiative (ComCashew) and the Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI). Both respective brands CARI and ComCashew are kept under the umbrella of the MOVE project.
This assignment is specific to the rice value chain (CARI). Rice is the fastest growing food source in Africa. Demand for rice has been growing faster than anywhere else in the world in recent years and far outstripping the sub-region’s population growth. In West Africa, local production covers only 60% of current demand and yield growth rates lag far behind population growth rates. For this reason, different donor organisations are currently investing in rice projects in West Africa to support ECOWAS Rice Offensive to achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2030. For this reason, the ECOWAS Rice Observatory (ERO) was established with the following three main objectives:
1. Coordinate government, private sector, and donor investments into market driven solutions in support of the ECOWAS rice offensive & its action plan
2. Provide input on policy harmonization from actors’ perspectives across the rice value chain, including women and youth.
3. Facilitate access to finance across the value chain
The ERO aims at helping key actors in the West African rice sector better coordinate policy, value chain development, financing, and R&D to work synergistically. The ERO has have a bottom-up structure, acting at a regional level on the strategic priorities identified by national-level stakeholders. Since the official establishment of the ERO in late 2021, the board members met on a monthly basis virtually to discuss and decide on key aspects of the ERO. Now, to connect the regional level to the national level of all ECOWAS countries, the national chapters – so called Competitive African Rice Platforms (CARPs) – need to be established to connect both bodies. So far, the national chapters in Ghana and Nigeria are established while the ones in Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire are in the pipeline. Sierra Leone is meant to join this list soon.
Overall goal
In light if the ECOWAS rice observatory, the national chapters will subsequently be established in all CARI partner countries. The argument was that increasing the competitiveness of locally produced rice is germane to improving the whole value chain. Therefore, a policy platform is needed to advocate for policies and standard practices that will promote sustainability of rice production and ensure competitiveness of the locally produced rice. This is also in line of the ERO, which is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims at involving the private sector of ECOWAS countries at regional level. Each ECOWAS country is expected to have established one national chapter.
To this end, MOVE requires the service of a consultant that will conceptualize the rice policy platform, identify and support the host organization and facilitate the soft launching of the Competitive African Rice Platform (CARP) in Sierra Leone.
Purpose and Timeframe
To ensure a successful implementation and institutionalisation of the intervention, a long duration of the contract is foreseen.
For this assignment, the Service Provider will be required to complete seven (7) clusters of implementation for the period spanning 20th February 2023 until 29th of February 2024
Geographic areas of implementation
There are three geographical zones of implementation under this intervention is mainly Freetown with expectations of traveling within the country if required.
Qualifications
- Education/training (2.2.1): Master degree in Business Administration, International Development, Economics, Agriculture or related field
- Language (2.2.2): Fluent English (C1)
- General professional experience (2.2.3): 10 years’ experience in the agricultural sector of Sierra Leone, preferably in the rice value chain
- Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 3 years of experience of private sector development; business development of food processing or supply chain development, or 3 years’ experience in working with multi-actor platforms/ stakeholder management
- Leadership/management experience (2.2.5): 6 years of experience in project management
- Regional experience (2.2.6): 7 years in Sierra Leone
- Development Cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): 2 years of experience in working with DC projects within the agricultural sector, value chains, private sector development, access to finance, agricultural extension or business advisory service provision
- Other (2.2.8): Specialist in rice production system in Africa and familiar with the rice sector in Sierra Leone
Submission of Expressions of Interest
Eligible experts should submit their “Expression of Interest” ONLY via Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. not later than 4th of February 2023 4:30 PM local time, clearly marked with “Consultant services to Support the establishment of the ECOWAS Rice Observatory (ERO) Competitive African Rice Platform (CARP) Cosoft No: 83430676”