Opportunity: Request for Proposals for an evaluation, consulting or research firm (hereafter called verification firm) to manage coffee tree stumping verification and incentive disbursement to coffee farmers who practiced a good agricultural practice called stumping.
Expected start date: January 2021
TechnoServe is a leader in harnessing the power of the private sector to help people lift themselves out of poverty. A nonprofit organization operating in 29 countries, we work with enterprising men and women in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries. By linking people to information, capital, and markets, we have helped millions to create lasting prosperity for their families and communities. With more than 50 years of proven results, TechnoServe believes in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.
Since, 2019 TechnoServe has been implementing a 3-year project called the JDE Origin Project Ethiopia. The agronomy part of the project operates in Manna woreda, Jimma Zone and aims to increase the supply of sustainably produced unwashed coffees from Western Ethiopia, Jimma Zone and increase farmers’ income. A major activity has been training farmers on the techniques and benefits of good agricultural practices (GAPs) through TechnoServe’s practical Coffee Farm College (CFC) training program. The two-year training program delivered hands-on monthly GAP trainings to 7,500 coffee farmers, divided into Focal Farmer Groups (FFGs) of approximately 30 farmers. In January 2021, farmers will receive their third and final training on stumping; the most critical GAP. Stumping is a yield-driving GAP that involves cutting trees at the base to allow growth of new stems and selecting the best suckers to regrow the tree. Smallholder coffee farmers have been reluctant to stump primarily due to the acute short-term loss of income from the stumped trees that are taken out of production for one to two years. To help farmers overcome the economic burden of stumping, coffee buyer JDE, plans to compensate farmers for the temporary loss in yield from stumping their coffee trees to encourage this critical best practice. Adoption of stumping will increase tree productivity and farm profitability and ensure the buyer can continue sourcing quality from the Jimma Zone in the future.
Figure 1: example of a stumped coffee field
Depending on the number of trees a farmer stumps, he or she will be compensated through in-kind incentives such as a package of farm tools. The exact form of the incentive will be discussed with the local government authorities. The conditional incentive scheme is based on lessons learned during two successfully completed pilots in Sidama. Based on previous experience, we anticipate around 20% of the 7,500 farmers to stump an average of 100-200 trees on their farm.
The coffee buyer JDE agrees to provide a package of farm tools to trained farmers who stump following the last training of Coffee Farm College during the first quarter of 2021. After stumping has been verified, farmers will receive their tools during a public event at each of the 13 kebeles. Example of packages are:
Package 1 – for farmers who stump between 50-99 trees: pruning shear, bow saw and blade
Package 2 – for farmer who stump between 100-149 trees: pruning shear, bow saw and blade, zappa, spade
Package 3 – for farmers who stump between 150+- trees: wheelbarrow, pruning shear
TechnoServe will develop communication materials to distribute to farmers during the January stumping training. Materials will summarize the different incentives offered and other details such as timeline (see example information card right). Materials intended for farmers will utilize pictorial examples and be easily understood by farmers with different levels of literacy. TechnoServe will have detailed instructions for the TechnoServe farmer trainers (FTs) to communicate to farmers during training.
The project seeks to contract a verification firm to track and monitor stumping adoption and distribute the incentive package to adopting farmers based on the number of for trees stumped trees during the stumping period of January to the end of March 2021.
The verification firm will be responsible for the verification of adoption of stumping on farmers’ fields as well as the distribution of the incentive packages. Responsibilities include:
Track farmers who stumped trees based on information from agronomy team in the field
TechnoServe FTs will visit farmers in their training groups during January and February to record who stumped trees. and pass that information on to the verification firm. The verification firm will develop a database recording this information from FTs. In addition, the verification company will conduct interviews with the 24 FT’s and the 288 Focal Farmers to confirm all known households how have stumped. Lists of households who have stumped will be used to conduct verification and counting visits during the month of April.
Perform farm verification visits and interview farmers
The firm with hire and manage a team of enumerators and their supervisors to conduct the farm stumping verifications visits, stumped tree counts and interviews. Based on information provided by the TechnoServe agronomy team, the enumerators will conduct independent verification visits to verify the number of trees stumped and take GPS tagged photos of the stumped area. In addition, the enumerators will record farmer-reported numbers of trees stumped prior to 2021 (without incentive) and ask qualitative questions to the farmers to gain insight into coffee farming household characteristics and the motivations of stumping farmers. This survey shall be completed on tablets for which the survey tool would need to be developed by the verification company and approved by TechnoServe and should include a photo of the farmer for later incentive distribution. The firm must also develop and distribute receipts to the farmers who stump as a guarantee that he/she will receive the appropriate incentive during the kebele level distribution events.
Coordinate with government authorities and project team
The verification firm will be responsible for coordinating the distribution of incentives with the project team and with local government authorities to ensure smooth implementation.
Disburse incentives and confirmation of receipt
The verification firm is responsible for disbursing incentives to stumping farmers. TechnoServe will competitively procure farming tools based on the amounts required for distribution. The firm will also organize the public disbursement events for farmers to receive their incentive rewards and invite all relevant stakeholders. The firm will manage the transparent and efficient disbursement of incentives to all farmers who have been verified to have stumped, this involves checking of ID’s, farmers photo, signing for tools on a tablet-based survey.
Analyze stumping adoption rate and develop an evaluation report
Based on the data gathered during verification visits and post-intervention stakeholder interviews, the firm will write a stumping verification report in English and accompanying slide deck to present. The report will analyze the success of the intervention, compare adoption rates to previous years (based on observational data collected during the verification visit), and provide advice to TechnoServe for further stumping incentive interventions elsewhere in the country.
Proposed timeline:
Month | Activity | Description |
December | Project set-up | · Proposal submission by firm and · TechnoServe evaluation of proposals · Complete contracting with TechnoServe · Prepare workplan |
Background research | · Obtain list of participating kebeles from agronomy team · Prepare qualitative instruments and related materials | |
Approval from government authorities | · Coordinate with TechnoServe to meet with government authorities to obtain all applicable survey approvals | |
January to February | Program design refinements | · Coordinate with TechnoServe to finalize a list of tools that farmers need · ID tools with unique code label for identification |
Farmer trainer visits
| · Coordinate with TechnoServe to ensure FTs are capturing data to identify stumped farmers · Monitor data on the server and provided feedback to TechnoServe | |
March | Identification of farmers | · Complete field preparation survey with FTs and focal farmers (FFs) to identify all stumped farmers · Prepare final list of farmers to survey |
Data collection preparation | · Complete survey instrument (including translation) · Complete field testing of instrument and counting methodology · Complete all relevant materials and training notes (including translation) · Complete training of enumerators | |
April 2020 | Data collection | · Complete data collection and related quality checks for all stumped farmers that were indicated by TechnoServe FTs and FFs · Distribute guarantee receipts to farmers who stumped enough trees to qualify for an incentive |
Distribution of tools and/or cash | · Prepare list of farmers and packages to be distributed · Prepare a survey instrument and survey notes for efficient distribution of tools · Organize distribution event at each kebele and organize logistics etc. | |
May | Analysis | · Analyzing the data and write final report and produce a slide deck |
Period of Performance
The period of performance of any contract resulting from this solicitation is anticipated to begin on or about January 1, 2021 and last for five months.
A competitive bid for the stumping verification assignment will demonstrate:
· At least five years of experience in designing and leading evaluation studies and managing pilots as part of agricultural livelihood programs or market facilitation programs, preferably in Sub-Saharan Africa
· Knowledge and experience with gender-sensitive data collection and analysis
· Proven ability to use quantitative, qualitative, and participatory evaluation methods, with examples and references that can speak to this experience
· Data analysis and presentation skills
· Strong writing ability, particularly in English
· Must have an office in Ethiopia
· Sensitivity to cultural/historical context in the data collection process
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