Commercialization and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project (Руанда - Тендер #63957752)

NOTICE AT-A-GLANCE

• Project ID

P171462

• Project Title

Commercialization and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project

• Country

Rwanda

• Notice No

OP00358016

• Notice Type

Request for Expression of Interest

• Notice Status

Published

• Borrower Bid Reference

RW-RAB-470853-CS-CQS

• Procurement Method

Consultant Qualification Selection

• Language of Notice

English

• Submission Deadline Date/Time

May 20, 2025 10:00

• Published Date

May 16, 2025

• CONTACT INFORMATION
• Organization/Department

Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board

• Name

Stephen Rwamulangwa

• Address

P. O Box 5016 Kicukiro District, Rubilizi Kigali-Rwanda Email : infos@rab.gov.rw

• City

• Province/State

Rwanda

• Postal Code

• Country

Rwanda

• Phone

+250788305780

• Email

stephen.rwamulangwa@rab.gov.rw

• Website

www.rab.gov.rw

The Government of Rwanda has received financing from the International Development Association (IDA) toward the cost of the Commercialization and De-risking for Agricultural Transformation (CDAT) Project and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services of Hiring a consultancy firm to carry out mid-Term review survey.

The Terms of Reference (TOR) related to this assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest.

The Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) / Commercialization and De-risking for Agricultural Transformation (CDAT) Project now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the above Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. Expression of Interest (EOI) will include: core business and years in business, relevant experience, technical and managerial capability of the firm.

To be able to submit an expression of interest, International and National consulting firms who are not registered in E-procurement system, are advised to register themselves through www.umucyo.gov.rw

N.B.:

Submission of expression of interest via other channels than Umucyo E-Procurement System shall not be considered. In case of Joint-Venture, only the lead firm must submit the Expression of Interest, otherwise the EOI will be rejected.

The shortlisting criteria are:

The firm shall demonstrate prior experience in large household surveys and must have knowledge of local formalities and customs in the implementation of household surveys. Experience in agricultural data collection is preferred proven by certificates of good completion and signed contracts.

The shortlist will contain five (5) to eight (8) firms.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.15, and 3.16 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” sixth Edition of February 2025 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting sixth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications, but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the criteria set out in the Request for Proposals.

Expressions of interest must be delivered through e-procurement system on www.umucyo.gov.rw by the time indicated in the system.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR COMMERCIALIZATION AND DE-RISKING FOR AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION (CDAT) PROJECT MIDTERM SURVEY

• BACKGROUND AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Government of Rwanda has received credit and grant from the International Development Association (IDA), Loan No: CREDIT A (Non-Concessional) NUMBER 7084-RW, CREDIT B (Concessional) NUMBER 7085-RW, GRANT NUMBER E017-RW and GRANT NUMBER TF0C5464 from Trust Fund Compact with Africa Green Businesses Multi-Donor Trust Fund to implement the Commercialization and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project, and wants to use portion of proceeds to finance the Midterm Survey as part of Project Impact Evaluation.

CDAT project is having a national coverage and an integrated focus on promoting agri-food commercialization by expanding marketable volumes through increasing irrigated area, strengthening value chains, de-risking and facilitating access to finance for increased investments in production, postharvest handling and commercialization of agriculture products. These operations have been supporting the implementation of Rwanda’s recently concluded PSTA-4, which aimed to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) to create an enabling environment that would encourage greater private sector investments and increased commercialization across Rwanda’s agriculture value chains and will continue to support the implementation of the Fifth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA 5) from 2024-2029, themed "Building resilient and sustainable agri-food systems."

The project has four components. Component 1 focuses on strengthening market and value chain linkages and improving land use efficiency for commercial production using a climate adaptation and mitigation lens. It is also building demand for financial services that can unlock investments to modernize and grow the agri-food sector. Component 2 addresses the supply-side of financial services for agriculture, by leveraging and deploying private sector capital and strengthening the provision of instruments to de-risk the sector. Component 3 covers project management. Component 4 allows for the rapid reallocation of uncommitted funds in the event of an eligible emergency.

The productive investments under the project are expected to benefit 235,977 households, cooperatives, and agribusiness firms or 11 percent of Rwanda’s 2.1 million farming households, cooperatives, and agribusiness firms. Agricultural finance provided through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) is expected to benefit approximately 2,232 beneficiaries over five years. Crop and livestock insurance is projected to cover about 575,000 and 75,000 farmers, respectively. About 82,000 hectares of arable land will benefit from project interventions, of which 13,023 ha will benefit from rehabilitated and new irrigation infrastructure. CDAT is aiming to provide new/improved land husbandry practices with climate resilient features for about 9,887 ha of land.

The development objectives of the CDAT are “to increase the use of irrigation and commercialization in supported value chains and access to finance among producers and agribusiness firms”. The Project development Objective performance indicators are the following;

• Increase in cultivated area being irrigated in new and rehabilitated schemes (Percentage)
• Increase in share of agricultural produce sold by participating producers (Percentage)
• Increase in in value of agricultural production quantities procured by participating aggregators (Percentage)
• Increase in number of borrowers obtaining agricultural loans from participating financial institutions (Percentage)
• Share of credit line going to investments in climate smart agriculture (CSA) investments
• Total number of benefitting households reached by the project (Number)

The project is implemented in all the districts countrywide.

• MIDTERM SURVEY

2.1 Objective of the Midterm Survey

The general objective is to collect data to inform the midterm status of households in the areas targeted by the CDAT for irrigation, land husbandry, seed system, value chain development, agriculture financing, insurance and matching grant. The midterm survey will inform on the current progress of the project objective achievement vis a vis the targets and will then indicate which strategic changes and orientation to be included in the project implementation for the remaining period up to project closure that will lead to the smooth project implementation and attainment of project objective.

Specifically, the consultancy services is to undertake households’ data collection, analysis, interpretation and produce of a comprehensive Midterm Survey Report which will describe the status of households living in areas targeted by the Project. A survey will be done on the sample of residents as in Baseline Survey in the project targeted areas to measure their livelihood midterm status including; adoption of improved agricultural technology, agricultural production, agriculture produce commercialization, market linkage, access to finance, crop and livestock insurance, farm income, food loss index, women representation in decision making positions in participating WUAs, etc. Other off-farm enterprises and value addition businesses for selected value chains as a result of access to matching grant program will also be analysed to have the midterm values for corresponding indicators. For comparison purposes, a sample of farmers from control sites, comparable to those from sampled treatment sites will be interviewed to determine project’s attribution to observed positive changes and outcomes. Non-beneficiary sampled respondents will be from areas adjacent to all project treatment areas and the sampling strategy will be purposive sampling with the total control sample constituting ten (10) percent of treatment sample. This sample will be scattered to ensure that it is representative of the entire population. The consultancy services will review the current achievements in all project components and subcomponents and prepare a comprehensive report about the implementation progress which will inform the necessary adjustments that could be incorporated in the project implementation towards the achievement of the overall objective.

2.2 Data

The primary data to be collected for the midterm survey will come from comprehensive, multi-module household qualitative and quantitative surveys. The secondary data will come from the desk review of different documents and reports from participating government institutions (MINAGRI, RAB, NAEB, BRD, BDF etc.) and other stakeholders. To this extent, discussions with key guiding questions developed by the consultant and approved by the project team will be conducted with relevant project stakeholders. Consultations will also be done with local authorities, Government officials in Agriculture sector and farmers representatives to have relevant additional information and insights. This data will allow the project to compare the current progress of the project objective achievement in relation to the targets.

The data to be collected for modules related to extension services, irrigation, agriculture production, postharvest handling and marketing are from Season B 2024, Season C 2024 and Season A 2025.for selected marshland and hillside sites (treatment) as well as adjacent areas (control). Other data to be collected include but not limited to; farmer’s organizations, land husbandry activities, access to finance, agriculture insurance, matching grant, food security and beneficiary’s satisfaction with project interventions.

The data collected will help the project to report on the following indicators, which are part of the results framework and other social-economic indicators not included in the results framework, including education, employment and job creation, household incomes and expenditures, housing and living conditions etc, which will be agreed upon during the inception period and captured in the survey instrument:

• Increase in cultivated area being irrigated in new and rehabilitated schemes (Percentage)
• Increase in share of agricultural produce sold by participating producers (Percentage) for supported value chains; Rice, Maize, Beans, Cassava, Irish potatoes, Vegetables and Fruits.
• Increase in value of agricultural production quantities procured by participating aggregators (Percentage) for supported value chains; Rice, Maize, Beans, Cassava, Irish potatoes, Vegetables and Fruits.
• Increase in number of borrowers obtaining agricultural loans from participating financial institutions (Percentage)
• Share of credit line going to investments in climate smart agriculture (CSA) investments (Percentage)
• Total number of benefitting households reached by the project (Number)
• Number of sub-projects benefitting from matching grants provided by the project (Number)
• Increase in net value of produce aggregated to reach the market (Percentage) for supported value chains; Rice, Maize, Beans, Cassava, Irish potatoes, Vegetables and Fruits.
• Area provided with new/improved irrigation services (Hectare)
• Area provided with new/improved land husbandry practices with climate resilient features (Hectare)
• Hectares of terrestrial and aquatic areas under enhanced conservation and management (Percentage)
• Number of new innovative ideas, products & services supported through the Innovation Challenge Fund (Number)
• Food loss index (as measured by change in post-harvest losses) (Percentage) for supported value chains; Rice, Maize, Beans, Cassava, Irish potatoes, Vegetables and Fruits.
• Increase of women representation in decision making positions in participating WUAs. (Percentage)
• People with enhanced resilience to climate risks (Number)
• People using digitally enabled services (Number)
• People benefitting from greater gender equality (Number)
• Number of loans provided by FIs through the line of credit (Number)
• Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio of the Credit Line portfolio of FIs (Percentage)
• People and businesses using financial services (Number)
• Hectares of crop insured (Hectare)
• Area with verified climate smart agriculture activities under implementation (Hectares)
• Number of insured dairy cows (Number)
• Livestock under climate smart management (Number)
• Value of financial protection (Total sum insured) provided to crop and livestock producers (Amount (USD))
• Total number of insurance policies issued to farmers (Number)
• Number of knowledge products (reports, briefs, studies, etc.) shared internally and among key stakeholders, partners and clients (Number)
• Percentage of beneficiaries who expressed satisfaction with the project interventions, including on delivery and communication modalities (Percentage)
• Percentage of grievances addressed within the time specified in the project implementation manual (Percentage)

Data collected will be disaggregated by sex wherever possible.

Follow up FGDs will be organized to collect qualitative information on the why of some disparities in numbers. Significant gender differences for example, or low uptake of a certain technology (irrigation, inputs, etc.), financial and insurance products, etc.

2.3. Supervision Team

• METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE OF WORK OF THIS CONSULTANCY

The terms of reference are for a survey that comprises of;

• A household survey with total sample size of 1,620 households including 1,350 households from treatment areas and 270 households from control areas. The sample households from treatment areas are the households previously selected randomly during the baseline survey whereas households from control areas will be purposively sampled in all adjacent to project intervention areas. The survey firm will be expected reach at every household.
• Structured interviews with sampled beneficiaries of Matching Grant, Credit Line and Innovation Challenge Fund. The sample size will be 10 percent of the total number of beneficiaries for Matching Grant (31) and Credit Line (97). Stratified random sampling will be used to cater for different beneficiary categories. However, where the beneficiaries are below the minimum percentage in a stratum, purposive sampling will be used. All 12 Innovation Challenge Fund beneficiaries in the first cohort will be interviewed. Six (6) Seed multipliers for the project supported value chains will also be interviewed.
• Structured interviews for Cooperatives, SMEs, WUAs, FIs and Insurance Companies to collect qualitative information. The sample will be comprised of 5 cooperatives, 5 WUAs, 5 SMEs, 5 Financial Institutions per each province and all insurance companies providing agriculture insurance services countrywide.
• Secondary data review to complement all the collected data with the comprehensive review of the existing reports and documentation from MINAGRI/RAB, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), BDF and BRD.

The survey population and households to be sampled are presented in the following table:

3.1 Duration

Timeline: The duration of the consultancy is 3 months (12 weeks) counted from the date of the contract signature.

3.2. Data collection procedures

Instrument: A multi-module household questionnaire will be provided by the project team. The focus of the questionnaire will be (i) plot level agricultural information (such as location of the plot, area cultivated, area under irrigation, area provided with comprehensive land husbandry technologies, production, yield, level of input use, the type of production techniques used, size and ownership of land etc.), (ii) market linkage and commercilaization, (iii) Access to finance, (iv) agriculture insurance, (v) access to matching grant program as well as (vi) household level welfare measures and other household characteristics (such as the level and sources of income, expenditure, education, gender, family size etc.). Capacity for GPS data collection is also required for locating households.

Electronic Data Collection: Interviewers will collect household data through face-to-face interviews using electronic questionnaires. The questionaire will be prepared by the project team and shall be uploaded in tablets by the consultancy firm using Open Data Kit (ODK). The firm must provide android devices on which data can be collected. The client will provide the necessary information for this to the survey firm.

• EXPECTED ACTIVITIES

The survey firm will be responsible for the midterm data collection, analysis, interpretation and production of comprehensive midterm survey report. The major duties of the survey firm will include:

• DELIVERABLES

The expected deliverables from the midterm survey are the following:

• Final Survey Questionnaire (paper based and programmed questionnaire)
• Field Procedure Plan
• Inception report
• Daily field Progress Reports & Raw Data Delivery
• Daily data submissions (interviews & back-checks)
• Final Field Report
• Final & corrected midterm dataset in un-encrypted Stata format with all variables and values labeled in English
• Final & corrected midterm survey report

• Required qualifications OF FIRM & PERSONNEL

The selected Survey Firm must possess the following qualifications:

• Legal status recognized by the government of Rwanda enabling the firm to undertake a household survey.
• Demonstrated prior experience in large household surveys, including at least three surveys of the similar magnitude within the last 5 years – the firm must have knowledge of local formalities and customs in the implementation of household surveys. Experience in agricultural data collection is preferred.
• Demonstrated capacity and experience in planning and organizing survey logistics.
• Access to a good network of experienced enumerators, supervisors and data managers; must provide a minimum of one full-time field manager and one full-time data manager; each field team must consist of a supervisor and interviewers.
• Demonstrated capacity and experience for electronic data collection required
• Demonstrated capacity for local translation of questionnaires and for refining a Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) survey instrument.
• Demonstrated capacity to provide the necessary hardware required for electronic data collection such as iPad and tablets, as well as GPS devices.
• Strong data quality control checks.
• Demonstrated and strong capacity in data management; strong knowledge in STATA and SurveyCTO/ODK.
• Strong references & feedback from three recently completed similar surveys in Rwanda, or Sub-Saharan Africa.

The firm team will be composed by 1 socio-economist for qualitative data analysis and reporting based in Kigali (also referred to as Team Leader) with regular field supervision trips; 1 programmer / data manager, 1 field manager responsible for coordinating all the 6 enumerator teams with each field team consisting of 4 enumerators and 1 supervisor. The team will also have 6 back-checkers who will work independently to insure a high level of data quality:

• Socio-economist (1): Minimum Master degree in Social Sciences, Rural Development, Development Studies, Agriculture, Demography with experience in households’ surveys and or focus group discussions, fluent in Kinyarwanda and English. Must have report writing skills with proven experiences (3 surveys minimum).

• Programmer / data manager (1): Minimum bachelor’s degree in statistics with minimum work experience (3 comprehensive household surveys) with strong level of computer literacy, expertise in programming electronic data collection software, especially Survey CTO and/or Open Data Kit, Knowledge of Stata or other data analysis software; Experience in programming at least one complex, multi-module household survey required; experience in programming agricultural surveys strongly preferred.

• Field Manager (1): Minimum bachelor’s degree in agriculture with minimum work experience (3 comprehensive household surveys) with Experience in household surveys at a field supervisor level or above, fluency in Kinyarwanda and English is required; Willing to travel to any district in the country and to work in difficult conditions and excellent management and organizational skills

• Supervisor (6): Minimum bachelor’s degree in agriculture with minimum work experience (3 comprehensive household surveys) with experience in conducting household surveys; experience as a supervisor on an agricultural household survey preferred; Fluency in Kinyarwanda and English; Willing to travel to any district in the country and to work in difficult conditions; Experience in managing others or in a leadership position

• Enumerators (24) and back-checkers (6): must hold a high school diploma; university degree preferred with experience in conducting field research required; experience with agricultural household surveys preferred; Fluency in Kinyarwanda and English; Team player; Willing to travel to any district in the country and to work in difficult conditions

• expected outputs and schedule of delivery

The expected outputs and schedule of delivery are presented in the following table:

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