West Africa Seed Program (WASP)
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West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP)
CALL FOR MANIFESTATION OF INTEREST
Recruitment of a Consultant (Firm)
to Develop a virtual platform for creating regional seed community and strengthening seed information flows in West Africa
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Opening of the call: October 15, 2013
Closing of the call: November 5, 2013
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CEI N° 64.2013
- TheWestand Central African CouncilforAgricultural Research andDevelopment(CORAF / CORAF)obtained from itsdevelopment partners, funding to supportthe implementationof the Operational Plan(2008-2013) to achieve sustainable improvements of theproductivity,competitiveness and marketsin the NationalAgricultural Research SystemsinWestand Central Africa.
- The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) benefited from a grant from the United States Agency for International Development/West Africa Office (USAID/WA) to implement the West Africa Seed Program (WASP).
- The Executive Secretariat ofCORAF /WECARDis also responsible fortheregional coordination of theimplementationof West AfricaAgriculturalProductivityProgram –WAAPP-PPAAO) whichwas initiated byECOWASwithfinancial support fromthe World Bank.
- As such,theExecutive Secretariat of CORAF/WECARD intends touse a portionof these fundsto make paymentsunderthe contract with a consultant firmto designand develop an electronicplatformon seedsinWest Africa.
- The objective of this call for expression of interest is to engage the services of an Individual Consultant/firm who will facilitate the development of a virtual platform under the management of CORAF/WECARD for creating a regional seed community and strengthen seed information flow in the region..
- The expected results from this consultation are following: i) a secure, inclusive and bilingual electronic platform (French, English) is operational; ii) access to technical information and market intelligence on seeds are facilitated; iii) an e-seed community within the West African countries; iv) The regional network of seed system stakeholders is improved; v) The responsible to operating and managing the platform are trained; vi) The electronic platform is officially launched (ceremony)
- The detailed tasks of the consultant are attached inthe terms of reference
- The Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD invites consultants(firm)to express their interest in carrying out this scope of work.
- Consultants interested in this call must provide (a) a technical proposal no longer than 10 pages, outlining (i) the methodology, (ii) the references related to experiences in executing similar contracts and (iii) CV, (iv) the planning; (b) and separated budget.
- The duration of this consultancy is 50 days and will not exceed two calendar month disaggregated as follows: 35 days for the development of the platform five (5) days for training, three (3) days for preparing and holding the official launching ceremony and seven (7) days for reporting and User manual development. It will be spread through the period from December 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014.
- The consultants will be selected based upon CORAF/WECARD procedures.
- Interested consultants (Firm) can obtain supplementary information and reference documents from the CORAF/WECARD Director of Programmes, Dr. Aboubakar Njoya [ during the following hours: 8h00 to 14h00 and 15h00 to 17h00 GMT;
- Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to and addressed to Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley, Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, 7 Avenue Bourguiba, Dakar, Senegal, no later than November 5, 2013, at 17h00 GMT.
- Please find the below the Terms of Reference for further information on this opportunity.
Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley
Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD
Terms of reference
Developing a virtual platform for creating regional seed community and strengthening seed information flows in West Africa
First draft
June 2013
- Backgroundand justification
The West Africa Seed Program – WASP is a project being implemented byCORAF/WECARD with national, regional and international partners involved in the seed sector through an Alliance for Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA). The WASP is funded by USAID, West Africa (USAID/WA). The project aims to achieve its objectives by building an Alliance for Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA), involving all partners working in the seed sector, which will ensure a sustainable production and use of quality seeds of major staple crops. WASP seeks to expand the availability of quality seeds from 12% currently to 25% over the five year period (2012 – 2017) with a goal to contribute to the sustainable improvement of agricultural productivity. The project covers seven countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal).
The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) is an initiative of ECOWAS funded by the World Bank and coordinated by CORAF/WECARD. The objective of WAAPP is to improve agricultural productivity in supporting regional integration as an instrument for the promotion of shared growth in the reduction of poverty in West Africa. WAAPP seeks among other things to support the generation and dissemination of technologies within the ECOWAS member countries in priority areas within the agricultural policy.
The WAAPP Component 1 deals with Enabling Conditions for Regional Cooperation in the Generation, Dissemination and Adoption of Agricultural Technologies, including the implementation of the ECOWAS seed regulation C/REG.4/05/2008; this is in line with the WASP Results 1 and 2 relative to the establishment of an Alliance for Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA) and the implementation of ECOWAS seed regulation respectively. The WAAPP Component 2, which deals with the National Centers of Specialization, has major elements for the production of breeder seed, variety testing and releases and this also is in consonance with the WASP Result 3. Additionally, the WAAPP Component 3, which deals with technology dissemination and adoption, has major elements for dissemination of improved seeds and is akin to the focus of the WASP Results 4 and 5.
Since the Seedissues inWAAPP encompassing allactivities ofWASP, its governance systemshould be able tooversee theimplementation of WASP activitiesat national level for theachievement of the expectedresults.
An assessment of the West Africa seed sector reveals thatonly fewcountries have good basic agri-inputs information systems. There are severallimits in thesupplyof adequate informationon the policiesand regulation andthe seed market structure and information. Effects of these are the various obstacles and constraintsincludingasymmetric information, monopoly of market pricesby traders, high transport and packaging costs amongst others which together limit the effectiveness ofthe seed industry.
Moreover,seedindustry stakeholdersinWest Africa(producers, SMEs, end users...) operate inthe informal sector,witha very lowflowof technical, seed policy andespecially marketing information among the stakeholders of the seed value chain. These information are of high relevance in the proper planning of the seed system.
With the recent development of ICT sector inWest Africa, better connectivity and affordability of ICT tools, there is a great potential to achieve major successes in agriculture through the use of ICT.Many seed SMEs inthe Region have the possibility to benefit enormously from mobile telephony, the internet and other forms of ICT in their day-to-day business activitiesby mainly using the electronic platforms.
Thus, an electronic platform on seeds would increase and expand marketing opportunities and income of all key stakeholders of the industry.
The users of the platform are categorized as “authorized users” on the one hand, and “administrators“, on the other hand. Authorized users can use the back-end, edit, correct and delete all associated data. In each WAAPP/WASP target country, three authorized users will be nominated, one representative of the National Seed Committee, one representative of the National Seed Association, and the communications officer of WAAPP. The Administrators are responsible for the administration of the content of the system and for management of the users. There will be two types of Administrators: a central administrator to managing the components (back -end) and other one for data management (validation or deletion)
- Objectives
The overall objective is to make available and accessible information on agricultural seeds.
The specific objective is to develop an electronic platform on seeds that will enable users to:
-Provide to a seed market actors an entry point to all relevant information and resources for their business
-Provide a mapping of the seed system actors
-Provide information on the seed market (supply, demand, suppliers, sourcing, pricing, support - consulting, etc.);
-Provide a forum for business intelligence on seeds;
-Link the actors within the seed value chain
-Provide visibility and promotion space to seed companies and institutions.
- Expected Results
-A secure, inclusive and bilingual electronic platform (French, English) is operational
-Access to technical information and market intelligence on seeds are facilitated;
-an e-seedi community within the West African countries
-The regional network of seed system stakeholders is improved;
-The responsible to operating and managing the platform are trained;
-The electronic platform is officially launched ( ceremony)
- Mandate
The selected firm will:
-Provide an inventory (brief diagnosis) of information systems on seed including electronic platforms;
-develop the platform on the basis of existing weaknesses and information needed;
-participate at the end of the development of the electronic platform to ensure its quality control;
-put online the platform after validation;
-provide material and logistical to the training session of personal responsible for the management of the platform and to the launching ceremony;
-train the people in charge of the management of the platform;
- facilitate the organization of the launching ceremony
-promote the platform on Internet through,SEOandsocial mediaby using popular networkingwebsites, like Facebook and Twitter
- Topics/items to be covered by the electronic platform
The topics/itemsmentioned below are to be covered by the platform. The items listedare essentialbut notexhaustive. This initial list will necessarily be subject to adjustments in the working sessions at a stakeholders’ session with the selected provider. Furthermore, other relevant proposals and recommendations of partners will be taking into account:
-Home;
-Partners;
-Forum;
-Market(supply and demand, price...);
-Partners;
-Directory;
-Documentation;
-News;
-Event
The platform will also include a warning system and an efficient RSS flow system.
The graphic design of the platform will include WASP and WAAPPlogo and a bilingual homepage (French / English)
- Consultant Firm Profile
The consultant/firm must meet the following criteria:
-Must be a regional scale communications firm ;
-Have distinctive skills in institutional communication ;
-Have already developed at least 5 websites and / or electronic platforms ;
-Have organized several training sessions on communication for adults ;
-Have experience in organizing meetings, workshops and relative events;
-Have a good experience in digital promotion of platforms or web site ( SEO, social media )
-Knowledge of the agricultural sector in the sub- region would be an asset;
-Be available for the period of the mission
- Duration of assignment
The mission will be carried out within 50 days and will not exceed 60 calendar days disaggregated as follows: 35 days for the development of the platform five (5) days for training, three (3) days for preparing and holding the official launching ceremony and seven (7) days for reporting and User manual development.
- Expected deliverables
The expected deliverables of this mission are:
-A brief report of assessment of existing platforms (maximum 10 pages)
-An electronic and bilingual (French –English) platform on seed;
-Ausermanual for the platform (French and English Version);
-The training report of around25 persons on the management and administration of the platform;
-A presentation of the platform at the launching ceremony;
-The report of the launching ceremony;
-Platform positioning report on the 10 chosen keywords for SEO;
-Reporton the social media promotion of the platform.
- Presentation of the Technical Proposal Consultant
The consultant will submit a proposal in two separate documents:
1)A “Technical proposal" including:
-The presentation of the Consultant (firm) and its experience in conducting similar mission;
-A comment on the terms of reference;
-A methodological note for implementation of the mission;
-The completion timing for the mission
-A detailed curriculum vitae of the experts team;
-Other usefuland relevant references.
2) A “financial offer "which shall include:
-Fees for experts;
-Reimbursable expenses: travel + per diem + reporting + logistics cost etc.