Gender in Agribusiness Supply Chains in Uzbekistan and Turkey

Location: Regional

Business sector: Agribusiness

Project number: 73013

Funding source: TWTC - Taiwan Business - EBRD TC Fund

Contract type: Consultancy Services

Notice type: Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)

Issue date: 23 Mar 2018

Closing date: 23 Apr 2018   at  23:59   London

Assignment Description:

Terms of Reference

The agribusiness sector is often characterised by large gender segregation, whereby women tend to form the dominant labour force in lower tiers of the supply chain or be engaged in informal employment. Promoting women’s equitable economic participation in the sector may be achieved through (i) building the EBRD clients’ technical capacity in Supply Chain Management Systems to include women-led businesses in their operations and address women’s representation in informal employment (e.g., women working outside the formal, regulated sphere of the economy) and (ii) supporting women-led businesses to collaborate, in the form of agricultural cooperatives or other, so as to create economies of scale and increase their bargaining power in the market.

Given the above, the EBRD will aim to conduct a gender assessment to inform future EBRD agribusiness investments, as well as the Bank’s potential policy engagement and support for reforms in the public sector stakeholders in Uzbekistan and Turkey (“the Project”). The Bank now wishes to engage external expertise (“the Consultant”) to (a) identify ways to support women farmers, workers (including women refugees in Turkey) and agri-entrepreneurs, (b) highlight economic opportunities to enhance their equitable participation in agricultural supply chains, and in so doing, (c) the development of agri-MSME sector in EBRD countries of operation.

Assignment Description

The EBRD now intends to engage a consulting company (the Consultant) for the following assignment (“Assignment”) to:

Under Phase 1:

Develop and present: (i) the business case for promoting women’s equitable participation in agribusiness supply chains to enhance the EBRD’s engagement with agribusiness clients on this issue; and (ii) at least five agribusiness companies/case studies showcasing good practice examples of women’s successful integration in agribusiness supply chains, ideally from the ERBD CoOs;
Include an in-depth assessment of the gender gaps in the agribusiness sector in the Turkey and Uzbekistan, including the legal, regulatory, financial, economic and social barriers women face in participating equitably in and benefitting from agribusiness supply chains;
Include an institutional/stakeholder mapping on what state institutions and other development actors are doing in this area, such as UN/EU/ILO, and identify gaps in international assistance to opportunities for cooperation in this area, in line with its business model;
Identify potential entry points in the EBRD’s agribusiness investments (direct and intermediated) and propose a set of practical ways and investment criteria to enhance the integration of gender considerations with a view to achieving systemic impact (for example, through supply chain interventions and backwards linkages to local suppliers/MSMEs; improved procurement practices; introduction of training opportunities; etc.).
Under Phase 2:

Identify potential policy dialogue activities with a view to address investment climate gender-specific constraints and strengthen women’s participation in agribusiness supply chains;
See full Terms of Reference attached with expected deliverables for this Assignment.

Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in April 2018 and has an estimated overall duration of eighteen months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 150,000.00 (exclusive of VAT).

The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.

Funding Source: It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by Taiwan Business-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund.

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions

Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms with previous project experience related to:

The Consultant shall ensure that the appropriately qualified experts are available, as required, for the activities and deliverables described above. It is expected that the Assignment will be led by a suitably highly-qualified team leader, in collaboration with national/local experts. The Project Manager/Team Leader will have project cycle management experience and will be responsible for finalising and submitting all requested reports and deliverables. The Consultants are expected to have the following qualifications:

Project Manager/Team Leader
University degree (Masters or PhD level preferred), the Project Manager/Team Leader will be preferably a gender expert with more than 10 years of experience and in-depth understanding of gender issues in agriculture/agribusiness and/or rural development;
Thorough understanding of the gender context in Uzbekistan/Turkey;
Experience working with private sector companies in the agribusiness sector, as well as government institutions, cooperatives and international or non-governmental organisations;
Thorough understanding of the agriculture sector in Uzbekistan/Turkey;
Strong qualitative skills and experience using gender analysis tools and research methods (focus group discussions, key informant interviews, surveys etc.);
Strong communication skills and ability to liaise with various stakeholders, including government officials, business representatives, civil society etc.
Fluency in English.
National/local experts:
University degree (Masters or PhD level preferred), the national/local experts agribusiness analysts with good understanding of gender related issues and/or gender experts with good understanding of agriculture sector and with more than 5 years of experience;
Good understanding of the country’s business environment, gender issues and relevant practices in the agribusiness sector;
Strong qualitative and communication skills and ability to liaise with various stakeholders, including government officials, business representatives, civil society etc.
Fluency in English, Russian and/or Turkish
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:

Company/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max 2 pages).
Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives.
CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment should be focused on information relevant to the assignment, e.g. qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous 10 years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives.
Technical proposal explaining the proposed approach, methodology and work plan to undertake the assignment. Key experts 1-3 should be clearly identified in the proposal. The proposal should include a summary table showing how the Key experts meet the different requirements of the ToRs and what would be their role during implementation of the project.
Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link:
http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.

The above information should not exceed 25 pages excluding CVs, project references and contact sheet.

The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Technical Proposal, Project references and Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.

Bank Contact Person:

Siobhan Hay

Procurement and Operations Delivery Department

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

One Exchange Square

London EC2A 2JN

Tel: + 44 20 7338 7661

e-mail:hays@ebrd.com submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)

Notes:

The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. Consultants will not be asked to submit a proposal. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected from a shortlist and be invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
The shortlist criteria are:
Firm’s previous project experience (25%)
Approach and methodology (25%)
CV of key expert 1 (20%)
CV of key expert 2 (15%)
CV of key expert 3 (15%)
 

Submission Requirements: Interested consultants are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
In order to determine the qualifications and competence of consulting firms seeking to be shortlisted, the information submitted should include the following:

The above information should not exceed 25 pages excluding CVs.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through eSelection. If hard copies need to be submitted then six copies of the above information, in English, should be submitted to the Bank in an envelope marked Restrictions of Interest for Gender in Agribusiness Supply Chains in Uzbekistan and Turkey, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date.

Note: Selection and contracting will normally be made from responses to this notification. The consultant will be selected from a shortlist, subject to availability of funding (from an appropriate donor - dependent on whether or not donor has approved funding).