ACF recruits 01 Consultant for Income Generating Activity Feasibility studies

ACF recruits 01 Consultant for Income Generating Activity Feasibility studies

1 . BACKGROUND

In order to address the urgent humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs), host community members and returnees affected by the conflict in Northeast Nigeria, Action Against Hunger is proposing an integrated resilience leaning food security and livelihood and WASH intervention coupled with a rapid response capacity to cope with sudden emergency needs, which might arise in the course of the project lifetime.

This project will target conflict-affected populations in Borno and Yobe states including IDPs, host community members and returnees, with a special focus on women and children who represent the majority of the displaced population and who are the most vulnerable. Participants in the capacity-building activities will be selected through vulnerability assessments that will be conducted by Action Against Hunger.

For the income generating activities of soap making , Energy saving stoves and tree nurseries, a Feasibility study would need to be conducted to determine if the endeavors would lead to sustainable livelihoods while maintaining focus on the social enterprise 3P tenets of  People, Profit and Planet (environment) and integration with other project components.

2 . OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

2 . 1 General

• To contribute to informing the design of the SDC F4C Income generating activities in the most cost-effective way and insights on Action Against Hunger strategies .

2 . 2 Feasibility of Income Generating Activities

• Detailed costing to start up soap making, energy saving stoves and tree nurseries including cost for and ease of accessing inputs
• The demand for the goods within the community and its potential demand outside
• Marketing and distribution strategy including the potential for the goods to be marketed innovatively -Example: soap buying clubs for far communities, constructing energy saving stoves rather than selling per piece, institutional buyers of tree seedlings linked to greening programs , linking energy saving stoves to humanitarian response initiatives, mobilizing community based entrepreneurs alongside direct beneficiaries
• Analysis of competition
• Recommended pricing taking into consideration cost recovery and eventually profit
• Integration of the social enterprise in the over-all project – linkage of stoves to community waste management and use of biomass as fuel, linkage of soap to WASH and community demand for quality, inexpensive soap…
• Analysis of the potential barriers from the demand side (e.g. trust in the quality of the new products etc.)
• Investigate access to credit

3 . STUDY QUESTIONS

The data collection and analysis set out to answer the following questions:

• What is cost of producing soap, energy savings and cost of starting up tree nursery business?
• Are the inputs easily accessible by community?
• Who, where and what are potential market including institutional markets?
• What are the possible and doable integration of the IGAs/Social enterprise to other components of the project?
• What innovative pathways to develop these into sustainable livelihoods for the stakeholders involved most specially the community?

4 . GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE

The geographical scope of the analysis will cover Borno state – Gubio and Mobbar LGA’s and Yobe state – Yunusai and Geidam LGAs. (* subject to change depending on security concerns).

5 . QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Masters qualification in discipline related to, economics, sociology, business, enterprise development or other relevant discipline or commensurate work experience in lieu of graduate qualification.
• International experience or Nigerian experience (at least 3 years) in social enterprise development or community based enterprise development (C-BED) within the framework food security and livelihoods resilience programming.
• Experience in carrying out atleast two related studies with atleast one as the lead consultant.
• Strong commitment to capacity building of national staff and partners with willingness to adopt a participatory and consultative approach.
• Extensive experience in data management and analysis, including data collection tools design, database design and management and data quality checks.
• Sound and mature understanding of rights-based approaches to development and participatory concepts and practical experience in similar context.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels, taking into account cultural and language difficulties with tact and diplomacy.
• Ability to communicate efficiently (oral and written).
• The ability to work closely in a team, to be patient, adaptable, flexible and able to improvise and work in an environment that is often stressful and potentially volatile.
• Willingness to travel in difficult circumstances.
• Excellent command of the English language.
• Understanding of the social and economic context of the North Eastern Nigeria is an added advantage.

6 . MINIMUM DETAILS IN APPLICATION

The consultant should send a technical and financial proposal detailing his/or her understanding of the TOR and methodology that will be used to undertake the task including proposed methods, sampling strategy, data collection tools, method of data analysis and final reporting template. Also include profiles of previous tasks carried out in the last 3 years, team composition and CVs of key personnel, detailed work plan and budget.

The applicant should send the following documents to the following address: msabomainassara@actioncontrelafaim.org .

For more details, please see the attachment.