Consultancy: Group Dynamics Training Consultant under Tac Maz

1. CASA PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

CASA is an FCDO – International Climate Finance (ICF) funded programme driving global investment for inclusive climate-resilient agri-food systems that increase smallholder incomes. CASA makes the case to impact and return-oriented investors for increased investment in agribusinesses that work with smallholder supply chains. The programme achieves this goal by:

• Demonstrating the commercial viability and investment-readiness of small and medium-sized (SME) agribusinesses with significant smallholder supply chains;
• Helping investors to increase the impact of their investments through the provision of inclusive technical assistance;
• Strengthening the socio-legal empowerment of smallholders within value chains; and
• Tackling the information and evidence gaps holding back investment

For demonstrating the commercial and development potential of smallholder sourcing models, CASA focuses on catalytic interventions in the agriculture sectors of Ethiopia, Malawi, Nepal and Rwanda that support agri-SMEs prepare for and secure investment while connecting smallholders to commercial markets.

CASA’s work on research and communications is structured around identifying constraints, opportunities and addressing evidence gaps through research; shaping the debate on smallholder agriculture to influence actions of investors, governments and donors; and creating networking opportunities through events and stakeholder engagement.

2. ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND

2.1 Partnership with Tac Maz

CASA has partnered with Tac Maz Sustainable Ventures based in Chiradzulu district, in the southern region of Malawi to facilitate inclusive growth of the company through investment. Through this partnership, CASA is providing technical support to Taz Mac towards implementation of the Leveraging the Niche Market for Indigenous and Dual-Purpose Chicken Growing Through Low-Cost Improved Feeding project. This project is designed to pilot and demonstrate the commercial viability of a business model which seeks to increase the production and supply of indigenous and dual-purpose chickens through increased participation of smallholders as out-growers. The business model is predicated on enhancing profitable involvement of smallholders through adoption of a cost minimisation production system using low-cost supplementary feed solution that is climate friendly and easily accessible. Towards this end, the project will support the Tac Mac to engage 1,200 smallholder outgrowers and introduce them to the conceived feeding regime for indigenous and dual-purpose breeds which is also capable of improving the quality of meat to attract premium prices and increase profitability to the company and involved smallholders.

To successfully deliver this tasks, CASA Malawi now intends to engage the services of a short-term group dynamics training expert to support Tac Maz establish management structures among the 1200 smallholders by establishing leadership structures of the groups formed through focussed topics on leadership, group dynamics and support the newly formed poultry producer groups to develop group constitutions which clearly stipulate the rules of engagement, roles and responsibilities of group leaders and members, and clearly define the grievance redress mechanisms amongst members. This is aimed at building cohesiveness among the Outgrowers and improve their collective productivity in poultry as a business.

2.2 Partner Brief Background

Tac Maz Sustainable Ventures (on LinkedIn and Facebook)  is an eco-inclusive enterprise, based in Malawi’s southern region district of Chiradzulu. The company was founded in 2018 with the aim of responding to food insecurity in the face of climate change. The focus of the company operations at the beginning was on horticultural products and piggery. In this regard, the enterprise started providing the surrounding communities with a variety of affordable and high-quality horticultural products and services for excellent health and sustainable living, including vegetables and pigs which are all produced at the farm. Tac Maz also makes organic fertiliser which is sold to smallholder farmers at an affordable price. Tac Maz has 15 permanent employees, of which seven are women.

The company formally registered as a sole proprietorship in 2020 and ventured into poultry production with a focus on hybrid broiler production. Due to an influx of broiler chickens from one of the dominant players in the market and a loss of 1,500 chicks batch deemed to have been of poor quality from the supplier, Tac Maz decided to change the type of poultry products. Through their internal market intelligence, the company established that there were institutional customers demanding indigenous and dual-purpose chicken breeds only because of the changing tastes and preferences of their downstream customers. This led Tac Maz to change its business model and venture into the production and supply of indigenous and dual-purpose breeds of chickens.

Meanwhile, the company supplies indigenous and dual-purpose chickens to these clients while continuing to support the economic empowerment needs of the surrounding communities. To this end, Tac Maz has a 3,300-egg incubator capacity and plans to procure a second one with an 1,800-egg capacity to meet the increasing demand for chicks. Tac Maz has its own breeding stock for egg production but also buys additional eggs to increase the volumes of chicks hatched per cycle. Currently Taz Maz supplies a minimum of 50 dressed chickens per week (200 per month) to institutional clients and over 300 live chickens weekly (1,200 per month) to local markets during the peak season spanning September through December.

The company has an identified and confirmed annual demand of 23,400 birds but only meets 3,600 of it. The targeted 1,200 smallholder outgrowers are expected to bridge the gap and allow Tac Maz to consistently meet its market requirements and continue benefiting from the premium prices currently offered for quality products, some of which would be passed on to the outgrowers.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of this assignment is to capacitate smallholder groups under the Tac Maz planned outgrower scheme to easily work in groups through provision of group dynamics training, support with putting in place by-laws and leadership structures for ease of management and transactions with Tac Maz in poultry business. This will also lay foundation structures for managing input supply, offtaking birds and generally organised management among the producers in the groups and for Tac Maz as the offtake market. The technical assistance is expected to cover topics such as good governance, financial literacy, and business management. The selected STTA will draw lessons from previous training materials and training manuals developed under Cohort 1 and 2, where applicable. The training materials should be adapted and aligned to the needs of the outgrowers and Tac Maz. The training content and by-laws developed should be simplified into a format that can easily be used by the producer groups and for further trainings by Tac Maz and to this end the STTA will conduct a training of trainers among selected Tac Maz staff who will then jointly deliver training to the outgrower groups. Thus, through the intervention, CASA will support in building Tac Maz’s ability to develop strong outgrower structures for continued poultry commercialization among smallholders.

The STTA is expected to mainstream elements of food and nutrition security; GESI and climate change adaptation during the trainings through allocation of slots for guest resource persons on these topics or incorporating the same in the training materials by getting input from CASA cross-cutting experts. The cross-cutting training sessions will be delivered through existing CASA engaged crosscut experts (or you from their input) or a local service provider that Tac Maz is linked to.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the overall oversight of the CASA Market Manager for Poultry and working closely with Tac Maz management, the STTA will support Tac Maz to establish cohesive groups among the outgrowers and provide group dynamics training.

The specific duties of the expert for the pilot phase include:

• Review existing group dynamics training materials, align them to the needs of newly formed groups and produce training materials for Tac Maz outgrower groups. Share training materials with CASA crosscut advisors for incorporation of cross-cutting elements to train the farmers.
• Conduct a training for selected Tac Maz staff who will then be responsible for training the outgrower groups alongside the STTA
• In liaison with Tac Maz, fully integrate Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) in the trainee identification process and in facilitating election of group leaders, proactively incorporating women and youths that have requisite skills and competencies.
• Together with Tac Maz trainers conduct group dynamics training, support establishment and/or strengthening of leadership structures of the producer groups
• Support the newly formed poultry producer groups to develop group constitutions which clearly stipulate the rules of engagement, roles and responsibilities of group leaders and members, and clearly define the grievance redress mechanisms amongst members.
• Ensure all activities are done in collaboration with at least one of Tac Maz’s staff for knowledge transfer and further technical training and backstopping for the outgrowers.

4. DELIVERABLES

The following are the required deliverables under this assignment:

• Submission of an inception report outlining the assignment delivery methodology and approach and detailing the delivery schedule for all tasks planned under the
• Delivery of the group dynamics training manuals that include a simplified translated version (Chichewa) to ensure ease of cascading the knowledge and skills to other groups who may be formed later.
• Delivery of a training report, including sample by-laws developed, list of the trainers and outgrower members trained.
• Monthly timesheet after completion of every month, within 10 days of the following month.
• Other deliverables as per the needs of the project partners as determined by CASA Country Team.

The indicative delivery timelines are summarised in the table below. The final allocation of days will be agreed between the consultant and CASA team, in liaison with the client.

Deliverable Timelines

5. DURATION

The assignment is expected to take 20 workdays in September 2024.

6. QUALITY ASSURANCE

CASA and Tac Maz management will be responsible for assuring the quality of the training materials to ensure that the information given is reliable and sufficient to guide technical backstopping to Tac Maz’s team and practical application of group management among small-scale producers, and that any potential limitations of information given is clearly highlighted. The CASA Country team and Tac Maz will discuss and agree the expected criteria for quality with the successful applicant and will oversee the quality of each deliverable.

7. REQUIREMENTS and EXPERTISE

• Demonstrated track-record in farmer engagement, training and mobilisation for development activities.
• Experience in farmer organisation development, extension service provision, especially in agro-based businesses.
• Practical knowledge and ability to innovate and adapt production systems from purely subsistence to commercially oriented
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Adeptness and practical application of CASA’s crosscutting themes of gender equality and social inclusion; climate change and environment; and food and nutrition security in training sessions
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills in English, including excellent drafting and presentation skills
• Willingness to take on new assignments at short notice and to travel frequently to remote areas.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment within defined policies and practices.
• Readiness to travel to Chiradzulu, Blantyre and surrounding areas

8. MODE OF APPLICATION

Interested candidates should send an Expression of Interest no more than 9 pages long (in one document) broken down as follows;

1. A maximum of 2 pages EOI submission letter providing an overview of the candidate’s suitability for the role as per the terms of reference and their preferred daily rate expressed in GBP.

Indicate your availability to carry out the assignment in September 2024.

1. A maximum of 4 pages outlining a proposed methodology according to their understanding of the assignment and its requirements.
2. A maximum of 3 pages Curriculum Vitae/Resume outlining only the relevant qualifications, experience and attributes for the role. Emphasis should be placed on similar consultancy assignments carried out by the candidate in the past 7 years.

Applications to be sent to rhch@niras.com with title of the position being applied for in the subject line by 16^th August 2024. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and will accept the first suitable applications received even before the deadline.