REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Avenue Joseph Anoma, 01 BP 1387, Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (ECAD)

E-mail: S.OKEI-DJEBI@AFDB.ORG /   Telephone: +225-20265388

The goal of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries (RMCs), thus contributing to poverty reduction and sustainable development-https://www.afdb.org/en/. The Bank achieves these objectives through its Ten Year Strategy 2013-2022 and High Five Priorities¹. A Bank study (AfDB, 2012²) demonstrated the contributions of SMEs to exceed 60 percent of total formal employment in the manufacturing sector in developing economies. In Africa, the contribution of the SME sector to job opportunities is even more important with SMEs accounting for about three-quarters of the total employment in manufacturing (including the informal sector). The Bank supports SMEs indirectly with long term liquidity and technical assistance to through local financial institutions in such a way that they will increasingly see SMEs as a real and successful market opportunity.

Through its African Development Institute (ECAD), the Bank supports SMEs directly with capacity development interventions to improve their performance. The goal is to enhance SME promotion policies in Africa by exposing a cadre of SME specialists from African governments to the Republic of Korea’s policies and strategies. The goal is to improve the knowledge of Agribusiness SME legislators to formulate conductive agribusiness policy instruments, improve regulatory and institutional frameworks. It also seeks to encourage policy incentives for increasing productivity and inclusive agricultural value chain developments, hence promote food self-sufficiency and sustainable agribusinesses. This is expected to; (i) contribute towards improved incomes, economic growth and poverty alleviation in the long term (ii) create more, better and inclusive jobs and proactively build resilience and response to shocks in times of changing climate that erode development gains (iii) enhance food security and inclusive development.

The Bank hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignment : African Officials Training Program on Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Strengthening Policy Framework for Inclusive Development and Food Security “The assignment”.

The services to be provided under the Assignment are essentially to; (i) strengthen the capacity of policy makers to design and implement evidenced-driven and transformative Agribusiness SME policies and regulatory frameworks (ii) impart knowledge, skills and lessons learnt based on advanced Korean SME policy frameworks, innovations, agro-processing technologies and proven agribusiness policy-making practices (iii) address fundamentals and enablers of Agricultural Value Chain Developments (AVCD) in conformance with the Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy (iv) equip Agribusiness SMEs policy makers with skill-sets to craft and implement productivity-oriented Agribusiness policies, smart and inclusive policy instruments by leveraging critical lessons learnt from Korean approaches and experiences and (v) enhance additionality, global orientation and competitiveness of agribusinesses to unlock potential for Africa’s transformation and inclusive growth.

The consulting assignment will be undertaken under the supervision of the African Development Institute of the African Development Bank and will entail :

• Understanding and providing comments on the Terms of Reference of the Assignment.
• Preparing and researching relevant inclusive Agribusiness SME policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks, agricultural value chains development, fundamentals and enablers and case studies.

¹The High Fives are the AfDB’s blueprint for accelerating achievement of its Ten Year Strategy (TYS) and thus enabling sustain able development and transformation in the Regional Member Countries (RMCs) through 5 areas of priority: (1) Light- up and power Africa; (2) Feed Africa; (3) Integrate Africa; (4) Industrialize Africa; and (5) Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.

• AfDB Working Paper 146 – Bank Financing to Small and Medium Enterprises in East Africa: Findings of a Survey in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia here
• Developing detailed agribusiness policy making content and work plans under the assignment ;
• Facilitating knowledge and skills transfer and best practices based on Korean agribusiness SME policies, models, smart agribusiness technologies and agricultural value chains ;
• Developing a clear timeline, methodology, tasks/activities, outputs, outcomes and detailed workshop reporting with a post implementation plan and deliverables ;
• Designing a learner centred and user-friendly training modules on building policy-making capacity ;
• Drafting training manuals, frameworks and guidelines on agribusiness policy instruments ;
• Validating all the deliverables with the Bank ;
• Submitting final deliverables including a draft final report by the 15^th of May 2019 ;
• Undertaking any other tasks and deliverables deemed relevant to this assignment.

The African Development Institute invites consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Firms currently contracted by the Bank for other ongoing assignments are strictly excluded from expressing interest in line with the Bank’s standard contracting clauses³. Interested eligible consultants shall provide information on their relevant qualifications, proven agribusiness SME policy experience and capacity demonstrating their ability to provide the services (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable Assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.), and an approximate budget.

Firms should indicate availability of dedicated experts to design and deliver the Agribusiness policy-making training for senior officials in accordance with the highest standards of professional competence and skill and to ensure smooth, timely and quality delivery. A strong inclination and exposure to Agribusiness SME models, agricultural value chains and sound knowledge of enablers and fundamentals of smart agricultural transformation for inclusive development will be an added advantage.

The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy. Please, note that interest expressed by a consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include the firm in the shortlist. The estimated duration of services is not to exceed Ninety (90) days and the estimated starting date is 15 April 2019.

Interested Consulting Firms may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours : 09:00 to 17:00 hours.

Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than 11 March 2019 at 17:00 hours local (Abidjan) time and specifically mentioning “African Officials Training Program on Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Strengthening Policy Framework for Inclusive Development and Food Security”.

Attention of :

Mrs. OKEI-DJE BI, SORAYA

African Development Institute

African Development Bank

Siege de la BAD, Rue des Banques

01 BP1387 Abidjan 01

Côte d’Ivoire

Tel. (office): +225-20265388

Abidjan

Country : Côte d’Ivoire

E-mail: S.OKEI-DJEBI@AFDB.ORG

• The Consultant, by signing this Contract, covenants that neither itself nor any of its experts, employees or agents has any public or private interest, direct or indirect, nor shall acquire directly or indirectly any such interest which does or may conflict in any manner with the performance of the Consultant’s obligations under this contract. The Consulta nt also agrees to excuse or else disqualify itself from any business or other arrangement which conflicts with the Consultant’s performance under this Contract.

_3.10 Except as otherwise agreed by the Bank in writing during the term of this Contract, the Co nsultant and any entity in which the Consultant has a professional participation or interest shall be disqualified from supplying any goods, performing any work or service related to or resulting from the Services.