Terms of Reference (ToR) for Research to “Analyze the Barriers Faced by Small Scale Farmers to Access Agriculture Finance Services ” At CCOAIB

The “Conseil de Concertation des Organisations d’Appui aux Initiatives de Base” CCOAIB is an Umbrella organization of 40 Rwandan local NGOs in development. It serves as a framework of exchange, consultations, dialogue, negotiation, and solidarity.

Terms of Reference (ToR) for research to “Analyze the barriers faced by small scale farmers to access Agriculture finance services and proposed strategies to overcome them”.

Summary information
Organization Conseil de Concertation des Organisations d’Appui aux Initiatives de Base (CCOAIB)
Legal Personality : A.M. n° 103/11 du 07/09/2004
B.P.1993 KIGALI – RWANDA; Tél. mobile (+250) 788302065
Kigali, International Airport Road KN 5RD, Building №18
E- mail : ccoaibr@gmail.com ; Website: www.ccoaib.org

Reference Request for applications to conduct research on barriers faced by small scale farmers to access Agriculture finance services and proposed strategies to bridge the gaps.
Release date 16/06/2022
Due date 23/06/2022 at 05:00 pm
Opening date To be communicated to all applicants after application deadline


Profile of CCOAIB
CCOAIB is an umbrella organization of national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in development legally established in 1987. It was granted legal personality No 103/11 as of 7th September 2004. As an umbrella of NGOs in development, CCOAIB has continued to grow and counts today 43 member organizations operating countrywide across all 30 districts.
CCOAIB has an extensive experience of more than 30 years in a wade range of domains, such as conducting researches and studies that it uses to carry out evidence based advocacy, especially in Agriculture and Governance sectors, advocating and influencing for the enabling legal frameworks, enhancing citizens participation in its interventions. 70% of its member organizations are actively involved in livelihoods, with a distinct focus on supporting grass roots farmers and CBOs (Community Based Organizations).


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Scope and objective of the work
CCOAIB secured financial support from Trócaire to conduct research aiming to assess barriers faced by small scale farmers to access Agriculture finance services and propose strategies to overcome them in 5 districts (Nyagatare in Western province, Rulindo in Northern province and Nyanza, Nyaruguru & Nyamagabe in Southern province).
Under this research, the opportunities and gaps related to Agriculture finance services vis a vis to the small scale farmers will be identified and analyzed; and recommendations towards responsive programs to different needs and priorities will be formulated to inform the decision makers and implementers of the programs.
It is in this regards, that CCOAIB is seeking qualified consultant or consulting firm to conduct the above mentioned research.

Methodology
The researcher should collaborate with CCOAIB team in all stages of the work. It is expected that the Research will apply a participatory approach and will include different stakeholders to gain a deep insight into the key research questions. Based on their methodology, the researchers will propose an acceptable sample size of individual respondents and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) from the above mentioned 5 districts (Nyagatare, Rulindo, Nyanza, Nyaruguru & Nyamagabe), and KII at Sector, District and National levels. At least 60% of individual respondents have to be women farmers.
The key audience to select a sample from is the project target of 140,000 farmers/ beneficiaries in total, and key personnel to focus on includes:
• Smallholder farmers, farmer groups, associations & cooperatives,
• Financial institutions,
• Public institutions: RAB, MINAGRI, RCA, MINICOM, MINECOFIN and relevant authorities,
• NGOs and other FBOs (Farmer Based Organizations) contributing on the sector of Agriculture finances.


Roles and Responsibilities
CCOAIB team will oversee the research exercise. This team will be responsible for:
• Providing guidance to the consultant,
• Follow up the process of field work to gather data,
• Provide inputs & comments to all deliverables of the work,
• Approval of all deliverables; and,
• Overall responsibility and accountability for the research.

The consultant/s will be expected to:
• Participate in briefing and consultative meetings on the assignment,
• Develop a work plan and inception report that will operationalize and direct the research,
• Develop research framework and methodology,
• Work scheduling and reporting (drafts & final reports),
• Develop data collection tools such as research questionnaires, focus group discussion, questions and key informant interview questions,
• Train data collection agents (enumerators),
• Collect Data and analysis,
• Collect and submit all the tools of the exercise to the client, such as data collection tools, low data, pictures, records, reports and any other material developed or used in the matter of this work,
• Extract a policy brief from the final research report,
• Present the information formally at a workshop with partners and key stakeholders, and
• Produce all agreed deliverables.

Deliverables
The following services and outputs are expected:
• A detailed research inception report;
• Detailed and comprehensive research tools to be used in data collection;
• Comprehensive draft & final research reports (Word & PDF, PowerPoint presentation of the findings);
• A summarized policy brief extracted from the final report;
• Soft copies of all datasets and tools used in data collection;
• The draft and final reports as well as the policy brief should be submitted in soft copy to CCOAIB in line with the timeframe; which will be agreed upon during signing of the consultancy contract.
The inception report, final report, policy brief & power points will be produced in English while the data collection tools will be in both English and Kinyarwanda.

Timeframe
It is expected that the planned work will require not more than 20 consultancy/ working days. Those consultancy days may be distributed in period not exceeding 60 days according to the work-plan proposed by the consultant.

Selection Criteria
The consultant or consulting firm who will take the responsibilities of leading the research should fulfil the following:
• The lead consultant must hold at least a Master’s degree in one of the fields: Agriculture, Rural Development, Policy Analysis, Economics, Finance or other studies related to Agriculture & Finance;
• RDB registration certificate should be presented for firms/ companies;
• Strong demonstrable understanding of the Rwandan agriculture & finance sectors;
• Having an experience of at least five (5) years doing researches;
• Demonstrable experience in conducting similar assignments in agriculture sector and provide evidence of at least 3 assignments successfully completed in the field;
• Using EBM (Electronic Billing Machine) approved by Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) in invoicing is a MUST. A copy of an invoice delivered will be attached as a proof;
• Presenting the VAT registration, valid Tax Clearance Certificate and the proofs of tax payment for last quarter;
• Experience in working with CSOs, NGOs and public institutions is an added value;
• Good command of English and Kinyarwanda;
• Familiarity with Rwanda’s policy framework, context, governance and accountability;
• Working within agreed deadlines while producing high quality work output;
• Should be using Digital Data Collection system;
• The proposed technical offer should be comprehensive, detailed and specific to the work advertised. Current CVs and copy of the degrees of consultant(s) engaged in the research must be included, with clear tasks of everyone; while the financial offer should consider value for money.

Intellectual property
Any documents, concepts, guidelines or other material developed in matter of the advertised work during the contract will be considered as property of CCOAIB.

Application
All interested and qualified applicants (who fulfil the requirements set here-in) should submit their financial and technical proposals accompanied by a letter addressed to the Executive Secretary of CCOAIB, not later than 23rd June 2022 at 05:00 pm by email to ccoaibr@gmail.com, with the Subject: “Application to conduct research on Agriculture finance” and All bid documents should be zipped in one folder.
Official opening of received bids will be communicated to all applicants after application deadlines and applicants should be represented in the event.
Any query or clarification regarding this tender should be directed to the same email address (ccoaibr@gmail.com) with a copy (CC) to clement.twahirwa1@gmail.com, not later than 22nd June at 12:00 pm. Only queries respecting the procedure and deadline will be responded to.

Selection Procedure
To analyse the bids, the Quality Cost Based Procedure (QCBP) will be applied. Only qualified applicants, who respected the requirements mentioned in the terms of reference will be considered.
Kigali, on 14th June 2022
Jean Claude NGENDANDUMWE
Executive Secretary of CCOAIB