Technical Support to Strengthen Operationalization of the Horticulture Exporters Association of Rwanda.
RTI International has worked in Rwanda for 35+ years, providing technical assistance, institutional strengthening, program support, and research. We design and implement programs across a wide range of sectors to help low- and middle- income countries and communities address complex problems and improve the lives of their citizens. Working with local partners and stakeholders, our solutions promote sustainability, self-reliance and success at scale.

Statement of Work
Short Term Technical Assistance in support of
feed the future rwanda kungahara wagura amasoko
Title: Technical support to strengthen operationalization of the Horticulture Exporters Association of Rwanda.
Period of Performance: March 2023- September 2023
Level of Effort: 48 days over six months
Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Position SUMMARY
RTI (Research Triangle Institute) International ‘’ is recruiting an individual consultant to support HEAR enhance its operations through technical assistance that will link a skilled consultant with interns for six months. During this period the consultant will work with the association to operationalize structures and systems that enable the organization to improve its internal management processes, provide quality services to its members, perform advocacy activities, and mobilize resources to build financial sustainability through increasing memberships and contributions as well as identifying and optimizing other sources of revenue streams.

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Project Overview
Feed the Future Rwanda KungaAhara Wagura Amasoko is a five-year USAID-funded initiative designed to boost Rwanda’s economic growth inclusively and sustainably by increasing the export of high-value agricultural products. Targeted high-value agricultural value chains include coffee, tea, horticulture, spices, livestock products (dairy and hides), and other emerging values chains (e.g., stevia, essential oils) within the districts of Bugesera, Kayonza, Ngoma, Gatsibo, Burera, Gakenke, Nyamagabe, Nyamasheke, Karongi, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Rubavu, and Nyabihu.
Using a market systems approach, Kungahara Wagura Amasoko works with and through the Government of Rwanda (GOR), the private sector associations, and civil society to achieve the above goal. This includes the implementation of the two following strategic objectives: (i) facilitate inclusive and resilience-focused policy reforms that promote agricultural export growth using evidence-based analysis and strengthen the advocacy capacity of the private sector organizations, and (ii) support local actors (government and private sector) to attract, mobilize and direct public and private financing resources and/or investment towards increased agriculture and food exports.

BACKGROUND
The Horticulture Exporters Association of Rwanda (HEAR) aims to develop and promote horticulture export businesses to the benefit of the business community. It aims to achieve this by providing quality services to its members and advocating for their interests. The association is chaired by an individual who owns and runs his horticulture export business in addition to his role within the association. Prior attempts to strengthen HEAR’s capacity to perform its mandate failed because HEAR does not have a functional office/secretariat with permanent staff to run the day-to-day association’s activities. Association leaders have expressed a need for technical assistance to strengthen the operationalization of HEAR’s functional office/secretariat, as the association is currently constrained by both human and time resources. As shown by prior assessments conducted by Kungahara Wagura Amasoko, this affects the ability of the association to properly support its members and push forward an evidence-based policy reform agenda to expand Rwanda’s horticulture exports.
Kungahara Wagura Amasoko looks to strengthen HEAR by supporting the association to establish an office with competent staff to run the association’s administrative and technical functions. Additionally, Kungahara Wagura Amasoko is partnering with the Feed the Future Hanga Akazi (HA) Activity to bolster the HEAR’s technical and financial capacities through on-the-job training, mentoring, and coaching of the interns who will be placed in HEAR and trained by the consultant to mature into potential permanent staff at the end of this partnership. HA will mainly focus on overseeing the interns, including their recruitment, placement, and skills development. During this partnership, both the consultant and interns will perform administrative and technical functions of the association including participating in priority policy reforms and implementation of such activities as contract farming, investment promotion, certification systems, quality and safety regulations, public-private partnership (PPP) guidelines, public-private-dialogue (PPD) frameworks, and other feasibility studies to identify legal and regulatory reforms related to horticulture export development, investment promotion, and trade. It is against this background that Kungahara Wagura Amasoko would like to hire an individual consultant to strengthen the operationalization of HEAR.

Objective
The purpose of this assignment is to support HEAR enhance its operations through technical assistance that will link a skilled consultant with interns for six months. During this period the consultant will work with the association to operationalize structures and systems that enable the organization to improve its internal management processes, provide quality services to its members, perform advocacy activities, and mobilize resources to build financial sustainability through increasing memberships and contributions as well as identifying and optimizing other sources of revenue streams. The consultant will concurrently ensure that these skills and knowledge are transferred to the interns during this period. At the end of the engagement, the association will take on the intern(s) for longer-term employment and administrative running of the association. More specifically, key target positions to be filled in will include policy analysts, M&E officers, and administrative officers.

Scope Of Work
To achieve the above objective, the consultant, guided by HEAR’s strategic plan (2022-2026), will undertake the following activities:
• Review the organizational administrative and technical functions and operations of HEAR to identify existing functions that support or do not support the organization’s mandate
• Develop organizational internal operating procedure manual
• Review the existing and potential sources of revenue streams for HEAR and determine the best approach to optimize these sources through the development of a resource mobilization plan and tools to increase membership fees and contributions
• Develop and establish a clear and comprehensive M&E system and tools within HEAR to track progress against the organization’s strategic goals and collect evidence to inform policy advocacy
• Develop the capacity-building plan and train the association’s leadership and interns placed in HEAR in partnership with the Hanga Akazi project. The training materials should include a policy dialogue process, collection of evidence, data analysis to build evidence for policy recommendations, and advocacy for policy reform on behalf of the organization’s members using tangible policy reform case studies (such as contract farming, certification, and standards); M&E systems; organizations’ management; investment attraction; access to finance; facilitating B2B networking events; access to market; certification, etc.
• Work closely with and transfer skills to the staff and interns to run the interim administration and technical functions of HEAR to reach the required maturity and graduation for self-reliance
• Regularly support assigned staff, including interns, and make sure they understand their role and support and provide quality services to the associations’ members
• Run HEAR’s day-to-day administrative and technical functions, including identification and participation in policy reform and implementation activities, maintaining the office services through organizing office operations and procedures, scheduling meetings and appointments for HEAR’s leadership and members, etc.

Deliverables
1. Inception report including methodology on how HEAR and its members will be engaged to establish a functional office/secretariat, Gantt chart outlining key activities, milestones, and timelines to conduct this assignment
2. Capacity building plan including training materials on the policy dialogue process, data/evidence collection, data analysis, advocacy process, M&E system, organizations’ management, etc.
3. M&E tools within HEAR to track progress against strategic goals
4. Training report for HEAR staff and interns
5. HEAR internal operating procedure manual
6. HEAR plan and tools for resource mobilization and collection of membership fees from potential sources of revenue streams
7. Clear transition roadmap for HEAR staff to fully take over the consultant’s interim administration and technical functions
8. Final report which documents steps and lessons learned

Preferred Qualifications
• Master’s degree in economics, business administration, project planning and management, agribusiness, agricultural economics, development economics, development studies, or similar fields, with 6 years of experience; or, Bachelor’s degree in the same fields with 8 years of experience.
• Proven experience in providing administration and technical support, demonstrable strategic thinking abilities, and analytical mind with problem-solving aptitude
• Demonstrated knowledge of working with Rwanda's private sector associations setting, organizations, and stakeholders, especially those in the horticulture sector.
• Demonstrated ability to develop organizational structures and clear knowledge of planning processes for both private and public sectors
• Demonstrated understanding of private sector association
• Proven track record conducting similar assignments and ability to work well individually or in a team and with minimum supervision
• Previous experience supporting USAID-funded projects or other donor-funded development organizations, or government projects and programs preferred.
• Oral and written fluency in English. Knowledge of spoken Kinyarwanda is added asset

Application Instructions
Interested applicants are required to submit their applications with the following content:
• Curriculum vitae (PDF format) (3 pages maximum)
• One-page cover letter outlining similar/relevant work (PDF format) (1 Page)
• Proof of similar works completed work supported with names and contact information (e.g., email and phone number) for at least (3 references).
• Proposed methodology and approach to delivering on deliverables (2 Pages maximum)
• Total proposed cost of conducting this assignment, including a breakdown of the proposed daily rate for the consultant (Excel format).
All questions in regards to this scope of work will be directed to procurementftfkwa@rti.org, cut off date for questions is March 3, 2023.
Applications should be submitted to procurementftfkwa@rti.org NOT LATER THAN March 8th, 2023. No portion of this assignment may be subcontracted.

Evaluation Criteria
• Technical Capacity and Expertise (70%): Clear and comprehensive description of the consultant’s experience, provided references for similar works (reference letters), and quality of proposed methodology for this assignment.
• Cost (30%): Reasonableness of the proposed cost.
We regret that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
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