Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with some form of disability.

1.0  General Information

This document is being issued to solicit applications from potential consultants to develop a Gender Strategy for Heifer International – Africa. The strategy will provide the required framework for integrating gender into our signature programs and profiling Heifer as a development organization with a strong focus on women and gender issues. The terms of reference contain background information, the desired methodology, including objectives, the timeframe, and a list of deliverables. This document also contains information about the kind of expertise that Heifer seeks for this activity and guidance on how to submit a proposal to conduct the activity. Heifer anticipates awarding a fixed term contract for the study and make payments based on submission and Heifer’s approval of deliverables. The award agreement will include a payment schedule with specific deliverables; all payments require 10 business days processing after approval of deliverables.

1.1  Background of Heifer International

Heifer was established 75 years ago to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way by supporting and investing alongside local farmers and their communities. From providing relief to the poor in disaster and war- torn countries, Heifer’s founder realized that the poor have the power to transform their own lives and that of their communities. Since 1944, Heifer has helped 20.7 million households – more than 105 million people – in over 125 countries, through community-based training, appropriate technologies, and agricultural resources, enabling communities to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger on to a path of self-reliance and economic prosperity. Heifer has worked to empower smallholder farmers with opportunities and skills needed to reach a living income. This is because Heifer believes ending poverty begins with agriculture and investing in women is key to ending hunger and poverty. Women play important roles within the food and farming sectors in the Africa region and have a significant impact on their family’s food security and nutrition. Despite this, they do not have access to agricultural opportunities and productive resources in many countries. These inequalities are reinforced by social and cultural norms, imposing a cost on women, their families, the agricultural sector at large and the wider economy. Heifer International works to close the gender gap in agriculture and is committed to promoting gender equality as a human right. It invests in women, enabling them to improve their livelihoods and support their families. The emphasis on social and economic outcomes is important for ensuring women are not disenfranchised during the commercialization of agriculture. It also ensures they can access new opportunities and that gains are safeguarded.

More Info on Heifer: www.heifer.org

1.2  Heifer International Africa Program

Heifer International Africa works in ten countries across the continent. These are Senegal, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In 2010, Heifer started a journey of transformation, repositioning the organization to focus on accelerating the path to living income for smallholder farmers by working with them to form cooperatives and identifying opportunities across the value chain to increase their income. The vision focused on impacting 10 million people, working with smallholder farmers and women whilst caring for the earth.

With Aspiration 2030, the vision is now focused on implementing signature programs that have scale, partnership, and permanence. There is also a strong focus on the work that Heifer will do in Africa where most of her target group will live by 2030. This strategic focus on Africa, is basis of the “Heifer Africa” Strategy for 2030 and the basis for the development of the Gender Regional Strategy. From that standpoint, Heifer ensures that 50% of all small holder farmers we work with across the ten countries in Africa are women; and that it strategically selects agri-business value chains with predominantly women farmers; identify opportunities to support areas across value chains that impact women from production to transformation and enable women to access relevant skills and education.

1.3. Commitment to Gender Equality.

Heifer International is a global development organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Working with farmers and their communities to identify and invest in business opportunities that deliver living incomes, Heifer International and its partners create solutions to local challenges designed to build inclusive, resilient economies. Since launching in 1944, Heifer International has assisted more than 36 million families, with millions more now on a pathway to living incomes — the amount of money each person in a household needs per day to live a dignified life.

From July 2019 to June 2020, Heifer International directly supported 416,176 families in its active projects in Africa, providing farming families with technical assistance, increased access to finance and markets, as well as opportunities to strengthen essential skills, including finance and business management. Heifer International’s Values-Based Holistic Community Development (VBHCD) model is used to identify and solve problems within communities. Grounded in a set of core values and focused on building social capital, the model helps strengthen relationships between community members as potential investors, suppliers, and customers. Women play important roles within the food and farming sectors in the Africa region and have a significant impact on their family’s food security and nutrition. Despite this, they do not have access to agricultural opportunities and productive resources in many countries. These inequalities are reinforced by social and cultural norms, imposing a cost on women, their families, the agricultural sector at large and the wider economy. Heifer International works to close the gender gap in agriculture and is committed to promoting gender equality as a human right. It invests in women, enabling them to improve their livelihoods and support their families. The emphasis on social and economic outcomes is important for ensuring women are not disenfranchised during the commercialization of agriculture. It also ensures they can access new opportunities and that gains are safeguarded.

Heifer International’s programming is adapted to the local context, but the following four strategies are consistent across all programs:

• Directly addressing the needs and constraints women farmers face, with the understanding that treating women and men equally is an insufficient strategy for ending inequality and that specific and deliberate measures must be taken to support women’s capacity to make their own decisions so they can access opportunities to improve their lives.
• Supporting women to mobilize into women-led, self-help groups that serve as a collective platform to obtain assets, resources, and credit, to learn practical skills and gain experience while supporting each other, and to develop a collective voice to advocate for themselves and market their products.
• Ensuring the involvement of boys and men in gender equality efforts through education, discussion and buy-in on issues ranging from the sharing of household benefits and responsibilities to generating and reinforcing a more inclusive definition of masculinity. Participatory engagement enables communities to identify and rally around common goals, which are then documented in a Gender Action Plan.
• Developing monitoring and evaluation systems that include sex-disaggregated data, gender audits and qualitative and participatory techniques to assess economic and social change in a contextual and meaningful manner.

2.0  Assignment Objective

The objective of this assignment is to develop a strong framework for integrating the gender work into our signature programs across the ten countries in Africa where Heifer International works.

Consultant will also work with the Heifer Africa Women Development Lead and other relevant staff, to be able to understand Heifer’s signature programs, Heifer’s Strategic Framework 2030, Heifer Africa’s Strategy, and other country specific gender related issues.

2.1 Specific Tasks

Task 1: Work planning

The Consultant will conduct a preliminary work-session with the Heifer Africa Senior Vice President and the Women Development Lead for Africa to refine the scope of work, fully understand Heifer’s requirements for the consultancy. This will entail reviewing any applicable documents, tools, and templates, which will be provided.

Task 2: Desk review

Review secondary data/information on all the documents mentioned under 2.0 above, as well as specific focus on the selected value chains across the 10 countries. The review should result in a 5–10-page report.

2.2         Deliverables (all in electronic format when applicable)

• Inception report following preliminary work session with Heifer’s Women Development Lead.
• Draft Report in word that documents the proposed gender strategy framework that will enable Heifer to incorporate Gender in the Signature Programs.
• Prepare and conduct a Consultative Presentation via zoom of the Gender strategy framework to Heifer via one of our regional meetings for receiving feedback and providing clarification pertaining to questions that may arise.
• Prepare final Gender Strategy framework report in word that incorporates the feedback from the Regional and submit for approval via the Women Development Lead -Africa.

2.3         Team composition

Heifer International – Africa is looking for an individual consultant with substantial experience in Gender issues, specifically in Agriculture. She / He should be experienced in developing Gender frameworks that will enable an organization like Heifer to incorporate Gender into its Signature Programs. More specifically, the consultant should have a proven track record in Gender issues on the African Continent (especially the ten countries that Heifer works with), and should have expertise in analytical, presentation   and report writing skills in English.

The assignment will not require any travel (i.e., the consultant will be working from where she / he is).  Other than related documents and resources (aside what HI staff will provide) should be arranged by the consultant and factored into the financial proposal.

Required expertise, skills and knowledge are as follows:

• Minimum five (5) years of work experience in working on Gender issues in Agriculture internationally (especially in Africa).
• Evidence of success in completing similar work.
• Strong qualitative research and analytical skills.
• Proven record of excellent management, leadership, decision-making and interpersonal skills.
• Proven strong, clear technical writing and oral presentation skills in English.
• Proven ability to prepare high-quality technical reports on time.

3.0       C****onsulting firm Submission Requirements:

All interested individuals will submit his/her profile with the following information:

T****echnical Proposal (not to exceed 5 pages)

3.1.1     General information (not to exceed 2 pages):

• Organization overview highlighting related assignments completed with client name, contact person and mobile number
• Capacity statement

3.1.2    Approach (not to exceed 2 pages):

• A detailed methodology on how the assignment will be conducted as well as documentation of the work.
• Maximum 5-page CV (as annex) highlighting related assignment completed, role in the completed assignment.
• A clear and comprehensive work plan (draft), outlining the major activities and time schedule.
• Technical capacity statement, including past experiences and activities related to the theme of the study. Reference information must include the location, award numbers, and brief description of work perform.
• At least three references of other clients for which similar assignments were undertaken with contact information for each.

3.2         Financial Proposal (in USD)

• Proposed a daily pay for this assignment

• Annexes

• Maximum of 5-page CV

• Documents in favor of the previous relevant studies.

• A summary of previous assignments undertaken within the last 3 years.

Interested consultants legally eligible to implement this assignment are requested to submit a proposal including your telephone and email contact information.

Submissions must be in English and typed single-spaced using Times New Roman font size 12, with a complete set of appendices/attachments as applicable. All pages must be numbered and include the TOR reference number in the cover page, and name of the organization at the bottom of each page.

Heifer retains the right to terminate this TOR or modify the requirements upon notification to the Offerors.

3.4         Selection criteria

The consultancy can only be done by individuals, the individual that get the highest points as per the herein below criteria will be awarded the contract. The criteria will be based on technical capacity of the consultants (80%) and financial viability (20%).

• Accuracy and relevance of the proposed technical approach and methodology 30%
• Completeness of proposal according to the TOR (general information, activity plan, budget, expertise, etc.) 20%
• Relevance and capability/skill to implement/manage the assignment 30%
• Budget justification and costs realism 20%

3.5         Validity of Proposals

Proposals submitted shall remain open for acceptance for ten (10) days from the last date specified for receipt of the proposal. This includes, but is not limited to, pricing, terms and conditions, and service levels. If your organization is selected, all information in this document and the negotiation process are contractually binding.

3.6         Limitations

This TOR does not represent a commitment to award a contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a response to this TOR, or to procure or to contract for services or supplies. Heifer reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted and reserves the right to accept or reject in its entirety and absolute discretion any proposal received.

4.0         Intellectual Property

Section 1. Ownership Generally. Subject to Section 2 below, any intellectual property (including but not limited to copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and patents), intellectual property rights, deliverables, manuals, works, ideas, discoveries, inventions, products, writings, photographs, videos, drawings, lists, data, strategies, materials, processes, procedures, systems, programs, devices, operations, or information developed in whole or in part by or on behalf of Contractor or its employees or agents in connection with the Services and/or Goods (collectively, the “Work Product”) shall be the exclusive property of HPI. Upon request, Contractor shall sign all documents and take all actions necessary to confirm or perfect HPI’s exclusive ownership of the Work Product.

Section 2. Prior-Owned Intellectual Property. Any intellectual property owned by a Party prior to the Effective Date (“Prior-Owned IP”) shall remain that Party’s sole and exclusive property. Regarding any of Contractor’s Prior-Owned IP included in the Work Product, Contractor shall retain ownership, and hereby grants HPI a permanent, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, publicly display, edit, revise, perform, and distribute said intellectual property, in any format or any medium, as part of the Work Product.

Section 3. Work Made for Hire. To the extent copyright laws apply to the Work Product, the Parties agree that (a) HPI specially ordered or commissioned the Work Product, (b) the Work Product is a “work made for hire” under United States copyright laws, and (c) HPI shall be deemed the author thereof and shall own all right, title, and interest therein. To the extent such rights, in whole or in part, do not vest in HPI as a “work made for hire”, Contractor hereby irrevocably grants, assigns, and transfers to HPI, exclusively and in perpetuity, all of Contractor’s rights of any kind or nature, now known or hereafter devised, in, to, and in connection with the Work Product, and HPI shall solely and exclusively own any and all rights therein, and in the elements thereof, including but not limited to any and all allied, ancillary, subsidiary, incidental, and adaptation rights. Contractor hereby waives all rights known as “moral rights”, and any similar rights, which Contractor may have in connection with the Work Product. The description of Services and/or Goods provided in this Agreement shall in no way limit the way HPI may use the Work Product.

4.1         Applicable Regulations

Applicants must be legally permitted to operate within Kenya and comply with local applicable legislation, including but not limited to labor law, financial requirements, taxes, covid-19 protocols, etc.