Consultancy for Midterm Evaluation for the GCP Collective Action Initiative ‘Responsible Use of Agro-Inputs for Coffee in Vietnam’

TERMS OF REFERENCE

CONSULTANCY FOR

Midterm Evaluation for the GCP Collective Action Initiative ‘Responsible Use of Agro-Inputs for Coffee in Vietnam’

1.    Introduction

The Global Coffee Platform (GCP) is an inclusive multi-stakeholder sustainability platform that convenes coffee stakeholders, prioritizes sustainability issues and catalyzes local action and progress measurement in collaboration with country platforms to create a thriving and sustainable coffee sector. Members of the Global Coffee Platform include farmers and farmer organizations, traders (exporters and importers), coffee roasters and retailers, other supply chain actors, civil society organizations, coffee associations and others.

GCP’s Collective Action Initiatives (CAI) optimize sustainability investments and multiply impact through pooling resources, knowledge, and networks to collectively address country specific sustainability gaps. By partnering with GCP, participants of a CAI support the coffee sector to identify and address complex issues through a structured and collaborative approach.

In June 2020, GCP Vietnam launched a 5-year Collective Action Initiative for effective and responsible use and management of Agro-inputs in Vietnam, which focuses on addressing the responsible use of Agro-inputs (especially herbicides) in the coffee sector in Vietnam by improving the enabling environment and sector policies, providing support and training to farmers and stakeholders in the Central Highlands and conducting research to gather and document best practices and lessons learned. Results of the Initiative will be shared with Vietnamese and International coffee sector stakeholders in order to upscale best practices. The Initiative has drawn high attention and commitments from roasters, including Nestlé, JDE and Tchibo as well as from organizations and coffee trading companies as the Sustainable Trade Initiative – IDH, the Lavazza Foundation, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe- NKG and Sucden are being promoted to additional interested actors to participate in this initiative.

Being put into official operation since 2020, up to now, the CAI has gained some initial research results including many interesting findings and useful information that can be shared with the Government and stakeholders to lobby for elimination or optimization of the use of (banned) Agro- chemicals, especially the ones containing Glyphosate in coffee production.

Thanks to the efforts of GCP CAI and other actors in the coffee industry in policy advocacy, the Government of Vietnam has taken timely and strong actions to prevent the trade and use of Glyphosate in coffee production to meet the requirements of the European market. As a result, the level of Glyphosate residue in green coffee produced in the 2021-2022 crop has tended to decrease significantly.

Up to the present time of August 2022, the Initiative has already gone half way. In this context, GCP is looking for a consulting service to conduct the mid-term evaluation of the initiative with a view to identifying orientations for appropriate adjustments in implementation methods and strategies to achieve the proposed targets of the initiative.

2.    Objectives

The purpose of the mid-term review is to assess and evaluate if the implementation of the CAI  is in line with the interventions and approaches mentioned in the Initiative’s original proposal and to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in the CAI performance by analyzing the level of impact brought by the Initiative to Vietnam’s coffee sector.

3.    Expected Results

The mid-term review will be a participatory exercise to assess the performance of the Initiative. It has an objective of mainly internal learning for the areas of implementation and results and is intended to inform operational decision-making and adjustments to the on-going initiative. Findings and recommendations will help the Management Unit to reflect on the initiative and ensure that timely improvements are made, in order to meet the proposed targets by the end of 2024.

Therefore, the expected results are:

• To provide an independent, evidence–based and participatory evaluation focusing on the impact of the initiative upon the coffee sector;
• To assess how the Initiative contribute to, and fit with the National overall Coffee Sector Sustainable Development Strategy and,
• To provide recommendations on how to adjust the initiative implementation approach in order to maximize the impact.

4.    Special focuses of the mission

4.1.    Impact achievement

• Impacts of Covid 19 Pandemic upon the Initiative’s Implementation Progress
• Uptake of CAI results (eg. do traders train farmers with the new weed management manual, government informs farmers etc.)
• Impacts of CAI (is there a behavioral change in farmers? Has MRL exceeding’s gone down?)

4.2.    CAI management

• SC meetings (are they run efficiently, do CAI funders find them meaningful?)
• Reports (are they to the point, informative etc.)
• Information flow from Management Unit it funding partners
• Communication about the CAI to the sector (in Vietnam and globally)
• Opportunities for CAI funders to communicate about the CAI (eg. in their annual sust. reports, website etc.)

5.    Proposed Methodology

The proposed methodology is as follows:

• Briefing/preparatory working session with the GCP Management Unit;
• Desk review of the existing project documents
• A participatory methodology is highly recommended in order to take into account the opinion of all partners and stakeholders;
• Use of mixed methods including semi-structured interviews of key informants (including Management Unit, funding partners, NGOs working on similar issues and national or subnational authorities, etc.) and focus group discussions with people and communities targeted by the initiative;

6.    Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

7.    Consultant qualifications

For this assignment we expect an agriculture consultant/service provider who brings the following assets/experiences:

• Minimum 10  years of experience in implementation/evaluation of projects/programmes;
• Experienced and knowledgeable about coffee agronomy and working experiences in plant protection/agriculture sector
• Education background (Master, preferably PhD degree) in plant protection, agriculture, community development and/or education);
• Excellent analytical and report writing skills;
• Proven work experience in use of participatory evaluation methods for identifying measurable target indicators;
• Ability to work in a multicultural team environment and to deliver under pressure/meet deadlines
• Comfortable with the necessary computer skills i.e. MS Word (personal laptop will be necessary for this mission)
• Neutral and trusted and Fluency in both Vietnamese and English languages.
• A team consisting of Vietnamese experts with a deep understanding of local conditions and an international expert with more expertise in the global coffee sector and regulations related to agrochemicals is the candidate preferred for this task.

8.    Provisional Timetable of the Evaluation

The consultancy will last for 1 month, starting from 01 October 2022 and going until 31 October 2022.

9.    Procedures

The procedure will be as follows:

• Announcement of the assignment: 01 September 2022
• Submission of proposals plus quotations by candidates: 15 September 2022

Criteria for assessment of the proposals:

• Evaluation of the candidates’ proposals and decision made on selection of consultant
• Contract signing: 30 September 2022
• Contact information

For any questions, please contact Ms. le Nguyen Phuong Trang – Project Officer, via email: [email protected]