Consultant to Conduct an Assessment of the Existing Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)

TERMS OF REFERENCE: ASSESSMENT OF THE EXISTING PARTICIPATORY GUARANTEE SYSTEMS (PGS)

VECO Vietnam is seeking a consultant to conduct an assessment of the existing Participatory Guarantee System (PGS).

1. Background

VECO Vietnam is the Vietnamese country office of the Belgian INGO Vredeseilanden. VECO Vietnam’s main focus lies in sustainable agricultural value chain development and food safety. Some of VECO’s activities include working with farmer organisations to develop their organizational, sustainable farming, and business capacity, linking farmers with markets, and advocating for more sustainable agricultural policies. Over the past years, VECO has extensively been working in the safe and organic vegetables subsector. An essential aspect of safe vegetables production and sales is certification. The Vietnamese government has been implementing VietGAP as the official certification system for safe vegetables. In order to receive the VietGAP certification, farmers must go through a costly and complex process to ensure their compliance with the VietGAP standards. Part of the process is a costly audit by an external company which is often inaccessible for smallholder farmers, due to its price. This means that, in practice, smallholder farmers are excluded from VietGAP certification.

VECO Vietnam proposes an alternative system: the Participatory Guarantee System. PGS is a quality assurance system that is feasible for smallholder farmers. It does not involve costly external certification and the paperwork requirements are easier to manage. In order to ensure the safe and organic quality of the produce, a group of different stakeholders comes together on a regular basis to inspect a farmer’s production, processing, packaging and selling processes. The stakeholders include government officials, retailers, consumers and other farmers. If the farmer complies with the standards for safe or organic vegetable production, the produce is then certified safe or organic and can be sold as such in shops.

VECO Vietnam is currently working to support the institutionalization of PGS in Vietnam. It hopes to see PGS recognized by Vietnamese authorities, at various levels of government, as well as have the authorities invest and create incentives for farmers and buyers to engage in PGS. In addition, VECO Vietnam is working towards increasing consumers’ awareness on PGS and enhancing their trust in that particular certification system.

As of today, PGS is applied for organic food and safe vegetables in the provinces of Hanoi, PhuTho, Ha Nam, Quang Nam, Ben Tre and Hoa Binh.

2. Objectives

VECO Vietnam is seeking a consultant to assess the existing Participatory Guarantee Systems in order to refine, scale-up and institutionalize this quality assurance system at the communal, district, provincial and national levels. The results of the assessment are intended for advocacy purposes and interventions. In addition, VECO is also looking for practical recommendations on how to steer its future communications activities.

3. Methodology

The consultant will propose the most appropriate assessment methodology which will be discussed and approved by VECO Vietnam before the start of the assignment.

4. Assessment focus

The key elements of the assessment include:

a. A description of the operational structure and activities of all existing Participatory Guarantee Systems and their effectiveness;
b. An analysis of current communication activities on PGS and their adequacy with institutionalization objectives;
c. An assessment of the level of awareness and engagement of key stakeholders with PGS (wholesalers, retailers, authorities and consumers);
d. An analysis of the social, economic and environmental benefits of PGS for relevant stakeholders. (including in comparison with other certification systems);
e. An analysis of the accessibility and desirability of PGS for smallholder farmers
f. Practical and specific recommendations on how to improve the operation of PGSs; and
g. How to protect the reputation of PGS and what kind of mitigation measure could be done.

In addition to the assessment report, the consultant will deliver an advocacy plan containing:

- A description of approaches and methods on how to influence authorities to officially recognize PGS and mainstream it into their programs and operations; and
- Operational strategies in how to scale-up PGS beyond the current geographic coverage of VECO.

5. Geographic scope of work

PGS is being applied for the production and sales of organic food and safe vegetables in the provinces of Hanoi (3), Phu Tho (2), Quang Nam (1), Ben Tre (1), Hoa Binh (2), and Ha Nam (1), a total of 10 PGS sites. The assessment must be representative of the geographic diversity of all operating PGSs.

6. Period of consultancy engagement

The consultant’s proposals must be submitted by 20 November 2016. If selected, the commencement of the assignment would be on the signing date of the contract, on 24 November 2016.

17 person-days are foreseen for this consultancy, estimated as follows:

a. Preparation & coordination meeting with VECO: 0.5day;
b. Field execution of the assessment : 11.5 days;
c. Write-up of preliminary report: 2.5 days;
d. Presentation of preliminary results to VECO: 0.5days;
e. Finalization of the assessment report and advocacy plan integrating VECO inputs: 2 days
Subject to satisfaction of VECO Vietnam, the deadline of the final report (assessment and advocacy plan) is close of business on Monday, 19 December 2016.

7. Deliverables

Following the focus of assessment in Section 4 above, the consultant will deliver the following:

a. Assessment report containing the seven elements listed, and
b. Advocacy plan for PGS official recognition and mainstreaming, and scaling-up

These two deliverable documents will be both in English and Vietnamese.

VECO Vietnam will be the sole owner of all the deliverables, methodology and the data generated through this survey.

8. Selection criteria

- Relevant Master’s degree;
- Extensive experience in assessment, data collection, stakeholders’ engagement, research, and certification;
- Experience with advocacy, policy influencing and communications. Previous experience in designing an advocacy strategy is an asset;
- Excellent written and spoken Vietnamese and English;
- Experience in project management;
- Experience with safe and organic agriculture in the Vietnamese context.
- Experience with different certification systems and PGS is an asset;
- Excellent communication skills;
- Flexibility and adaptability

9. Fees and payment

The maximum budget for this assessment is USD 4,500. The consultant will be paid in the following way:

a. 25% at the signing of the contract; and
b. 75% following the submission of the qualitative final report to VECO Vietnam

10. Submission of proposal

Candidates shall submit the following documents in English:

a. A proposal that sets out the work plan containing both technical and financial aspects;
b. An up-to-date CV of the consultant(s). In case the applicant is an organization, add an up-to-date portfolio of the organization; and
c. Examples (two) of previous work undertaken relating to this project (preferably in English).

Deadline for submission of applications: close of business, 20 November 2016. VECO Vietnam will contact shortlisted candidates for personal interviews to be held between 09 and 15 November 2016. Applications must be addressed to VECO Project Officer, Mrs. Phan Thi Kim Nhung (email: [email protected]), and copy to [email protected]