Consultant Team on Market Research

SCOPE OF WORK
Consultant team on Market research
For the project:
“Improved Household food security and nutrition through
Enhanced Homestead Food Production in Son La, Lai Chau and Hoa Binh Provinces, Vietnam”


Introduction:

HKI-Vietnam is a US non-governmental organization established in Vietnam in 2004. Its mission is to save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged by combating the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. We do this by establishing programs grounded in evidence-based research in eye health and nutrition.

To address the nutrition and food security challenges in the targeted project area, and after seeing large improvements in Son La province, with the additional support from Irish Aid, HKI-Vietnam scaled up the project: “Improved Household Food Security and Nutrition through Enhanced Homestead Food Production” to Hoa Binh and Lai Chau provinces for 4 years from 2017 to 2021. The EHFP model’s ultimate goal is to improve the nutrition status of mothers and children under two years of age in these provinces. HKI supports targeted households to improve maternal and child nutrition status by using homestead food production. The project also contributes to national strategies on poverty reduction through providing technical and financial supports for the households which have startup plans by developing larger scale home gardens or farms. To develop the agricultural startup model based on the analysis of value chains and by creating market linkages between producers and consumers, HKI Vietnam is looking for a consultant team to conduct market research to fulfill the goals and objectives below.

1. Goal

To promote market linkages between agriculture producers and consumers in Hoa Binh and Lai Chau provinces based on the analysis of value chain

2. Objectives

  • To analyze value chains on the agriculture inputs proposed by local people through PRA conducted in project sites
  • To assess financial needs for startup and current microfinance model in commune: operation, management and challenges
  • To make recommendations on how to improve the current microfinance model effectively
  • To recommend strategies to promote agriculture startup integrated with microfinance model
  • To recommend marketing strategy for improving consumption of local products
  • Propose special events which will be conducted to approach potential buyers

3. Methodology

  • Literature Review
  • Online survey
  • Market Mapping and value chain
  • Interviews with key informants (beneficiaries, producers, suppliers, vendors and consumers etc)
  • Focus Group Discussions

4. Scope of work: a consultant team including 2 persons (1 team leader and 1 team member) will perform these activities below:

Time                                Activities                                                            Number of days
W2, January 2018              Review project documentation,                                 3 days
                                      discussion with project team and develop
                                      research protocol
W3, January 2018              Online market survey on consumers                 
W3, January 2018              Data collection in Hoa Binh                                       2 days
W3 and 4, January             Data collection in Lai Chau                                       2 days
2018
W1, Feb 2018                   Data analysis                                                         7 days
W2, Feb 2018                   Reporting with recommendations                                4 days
Total working                                                                                                                  19 days
days

5. Expected results

Research protocol submitted with methodologies, tools and workplan
- One market research report in English and Vietnamese including following contents:
- Background: project intervention design in relation to goal and objectives of this market research
- Research methodology: methods, sample size, tools and bias analysis
- Results:

  • External Analysis
    • Value chain analysis
    • SWOT of producers (households) including household capacity (agriculture skills and practices), the quality of soil, weather,…,
    • Environment: socioeconomic, market policies and cultures
    • Buyer analysis
    • Identification of major local, regional and, if applicable, distant markets
    • Assessment of size of markets, volume of sales, market integration/segmentation
    • Local market structure and enabling environment market actors (consumers, sellers, traders, middle-men, employers) behavior
    • Procurement mechanisms, market requirements (standards, conditions for delivery) and prices, wage rates and employment conditions
  • Internal Analysis
    • Ps (Product, price, Place, People and promotion)
  • Marketing SWOT Analysis

- Recommendations on:

  • Business strategy and marketing strategy
  • Current microfinance model: finance needs for startup, how to operate, management and challenges
  • To make recommendations on how to improve the current microfinance model effectively
  • To recommend strategies to promote agriculture startup integrated with microfinance model in the two provinces
  • To make recommendations on marketing strategy to consume local products
  • Propose special events which will be conducted by approaching potential buyers

6. Qualification requirements:

Experience:

  • Having background or studies in Finance, Business or market development
  • Experience in market research, especially in agricultural products
  • Good understanding of finance management and microfinance or savings and loan models
  • Experience and expertise in developing areas in mountainous/rural areas and ethnic minority groups
  • Good understanding of child protection policies
  • Very good at communication and report writing skills

7. Logistics:

  • HKI will be responsible for arranging logistics for the consultant to travel from and to the project sites including travel and accommodation

8. Management

  • Consultant team will closely work with international technical staff and project manager and report directly to the Country Director.

9. Notice and payment

  • Payment will be paid:
    • 50% of total package after completing field data collection
    • 50% of total package after completing all tasks and transferring the final report that meets HKI requirements.

10. Budget

The fee for consultant will be negotiated and applied following HKI Vietnam regulations.

The consultants who are interested in doing this consultancy work please submit:

  1. A research protocol with estimated budget
  2. CV
  3. Bio-data with supporting documents.

To:

Helen Keller International Vietnam
Room 305-306, A2 Building, Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound,
298 Kim Ma, Hanoi, Vietnam
Email: [email protected] and cc for [email protected] and [email protected]

The deadline for submitting the application will be on 10 January 2018.

Only short-listed consultants will be contacted.

Consultant Bio-Data Form

Job Details
Organisation Name: 
HKI
Application Deadline: 
Wed, 2018-01-10