National Consultant to Conduct Technical Investigation, IEC Material Update and TOT Training Courses on Nutrition Vegetable Garden and Organic Composting

Hiring a national Consultant to conduct technical investigation, IEC material update and TOT training courses on nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting

The Project “Improving nutritional status of ethnic minority children living in Northern mountainous areas” will be implemented in Sop Cop & Bac Yen District, Son La Province. The main objectives are:

• Project essential documents (implementation guidelines, training manuals and IEC materials on maternal and child nutrition care and NSA) are updated.
• Relevant staff (from Heath, Agriculture sectors and Women’s Union) at commune and district levels have increased capacity to promote and carry out maternal and child nutritional care to targeted households
• Relevant staff (from Heath, Agriculture sectors and Women Union) at commune and district levels have increased capacity to promote and implement nutrition-sensitive agriculture models

The rates of underweight and stunting in Sop Cop and Bac Yen were very high, at 24.7% and 59.0%, respectively. One of the main causes of child malnutrition in these two districts is that 90% of the daily meals of children and pregnant women do not have enough four food groups. Most of these meals lack protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. The food supply of households such as raising chickens, vegetable gardens at home and on the fields is inefficient, leading to a lack of food groups in daily meals. During the preliminary investigation in March 2021, SC identified one of the nutrition sensitive agriculture models for the project area is nutrition vegetable garden. However, due to the improper application of techniques, the current home vegetable garden do not provide enough vegetable for household daily meals. In addition, the poverty rate in the project commune is quite high: in some communes, this rate ranges from 35% - 50%, or even up to 70%. Therefore, people do not have enough cash to buy food supplements for their daily meals.

The project will conduct a technical survey to assess the current context of vegetable garden at household scale. The results of the survey will be the foundation for updating technical requirements for the nutrition vegetable garden, as well as for updating training and IEC materials.  Following that, the project will organize TOT training courses to raise awareness and strengthen capacity of district and commune officials on these models. Therefore, the project will recruit an experienced consultant to improve the effectiveness of household vegetable garden and composting, thereby improving the food supply for daily meals of target households, contributing to the mitigatigation of child malnutrition in the project area.

Objectives of the Consultancy

• Update technical requirements for nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model to sustainably strengthen  the effectiveness of household vegetable garden thereby improving the food supply for daily meals of target groups.
• Update training and IEC materials on nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting.
• Raise awareness and equip skills for commune and district officials on farmer-centred training methods, nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model. After being trained, these officers are expected to have enough knowledge and skills to effectively train households with similar topics.

Location and official travel involved

The Consultants will be based outside the SCI office. Consultant is responsible for using his/her own IT equipment. The Consultant will be required to travel to Son La province. Any required travel will need approval by SCI in accordance with SCI’s Travel Policy.

Services the Consultant will provide

Task 1.  Conduct a survey to develop technical requirement for nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model that are locally suitable

The Consultant will conduct a survey on the current situation of household vegetable garden and the treatment of agriculture residue in the locality, including the following survey contents: i/ Current effectiveness of household vegetable garden and treatment methods of agricultural residue. Pay attention to a particular time of the year when the vegetable garden is difficult to develop, ii/ inadequacies in technical care, treatment of pests and diseases on vegetables, treatment of rice straw, corn stalks, excreta in livestock and iii/ on the above basis, discuss  the people and village officials on improving these drawbacks.

The Consultant is required to develop a technical protocol for the survey, which will use FGD, in-depth interviews with commune and district officials, combined with transect observations and household interviews. The Consultant should refer to the experience of nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model development of similar projects that have been implemented in Son La and the mountainous Northern provinces to propose suitable nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model for local conditions. The nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model should achieve the following goals:

• Supply sufficient vegetable for daily meals of target beneficiaries throughout the year.
• Sustain household nutrition vegetable garden by conducting reinvestment activities and prioritizing the vegetable that can be seeded for the next season,
• Increase family income if possible.

Simultaneously, the nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model must meet the following requirements:

• There must always be at least 4 vegetable varieties throughout the year.
• Do not use chemicals (chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, chemical stimulants, etc.) and do not use fresh/unfertilized fertilizers for vegetables.
• Only improve some technical stages of the current farming method. The improved techniques should be suitable to the level/experience of the farmers.
• Do not cause conflicts within the local community, do not exclude poor households, and do not negatively affect the environment.

The result of the survey must be shared and achieve mutual agreement among communal and district partners.

Task 2. Update training and IEC materials for the TOT course

Based on the results of task 1, the Consultant is required to complete a number of activities related to the nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model:

• Update technical requirements for the nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model
• Update training materials for TOT, including training agenda and handouts for TOT trainee. The training program must include discussion of current technical inadequacies, classroom training to practice the farmer-centred training skills, and a focus on practice of organic composting.
• Update training materials for farmer training including training agenda and handout for farmer trainees
• Update IEC materials on nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting model. This document will be used in the TOT and farmer training, and for monitoring and supervision activities as well.

Task 3. Delivering TOT courses for 02 project districts

The consultant will conduct 02 TOT training courses for Sop Cop district and Bac Yen district. The purpose of this training course is to equip participants with knowledge and skills to effectively apply the nutrition vegetable garden and organic composting. In addition, the training will equip farmers with effective training skills. Participants include district and commune technicians, women's unions, farmers' unions, and commune youth representatives.

Experience and skill set required

• University degree on cropping.
• Have at least 13 years of working experience.
• Experience on establishment of nutrition vegetable gardens and implementing organic composting activities for ethnic minority communities
• Experience on delivering training TOT for district and commune staff and for ethnic minority communities in mountainous provinces.
• Experience on developing IEC materials about nutrition vegetable garden, organic composting for ethnic minorities in mountainous Northern area.
• Have experience in working with ethnic minority communities in the North.

How to apply

[email protected] by 10:00 AM on 5 September 2022 at the latest.

• CVs
• financial Proposal: This budget includes consultancy fee, perdiem, accomodation, transportation, fee for local participants and PIT which is withdrawn from total budget.

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