Editing and publication of the Compendium of Technologies and Innovations applied in Priority Livestock Value Chains in Africa

Background

The African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is a specialized technical Office of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of the African Union Commission (AUC). AU-IBAR's mandate is to support and coordinate the utilization of livestock, fisheries and wildlife as a resource for both human wellbeing and economic development in the Member States of the African Union (AU). The mission of AU-IBAR is to provide leadership in the development of animal resources in Africa through supporting and empowering AU Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

AU-IBAR recognizes the adoption of a 10-year Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024) by the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit. It further recognizes the continent’s transformation agenda which re-affirms the impact envisioned through the Livestock development strategy for Africa (LiDeSA) and Agenda 2063. Therefore as part of providing leadership and coordination in the sustainable development of the continent, AU-IBAR is implementing a 5-year project on “Sustainable Development of Livestock for Livelihoods in Africa - Live2Africa”. The project pioneers a coherent continental programme approach to build systemic capacity in seven livestock components, that include: Investment in Value Chains, Animal Health; Animal Production, Productivity and Ecosystem Management; Resilience Building; Technology adoption in the Value Chains to inputs, services and markets; and strengthening institutional capacities.

The overall objective of the project is "To support transformation of the African livestock sector for enhanced contribution to environmentally sustainable, climate resilient, socio-economic development and equitable growth" while the specific objective is to strengthen the systemic capacity of continental, regional and national Livestock Sector stakeholders for the economically, environmentally and socially sustainable transformation of the livestock sector.

Africa is increasingly becoming a key player in acquiring, generating and applying knowledge to development challenges. Yet more needs to be done to make innovation play its part in the quest for transformation and diversification of the African economies. Sustained support to help member States put in place a favourable innovation environment as well as fully utilize appropriate technologies to address their pressing needs is required, such as green economy, industrialization, job and wealth creation.

As part of providing leadership and coordination in the sustainable development of the continent’s Animal Resources, African Union InterAfrican Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is implementing a 5-year project on “Sustainable Development of Livestock for Livelihoods in Africa - Live2Africa”, The project pioneers a coherent continental programme approach to build systemic capacity in seven livestock components, that include: Investment in Value Chains, Animal Health; Animal Production, Productivity and Ecosystem Management; Resilience Building; Technology adoption in the Value Chains to inputs, services and markets; and strengthening institutional capacities.

One of the key project’s focus areas is to enhance innovation, generation and utilization of technologies, capacities and entrepreneurship skills of livestock value chain actors. In light of this AU-IBAR, would like to develop a compendium of existing technologies, their suitability and profitability across priority regional livestock value chains in Africa. The compendium will be based on the outputs of the previously held consultative workshop that identified the key technologies in use and also established their Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. This detailed information for the development of this compendium will be based on the outputs of the stocktaking workshop that was held in 2019, member states, RECs and other stakeholder feedback for questionnaire survey undertaken in 2020.

Context of the Consultancy

The current status of the importance of the animal resources poses pertinent questions on how best to maximize on the potential of these animal resources through embracing technologies or innovations that will propel their productivity and production to greater heights. The livestock sector in other regions has demonstrated the capacity to utilize technology to expand output and enhance product development especially in the dairy and mongastric (poultry and pigs) sub-sectors. It has also reverberated the need to embrace innovative application of ICTs and mobile money transfers to improve functionality, marketing and trade in extensive pastoral and agro-pastoral systems; harnessing of various forage technologies for ruminants, among others. However, in general there is low uptake of technologies and limited investment in innovation which has undermined the capacity for Africa’s livestock and livestock products to access and compete favourably in the regional and international markets. Despite the above challenges, the continent is increasingly becoming a key player in acquiring, generating and applying knowledge to development challenges. Yet more needs to be done to make technology and innovation play its part in the quest for transformation and diversification of the African economies. Sustained support to help member States put in place a favourable technology and innovation environment as well as appropriate technologies to address their pressing needs is required, such as green economy, industrialization, job and wealth creation. There is a great need to take stock and document environmentally friendly and climate smart technologies that are well adapted for use especially by women and youth as well as identify strategic interventions for increased technology transfer and uptake.

AU-IBAR is seeking the services of one (1) qualified and experienced registered consultancy firm/publishing company for a short-term consultancy to editing and publication of the compendium of Technologies and Innovations applied in Priority Livestock Value Chains in Africa for the Live2Africa Project.

Objectives

The aims of this consultancy are to:

1. Proofread and edit as necessary compendium document to international publication standards
2. Format and designing of the layout of the compendium document
3. Produce final versions of professionally-edited documents ready for publication
4. Publish 200 copies of the final print ready document for dissemination

Expected Outputs

Working closely with the Technology, Innovations and Skill development expert building on the above, the expected outputs of the consultancy will be:

• One soft copy of a professionally proofread and well-written compendium of technologies and innovations document ready for publication
• A well designed and formatted compendium document
• 200 Published copies of the compendium of Technologies and Innovations applied in Priority Livestock Value Chains in Africa

Qualifications (organization or firm preferred)

Technical Proposal

Applicants should submit a Technical Proposal that should include:

1. Outline of the methodology, for conducting the consultancy as per the tasks and indicate the number of days to accomplish each task.
2. Profile and CVs of the team of consultant(s) undertaking the work indicating relevant academic qualifications and professional experience
3. Information showing past experience in related fields, demonstrating an inventory of past and current assignments of similar nature.
4. Contact addresses (Postal, email and telephone) of at least three referees or any other information that may show the consultant’s ability to carry out the assignment to satisfaction.
5. Legal administrative documents from the consulting firm or institution attesting to its existence of at least five (5) years and proof of its tax compliance.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria will be applied as follows:

Mandatory requirements

1. Legal Status: Registration/Business Certificate with proof of tax compliance.
2. Must be publishing firm with experience in the livestock sector.

Technical Scoring

The technical proposal will weigh 80%.

The technical proposal will be evaluated against the following criteria

1. At least five years’ experience in writing and editing to international standards, preferably with a focus on livestock sector work specific to the African continent
2. Proficiency in designing and laying-out of scientific publications
3. Familiarity in creative and innovative publications
4. Specific experience on similar tasks conducted
5. Excellent writing skills
6. Proficient in English/French language, spoken and written
7. Relevant qualifications and experience of staff
8. Experience in printing of high quality publications

The Consultancy firm or institution must fulfil the mandatory requirements and score at least 70/100 in order to be considered for further evaluation.

Financial Evaluation

The financial proposal will weigh 20 percent. The financial proposal will be evaluated on the basis of total cost, cost realism and used in combination with the assessment of the technical quality to determine the best value.

Duration

The consultancy will be conducted for two months (60 days), starting from the day of the signature of the contract.

Maximum Budget

The Maximum Budget allocated for the consultancy is USD 15,000 (fifteen thousand US dollars),

Supervision and Coordination

The consultant will work closely with the Technology, Innovations and skill development expert.

How to apply:

How to Apply

Please submit your CV including three references and a proposal latest 15th December 2020 to the Director of AU-IBAR, Kenindia Business Park, Museum Hill, Westlands Road, PO Box 30786-00100 Nairobi, Kenya or email at procurement@au-ibar.org clearly indicating in the subject line “Editing and publication of the Compendium of Technologies and Innovations applied in Priority Livestock Value Chains in Africa”.

Only short-listed candidates will be notified.