Assessment of the National Breeding Objectives and Implementation of Supporting Programs/Initiatives for Dairy Livestock Value Chains in North Africa

https://www.au-ibar.org/consultancies/82-en/opportunities/consultancies/1505-six-national-and-one-lead-consultancies-on-assessment-of-the-national-breeding-objectives-and-implementation-of-supporting-programs-initiatives-for-dairy-livestock-value-chains-dlvcs-in-north-africa-algeria-egypt-libya-mauritania-morocco-and-tunisia

Background

The African Union’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is a specialized Technical Office of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission. Its mandate is to support and coordinate the sustainable development and utilization of animal resources (livestock, fisheries and wildlife) to enhance nutrition and food security and contribute to the wellbeing and prosperity of the people in the Member States of the African Union (AU). AU-IBAR accomplishes its mandate through supporting and empowering the AU Member States, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other stakeholders in the livestock sector.

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) has 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 Livestock Value Chains; Animal Health; Animal Production, Productivity and Ecosystem Management; Resilience Building; Technology adoption; and strengthening institutional capacities. One of the key project’s focus result areas is to enhance the implementation of breeding and conservation programmes for sustainable utilization and management of African livestock. Live2Africa is a concrete support for implementation of the Livestock Development Strategy (LiDeSA), through the Value Chain approach.

The prioritization exercise of the regional livestock value chains that had been carried out in a consultative meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in February 2019, indicated that the Dairy Value Chain was the one identified as a priority one for North Africa. A stakeholder stocktaking exercise, to define intervention areas along the selected priority livestock value chains, was carried out in August 2019 in Cairo, Egypt. The participating North-Africa Member States were: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. In that meeting, strategic actions and interventions were identified for each priority regional value chain. Table (1) presents the identified strategic actions and interventions for North Africa.

Table (1) List of UMA regional identified strategic actions and interventions

North Africa Priority Value Chain: Dairy Livestock Value ChainStrategic Actions (1). Valuation of the Region’s Dairy Herd1.1. Valuation of the region's dairy herd - Better valuations of existing livestock to produce livestock (Cattle, Sheep, Caprine and Camelids) to produce good quality breeding stocks and reduce the region’s animal and semen imports
1.2. Creating and strengthening professional organizations by involving young people and rural women
1.3. Setting up a smart herd and flock management system (data recording, management, feeding, product quality) while strengthening existing AI centers in the region.Strategic Actions (2). Valuing Natural Resources2.1. Sustainable management and optimization of water-resources
2.2. Management and optimization of forage resources
2.3. Valuation of agricultural by-productsStrategic Actions (3). Capacity Building3.1. Farmers organizations with a focus on small to medium farms
3.2. Training and supervising to increase performances of Dairy Livestock Value Chains (DLVC) in milk production and Transformed milk
3.3. Harmonization of milk standards

Implementation of prioritized strategic actions and interventions, by the Live2Africa, will contribute to the North Africa’s livestock sector, by strengthening systemic capacity of national and regional Dairy Livestock Value Chain (DLVC) for the economic, environmental and social transformations, as aligned to the Livestock Development Strategy for Africa (LiDeSA).

A Stakeholder Consultation on Annual Implementation Plan of Life2Africa Activities in North Africa was held in Cairo, Egypt in the period 28^th – 30^th January 2020. The consultation aimed to validation and building consensus on the list of strategic actions (SA) and interventions previously identified, mapping of key stakeholders and strategic partners (implementers/actors), building consensus, among implementers, on the detailed implementation plan and on distribution of tasks and responsibilities, and to road-map the enhancement of the Intra-North-African trade, in Dairy Livestock Value Chain, within the AfCTA framework (report is attached). Within the validated priority interventions, Live2Africa will implement a pilot supporting regional program (e.g. genetic gain system, dairy-products value-add system, etc.) in North Africa.

Therefore, the current sought consultation aims to provide a platform to assess the current status of North Africa Member States in relation to “the Baseline status of Dairy Livestock Value Chain (DLVC); national breeding objectives; implementation of supporting programs/initiatives; level(s) of implementation and adoption by stakeholders; gaps (needs); and opportunities for further regional pilot programs to be implemented by Live2Africa to fill the gaps.

In this regard, AU-IBAR is seeking to engage the services of Seven (7) consultants: Six (6) National Consultants, NC (one per each of the 6 North Africa Member States: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia) for conducting national studies and developing the national reports, and One (1) Lead-Consultant, LC, who will be responsible for designing the task, data collection tools, analysis approach, and follow up the execution of the 6 national consultations with the NCs, and compiling the contents of the national reports to develop the regional report, with regard to methodology, deliverables and responsibility determined in this TOR, and further discussions.

Objectives of the Consultation Missions

The Overall Objective is to assess the national genetic improvement objectives of the dairy livestock and its supporting programs/initiatives implemented in the participating 6 Member States of North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia), their impacts, and gaps left. Therefore, to identify specific priority pilot regional program(s) to be implemented by Live2Africa, to fill the gaps and improve productivity, resilience and sustainability of the regional DLVC.

The Specific Objectives of the 6 National Consultancies :

1. To describe the Base-Line status of different segments of the national Dairy Livestock Value Chain (DLVC), including the national developmental objectives of the Dairy Livestock.
2. Inventory of the dairy livestock supporting programs (e.g. genetic gain system, dairy products value-add programs, dairy value-chain networking system, etc.), that have been implemented since the year 2000), their impacts, gaps left and opportunities to fill the gaps.
3. To assess the DLVC resilience to the biotic/abiotic (re)emerging disasters (particularly the impact of the current Covid-19 confinement restrictions), gaps and needed interventions to fill the gaps.
4. Therefore, to identify specific priority regional supporting program(s) to be implemented by Live2Africa to support productivity, resilience and sustainability of the DLVC, and its/their expected impact(s).
5. To identify the best implementation modality and implementers’ partnership for the program.
6. Data analysis and timely production and delivery of draft/final national reports, to LC and IBAR, in satisfactory quality and professionality following the agreed upon List of Content and analytical approach.

The Specific Objectives for the “Lead-Consultancy, LC” :

1. To design the List of Content to be followed in the preparation of the 6 National consultancy missions’ reports, to secure harmonization and compatibility and facilitate comparative analysis of data and the preparation of the regional report.
2. To design needed tools, questionnaires, forms, and guidelines to be utilized in the process of data collection to secure harmonization in collected and analyzed data.
3. To design the data analysis approach(s) and results forms.
4. To follow-up the execution of the 6 national consultancies with the national consultants.
5. To compile harmonized results and information of the 6 national consultancies’ reports to produce the regional report that satisfy the List of Content agreed upon.
6. Timely delivery of draft/final regional reports, to IBAR, in satisfactory quality and professionality.

Methodology

The methodology of the consultation process will include Desk (literature, official census and database) reviews, individual interviews and group-discussions with stakeholders and strategic actors of different segments of the DLVC (producers, traders, processors, input suppliers, professional organizations, researchers and education staff, public sector, etc.) and analysis of quantitative data and qualitative observations in proper approaches to achieve the objectives of the study. It is expected that the group discussion meetings will be in the form of online-conferences, to cope with the current Covid-19 confinement restrictions and the individual interviews will be either physical meetings considering social-distance measures or in online-meetings. Data will be collected according to developed tools, form, questionnaires and guidelines, developed by the LC and agreed upon with IBAR and NCs.

The following are some detailed measures and parameters to be considered, in addition to others to be developed in brain storming sessions with the consultants, for each objective:

Assessment of the Base-Line status of the Dairy Livestock Value Chain (DLVC):

This part will present a background description of the national DLVC segments and integration among different segments; the national objectives of dairy livestock; national actors and partnership; active professional organizations; policy / regulatory frameworks, and areas in-need for policy development/update; sustainable resource availability; resilience/vulnerability to biotic/abiotic (re)emerging disasters; investment in genetic/none-genetic improvement of dairy livestock (vs. investment in the whole livestock sub-sector and the agricultural sector); livestock marketing chain (actors, channels, infrastructure, accessibility and information management); and areas in need of interventions for improving productivity, sustainability and resilience.

Inventory of the implemented supporting programs:

This will include inventory; status, impact and sustainability analyses of the supporting programs (i.e. genetic improvement/gains systems, dairy-products value-add, dairy value chain networking, etc.), that have been implemented since the year 2000, gaps left and opportunities for further pilot programs to fill such gaps, to be implemented by Live2Africa, in order to support productivity, resilience and sustainability of the DLVC.

The assessment will include but not limited to the following parameters:

• Objectives of the program(s): geographical/agro-ecological zones; targeted dairy species/breeds; program lifetime; utilized breeding approach (e.g. phenotypic selection, crossbreeding, etc.).
• Level of implementation; stakeholder partnerships and benefits of partnership, etc.
• Assessment of their impacts on genetic potentiality and economic performance of dairy livestock, and socio-economic impact(s) on stakeholders.
• Introduced and adopted interventions (e.g. animal Identification, recording systems and EBV assessment, AI, establishment of dairy collection/processing center, etc.); their function(s) in supporting the DLVC, and their sustainable use and/or impact(s) after the end of the program / initiative.
• Supported and/or adopted “Climate-Smart Breeding, CSB” for mitigating climate change.
• Policy and regulation frameworks supported by the program/initiative.
• Professional organizations supported the implementation of the programs, and their functions.
• Equity of access and participation for different gender, social and economic groups.
• Sustainable resource availability by the supporting programs (e.g., market development and accessibility; niche-market; untraditional utilization of livestock resources; natural resources management; conservation of biodiversity; adoption of climate-smart breeding, etc.).
• Sustainable impacts of program after the program lifetime.
• Gaps left and needs for further supporting program, its objectives and main results to fill the gaps.
• Else (to be developed in brainstorming with LC and 6 NCs).

To assess the resilience/vulnerability of the DLVC to (re)emerging biotic/abiotic disasters (particularly the CoViD-19 confinement restriction) and identify priority mitigation’s interventions.

Assessment of resilience/vulnerability to the (re)emerging disasters (Covid-19 confinement restrictions) will include:

• The negative impacts on different segments of the DLVC, i.e. Dairy production; inputs (feed, vaccines, etc.) and delivery of inputs system; Trade, marketing and market access; Dairy-livestock based livelihoods and employment; Else (to be developed in brainstorming with LC and NCs).
• Responses have been taken by the public sector and other stakeholders.
• Mitigation-related interventions that should be directed to overcome and avoid further negative impacts.
• Screening of Disasters Early Warning (DEW) and Risk management (DRM) systems/facilities associated with dairy livestock management (quarantine system, vet. Surveillance system, meteorology-stations, climate-prediction system, etc.).
• Assessment of the livestock stakeholder conception on Disaster Reduction and Management; and risk reduction tools.
• Needed interventions for improving livestock production system resilience and Mitigation of negative impacts of biotic (e.g. pandemic COVID-19 confinement restrictions) and abiotic (e.g. Draught) disasters, including climate-smart-practices).
• Recommendation/ road map for promoting arrangements for improving phases of Disaster Risk Management (Pre- during- and post-disaster), e.g. early warning systems, partnership, animal-insurance and credit systems, marketing management to control spreading of disease or alleviating of grazing pressure and increase revenues, selection of tolerant animals, etc.

Identify priority supporting programs, and best implemented modalities and implementers partnership:

• According to the results of the previous analytical aspects, the consultation report will indicate the most appropriate regional pilot supporting program(s) (1-3 programs) and its/their implementation modality(ies) including implementers and their smart partnership, and enhancement of their sustainable impact(s). The report should clearly indicate the program’s recommended results and main activities that aim to fill identified gaps and support productivity, resilience and sustainability of the dairy livestock.

Responsibilities and Expected Outcomes of the Consultants

From each of the 6 national consultancies

1. To contribute to the design of and plan the consultation process, list of contents, and data collection tools and analysis approaches (according to the methodology’s parameters), that best secure the progress towards obtaining the desired outcomes, in coordination with the lead consultant (LC).
2. To carry-out desk reviews, interviews, and group discussions as per the agreed upon methodology and TOR, using developed tools.
3. To carry-out quantitative data /qualitative information analyses according to agreed-upon approaches.
4. In-time production and delivery of the national consultation draft / final reports (in English), to the LC and IBAR, according to the List of Contents agreed upon.

From the Lead Consultant (LC)

1. To plan the consultation process and design the reports list of contents that best support achieving the objectives of the study.
2. To develop comprehensive survey tools / forms /questionnaires / guidelines for data collection and analysis approaches, according to parameters and measures agreed upon in the methodology and TOR.
3. To secure that the designed List of Contents will be followed in the 6 National consultancies’ reports and to secure harmonization in collected information and facilitate the production of the regional report.
4. To follow-up the execution of the national consultancies, data analysis and report writing with the 6 national consultants.
5. Timely (according to Annex 1) production and delivery of the draft and final regional reports (in English), to IBAR, by compiling analysed data and information of the 6 National consultancy’ reports, that satisfies the “List of Content” in a high quality and proficiency.

Consultancy Mission and Deliverables

In regard of the above, AU-IBAR is seeking to engage the services of Seven (7) consultants:

1. Six (6) national consultants, NCs, (one per each of the 6 North Africa participating Member States; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia) to carry-out the 6 national consultation studies with regard to methodology, deliverables and responsibility in the current TOR.
2. One (1) Leading Consultant, LC, who will be responsible for the tasks mentioned in the current TOR.

Deliverables

From the Lead consultants (timely according to Annex: 1):

• Tools, forms and questionnaires to be utilized for harmonized data collection process.
• Quantitative / qualitative data analysis approaches.
• List of target groups for interviews/group discussion and key stakeholders/actors.
• List of content and report outline.
• Timely delivery of the draft and final regional reports.

From the 6 National consultants (timely according to Annex: 1):

• Contributing to the development of data collection tools and analysis approaches.
• Contributing to the preparation of lists of target-groups and stakeholders/actors (source of information).
• Data and information collected and list of sources utilized.
• Timely delivery of the draft and final national reports.

Scope of Work

The methodology of the consultations will include literature reviews, data-base and consensus reviews, individual interviews, and group-discussions. Interviews and group-discussion sessions will use the participatory process that allows the ideas of individuals/groups to be tested, argued, amplified and refined through constructive discussions. The consultants will perform the consultation services with the highest standards of professional and ethical competence and integrity. The consultants are strongly encouraged to develop highly interactive and practical outputs for this consultancies.

Competences and Experience

Every consultant should have:

1. Having an advanced university degree in Dairy Livestock Value Chain, Dairy Production System, Dairy Animal Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Animal Science and/or any other relevant fields.
2. At least five years’ experience in Dairy Livestock Value Chain, Dairy Production System, Dairy Animal Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Animal Science and/or any other relevant fields.
3. Proficiency in applicability of genetic improvement strategies selection, crossbreeding, synthetic breeds, genomic selection, etc.), and dairy value-add systems (collection/processing centres, quality of dairy products, etc.) in dairy livestock in African.
4. Experience in executing and developing national/regional consultation studies.
5. Excellent soft and interpersonal skills and ability to work with people of different cultures and professional backgrounds.
6. Fluency in English (the report will be produced in English).

Remuneration

• For the 6 National Consultancies: The actual duration of the consultation mission is 20 days of technical consultancy, within the total period of 42 days, as indicated in Annex 1 (Remuneration Table), below. Task distribution time is: 1 day discussions with IBAR and LC on data structure and source, report outline, target groups for interviews, etc. (zoom meeting) + 5 days Disk Review + 5 days interviews and discussion groups + 5 days reporting and submission of the draft to the LC and IBAR + 4 days for Editing the draft National Reports according to the LC, UMA and IBAR comments, and submission of the final report.
• For the Lead Consultant: The actual duration of the consultation mission is 24 days of technical consultancy, within the total period of 42 days, as indicated in Annex 1 (Remuneration Table). Task distribution time is: 1 day discussions with IBAR, and NCs on tools, data structure and source, report outline target groups for interviews, etc. (zoom meeting), and IBAR consultation with UMA + 3 days development of tools, data analysis framework and report outline, etc. and delivery to AU-IBAR + 1 day discussion with IBAR on developed tools, data structure and source, report outline, target groups for interviews, etc. (zoom meeting) + 1 day editing of developed tools, etc. based on comments + 3 days Follow-up execution of national consultancies + 6 days for revision of national draft reports and provision of feedback to NCs + 6 days for the preparation of draft regional report and submission to IBAR, and IBAR share with UMA + 3 days for editing the draft regional report and production of the final regional report according to comments, and submit to IBAR.

Duration

The assignment will be undertaken in a total period of 42 days; with actual consultation work of 20 days for each of the 6 National Consultants, and 24 days for the Lead Consultant (as indicated in Annex 1: Remuneration Table). The consultancy period will commence on Monday 29^th June 2020, and will end by Sunday 9^th August 2020.

Supervision

The consultant will work under the overall guidance and supervision of the Animal Production, Natural Resource Management and Resilience expert.

Timeline and Budget

Interested consultants are required to provide “Technical and Financial” Proposals. The deadline for submission of proposals is by Sunday 23^rd June 2020 at 15:00 Hrs Nairobi, Local Time.

How to apply:

Submission of Proposals

The email address for submission of the proposals is procurement@au-ibar.org with a copy to khalid.seid@au-ibar.org or by post addressed to the following address with mention “Assessment of the National Breeding Objectives and Implementation of Supporting Development Programs/Initiatives for Dairy Livestock Value Chains, DLVCs, in North Africa”, indicating the application to either the Lead Consultancy (LC) or the National Consultancy (NC) missions and the Member State to be studied in the national consultation.

The Procurement Officer
African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources
Kenindia Business Park, Museum Hill, Westlands Road
P.O. Box 30786 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Yours faithfully,
Prof. Ahmed El-Sawalhy
Director AU-IBAR