Feasibility Assessment and Road Map for the Establishment of the Regional Central Africa Poultry Grand-Parent Stock Farm, CA-GPSF and ...

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 Poultry Egg Value Chain (PEVC) was the one identified as a priority one for Central 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. Participants form Central-Africa Member States identified the strategic actions (SA) and interventions (in Table 1).

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

Central Africa Priority Value Chain: Poultry Value ChainStrategic Actions (1). Strengthening the Policy and Regulatory Framework1.1. Develop a regional poultry development policy (Harmonize the sub-region's regulations on poultry farming, control the price of products and inputs and establishment of a quality control structure in the sub-region)
1.2. Supporting the development of regulations and standardsStrategic Actions (2). Improvement of the poultry value chain2.1. Identification, mapping, synergizing input and poultry producers, and promote the establishment of a sub-regional grand-parent lines/stock farm.Strategic Actions (3). Capacity Building3.1. Establish/strengthen the inter-professionals network at national and regional level.

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

Therefore, the current sought consultation aims to provide a platform to assess the current status of Central Africa Poultry Egg Value Chain (CA-PEVC), and to provide a feasibility assessment and road map for the establishment of the Central Africa Poultry Grand-Parent Stock Farm, CA-GPSF and strengthening the Inter-Professionals Network(s) in ECCAS”.

In this regard, AU-IBAR is seeking to engage the services of Six (6) consultants:

• Five (5) National Consultants, NCs (one per each of the main 5 Central Africa Member States in PEVC being Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo) for conducting the 5 national studies and developing the national reports, and
• One (1) Lead-Consultant, LC, who will be responsible for designing the task, list of contents, data collection tools and analysis approach; follow up the execution of the 5 national consultations; and compiling the contents of the 5 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 current status of the national Poultry Egg Value Chain (PEVC); its supporting programs/initiatives implemented since the year 2000; and mapping of its input/output actors in the participating 5 Member States of Central Africa (Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo); in addition to conduct a feasibility study and develop the road map for the establishment of the Central Africa Grand-Parent Stock Farm (CA-GPSF) and strengthening the Inter-Professionals Network(s), to improve productivity, resilience and sustainability of the regional PEVC.”

The specific objectives of the Consultancies:

1. To describe the Base-Line status of different segments of the national Poultry Egg Value Chain (PEVC), including the national developmental objectives.
2. Mapping of main national and regional PEVC actors, assessment of their function, and the road map for strengthening the Inter-Professional Networks function in the management, productivity and resilience of the regional PEVC.
3. To assess the national and regional PEVC 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. Inventory of the supporting programs / initiatives (e.g. genetic gain system, poultry products value-add programs, poultry stakeholder networking, etc.), that have been implemented since the year 2000) on both national and regional levels, their impacts, gaps left and opportunities to fill the gaps.
5. Feasibility analysis and road map for the establishment of the pilot regional Central Africa Grandparent Stock Farm (CA-GPSF), to be implemented by Live2Africa, its expected impact, and the best implementation and partnership modalities to support productivity, resilience and sustainability of the regional PEVC.

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 PEVC (producers, traders, processors, input suppliers, professional organizations, researchers and education staff, public sector, etc.). It also consists-in 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 and analysed according to data collection tools (form, questionnaires and guidelines) and analysis approach(es) to be 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 Poultry Egg Value Chain (PEVC) in the 5 ECCAS selected MSs and therefore regionally:

This part will present a background description of the national (and therefore the regional) PEVC segments and integration among different segments; the national objectives; 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 poultry (vs. investment in the livestock sub-sector and the agricultural sector); poultry marketing chain (actors, channels, infrastructure, accessibility and information management); and areas in need for interventions for improving productivity, sustainability and resilience of the PEVC.

Mapping of main PEVC actors, assessment of their function, and the road map for strengthening the Inter-Professional Networks’ function in the management, productivity and resilience of the PEVC.

This part will provide a detailed description of all national PEVC actors (producers, traders, processors, input suppliers, professional organizations, researchers and education staff, public sector, etc.), and modality of interaction/integration. This will provide essential information on regional stakeholder partnership for targeted intervention by the Live2Africa. It will also provide the road map for strengthening the Inter-Professional Networks and enhance their function, on regional levels, for improving the management, productivity and resilience of the PEVC.

To assess the national PEVC resilience to the biotic/abiotic (re)emerging disasters, particularly the impact of the current Covid-19 confinement restrictions, gaps and needed mitigation’s interventions.

Assessment of resilience/vulnerability will include (but limited to):

• The negative impacts Covid-19 restriction measures on different segments of the PEVC (i.e. inputs availability, mobility and cost; output mobility, availability and prices; storage and cooling cycle; trade, marketing and access to market; poultry-based livelihoods and employment; impact on youth and women; Else (to be developed in discussion sessions).
• Responses have been taken by different PEVC actors, including the public sector, to the restriction measures (immediate/short term).
• Mitigation-related interventions (Mid-term) and strategies (long-term) to overcome and avoid further negative impacts.
• Screening of Disasters Early Warning (DEW) and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) systems / facilities / strategies associated with PEVC management (quarantine system, vet. Surveillance system, vaccination schemes, meteorology-stations, climate-prediction system, etc.).
• Assessment of the poultry stakeholder conception on DEW, DRM; and risk reduction tools.
• Needed interventions and strategies for improving poultry production system resilience and Mitigation of negative impacts of biotic and abiotic disasters, including climate-smart-practices.
• Road map for promoting / improving Disaster Risk Management (Pre- during- and post-disaster), e.g. early warning systems, partnership, insurance and credit systems, marketing management to control spreading of disease, selection of adapted breeds, etc.

Inventory of the supporting programs / initiatives that have been implemented since the year 2000.

This will include inventory, implementation status, impact and sustainability assessment of the supporting programs (i.e. genetic improvement/gains systems, poultry-products value-add, poultry 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 PEVC.

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

• Objectives of the program(s): geographical/agro-ecological zones; targeted poultry 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 sustainable impacts on genetic potentiality and economic performance of poultry, and socio-economic impact(s) on stakeholders.
• Introduced and adopted interventions; their function(s) in supporting the PEVC, 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 poultry resources; feed resources management; conservation of biodiversity; adoption of climate-smart breeding, etc.).
• 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 5 NCs).

Feasibility analysis and the road map for the establishment of the pilot regional Central Africa Grandparent Stock Farm (CA-GPSF), to be implemented by Live2Africa

According to the results of the previous analytical aspects, the consultation report will indicate the feasibility and road map for the implementation of the CA-GPSF.

The study of the CA-GPSF components and needs will cover:

• Establishment of the Paternal and Maternal grand-parent stock farm(s), in one of the CA MSs (potential MS and local, regional and continental actors should be identified and justified) to produce enough parent stock chicks.
• Parent-Stock chicks to be reared in one or more of the CA MSs where hatcheries, rearing facilities, qualified human resources, and supporting policy framework exist (potential MSs and local, regional and continental actors should be identified and justified). Parent-stock will produce enough commercial fertilized eggs and/or day-old layer chicks (DLCs).
• Fertilized Eggs or Day-old layer chicks will be distributed to Egg production farms in the 5 selected ECCAS MSs (potential actors should be identified and justified) to be reared and used for commercial egg production.
• Inputs (feeding, cages, ventilators, vet. Supplies, etc.) channels and actors.
• Outputs (Chicks, eggs, extra hens and roosters, etc.) channels and actors.
• Sustainability measures of the system (post-Live2Africa project) will be analyzed.
• Needed human resource development activities (e.g. training) for different actors.

The feasibility analysis will include (but not limited to):

• Developmental objectives of different segments of the CA-GPSF (GP, parent, and layer-chicks)
• Identifying potential Grand-Parent Stock breeds, more adapted to CA environmental conditions (e.g. Fayoumi, ISA Brown, Bovans Black, etc.), with justification.
• Potential MSs to host different segments (GP, and parent stock).
• Implementation modality(ies) including implementers (on national and regional levels) and their smart partnership (according to capacity, policy/regulations and knowledge/experience).
• Sustainability measures, on regional levels (marketing for the one-day layer checks, infrastructure, management capacity, financial feasibility vs. the current importation, etc.).
• How the outcome of the CA-GPSF will help filling the identified gaps and support productivity, resilience and sustainability of the regional CA-PEVC.

Consultancy Mission

In regard of the above, AU-IBAR is seeking to engage the services of Six (6) consultants:

• Five (5) national consultants, NCs, (one per each of the 5 Central Africa participating Member States: Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo , Gabon, and Republic of the Congo) to carry-out the 5 national consultation studies with regard to methodology, responsibilities and deliverables in the current TOR.
• One (1) Leading Consultant, LC, who will be responsible for the tasks with regard to methodology, responsibilities and deliverables in the current TOR.

Responsibilities, and deliverables of the Consultants

Responsibilities

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 data collection tools (survey, forms, and questionnaires), guidelines, and analysis approaches, according to parameters and measures agreed upon in the methodology and TOR.
3. To follow up with the 5 NCs and assure that the designed List of Contents will be followed in the 5 National consultancies’ reports and the harmonization of collected information to facilitate the production of the regional report.
4. To follow-up the execution of the national consultancies, data analysis and report writing with the 5 national consultants.
5. To liaise between the 5 NCs and IBAR within the implementation of the consultations.
6. Timely (according to Annex 1) preparation and delivery of the draft and final regional reports (in English), to IBAR, by compiling analysed data and information of the 5 National consultancy’ reports, that satisfies the “List of Content” in a high quality and proficiency.

From each of the 5 National Consultants

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 (data collection) 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 preparation and delivery of data, analysis results, and the national consultation draft / final reports, to the LC and IBAR, according to the tools, and “List of Contents” agreed upon.

Deliverables

From the Lead consultant (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 (in English).

From the 5 National consultants (timely according to Annex: 1):

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

All collected information and obtained results are considered confidential and will be only utilized for the AU-IBAR studies, and not allowed to be handled/exchanged with any third party.

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 these consultancies.

Competences and Experience

Every consultant should have:

1. An advanced university degree in Poultry Value Chain, Poultry Production System, Poultry Breeding and Genetics, Poultry Science and/or any other relevant fields.
2. At least five years’ experience in Poultry Value Chain, Poultry Production System, Poultry Breeding and Genetics, Poultry Science and/or any other relevant fields.
3. Proficiency in applicability of genetic improvement strategies (selection, crossbreeding, synthetic breeds, genomic selection, etc.) and/or Poultry value-add systems in Africa will be favoured.
4. Experience in executing and developing national and/or regional consultation studies.
5. Excellent soft and interpersonal skills and ability to work with people of different cultures and professional backgrounds.
6. The Lead Consultant (LC) is highly recommended to be Fluent in both English and French (Bilingual) to liaise between IBAR and the 5 NCs in the process of data collection and analysis, and report writing, and provision of the regional report in English.

Remuneration

• For the 5 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 Desk 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, ECCAS 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 ECCAS + 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 ECCAS + 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 5 National Consultants, and 24 days for the Lead Consultant (as indicated in Annex 1: Remuneration Table). The consultancy period will commence on Monday 6^th July 2020, and will end by Sunday 16^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 28^th June 2020 at 23:59 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 “Feasibility Assessment and Road Map for the Establishment of a Regional Central Africa Poultry Grand-Parent Stock Farm, CA-GPSF and Strengthening the Inter-Professionals Network(s) in ECCAS”, 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 Director
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