Background
The Africa Union (AU) has eight recognized Regional Economic Communities (RECs), namely Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN-SAD), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC), and Arab Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA). Most rural households depend on agriculture as part of their livelihoods and livestock commonly form an integral part of their production systems. Livestock play a significant role in the livelihoods and the economies of each REC as they provide income and employment for producers and others working in the different value chains. Livestock, are crucial assets and safety nets for the producers, especially for women, youth and pastoralist groups, and also provide an important source of food and nutrition security for millions of rural and urban households. These socio-economic roles are expected to increase in importance as the sector grows, with growth mainly attributable to increasing human populations, growth in demand for animal source protein, per capita incomes and urbanisation.
Recognizing the opportunities that the livestock sector presents, the AUC was mandated, through the decision (cite the Decision number) of the Twenty Fourth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2014), to lead and coordinate the formulation of a Livestock Development Strategy for Africa (LiDeSA) to transform the livestock sector by harnessing the under-utilized potential of the sector. The LiDeSA (2015 – 2035) was developed by AUC’s specialized technical office, the Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and is geared towards addressing Africa’s development needs and challenges in the livestock sector.
The LiDeSA is aligned to the aspirations of Agenda 2063, which is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into a global powerhouse It is the continent’s strategic framework that aims to deliver on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development and LiDeSA will guide stakeholders’ efforts in addressing major development barriers facing the livestock sector thus ensuring coordination of efforts at national, regional and continental levels. This coordination approach is expected to promote synergy in addressing critical issues facing livestock development and thus bring about result oriented actions that will lead to the realization of the sector’s full potential.
To achieve the envisaged aspirations, the LiDeSA lays out the following strategic objectives:
- To attract public and private investment along the livestock value chains;
- To enhance animal health and increase production, productivity and resilience of production systems;
- To enhance innovation, generation and utilization of technologies, capacities and entrepreneurship skills of value chain actors;
- To enhance access to market, services and value addition.
To ensure effective delivery of the LiDeSA, AU-IBAR in partnership with Member States and RECs are implementing the Sustainable Development of Livestock for Livelihoods in Africa (Live2Africa) project. Live2Africa aims to supporting the transformation of the African livestock sector for enhanced contribution to environmentally sustainable, climate resilient, socioeconomic development and equitable growth. Its 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. The project is funded by the European Union and the African Union.
As a part of the implementation of the Live2Africa project, Member States and RECs identified the following priority livestock value chains for each region.
- EAC: Dairy value chain
- UMA: Dairy value chain
- SADC: Red meat and live animals value chain
- IGAD: Red meat and live animals value chain
- ECOWAS: Poultry value chain
- ECCAS: Poultry value chain
The priority value chains will benefit from systemic capacity building interventions which are expected to catalyse further investment, development and growth in the livestock sector.
Rationale
Globally, the human population is expected to increase by more than 2 billion people from around 7.6 billion today to 9.8 billion by 2050. More than half of the global population growth between now and 2050 is expected to occur in Africa and it is projected that Africa’s current population of 1.3 billion will increase by more than 1 billion during this period. Rapid urbanization is expected to continue in developing countries, and the global demand for livestock products will continue to increase significantly in the coming decades.
In terms of value, the African market for animal-sourced foods was estimated at US$ 51 billion annually in 2005/07 (FAOSTAT farm-gate prices). This value is expected to almost triple by 2050 as it is projected that people living in Africa will consume livestock products valued at more than US$ 151 billion annually. Per capita annual consumption of livestock products in Africa is estimated to increase 2 to 8 fold by 2030 to 2050. However, projections also show that African producers will not be able to satisfy the growing demand for livestock products. Several factors account for this weakness and include tariff and non-tariff barriers, multiple and overlapping trade regimes, inadequate public and private sector investments; poor infrastructure, market inefficiencies, etc.
Consequently imports of livestock products are expected to grow much faster than exports, with the net trade balance for all livestock products becoming increasingly negative if the status quo is not changed. With trade mostly focused on primary agricultural products and less diversification into high value added products, Africa is less integrated into the world trade in animal products and trades less amongst itself. Over a ten year average (2010-2019), intra-African export in live animals for example was 27% compared with the continent’s major trading partners: EU-27 (44%) and ASEAN (39%). It is estimated that between 2030 and 2050, 16% to 20% of the beef, pig meat, poultry and milk consumed in Africa will be imported from outside Africa.
African countries have resolved to overcome these challenges through the creation of a liberalized market for goods and services. By building adequate infrastructure and reducing or progressively eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment, the continent intends to achieve an expanded and secure market for goods and services. By creating a single market for goods and services, facilitated by the movement of persons, the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement is expected to give effect to the objective of increasing intra-African trade.
A core objective of the AfCFTA is to promote industrial development through diversification and regional value chain development. It is well established that each region in Africa already has a unique livestock production context that creates opportunities for the supply of niche products across the region and to world markets. By improving productive capacities, animal health status, food safety and facilitating cross-border trade for livestock and livestock products the real socio-economic benefits of the sector can be realized. The AfCFTA therefore presents huge business opportunities to producers, traders and business people involved in trade in livestock and livestock products. However, to capitalize on these opportunities, both public and private sector value chain actors must have access to tools and information for trade support and market entry.
As part of the activities for supporting AU Member States to operationalize the AfCFTA, AU-IBAR in collaboration with the RECs is launching a study that will provide critical trade and market information on priority regional livestock value chains. AU-IBAR therefore seeks the services of a consultancy firm or organization to conduct this study.
Objective
The overall objective of the study is to facilitate intra-Africa trade in livestock and livestock products targeting priority regional livestock value chains (RLVC).
Specific objectives:
- To package information on business opportunities and prospective markets for firms and businesspeople scanning the African market to enable them to make informed decisions on diversification of markets and products and linkages to potential suppliers.
- To provide trade support institutions involved in trade promotion, sectoral performance, partner countries and trade development strategies with detailed information on intra-regional and intra-African trade flows and markets in priority regional livestock and livestock products in order to utilize resources effectively,
- Identify the major policies, regulatory requirements and related gaps applicable to cross border trade in the priority regional livestock and livestock products and make relevant recommendations.
Scope of Work
Under the direct supervision of the AU-IBAR Live2Africa Project Coordinator and the overall supervision of the Director AU-IBAR, AU-IBAR seeks the services of a team of multidisciplinary consultants or firm to perform the following:
- Conduct an assessment of the potential impact of the AfCFTA on the priority regional livestock value chains,
- Undertake an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in each REC in relation to intra-African and intra-regional trade in the identified priority regional livestock value chains,
- Analysis of trade-related policies, cross-border regulatory frameworks, constraints to productivity in the respective priority regional livestock value chains, non-tariff barriers serving as constraints to market entry and cross border trade so as to identify opportunities for the harmonization of policies and protocols at the regional and continental levels to facilitate the free trade of livestock and livestock products in the context of the AfCFTA,
- Conduct studies on livestock and livestock products market structures, trade volumes, trends and dynamics and the structure of supply chains in relation to the priority RLVCs.
- Identify the business opportunities available to livestock producers and traders.
- Document best practices in cross-border trade in livestock and livestock products
Expected Outputs and Deliverables
The following are the expected outputs and deliverables:
- An assessment of the potential impact of the AfCFTA on the priority regional livestock value chains,
- Analysis of the Challenges and opportunities in each REC in relation to intra-African and intra-regional trade in the identified priority regional livestock value chains,
- Analysis of trade-related policies, cross-border regulatory frameworks, constraints to productivity in the respective priority regional livestock value chains, non-tariff barriers serving as constraints to market entry and cross border trade.
- Opportunities for the harmonization of policies and protocols at the regional and continental levels to facilitate the free trade of livestock and livestock products in the context of the AfCFTA identified and documented.
- Analysis of livestock and livestock products market structures and dynamics, trade volumes, value and trends, and the structure of supply chains in relation to the priority RLVCs.
- Business opportunities in the priority RLVCs documented
- Best practices in cross-border trade in livestock and livestock products
Inception Report (IcTR)
An Inception Report (IcTR) within 2 weeks of commencing duty. The IcTR of not more than 10 pages should include the proposed methodology, the timeline/calendar and programme of activities and an outline of the contents of the Final Technical Report.
Progress Reports
The progress reports must be submitted bi-weekly to AU-IBAR and IGAD technical staff.
Interim Technical Report (InTR)
The interim Technical Report is perceived to be the First Draft of the Final Technical Report (FTR), before a final clean copy of the FTR is formally and officially submitted to and for acceptance by AU-IBAR.
Final Technical Report (FTR)
The Final Technical Report (FTR) should take into account contributions and comments from the relevant stakeholders and AU-IBAR. The draft final report must be submitted at the end of the period of implementation of the tasks together with all the expected outputs i to v.
Duty Station and Duration of Assignment
Home based with possibility of travel to selected countries, and RECs secretariats, subject to the lifting of travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The duration of this assignment is three months.
Technical and Financial Proposal
Technical Proposal
Applicants should submit a Technical Proposal that should include:
- Outline of the methodology, for conducting the consultancy as per the tasks and indicate the number of days to accomplish each task.
- Profile and CVs of the consultant(s) undertaking the work indicating relevant academic qualifications and professional experience and experience working in the regional value chain for which the consultancy service is being sort. The consultancy firm is expected to have professionals in the field of agricultural economics (preferably in the area of livestock economics), animal health, marketing, statistics, policy or other fields of expertise relevant to the assignment.
- Lead consultant must have minimum 7 years’ experience and team members minimum 3 years’ experience in related fields, demonstrating an inventory of past and current assignments (if any) of a similar nature.
- 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.
Financial Proposal
The financial proposal should provide a detailed breakdown inclusive of consultancy fees, travel costs and DSA for field visits where applicable and incidental expenses.
Evaluation Criteria
The evaluation criteria will be applied as follows:
Mandatory Requirements
- Legal Status: Registration/Business Certificate with proof of tax compliance.
- Must be a policy/strategy advocacy firm with experience in the livestock sector.
Technical Scoring
The technical proposal will weigh 70%. The technical proposal will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Demonstrated experience in Livestock sector policy development and advocacy
- Specific experience in similar assignments
- Staffing/Relevant qualifications and expertise
- Quality of the technical proposal (Adequacy of the proposal, work plan and approach)
- Experience in Stakeholder consultations
The team of multidisciplinary consultants or firm 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 30 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.
Submission of Proposals
The team of multidisciplinary consultants or firm should clearly indicate which of the regional value chains they are applying for.
The priority value chains are:
- EAC: Dairy value chain
- UMA: Dairy value chain
- SADC: Red meat and live animals value chain
- IGAD: Red meat and live animals value chain
- ECOWAS: Poultry value chain
- ECCAS: Poultry value chain
The technical and financial proposals should be submitted in two separate envelopes; each clearly marked “Technical proposal” or “Financial proposal”. The two proposals should be enclosed in a single envelope clearly marked “Title of the Consultancy”.
The deadline for application is 26th September 2020 at 17:00 Nairobi, Local Time.
Timeframe
The team of multidisciplinary consultants or firm will devote a period not exceeding a maximum of fifty days (50 days) for a maximum of 3 months. The present work will start immediately after signature of the contract by both parties.
How to apply:
Interested Team of Multidisciplinary Consultants are required to provide Technical and financial Proposals and all other relevant documents by 26th September 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 “ Study on Intra-Regional and Intra-African Trade in Priority Regional Livestock Value Chains”. Only short-listed candidates will be notified.