Duty Description
Program Objectives and Results:
With support from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Mercy Corps in partnership with TechnoServe is implementing a four year market development program that focuses on the agriculture sector. The program called Revitalizing Agricultural Incomes and New Markets (RAIN) is being implemented in Northern Uganda. The program uses a market facilitation approach based on the Making Markets Work for the Poor approach (M4P). RAIN works with businesses large and small who have the potential to generate economic benefits to small holder farmers who are their clients and target groups of the program. The targeted crops include, but are not limited to, cassava, sesame, groundnut, beans, maize, sorghum and rice. The goal of the RAIN program is to stimulate economic prosperity and food security in Northern Uganda by improving the performance of the agricultural sector. RAIN targets 50,000 small holder farmers, 140 agribusinesses in the input and output sectors, 5 radio stations, 5 financial institutions, 8 large companies, and 500 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs).
Using the M4P approach, a thorough analysis of the core commodity market, comprising the crops mentioned above, its supporting functions, and rules and regulations was carried out to inform the interventions and ensure that they address systemic constraints. Using that analysis, RAIN has since worked to improve the performance of the following key supporting markets: inputs, trainings and skills, financial services, tillage, information (with a focus on capacity building of local radio stations), market facilities, output markets, postharvest handling and key rules and regulations under the respective sectors. The program principally works with service providers; input supply companies, distributors and agents; big output market actors, intermediaries and produce aggregators; tillage service providers; financial institutions (Banks and SACCOs
Required Qualifications
Consultant Profile
The successful consultant will have following qualifications.
- Demonstrated knowledge of rural financial services backed by experience in familiarity with Ugandan financial services market and agribusiness sector
- Demonstrated understanding of market systems development/M4P approach
- Advanced academic qualification in finance, business administration, economics, economic development
- Experience conducting similar studies
- Experience in program evaluation
- Familiarity with the study area including the local economy and existing financial service systems
- Excellent analytical, research, writing and communication skills; strong visual presentation skills preferred.
- Language skills: professional capacity in English
Applicants must submit the following documentation: technical and financial proposal that defines among others understanding of the terms of reference, methodologies, and costing of planned activities, examples of similar assignments, curriculum vitae, and expected consultant fees on a per day basis and terms of payment.