Consultant - Midline Evaluation of GIAE Radio Programming at Farm Radio International

Farm Radio International, a Canadian Non-govermental Organisation, implementing project in multiple African countries, is recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant for Midline Evaluation of GIAE Radio Programming

Location: Nigeria
Employment Type: Contract

Background of GIAE

• Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with almost 200 million people. However, despite its good agro-ecological conditions for agriculture and the food sector, Nigeria still largely depends on food imports. This poses a significant risk to the population and economy due to price volatility in commodity markets.
• In 2014, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany launched the special initiative “One World No Hunger,” with the aimofmaking significant contributions to the reduction of poverty and hunger. The global programme “Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIAE)” is part of this initiative.
• In Nigeria, GIAE supports four agricultural value chains, namely maize, cassava, rice, and Irish potato, to improve the income and productivity of small-scale farmers. The programme uses direct training approaches focusing on good agricultural practices and farm management to reach 250,000 farmers across eight states.Additionally, there is outreach to 400,000 farmers using information and communication technologies.

The overall objective of GIAE in Nigeria is:

• “In selected rural areas, innovations in the agriculture and food sector have contributed to sustainable rural development”
• The interventions are implemented in close cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension (FDAE) and the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP), working within Agricultural Extension on the state level. In addition, private stakeholders are strongly engaged in the project. These collaborations are intended to secure the long-term sustainability of all activities.

Rationale:

• The main approach of GIAE Nigeria lies in cost-effective extension approaches for smallholder farmers. Farmers receive a training package consisting of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), strengthening the technical knowledge of farmers, and Farmer Business Schools (FBS), focusing on developing their entrepreneurial skills. In collaboration with the public extension services, Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP) in the intervention states, the project has reached out to over 210,000 farmers since 2016.
• Besides direct training, GIAE uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) to reach farmers with relevant and required information. In this context, radio is a useful channel for communication. The technology is considered affordable and accessible to most farmers, including those in remote locations. Through collaboration between GIZ and Farm Radio International (FRI), an interactive radio programme on Irish potato was piloted in Plateau state in 2019/20 with impressive results on listenership, interactions; knowledge gained and adoption of good agricultural and business practices.
• GIZ and FRI are currently scaling out the radio programme concept to other value chains, including Maize (Kaduna and Kano States), Rice (Benue, Nasarawa and parts of Cross River states) and Cassava (Ogun and Oyo states). The scale-out phase started in November 2020 but radio program airing only began in June and July 2021 in the eight states (including PlateauP). The expected outcomes of the radio programminges are to improve farmers' knowledge, attitude and adoption of agricultural and agribusiness practices and innovations promoted by the GIAE. The project will also work to ensure that the interactive radio programming is sustainable through delivering training, and development and implementation of marketing strategies with radio stations.
• Between September and October, the radio project would complete the first of two series of 16 to 20 episodes per series on each station. The first series would be completed at different times by radio stations, and a midterm evaluation would commence immediately after the end of series one.
• GIZ and FRI conducted a baseline survey in the target areas of the GIAE project before the airing of the radio programs. The baseline survey established the pre-intervention levels of project indicators and the midline evaluation aims to track the progress of the intervention in meeting its objectives. The evaluation would also inform the design of series two of the radio programming.
• This ToR is designed to recruit consultants or firms to conduct the midterm evaluations for each of the four value chains in the target states.

Objectives and Expected Outcomes
Objectives of the Midline Evaluation:

The main objective of the midline evaluation is to assess the performance of the intervention with regards to changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices of smallholder farmers relevant to cassava, maize and rice production and marketing as a result of the outreach through radio. Findings from this evaluation will inform the rest of the project implementation. The evaluation has the following specific objectives:

• Determine the level of the listenership of radio programs among cassava, Irish potato, maize and rice producers supported by GIZ but also those not directly supported by GIZ
• Assess the impact of the radio program on knowledge, attitude and adoption of good agricultural and agribusiness practices by cassava, Irish potato, maize and rice producers
• Assess differences in knowledge, attitude and practices between (i) listeners and non-listeners of the radio program, (ii) GIZ-supported producers and non-GIZ supported producers, and (iii) baseline and midline surveys for cassava, Irish potato, maize and rice value chains.
• Assess the potential and actual changes in external investment and institutional support for sustainable agricultural radio programming among partner radio stations.

Approach:

• The midline evaluation will consist of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data will be collected through household surveys, while the qualitative component will involve Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions(FGDs.) The quantitative survey will collect data on key project indicators, with reference to the baseline established on Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice to measure changes and facilitate attribution of change in communities targeted by the project. The KIIs and FGDs will be done with key stakeholder groups concurrently with the quantitative survey in the selected communities.The survey will also collect data on radio program sustainability indicators.
• Evaluation and reporting will be completed for each value chain separately. The quantitative survey will feature farmer interviews using structured questionnaires administered to a sample of farmers in target communities. A rigorous sampling method will be collaboratively developed with the consultant, FRI and GIZ and deployed to choose the specific LGAs, communities, and households to be interviewed. Data on the level of external investment and sustainability of agricultural radio programming in selected radio stations will be collected from the stations.
• The process will be conducted following COVID-19 prevention measures and laws in place.
• The evaluations will be conducted in close collaboration with FRI and GIZ and require meetings to coordinate the activities and meet with representatives from the local institutions and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the States level.
• Outcomes will be elaborated per value chain in separate reports.

Deliverables & Activities:
Key Activities:

• Inception meeting with Consultant, FRI and GIZ
• Evaluation design
• Sampling design
• Recruitment and training of enumerators
• Data collection
• Data analyses
• Reporting and presentation

Regular meetings will be held between the consultant, FRI and GIZ at field and coordination levels.
The expected deliverables include:

• A report per value chain with relevant quantitative and qualitative data on project indicators. The raw data used in the analysis and reporting must be submitted alongside the report.
• All activities must comply with EU laws on data protection (GDPR), and all material produced must be handed over to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH after the assignment has ended.

Timeline

Note: The timing for enumerator training, field data collection and reporting for specific value chains and States will be determined with the consultant based on the timing for completion of the first series presented in Annex 2.

Expert Profile

• The institution/organization/consultant should have substantive experience conducting quantitative and qualitative evaluations for development programming. Knowledge of the agricultural sector is expected.
• Work experience in Africa is required, and experience evaluating projects in Nigeria is desirable. The institution/organization/consultant should have great communication skills and excellent written and verbal skills in the English language. Knowledge of the local languages is an asset.
• The consultant/firm should demonstrate the capacity for training, organization, conducting and reporting the study. The consultant will be under the supervision of the FRI Project Manager and Country Representative and will work closely with the Global FRI team.

The consultant must have:

• A University degree in a relevant field - Monitoring and Evaluation, Agriculture, Development Studies, Communication etc.
• 6 - 20 years work experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in quantitative and qualitative evaluations design, tool development, data collection, data analysis and production of reports;
• Experience with remote data collection and use of digital tools in data collection.
• Previous experience in the areas targeted by the study is an added advantage;
• Ability to manage a team, work under pressure and produce quality work within short deadlines;
• Fluency in English written and oral communication.

Application Closing Date
27th August, 2021.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their offers electronically in PDF format only to the email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] using “Midline Evaluation of GIAE Radio Programming for xxx Value Chain(s).” as the subject of the mail.

Note

• Faxed documents or hard copies will not be considered or admissible.
• A complete application should include the following:
  • A cover letter
  • A technical proposal, comprising the following;
    • Curriculum vitae of key personnel to be involved,
    • A description of the technical approach / methodology for the evaluation and how the team will be organized to complete the work in the value chain(s) and states.
    • A proposed work plan: chronogram of activities which includes specific dates of activities and responsible persons.
    • Previous experience: a brief summary of similar or relevant work completed by the applicant/firm. This should clearly elucidate the experience and technical ability of the applicant/firm to implement the assignment.
    • Report of a similar study conducted or other material written by the applicant/firm.
    • At least two references of past services of similar work carried out including.

• A financial proposal showing the estimated cost of delivering the assignment, including details on number of days, fee rates, travel and other expenses.
• Consultants may apply to conduct the evaluation in one or a maximum of two value chains and this should be clearly mentioned in the subject line (xxx) and in their submissions. See Annex 1 for the target value chains, States and GIAE LGAs.

Annex 1: GIAE target LGAs

Annex 2: Expected Field Data Collection Start Date