Short Term Consultant

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VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT – SHORT TERM CONSULTANCY 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR NRDS IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE CARD SECOND GROUP COUNTRIES
(ETHIOPIA AND RWANDA)           

Conditions 

Entry of Duty (expected)             15 July 2011

End of Duty (expected)               31 December 2011

Number of working days      25days (8 days for Ethiopia and 12 days for Ethiopia and 5 day for briefing, reporting and other duties)

Payment                                                   Consultant fee and travel cost (air tickets and per diem)

Coalition of African Rice Development (CARD) 

CARD is a multi-stakeholder initiative launched at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in May 2008. The Coalition aims to double rice production in Sub-Saharan Africa within ten years through increased and better-coordinated investment and assistance in the rice sector. Major bilateral and multilateral donors, African and international institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations which attended TICAD IV formed a consensus on the goals and objectives of CARD and showed a deep commitment to working together to respond to the needs of the African rice-producing countries that will be identified and prioritized in their National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS). (For detailed information on the CARD initiative, please refer the web site:
http://www.jica.go.jp/english/resources/field/2008/may30_01.html )  

National Rice Development Strategies (NRDS) 

Twelve Sub-Saharan African countries, namely; Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, formulated the NRDS Version one in 2009 and it is being implemented in most of the countries. 

Eleven what-is-called Second Group (G2) countries, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Liberia, Rwanda, Togo and Zambia follows the above-mentioned twelve First Group (G1) countries. Benin, Ethiopia and Togo formulated the NRDS Version one and some countries such as Burkina Faso, Rwanda and others will finalise and officially launch the NRDS shortly while the rest of the countries are still in the formulation stage. Once accomplishing the formulation the NRDS Version one, those G2 countries will follow the implementation process of G1 countries explained below. 

The CARD Third General Meeting, held in Arusha, Tanzania, 18 – 19 May, made the following recommendations to the NRDS Task Force:

v Continue needs–resource matching;

v Identify priorities to be handled at national, sub-regional and regional levels;

v Coordinate with the CAADP processes to ensure that the investment priorities of NRDS are coherent with those of CAADP Investment Plans or equivalent sector investment plans / funding framework;

v Continue pursuing political buy-in of the NRDS among key in-country stakeholders in rice development.

Accordingly the NRDS Task Forces of the Ethiopia and Rwanda have achieved the following tasks to date:

v Update the list of on-going projects and needs resources gap analysis;

v Update national level rice-related statistics (only in selected countries);

v Identify priority sub-sectors / intervention elements (maximum eight) and subsequently priority interventions for the immediate funding opportunities

v Identify key stakeholders, or ‘champions’, as well as the way in which they are approached, with a view to materialization of the above-mentioned interventions

Based on these achievements, the NRDS Task Forces will elaborate the identified interventions and make efforts to operationalize them.  The CARD Secretariat is seeking the services of an experienced consultant to provide technical support to NRDS Task Forces in accordance to the above.
 

Duties

Under the general supervision of the Coordinator, CARD Secretariat, and in collaboration with the CARD Steering Committee and other resource persons, the consultant will conduct the following tasks during the period of 20 July 2011 and 31 December 2011 (dates are tentative):

v Assist NRDS TF to prepare the concept notes of the identified priority interventions;

v Assist NRDS TF to prepare the rice sector promotion materials;

v Assist NRDS TF to facilitate operationalization of the priority investment through CAADP Investment Plan and government investment framework;

v Assist NRDS TF to finalize the NRDS Version One (for Rwanda specifically)

v Attend the meeting with the full NRDS TF members, key national institutions and local development partners and facilitate / contribute to the discussion;

v Submit the consultancy report according to the format provided by the CARD Secretariat, and;

v Other duties as requested by the CARD Secretariat. 

Qualifications

v  Thorough knowledge of African rice sector

v  Experience in writing / analyzing agriculture sector strategy documents, particularly CAADP Investment Plan.

v  Good skills in training and motivating e the NRDS Task Force staff.

v  Excellent skills in reporting, information management and controlling expenditures.

v  Proficiency in Microsoft Word.  Competence in Excel and web browser software would be valuable additional assets

v  Highly focused and results-oriented in supporting complex, deadline-driven tasks; able to identify goals and priorities and resolve issues in initial stages.

v  Good health and fit for extensive travelling.

v  Working-level command of English.

Applications

Applications accompanied by the applicant’s curriculum vitae and the names and contact details of three confidential referees should be submitted, by Monday 11 July, to: