Training for Marginalized Farmers

Country:

Afghanistan

City/Locality:

Kabul

Notice/Contract Number:

MOLSAMD/814

Publication Date:

Apr 26, 2008

Deadline:

May 17, 2008

Funding Agency:

World Bank

Buyer:

Vocational Education & Training (Afghanistan Skills Development Project)
Ministry of Education (MOE) and NSDP

Eligibility of Bidders:

• Details of registration of organisation;
• Experience in the delivery of the above mentioned services.
• Details of capacity for the provision of services required by the NSDP as set out above in the specific provinces interested to deliver the services (incl. staff and experience)

Original Language:

English

Address:

A.K Singh
Program Manager
Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services
Ministry of Economy Building, 5th and 6th floor,
Malik Asghar Square
Kabul
Afghanistan

Telephone:

0093 (0) 798190199

Email:

Click here

80423000 - Vocational training services

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
Consultancy Services for
Training for Marginalized Farmers
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Afghanistan Skills Development project (ASDP)
Consultancy Services: Training for Marginalized Farmers
Grant No: H 352AF
Project ID No: P102573
Ref No: MOLSAMD/814
Expressions of Interest

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has received a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) and will use part of the proceeds of the grant to make payments under a contract for Consultancy Services to support Training for Marginalized Farmers For Afghanistan Skills Development Project (ASDP) under National Skills Development Program (NSDP) of Ministry of Labour, Social affairs, Martyrs and Disabled.

Expressions of Interest are invited from training providers to offer training services in the delivery of relevant, grass roots, training modules in agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing and to facilitate such training for selected groups of marginal farmers. In addition, the training providers may also be asked to train a core set of Farmer Trainer, who can then engage in extension activities. All training activities and materials for this activity will be in the local languages of Dari and Pashto. The modules will be developed together with the NSDP Curriculum Development Unit and will be available for use in the field by the training providers over the duration of the training contracts, and by other agencies involved in extension work at the grassroots level.

Project Background:
The overall goal of the NSDP is to contribute to the socio-economic recovery of Afghanistan through the provision of a national skills development and vocational education and training system that is responsive to labour market needs and that provides Afghans with the knowledge and skills for decent work.

Key objectives of the NSDP are:

1. To increase the capacity of the national VET system to manage and deliver market-oriented vocational skills training.
2. To facilitate and fund vocational and business development training which will lead to waged and self employment, and improved livelihoods.

The Intervention

Based on research involving marginal farmers the NSDP has identified a number of training interventions designed to support the introduction of improved farming methodologies, increased yields and better marketing of farm produce.

The NSDP under Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled wishes to contract a number of training providers involved in grass roots agricultural development to train Farmer Trainers to deliver a range of innovative, grass roots technical and business training interventions to achieve the above outcomes.

Prior to the beginning of the implementation of this intervention the NSDP will hire a consultant curriculum development specialist to develop a set of facilitation-of-training materials covering a range of agriculture-sector topics. These topics will include, for example:

o Horticulture
o Food processing
o Cash Crop Farming
o Ecosystem protection
o Livestock Restocking
o Aquatic Farming
o Plant Protection.

These materials will be designed to be accessible by marginal farmers, most of whom have very limited levels of education.

In addition to training marginal farmers directly, and in order to develop an element of long term sustainability the intervention will also create a cadre of Farmer Trainers who can train other farmers as part of this intervention, and also access other training roles in the future and be engaged in extension services. The training materials will be delivered by these Farmer Trainers who may be drawn from the same farming communities as the target group of marginal farmers. They will be trained in the use of these new and highly accessible learning materials by the selected training providers which this EoI is intended to attract. They will be taught by the contracted agency (in conjunction with NSDP curriculum and sector specialists), to work with groups of marginal farmers on the farmers’ own land in order to facilitate the introduction of a range of new farming methodologies, improved food handling, processing and marketing etc. The project will work in synergy with other extension interventions currently being developed.

For many marginal farmers, business development and follow-up counselling support training will be possible, and highly appropriate. In these cases the NSDP supports the procurement of independent and registered Business Development Service (BDS) providers to provide BDS training and facilitate the essential linkage to sources of finance. The preferred BDS training course is that based on grassroots-level facilitation methodologies. In places where microfinance services are limited the intervention will need to support the development of savings groups and revolving fund mechanisms based on the models developed by other agencies operating ate community level, and particularly those working to support the National Solidarity Program.

All marginal farmers will also need to be offered essential underpinning literacy and numeracy.

The Request for Expressions of Interest

The NSDP under Ministry of Labour, Social affairs, Martyrs and Disabled is seeking to identify Private firm and NGO training providers who can address the requirements as stated above.
.

It is likely that agencies specialising in the delivery of the mentioned services will be selected for this intervention. Individual or consortiums of such agencies are most welcome to apply.

This is to state that NSDP programs aim to cover all provinces in the country. The priority provinces under this EOI will be:
1. Helmand,
2. Faryab,
3. Kunduz
4. Baghlan.
These provinces have a history of agriculture production which has been lost in the recent decades and the aim of this project is to attempt to revive this lost skill.

Organizations or firms interested to offer services as described above, are eligible to apply for one or more provinces but their EOI for each province should be in a separate envelop, clearly labelled as follow:

Expressions of Interest
Consultancy Services: Training for Marginalized Farmers
Grant No: H 352AF
Project ID No: P102573
Ref No: MOLSAMD/814
Province: _____________________.

Consultants may associate with each other to enhance their qualifications and bid as a consortium.

The delivery of this project should start around mid 2008.

Submission Procedure

Expressions of Interest should be in English and contain the following information:
• Full contact details;
• Details of registration of organisation;
• Experience in the delivery of the above mentioned services.
• Details of capacity for the provision of services required by the NSDP as set out above in the specific provinces interested to deliver the services (incl. staff and experience).

The desirable Expression of Interest is between (5-10 pages).

The Expressions of Interest will be used to measure the level of interest and capacity to deliver the requested services. The information provided will form the basis of a desk screening and evaluation process. Consultants who have passed the screening will be notified and invited to respond to a Request for Proposals for the provision of the required services.

A consultant will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants by World Bank Borrowers, May 2004 and Revised October 2006.

Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below from 0900 to 1600 hours. Expressions of interest quoting Ref No: MOLSAMD/814 must be sent electronically to the e-mail address given below. Hard copies of the expression of interest along with copies of brochures and relevant information should be sent by courier to the address below. The deadline for submitting the expression of interest is 15:00 hrs on May 17, 2008.

Address: -
Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services,
Attn: Mr A. K. Singh, Program Manager ( MOLSAMD/814)
Ministry of Economy Building, 5th and 6th floor,
Malik Asghar Square, Kabul, Afghanistan

Email: sanjeev.mathur@ards.org.af, copied to: ak.singh@ards.org.af ; h.ibrahimi@ards.org.af
Website: www.ards.org.af

Cell Number: 0093 (0) 798190199, 0093 (0) 0797690164

Training for Marginalized Farmers

Request For Expressions of Interest

General Information

Contact Information

Assignments

Original Text

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