Job Description

Background

Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) is a multi-stakeholder initiative launched at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in May 2008. It was co-created by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD, current AUDA-NEPAD). The Coalition aimed to double rice production in SubSaharan Africa (SSA) within ten years through increased and better-coordinated investments and assistance in the rice sector. Major bilateral and multilateral development partners, 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.

The activities of the Coalition were facilitated by the CARD Secretariat with the basis of approval by 11 CARD Steering Committee organizations, namely: African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa Rice Center (Africa Rice), AGRA, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), JICA, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), AUDA-NEPAD and World Bank. The CARD Secretariat is hosted in AGRA’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

The CARD Secretariat provided technical assistance to the formulation and implementation of National Rice Development Strategies (NRDS) in the 23 CARD member countries in SSA, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia. Also, the CARD Secretariat assisted the CARD member countries in formulation of National Rice Seed Development Strategy (RSDS) as well as National Agriculture/Rice Mechanization Strategy and their project Concept Notes. Fund mobilization activities were conducted to finance project Concept Notes of NRDS, RSDS and Mechanization Strategies.

In the 7th CARD General Meeting in October 2018, while noting the achievement of the target of doubling rice production in SSA from 14 million to 28 million MT within ten years, all CARD stakeholders recognized the remaining challenges ahead, and therefore unanimously agreed to enter the 2nd phase of CARD. The new target was set to further double rice production in SSA from 28 million to 56 million MT by 2030. Nine countries joined the initiative, namely Angola, Burundi, Chad, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Niger, Republic of the Congo and Sudan, together with new supporting members, World Food Programme (WFP), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and five Regional Economic Communities (RECs), namely COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS and SADC. In the 8th General Meeting in October 2021, African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) joined the Steering Committee.

The CARD initiative is committed to continue providing its facilitation and technical support to the 32 CARD member countries, in terms of: i) formulation and revision of NRDS, RSDS and Mechanization Strategies, ii) development and revision of project Concept Notes for these strategies, iii) fund mobilization for their implementation, iv) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the progress in their implementation, and v) policy advocacy and promotion of regional trade through assisting formulation and revision of Regional Rice Development Strategies (RRDS) by RECs.

In its second phase, CARD is expected to focus more on implementation and M&E of NRDS, RSDS and Mechanization Strategies. During Phase I, CARD developed what is called “Sub-sector/Intervention Elements Matrices (SIEM)” as a tool for M&E. A new M&E framework has been developed, applying the “RICE Approach” (Resilience, Industrialization, Competitiveness and Empowerment), a new strategic approach adopted for CARD Phase II. Furthermore, CARD website is now under renovation so that it will be a useful tool to collect and disseminate information related to the M&E.

The CARD Secretariat, through AGRA, would like to engage a qualified consultant who will be responsible for activities in its member countries and related RECs, as specified below.

Objectives of the Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to seek an individual to act as Technical Coordinator 2 of the Coalition for the African Rice Development (CARD)

Deliverables

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Technical reports and documents as necessary;
2. Periodic activity reports to the PAO

Contract Duration

The contract will be for a period of 1 year starting 1st April 2024 renewable to a maximum of 3 years subject to performance and availability of resources.

Key Qualifications and Experience Required

The consultant should possess the following qualifications and expertise:

1. To be at least a degree holder in Agriculture, Development, Economics, Politics or other filed relevant to the above-described Scope of Work;
2. To have at least 5 years of working experience in the field of agricultural development in Africa;
3. To have a good knowledge of rice sector in Africa;
4. To have a good knowledge of JICA’s accounting and procurement rules;
5. To be fluent in written and spoken business Japanese language including Kanji characters and English;
6. To be flexible in occasional overtime works, including during weekends and holidays; and
7. To be healthy both mentally and physically for travelling occasionally and working under a time bound environment.