CÔTE D’IVOIRE COCOA COOP EVALUATION
About the Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. We are building an alliance to protect forests, improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities, promote their human rights, and help them mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. We envision a world where people and nature thrive in harmony.
We work towards making responsible business the new normal through our certification program, tailored supply chain services, landscape and community work and advocacy. For more information, please visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/about.
Overview
The Rainforest Alliance and a large cocoa company are implementing a project to support cocoa farming households in Côte d’Ivoire. In early 2023, the Rainforest Alliance and the partner will select approximately 25 cooperatives to participate in this project. To assist in the launch of this project, Rainforest Alliance is looking for a consultancy team of 2-3 individuals to support in the field evaluation of the 25 cooperatives.
Rainforest Alliance will explain the ambition, goals, expected results of the program, with detailed explanations on what will be the commitments, roles and responsibilities of the cooperatives involved.
Rainforest Alliance will assist in introductions & logistics to visit the 25 cooperatives.
Main Objective
Rapid evaluation of approximately 25 cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire
Contractor Services at a minimum, must include:
Preparation and planning:
The consultant should identify a total of 2-3 enumerators to visit coops and conduct the evaluation; the cooperative survey takes about 3-5 hours, so one consultant should complete 1-2 visits per day (depending on travel distances, weather, and other factors);
Consultant should prepare a cooperative visitation schedule for the field evaluation, and then maintain a “field log” detailing cooperatives visited each day. Rainforest Alliance will train consultant on how to maintain this field log.
2. Field work:
Consultant should present to the cooperative management about the project ambition, goals, and expected results;
Conduct interviews with management from approximately 25 cooperatives (format provided by Rainforest Alliance), evaluating the management capacity of the cooperative. Evaluation will have a particular focus on detailing the commitments, roles and responsibilities of the cooperatives that will decide and request to be involved in this program;
Evaluation should take place in mid-March 2023 until early-April 2023;
Evaluation will be done via excel.
Reporting and final review: Findings should be recorded by the consultant team in the template provided, and then reported to Rainforest Alliance. Results will be assessed and summarized by Rainforest Alliance and company partner. Consultant should be available for basic clarifications and observations.
Deliverables
1. Cooperative visitation schedule and maintenance of field log
2. A report of the results using the RA template that shows clearly why cooperatives received a certain score.
General terms and conditions for Request for proposal
Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by The Rainforest Alliance. Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.
The Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.
RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.
All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.
Selection Criteria
The Consultant or Consultant Firm should have demonstrated qualifications as follows:
Experience in project monitoring and evaluation, including cooperative evaluation and farmer interviews;
Experience with the cocoa sector;
Several years of experience in working with farmer organizations in Côte d’Ivoire (managing and/or training and/or coaching and/or auditing, farmer organizations);
Team of 2-3 consultants, with one project coordinator or “lead” who can coordinate logistics, review data entry, and communicate directly with Rainforest Alliance and the cocoa company partner
Ability to travel independently in the countryside;
20 working days working time availability.
Proposal Process and Format
Interested parties should submit below requested documents to Iza Hoyos (ehoyos@ra.org) and Laetitia Ohouo (lohouo@ra.org) by March 15th, 2023
o Letter of introduction describing experience in farm data collection, cooperative evaluation, time availability, and method of organization and supervision
o Project team and Curriculum Vitae of each team member
o Financial proposal, include budget to complete all the deliverables in Franc CFA
Thank you for your interest in working with The Rainforest Alliance