Consultant Support For Wiki PAM Cluster With International Buyer Collaborative Action for The Export Of Handicraft Products (ACEA) Project – FHI 360 عودة إلى الفرص

Period of Performance: 15 February 2021 – August 31, 2021

Expected Level of Effort: 39 days

Place of Performance: Tunis, Jendouba, Kef, Seliana, Beja

Program Background and Objective of Consultancy

FHI 360 is a not-profit human development organization with over 7000 employees in more than 70 countries. Since its creation in 1971, FHI 360 has been able to position itself as a player in international development, particularly in the sectors of health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender equality, youth, research and technology.

FHI 360 has been selected by the Department of the United States of America to implement a development project on behalf of the National Office of Tunisian Crafts, entitled: “Collaborative Action for Artisanal Exports (ACEA)”. Funded by a donation, this project adopts an approach to develop the value chain of natural extracts in northwestern Tunisia to support women distilling essential oils in exporting their products to international markets.

In this perspective, the project has opted for the launch of a cluster that will be developed in collaboration with all the stakeholders of the value chain in order to integrate the GDAs and SMSAs that bring together these women artisans in a network at the same time.

Called “WIKI PAM”, this cluster adopted the recommendations of a strategic segmentation study that was commissioned by the ACEA Project from a specialized international consulting firm.

Considering the imperative to prepare the direct beneficiaries of the project to the contact with an international identified client specialized in fair trade, concerned about the level of quality and the capacities of routing of the products towards the export, the expert is in charge of supporting the beneficiaries cooperatives in North West Tunisia in terms of improving the techniques of production of essential oils and methods of transporting these products to the international market. He will accompany the beneficiaries of the project until the realization of export operation.

Tasks and Deliverables

Under the supervision of the Technical Monitor, the Consultant will carry out the following tasks:

• Updating cooperatives export capacity assessment using the GDAs profile prepared by ACEA.
• Plan, prepare and manage the communications between the identified international buyer and the cooperatives and development of an action plan aimed at developing exportations of essential oils and other products derived from aromatic and medicinal plants.
• Creation of new linkages between the identified international buyers and project beneficiaries and launching transactions negotiations.
• Technical support to the selected beneficiaries to meet the requirements of the international buyer in terms of products quality and quantities.
• Marketing support to the selected beneficiaries and assistance in the different phases of negotiation and contracting with the international buyer.
• Work closely with the cluster’s certifications working group to identify the most export ready cooperatives for priority transactions with the international buyer.

DELIVERABLES

The Consultant shall be responsible for preparing and submitting the deliverables to the Technical Monitor according to the following schedule. ACEA will work with the Consultant to finalize format and structure for key deliverables during the consultancy, and the Technical Monitor and other relevant staff will review the consultant’s proposed drafts and provide feedback accordingly.

Criteria/Qualification for Evaluation

Consultants will be evaluated and ranked by an evaluation committee according to the conditions described in the evaluation criteria below, with a total overall maximum point value of 100. Consultants will first be evaluated and scored from a technical standpoint.  Consultants that are considered to be technically qualified shall then be evaluated in terms of cost reasonableness of their daily rate. The contract shall be issued to the consultant with the highest combined technical and cost score.

Level of Effort and Remuneration

The Consultancy will consist of a maximum of 39 working/billing days (1 day = 8 hours) between February 15 and August 31, 2021.

The Consultant will be paid the agreed daily fee rate for every day worked, up to but not to exceed 39 days, with reimbursement for related, budgeted expenses (e.g. travel and lodging on field trips outside of Tunis).  The consultant will submit a record of LOE on a monthly basis for processing and payment.

Location

This work will be primarily remote, due to Covid restrictions, but will require several meetings in Tunis and field trips to north west Tunisia. FHI 360 will require an Expense Authorization form to be submitted and approved prior to travel and will reimburse allowable travel expenses.