MOA offices gendered capacity development assessment

الوصف

Request for Quotation

Promotion of inclusive agricultural growth to ensure improved living standards and resilience of vulnerable communities in Area C of the West Bank

Terms of Reference for MOA offices gendered capacity development assessment

Background & Introduction:

PFU in Partnership with Oxfam is implementing a new project funded by EU, entitled “Promotion of inclusive agricultural growth to ensure improved living standards and resilience of vulnerable communities in Area C of the West Bank”. The project aims to Increase the income of small-scale women and men farmers and the protection and the use of their lands in Area C through upgraded capacities, improved land and water management practices and policies.

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

The state of Palestine total area of cultivated land is estimated at 1.2 million dunums, or 21% of the total area of the WBGS, of which 90% is in the West Bank and 10% in the Gaza Strip. Eighty-one percent of the area is rain-fed; the remaining 19 % is irrigated. While rangeland amounts to 2.02 million dunums, the area available for grazing is only 621,000 dunums. In addition, forests stretch over an area of 94,000 dunums.

The Palestinian Agriculture sector strategy - “Resilience and Sustainable Development” 2017-2022, is focusing on Sustainable management of agricultural natural resources as one of its strategic objectives which will contribute significantly to the achievement of the national priorities of the State of Palestine. One of the governmental bodies contributing to this initiative is the Ministry of Agriculture’s District based Agricultural offices or District Directorates of Agriculture.

MOA has 12 offices in the West Bank aimed at representing the ministry at the Palestinian Governorate, being close to farmers and supporting farmers in their Agricultural activities. In this project we are targeting 3 offices for MOA located in Tubas governorate, Nablus Governorate and Qalqilia Governorate. The offices main point of reference is the Deputy Minister, and they have minimal contact with other departments within the ministry. Each of these offices has four main departments including Financial and administrative Dep, agricultural extension Dep, technical Dep and Supporting services dep. Supporting Services Department provides services to farmers in area C, such as documentation of violations occurred by the occupation or nature.

Tubas office: there are 25 employees in addition to 15 daily based workers.

Nablus Office: there are 38 employees in addition to 14 daily based workers.

Qalqilia Office: there are 21 full time employees in addition to 10 based workers.

PURPOSE OF THE Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to identify the gaps and weaknesses in the MoA’s 3 offices, with a special focus on any land registration or documentation the relation between farmers and their lands issues the unit struggles with. The information and recommendations this assessment will provide will be used by PFU to provide capacity building training to the offices and help the offices support and facilitate more agricultural investments in Area C of the West Bank. Specifically, the capacity building trainings will deal with land registration and protection issues. PFU will offer recommendations for the building of a land registration (documentation system) of farmers’ relations in regard to land, detailing proper documentation of ownership, rental, or utilization of land.

Objective of the Assignment;

Carry out gaps’ analysis of land registration capabilities of MOA offices;
Conduct a Capacity Assessment of MOA Offices and identify capacity gaps in regard to land registration (documentation) and protection;
Assess MOA offices access to and use of information in regard to land registration and protection;
Assess training needs and requirement of MOA offices staff to access to training and education opportunities in proper land documentation and registration and protection;
Using the information gathered from the assessments and analysis, propose capacity development strategy and plan.

BENEFICAIRES AND USE OF FINDINGS

The assessment report will be utilized to build a comprehensive capacity building plan for the 3 MoA offices, the main beneficiary of this assessment is the 3 MoA offices as the gaps and needs for proper land registration (documentation) and protection by MoA staff will be clearly defined and will be enhanced and met later on during the capacity building process.

METHODOLOGY

The consultant in close coordination with the 3 MOA offices staff, including all Departments, will prepare a draft work plan which will be presented and approved in the kick off meeting, the work plan will emphasize the need of this assignment in supporting the MOA offices in its capabilities in regard developing a land registration documentation system of farmers’ relations.

The work plan should be designed to define the MOA offices required tasks as per the MoA strategy, conventions, obligations, and mandate, then to define the current existing capacities of the MOA offices to carry out land registration and documentation and as a result to define the gaps to be filled in order to enable MoA and its offices in fulfilling their duty, especially in regards to providing support to Area C farmers.

It is expected that the assessment will be built around self-assessment processes as well as broad consultation to help validate, expand and improve the range of information collected. The capacity assessment framework should recognize the multiple dimensions of capacity in relation to each other as well as to the expected results. This approach ensures that capacity building will include both individual capacity (i.e. the ability of available staff to complete land registration documentation) as well as organizational capacity (i.e. the ability of MoA offices to store all land registration documentation and have it easily accessible).

The following methodology will be applied in carrying out the research as outlined:

Reviewing all existing related documents and studies; including any available data and maps.
Interviewing technical staff in the MOA offices to assess existing procedures as related to land registration; to critically assess the needs and gaps to inform the design of a future work plan.
Assessing existing capacities for land registration (documentation)and protection and define capacity development needs
Conduct and assess existing capacities of the MoA to document farmers relation to his land (land registration) and have the information easily accessible throughout its field offices
Based on the findings above, develop a comprehensive work plan including methodological guidelines for the 3 MOA offices, harmonizing existing data in order for the 3 MOA offices to develop a land registration system that is easily accessible to the MoA itself and to the public and;

DELIVERABLE

The consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs:

A final report in both languages Arabic and English in both word and PDF formats, including:

Summary of current context.
Work plan including methodological guidelines.
Recommendations for developing, strengthening and upgrading land registration and documentation capacities at the MOA offices, and;

Presentation of the main findings in a national workshop with the participation of the 3 MOA offices and related stakeholders.

TIMEFRAME

The assessor will have to determine the needed days to undertake the desk and field research which can be done by phone or through using online tools due to governmental constrains on movement due to the Spread of Coronavirus, and submit the last draft of the Assessment report. The draft will be reviewed by PFU staff and the MOA, feedback will be provided to assessor. The final draft should be submitted maximum 5 days after receiving feedback on the first draft.

ASSESSMENT MANAGEMENT

The commissioning manager of the Assessment will be the project manager. The consultant will submit an assessment plan including detailed methodology and draft questionnaire prior to starting data collection. PFU project manager will provide necessary technical support for the development of the methodology and tools and review the draft assessment report. The consultant will submit the draft report to PFU project manager and after receiving comments on the draft will submit the final assessment report as per the agreed time plan.

REQUIRED SKILLS

A team of consultants or a consultant with very good knowledge of the agricultural sector, agri-business economy in the West Bank, and legal related experience.
A minimum of ten (10) years’ experience in conducting organizational capacity needs assessments, experience with self-assessment processes will be an advantage;
Proven analytical skills with ability to prepare cost estimates in a professional and credible manner.
Previous experience in undertaking complex research and assessment and presenting findings in a comprehensive manner.
Arabic and English speaker, with excellent English drafting skills.

Technical and Financial Proposals

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

The Technical Proposal should entail the following:

Profile of similar assignments.

CVs and certificates.

Description of the work methodology and approach.

Action plan and timeframe.

At least three references for similar service for the last three years.

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

The Financial proposal should contain the following information:

Prices are in Euro and valid for 60 days .
The consultant should provide an official VAT Exempted invoice. If for any reason she/ he will failed to provide an official invoice, the fees will become 90%, as PFU will deduct 10% for income tax purposes for the service.

The submitted offers should be in Euros excluding VAT. The tendered should be able to issue Payment request in addition to deduction at source certificate or will deduct a percentage of the final payment according to Palestinian Taxation department & laws.
Prices include all types of expenses such as transportations, per –diem, calls, accommodation…etc.
The consultant should provide his/her copy of ID.

The remuneration is to be paid based on the following milestones:

Acceptance: Award of a proposal does not imply acceptance of its terms and conditions. PFU reserves the option to negotiate on the final terms and conditions.
Please submit the proposal (technical & financial offer) and requested documents by email (as mentioned above) by the (7th of May 2020), addressing to: [email protected] & [email protected]