The Government of Ghana led by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), in collaboration with the World Bank and USAID is currently preparing the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP).

The proposed project will improve the investment climate for agri-business and establish inclusive PPPs aimed at increasing on-farm productivity and value addition in selected value chains. The project will have four components: (i) strengthening investment promotion infrastructure and facilitating secure access to land; (ii) securing PPPs and small-holder linkages in the Accra Plains; (iii) securing PPPs and small-holder linkages in the area under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA); and (iv) Project Management and Monitoring & Evaluation.

The broad activities under each Component are confirmed as the following:

Component 1: Strengthening investment promotion infrastructure, facilitating secure access to land. This component will promote a secure investment climate that clarifies and strengthens the rights and Obligations of investors, government and affected communities, and support an improved mechanism for facilitating access to land by reducing the search costs to potential investors through an expansion of a database of land suitable and available for investors and by building on nascent mechanisms for actively matching potential investors suitable land owners.

Component 2: Securing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and smallholder linkages in the Accra Plains. This component will involve the identification and realization of private investments in the agricultural value chain through irrigation-based PPPs in the Accra Plains. This component will support the first transaction of Ghana's PPP agenda (which extends beyond agriculture) and will draw on support to the MoFEP's PPP Unit. It will support all necessary tasks of 'taking the PPP to market' including the provision of any viability gap financing. It will also strengthen community benefit sharing mechanisms by directly supporting smallholder linkages through out-grower schemes and contract farming arrangements as well as other improved arrangements for benefit sharing through corporate social responsibility and revenue management at the local level.

Component 3: Securing PPPs and smallholder linkages in the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) region. This component will involve the identification and realization of private investments in the agricultural value chain through PPPs. Investors could be local or international and would cover both production and processing activities as well as ancillary businesses. It will also strengthen community benefit sharing mechanisms by directly supporting smallholder linkages through out-grower schemes and contract farming arrangements as well as other improved arrangements for benefit sharing through corporate social responsibility and revenue management at the local level.

Component 4: Project Management and Monitoring & Evaluation. This component would finance the operational costs of project management including monitoring and evaluation activities. It would also include necessary training and capacity building for the staff.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) envisages monitoring and evaluation as a forward-looking activity given the likelihood of continued support to commercial agriculture in Ghana beyond the GCAP lifetime and future GoG reforms in the sector.

The Project intends to engage a firm that is led by a professional Monitoring and Evaluation Expert to work with the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) to provide services with a view to ensure adequate reporting on progress towards the development objectives and to lay a solid foundation of data and information on which evidenced-informed programming and policy-making can take place and coordination between development partners and GoG can be facilitated.

The Third Party M&E Firm will be responsible for operationalising the project's M&E framework, as articulated in the M&E manual (already prepared) and will revise the manual as and when required to adequately fulfill the M&E function of the GCAP. It will implement the maiden M&E plan and design/operate the information management system of the Project that adheres to the project management information needs and implementation requirements of the World Bank and other donors.

The Firm will assist in provision of sector-specific information and feed-back relevant to the Ministry of Finance I on outcomes of public-private partnerships in agriculture and related issues and to SADA on the contribution that commercial agriculture can make to poverty alleviation and job creation in the Northern regions

The specific objective of the assignment is to provide M&E support to the project to determine performance I and progress toward achieving outputs and as well as short-, medium- and long-term outcomes as outlined in the project document, M&E manual and M&E framework.

SCOPE OF SERVICES

The Firm will take overall charge of the Project's M&E system establishment and initial management with stakeholder participation and conduct the tasks identified below by applying sound technical practices and methods and collecting and making use) of available and necessary data in carrying out the assignment. The firm shall work in close consultation with the Project Coordinator of the PIU. The specialist will discuss issues that would affect efficient information M&E management with the Project Coordinator and agree on the ways to resolve them.

•   Undertake a Baseline Survey for the project. This survey will collect information that will aid in project planning as well as provide a basis for monitoring and evaluating the impact of the project;
•   Design a project performance monitoring, evaluation and reporting system for the project aligned to the overall Monitoring Framework of the project, including roles and responsibilities for implementation:
•   Supervise data collation, entry and generation of analyzed data and information on all M&E activities:
•   Collaborate with other focal persons for timely submission of data in the form and format required for reporting;
•   Establish and maintain an appropriate MIS system to monitor and evaluate progress in achieving the project outputs and outcomes at key junctures during the project period to assess progress towards achieving project's Objectives.
•   Develop where necessary, refine and implement, together with Project Implementation Unit and project teams, the projects planning and M & E and MIS system
•   Build the capacity of the project implementing agencies to monitor project impacts and use the MIS (reporting functions related to M&E only) by providing on-the-job training;
•   Undertake regular visits to the field to support implementation of M&E and to Identify where adaptations might be needed;
•   Guide the regular sharing of the outputs of M&E findings with project staff, Implementing Agencies and major stakeholders;
•   Ensure that monitoring data are discussed in the appropriate forum and in on scheduled in terms of implications for future actions, if necessary, create such discussion forums to fill any gaps;
•   Supervise the annual value chain survey which will monitor the commercial agriculture value chain and the participation of smallholders in it;
•   Participate in External Missions and facilitate Mission Team Members access to monitoring and evaluation data and information and to beneficiary and stakeholders as well as direct personal knowledge of the field situation;
•   Support the project's communications approach to deliver key policy messages effectively, including presentation of project achievements through the MOFA (project's) website;
•   Through the regular M&E system will incorporate learning activities throughout: through stakeholder review activities, feedback from MTR, impact studies, cross-visits, field monitoring visits, to ensure lesson learning and feedback mechanisms;
•   Conduct all evaluations aside from the rigorous impact evaluation (which is being managed separately by the World Bank, in close collaboration with the PIU), this will include undertaking and/or supervising the Project's mid-term evaluation, final evaluation, and all necessary data collection and analysis;
•   Work closely with the researchers from the impact evaluation team In order to supplement and integrate data collection efforts; and
•   Undertake any other duties as may be reasonably assigned by the Project Coordinator

Performance Criteria

The following criteria will be used to assess the performance of the Third Party M&E Firm at regular intervals and based upon which the contract with the PIU may be evaluated after six months:

•   Functionality and use of the MIS developed
•   Timeliness of project monitoring and evaluation management activities:
•   Quality of documentation submitted for prior review; and
•   Quality and timeliness of reports,

The Consultant shall be subject to monthly performance assessments based on agreed performance targets,

REPORTING AND TIME SCHEDULES

The Firm will prepare Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual M&E reports as inputs into the Project Management Reports and in addition, will prepare other reports, as and when needed.

Qualification Required & Experience

This assignment requires a firm with the following qualifications and experience:

1)  Must be registered in Ghana and have a track record of performing similar roles for projects and established extractive com parries:
2)  Must have a leading expert with more than 10 years experience designing M&E Systems and operationalising same. It will be desirable to have experience with World Bank and USAID PMPs;
3)  Must have a track record of designing and conducting district and regional Baseline studies in Ghana and elsewhere;
4)  Must have own office space, equipment and vehicles to facilitate fieldwork and data collection;
5)  Must have staff or associates that have most of the following qualifications;

•   A Post graduate Degree In administration, management, agriculture, rural development; planning, statistics economics, natural and/or social science or other relevant field
•   At least 10 years' experience in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation programmes and projects monitoring and evaluation;
•   Demonstrated knowledge of participatory M&E systems, project performance monitoring system, benefit monitoring and evaluation or other relevant experience;
•   Capacity to work under tight deadlines and to handle potentially controversial and/or very sensitive issues that require, initiative, clarity, accuracy and speedy responses;
•   Proven ability to multi-task and work independently;
•   Ability to transfer analytical results into simple and workable solutions.
•   Excellent conceptual and analytical skills. Highly self-motivated, confident and with good interpersonal skill;
•   Ability to arrange and facilitate consultations, meetings and workshops;
•   Proven ability to produce quality reports (quantitative and qualitative data, photos, charts, maps):
•   Excellent lime management skills, with an ability to deliver high-quality outputs on time;
•   Very good compute, skills including use of technical software for M&E purposes;
•   Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Fluency in English IS a must; a Membership of a Professional Body will be an advantage.

Location: Accra

How To Apply For The Job

A short list of consulting firm will be compiled and a consultant selected in accordance with the Consultant Qualification Selection (CQS) Method procedures set out in the Guidelines; Selection and Employment of consultant Under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grant By World Bank Borrowers (January 2011 Edition)

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hour, i.e. 0900 to 1700 hours.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail or by fax, or by email)

The Project Coordinator
Ghana Commercial Agriculture
Ministry of Food and Agriculture
CASHEW Block (around Juvenile Court, Riviera Beach), Accra
P.O Box M.37, Accra, Ghana

Tel: 233 302 666567
Fax: 233 302 668245
Email: alabibortey@gmail.com

Closing Date: 30 September, 2013