Job Description

Terms of Reference (TOR)

Title of Consultancy: GEF UNEP ILM India Baseline Survey of Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard (RA SAS) 2020 farmer practices and cost benefit, in Karnataka (KA)

Acronyms

APCNF : Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming

GEF : Global Environment Facility

ILM : Integrated Landscape Management

KA : Karnataka

RA : Rainforest Alliance

RA SAS : Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard

SLM : Sustainable Land Management

ToR : Terms of Reference

UNEP : United Nations Environment Programme

I. Summary of Consultancy

This consultancy pertains to the RA-led GEF UNEP ILM India project "Transforming agricultural systems and strengthening local economies in high biodiversity areas of India through sustainable landscape management and public-private finance". It requires the assessment of the following baseline (reference) values of two types: The first phase, entails assessing the degree to which the projects target uncertified coffee farmers in KA apply RA SAS2020 crop management practices. The second phase entails assessing the cost-benefit of a subset of 25% of farmers surveyed in the first phase, selecting those which provided the best (most complete) data. These "second-phase" farmers will be divided into two groups: 1. Those not applying any (or applying just a few of) RA SAS2020 Core Requirement practices, and those applying at least 50% RA SAS2020 Core Requirements practices.

II. Background

About Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international non-profit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. RA is 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 work towards making responsible business the new normal through our certification program, tailored supply chain services, landscape and community work and advocacy.

Project Overview

The project seeks to address two critical challenges that have a negative impact on India's environmental health and the wellbeing of its people: land degradation and the loss of biodiversity. Land degradation, defined as the deterioration or loss of the productive capacity of soil, leads to food insecurity, higher food prices, climate change, environmental hazards, and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. It is estimated that 27.77% of India's total geographical area has been degraded as on 2015-16. Biological diversity underpins the ecosystem goods and services that sustain human societies and generates considerable socio-economic value through the provision of goods such as food, water, and services such as climate regulation, pollination, disaster protection and nutrient cycling. The Government of India is a signatory to all the major biodiversity and land degradation treaties and conventions. It is committed to restore twenty-six million hectares of degraded land by 2030, including through sustainable agriculture. The project aims at enabling sustainable agricultural production systems, participatory land use management and responsible supply chains to reverse the process of land degradation and conserve biodiversity. In addition to building the skills and knowledge of small farmers, it will harness policy development, market demand and public-private investment to make sustainable land management (SLM) economically viable. At the farm level, there are two main SLM practices endorsed under this project: The first is based on the RA SAS2020 in Karnataka (KA). The second is based under the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF).

This consultancy is focused on the projects aim to promote adoption of RA SAS2020 in KA, where the project aims to technically support 65,000 uncertified coffee farmers in 150,000 ha, so that, at the end of the project, at least half of them apply at least 50% of the RASAS2020s Core Requirements, and at least 80% of those that do so find practice adoption profitable (i.e., have a positive benefit-cost).

III. Consultancy Objectives * To select a random sample of 800 RA SAS2020-uncertified coffee farmers, 400 in each of the two clusters that span the districts of Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu and Hassan of KA (please see Table 1 in section IV, below). This selection will be carried out in consultation with the projects relevant stakeholders in KA.

• To apply the survey (shown in Annex 1 of this TOR, using the KOBO tool in which the survey will have been pre-uploaded by RA) to the sample coffee farmers selected in 1., above, and therefore establish a baseline (reference) of the degree to which targeted uncertified coffee farmers practices in KA are applying RAs SAS, as well as identify key criteria of the standard that will need to be stressed farmer trainings, and identify and analyze evident drivers of farmers practice adoption.
• To assess profitability (cost-benefit) of a subset of 200 farmers surveyed 2., above, selecting those which provided the best (most complete) data. Ideally, farmers in this subsample of 200 will be divided into two groups of 100 each, one for each predefined cluster in Table 1):
• a. 100 of those not applying any (or applying just a few of) RA SAS2020 Core Requirement practices; and
• b. 100 of those applying at least 50% RA SAS2020 Core Requirements practices.
• This cost-benefit analysis will follow the guidelines provided in Annex 2., of this TOR, and will produce 10-year, time-discounted cash flow scenarios and profitability indicators for groups a. and b., above.

IV. Substantive Activities * Submit detailed proposal on the proposed strategy to carry out 1, 2 and 3 as described in section III., above, including possibly hiring and training field enumerators that will be implementing 2 and 3 described in section III, above;

• Select the random sample of 800 farmers, as described in 1., section III., above.
• Review the RA SAS2020 standard, and identify which of the questions in the farmer practices survey pertain to RA SAS2020 Core Requirements;
• Conduct survey and analysis, as described according to 2., section III, above. Please refer to Table 1, below, for details.

5. Conduct cost-benefit survey and analysis, as described in 3., section III, above. Please refer to Table 1, above, for details.

6. Prepare and submit Deliverables, listed in section V, below.

V. Deliverables and Timeline



VI. Peer review process, supervision, and RA support * RA's Senior Technical Associate in KA will supervise the consultancy.

• RA will evaluate the quality of each Deliverable described in section V., above, including the databases, before payment for that Deliverable. The consultant must make sure that the collected information is complete and valid, before delivery to RA.
• RA will review each Deliverable and will provide feedback within three working days after submission
• The consultant will integrate the feedback and deliver the adjusted Deliverable within three working days, so that payment can be made ASAP.
• Support to be and not to be provided by RA

• RA will provide the survey questionnaires uploaded in Kobo for the farmer practices survey.
• RA will provide coordination support for interaction with relevant stakeholders in KA.
• RA will not finance any additional cost apart from the cost mentioned in the contract
• RA will not provide day-to-day coordination support in the field for application of any of the two surveys

VII. Place, Level of Effort and Duration (# of calendar days)

The geographic scope of survey is the Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan district of Karnataka. The consultancy will require an LOE of no more than 35 calendar days of after the contract is signed, including preparation and submission of all Deliverables listed in section V., above.

VIII. Budget and Payments Schedule

The consultant will be paid a total, and not more than $8500, against delivery and acceptance by contracting party, of each deliverable mentioned in section V of the ToR. Subject to receipt and approval by RA of the respective reports the payment can be released based on the following milestones.

IX. Required qualifications and grading criteria

Annexes 1 and 2 of this ToR will be available upon request.

X. Submission Procedure and Format

We would prefer only organization to apply for the opportunity.

Please include the following: * A letter of interest summarizing the reason why you should be selected for this consultancy.

• A Technical proposal not more than 10 pages detailing the consultant(s) understanding and interpretation of the ToR, expertise and record of accomplishment, proposed methodology/ approach to carry out this assignment, implementation plan, abridged CVs of proposed personnel you intend to use for this assessment.
• A Financial proposal. Detailed budget that indicates the professional fees and any other related costs to be incurred by the consultant(s) while conducting this assignment. Please note that the contract price will be fixed regardless of changes in the cost components. The proposed budget should detail all relevant costs, such as transportation, professional fees, accommodation, stationery etc. An additional column could be added to the budget to help the evaluation team understand what each item will be used for. The financial proposal should be calculated in INR, including all taxes and duties.
• Contact details of recent references (at least 2), include email, contact person's name and phone number.

The letter of interest, technical, and financial proposal should be sent by email to Madhuri Nanda at mnanda@ra.org copy to Dushasana Mahanta at dmahanta@ra.org and Chandrakant Deokar cdeokar@ra.org, with the subject line "GEF UNEP ILM India Baseline Survey of Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard (RA SAS) 2020 farmer practices and cost benefit in Karnataka (KA)", by December 19, 2022, 23h00 IST. Any questions and clarifications related to the assessment should be sent to the emails mentioned above.

Thank you for your interest in working with The Rainforest Alliance