Open Positions at Practical Action Kenya

Objective of assignment

• The project will hire a Business Development Services (BDS) Consultant who will provide services that will enhance the entrepreneurial capacity of young women and men to effectively run and manage their agri-enterprises. Specifically, the consultant will build the capacity of the young agriprenuers to: Access better and structured markets. Improve their competitive advantage by supporting youth agriprenuers to access information on improved and innovative technologies, broaden networks with regards to outreach and better their skills set to improve their business operational efficiency. Improve their business acumen in the dynamic agricultural space through mentoring and couching respectively. Develop/refine sustainable production and marketing models to help their business either grow/expand or improve their operational efficiency.

The consultants will provide Business trainings, linkages, networking, mentoring, coaching to small and medium sized enterprises and individual businesses within their respective counties to improve their businesses on the below listed skills sets:

• Business management skills
• Business registration
• Business planning
• Public and customer relations skills
• Keeping proper business records
• Market Research Techniques
• Marketing business products/services
• Taxation issues in business
• Costing and pricing of business products and services
• Business financing
• Management of cash stock, and credit
• Management of human resources
• Risk management
• Finance proposal development
• Quality management and improvement of products and services
• Financial analysis

Methodology:
Inception phase:

• The assignment will start with an inception phase. This phase will include review of training guides, project documents, market related reports and policies. A rapid review of training needs assessment and the available information of the study area will also be done.
• The inception phase will end with submission of the inception report with comments from Practical Action incorporated.

Training Phase:

• The interim phase will include support in conducting deep-stick intervention assessments through reviews of the available project documents including the market analysis and baseline assessment reports to gain meaningful understanding of the project participants capacity strengthening needs (needs analysis).
• Disaggregate mentors’ information and capacity development needs as per the respective value chain (poultry, African leafy vegetables, tomatoes, ground nuts and soybeans) to define specific intervention areas.
• Support businesses to expand their business by providing tailored advice, information, training, referrals, and support. This will also include value addition approach.
• Provide small group/individualized trainings and advice.
• Assist in the developmental processes of the established enterprises, including, acting as a sounding board and referral agent for income generation/enterprise development.
• Build capacity and provide guidance to mentors to undertake various business tasks which will be achieved by mentoring clients in business skills, advice, connections to local networks, resources, opportunities and more lucrative markets.
• Link/refer individual mentors to local service providers such as banks and training organisations.
• Create linkages/networks with financial institutions and/or other advisory organisations or bodies that can assist in stimulating or advancing business development in the target areas.
• Encourage commercial and industrial businesses in the area to provide their expertise and facilities to micro business providers.
• Set up an effective monitoring, learning and evaluation plan and tool to monitor business progress of all young business owners in the respective counties.

Reporting:

• The interim reports will be reviewed for input by Practical Action.
• The final report will incorporate comments from reviewers.
• The consultant will present specific recommendations to address problems/ constraints/ gaps and opportunities for improvement, and roles of different actors in creation of working opportunities for young men and women.

Deliverables
The following deliverables are envisioned under this consultancy:

• Inception report (Max 15 pages): an inception report incorporating findings of rapid review of training guidelines (including development of tailored modules for agri-prenuers), desk review, details of work plan, and time schedules, and the tentative outline of training content.
• Interim reports: training reports and progress highlighting number of youths trained, lessons learnt and linkages to market actors.
• Final reports: Detailed report with clear alignment to the TOR, the final report will be the end product after incorporation of all the comments from Practical Action.
• A detailed schedule will be developed and agreed with the successful candidate for these deliverables.

Skills Required

• Consultant profile/eligibility criteria
• For the purposes of this assessment, the Consultant should have at least a bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness /Agricultural economics/ Marketing/ Economics/ Commerce/Business management or related field background and extensive experience and knowledge in business mentoring and coaching in Kenya, including for youth and women initiatives. Among the desirable qualifications for lead consultant are:
• Knowledge of ILO start and improve your business (SIYB) and grow and expand your business (GEYB) and mentoring approaches.
• Practical business knowledge with emphasis on marketing and financial management skills.
• Demonstrated experience in Market Research, monitoring and evaluation and product development.
• A good command of the English, Swahili and Luo language.
• Demonstrated experience in small business development and management (own business or by providing business development services), experience with small business financing, market analysis and market research.
• Demonstrated experience in community economic development, community empowerment, working with community-based organisations.
• Strong experience in networking.
• Highly developed interpersonal and oral communication skills.
• Motivated and goal orientated.
• Comfortable working autonomously.
• Creative and strong problem-solving skills.
• Strategic/big picture view – goal orientated.
• Report writing experience.
• Experience directly working with young people in research.
• Good understanding and proven track record in safeguarding / do not harm principle.
• Experience working in the lake Basin, highly recommended.

Guidelines for submission of expression of interest

• Proposal and capability statement with clear methodological approach (technical proposal)
• Detailed financial proposal in Kenyan Shillings: If the team consists of several members, the professional fees should not be a daily rate, but it should be based on clearly shown time allocation by each member of the team to the various activities.
• Evidence of experience in similar work: samples of learning briefs or learning documents developed in the past.
• Annexed to the proposal should be CVs of the consultant outlining previous experiences and accomplishment.
• Indicate county of preference

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Objective of assignment
The Senior Consultant should meet the following objectives:

• In collaboration with the County Government of Baringo to provide technical support in conducting baseline survey activities that serve as a basis for the development of CEPs.
• To conduct assessment studies on the status of clean cooking at the county level, in relation to specific fuels and technologies.
• Conduct an analysis of key nexus sectors that have been chosen by respective counties as a focus for the CEP solution development
• Provide thematic expertise in key areas of least-cost electrification, clean cooking, gender, and Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency
• Provide technical leadership in the development of Baringo County Energy Plan.

The assignment will be conducted into five (5) phases as below:

Phase 1: Literature review and context analysis for county energy planning

• Conduct literature review and analysis of key national and county energy policies and acts, county energy profiles, The County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), census reports and other such documents that serve as a basis for energy planning.
• Assess current energy use and supply.
• Identify potential future energy supply.
• Analyse the existing energy activities, projects, plans, programmes and policies of the national government, county government, development partners, private sector stakeholders and non-governmental organizations.
• Identify available human and organizational resources to help implement County Energy Plans.
• Identify priorities and focal areas; and select short-term and medium-term priorities.

Phase 2: Baseline survey execution

• Collect primary data through a sample survey in the county to understand the status of energy access for households, community facilities and enterprises. Primary data gathering will be used to fill any data gaps remaining after the literature review, and to help triangulate findings, for example, where secondary data from the literature is less recent.
• Carry out qualitative surveys too get deeper insights on the context opportunities and challenges within the focus sectors through a range of data gathering activities on the ground including Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs).
• Conduct an in depth survey to understand the status on cooking energy in the county focusing on the market for both cooking technologies and fuels.
• Support the county to complete baseline analysis and prepare for community needs assessment.
• The Consultant should ensure inclusivity of minority and marginalised groups(special interest groups) e.g., people with disabilities, youth, religious communities, female headed households when conducting the assignment.

Phase 3: Stakeholder Engagement and needs identification at community and sector level

• Work with the county CEP team to assess and establish the true needs and expectations of the local community in terms of development, welfare economic activities, health care, education etc and the role of energy in meeting these needs. This will be done through:
• Key informant interviews with actors from key sectors while taking a value chain wide approach to include producers, aggregators, transporters distributors end user.
• Focus group discussions on specific sectors to further scrutinize the views and priorities from the perspective of energy as an enabler.
• Sectoral workshops to further interrogate the priorities derived from KIIs and FGDs linked to wider sectoral priorities and plans.
• Develop a long list of priorities based on the baseline survey findings. The long list will be based on the following structure:
• Needs at household level focusing on lighting, cooking, heating, productive use in cottage activities, education for children, security.
• Needs at the community level for a range of community services such as health, education, access to credit, or community services related to economic activities (access to water, street or marketplace lighting, storage capacities, to training and sensitisation).
• Needs at the County level focussing on the macro-economic development (e.g agriculture, trade and industry) and the resulting need for development of energy sources. This shall help the counties to develop a vision for the energy plan and priorities to be implemented for the next 10 years. It will also identify the short-term priorities to be developed for the next 3/5 years and the medium-term priorities to be sketched and included in CIDP/ADPs.

Phase 4: Development of energy solutions including mainstreaming of clean cooking in the CEPs

• The consultant will guide the county to draft solutions that respond to the priority needs identified particularly those ones to be developed/answered by the first generation of CEPs. Other priorities will be developed in subsequent versions/revisions of the CEP (after 3 years). The process of solutions development will be guided by the INEP Frameworks stages 6-10

The solutions should cover the following aspects:

• Electrification for households, institutions and businesses(Grid and off grid options)
• Clean cooking
• Bioenergy
• Energy efficiency and conservation
• Solutions development will further include:
• Identifying policies, programmes, and projects to be implemented in order to achieve the county vision and energy goals
• A financing strategy showing the financial requirements for different types of actions, potential financing sources and mechanism (grants, debt, Results Based Financing.
• Establish operational responsibilities.
• A risk analysis framework
• A plan for performance measurement and reporting.

Phase 5: CEP write up

• Coordinate the write up of the CEP involving compilation of inputs from different work streams and aligning these to the CEP template provided under the INEP framework.
• Present the draft CEP for review and validation by the County CEP Technical committee

Time Frame
Overall, the assignment shall be undertaken and completed within 5 months upon signing of the contract.

Selection process
The bidders shall submit a technical proposal responding on the following:

• The profile and experience of the bidders including demonstration of the eligibility criteria.
• Maximum 15 pages technical concept and approach excluding annexes on how the tasks listed in the section above (section 2) shall be delivered and achieved.
• Consultant’s CV showing relevant experiences.
• Expert Requirements Senior Energy Consultant
• Minimum of a Master’s degree in a field related to renewable energy, environmental planning, environmental studies, natural resources, social sciences/ development studies
• At least 7 years’ experience in clean cooking and bioenergy, renewable energy, energy planning, research
• Demonstrate experience in energy planning (demand assessment, solution design, modelling) and research and analysis.
• Experience with energy delivery model approaches(desirable)
• Experience in developing tools and templates.
• Experience engaging with counties governments is an advantage.
• Mandatory prior experience in similar roles through The Sustainable Energy Technical Assistance (SETA), the project of the Ministry of Energy, provides institutional capacity development support for the sustainable energy sector in Kenya.

Administrative and logistical support

• Practical Action will cater for all travel, accommodation and subsistence incurred by the consultant in the course of the assignment. Any additional costs must be agreed with Practical Action in writing. This will be done in line with Practical Action policies and upon approval of costs by the Project Manager.
• Note that the payments will be done subject to the consulting entity meeting quality and timely delivery of stated task.

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Objective of the Assignment

Working under the supervision of the Project Manager and Senior Energy Consultant, the Junior Consultant will be responsible for the following duties:

• Conduct a literature review and analysis of key national and county energy policies and acts, county energy profiles, The County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), census reports, and other such documents that serve as a basis for energy planning.
• Undertaking stakeholder mapping in the counties.
• Support primary data collection in the counties including household surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. This will include supervising field enumerators to ensure timely quality data collection.
• Support in data cleaning and preliminary analysis.
• Provide support to the county planning teams in the organization of community engagement workshops and other convening activities.
• Taking notes and minutes in technical meetings.
• Under the guidance of the Impact and Influence team, Support monitoring evaluation, learning, and communication activities.

Selection process
The bidders shall submit a technical proposal responding on the following:

• The profile and experience of the bidders including demonstration of the eligibility criteria.
• Maximum 15 pages technical concept and approach excluding annexes on how the tasks listed in the section above (section 2) shall be delivered and achieved.
• Consultant’s CV showing relevant experiences.

Requirements

• A graduate in Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Climate change, Business Development, or other relevant fields.
• Postgraduate qualifications may also be considered.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in both English and Kiswahili, with the ability to conduct research and analysis as well as stakeholder engagement.
• Mandatory prior experience in similar roles through The Sustainable Energy Technical Assistance (SETA), the project of the Ministry of Energy, provides institutional capacity development support for the sustainable energy sector in Kenya.
• Mastery PowerPoint, Word, and Excel experience.

Administrative and logistical support

• Practical Action will cater for all travel, accommodation and subsistence incurred by the consultant in the course of the assignment. Any additional costs must be agreed with Practical Action in writing. This will be done in line with Practical Action policies and upon approval of costs by the Project Manager.
• Note that the payments will be done subject to the consulting entity meeting quality and timely delivery of stated task.