Consultant Consultancy NEW

Consultancy to support desk review, data analysis and report writing for Farm Radio International in Tanzania

Duration of task 3.5 months

Location Tanzania

Reports to Country Program Manager and MERL Manager

Start date July 10, 2025

Application deadline June 27, 2025

Background

Farm Radio International is a non-profit communication-for-development organization dedicated to serving African rural communities through the innovative use of radio and mobile phones. Together with our broadcasting and project partners, we reach tens of millions of small-scale farmers with life-changing information and enable them to have a stronger voice in their own development. Through our efforts, rural radio programs enable women, men and gender diverse people to: share and access information; gain and exchange practical knowledge on agriculture, food and nutrition security, health, education, climate change adaptation; contribute to community and societal transformation; and have their voices heard.

The World Food Programme (WFP) Tanzania Country Office is implementing an Anticipatory Action (AA) programme to strengthen preparedness and resilience to drought in ten target districts. A key component of this initiative is the dissemination of climate information and Early Warning Messages (EWM) to inform communities of impending hazards. WFP is planning to pilot the dissemination of early warning in the October-November-December (OND) season 2025 should the trigger be reached. In addition to piloting EWM, the programme also seeks to support the integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) with scientific weather information, and to strengthen local capacities for developing and disseminating inclusive climate information services. To ensure the success of this initiative and its long-term sustainability, it is crucial to strengthen the broader climate services system, making it more inclusive, accessible, and actionable.

To kickstart this initiative, Farm Radio International is supporting WFP Tanzania to carry out a needs assessment to identify gaps, barriers, and opportunities in the delivery and uptake of climate information services and last mile early warning. The findings will inform the design of tailored and user-centric climate services and early warnings, and concrete solutions to strengthen capacities for dissemination, promote informed decision-making and strengthen resilience against climate risks.

Main objective of the assignment

The needs assessment will analyse the current climate service landscape in three pilot districts, identifying critical gaps, barriers to uptake, and opportunities to enhance service delivery. It will focus on end-users, particularly marginalized groups – including women, youth and people with disabilities – who often face structural inequalities, limited access to resources, and exclusion from decision-making processes.

End-users, in this context, refers to individuals and groups who use or would benefit from climate information services. Specifically, the following end-users should be considered:

• Smallholder farmers
• Representatives for women and men
• Indigenous knowledge representatives/bearers of local/indigenous knowledge
• Elderly community members
• Youth
• People living with disabilities

Specific objectives

More precisely, this research will aim at the following areas:

• Identify gaps and needs: Assess existing climate services to identify gaps in availability, accessibility, and relevance to end-users, particularly vulnerable communities and sectors.
• Assess barriers to access and use: Investigate barriers – systemic, political, infrastructural, and socio-cultural – that hinder the uptake and effective use of climate information.
• Assess indigenous knowledge: Examine the role of indigenous and local knowledge in producing climate information and explore opportunities for integrating it with scientific climate services to enhance effectiveness.
• Inform tailored climate service development: Leverage findings to guide the co-design of inclusive climate services, tailored to the diverse needs of end-users, including gender-specific considerations.
• Develop actionable recommendations: Provide actionable recommendations to enhance the delivery, communication and user feedback mechanisms, ensuring climate services are effective, accessible and responsive to needs.

Summary of activities to be conducted

The activities associated with this assignment are to:

1. Conduct a desk review of climate information services in Tanzania,
2. Conduct up to 20 Key Informant interviews at national level (in-person and virtually)
3. Analyse gender-sensitive quantitative data that will be collected from the Key Informant Interviews and Household surveys
4. Write a research report to inform the design and implementation of early warning messages.

Deliverables

The expected deliverables are as follows:

• Inception Report: Following an Inception meeting with the Farm Radio International team at the start of the assignment, the consultant(s) will be asked to prepare a short Inception report describing their methodology for conducting field data collection – e.g., how will they deploy their teams in the different areas, timelines, budgets, etc. to be approved by Farm Radio International
• Feedback on data collection tools: The consultants will provide feedback on and help finalize the KII and household survey tools proposed by Farm Radio International.
• Data collection from national Key Informant Interviews: The Consultant will conduct a maximum of 20 key informant interviews both in person and virtually. The consultant will be furnished with a list of organisations involved in delivery and uptake of climate information services and last mile early warning in Tanzania at national level.
• Field Data Analysis: Upon completion of the field work and data collection, the consultants will analyse the data with support and input from Farm Radio International
• Preliminary analysis and presentation of results: The consultant will provide FRI with a preliminary research report to aid WFP in commencement of the OND planning.
• Final report: A final report will need to be submitted following the guidelines provided by Farm Radio International. The report will be organized around the themes described above and present the results of the content analysis done on the transcriptions of the FGDs and KIIs. The consultant(s) will identify some key recommendations.

Elements to include in proposal

• Demonstrate the qualifications and relevant experience of the firm and of the specific consultant(s) that will be assigned to this project
• Clear demonstration of expertise in the area of gender-based analysis plus (GBA+), which also covers intersectionality aspects touching gender, youth and other marginalized groups.
• The general approach that the consultants will take to completing the assignment
• The tasks/action steps that the consultants will undertake to complete the deliverables
• The timeline and work plan
• The budget

How to apply

To submit your application, send your proposal to [email protected] by June 27, 2025. Only those firms selected for the next stage will be contacted. No phone calls please.

Tagged as: Farm Radio International, United Republic of Tanzania