Labor and Market Assessment Full Time NEW

Organizational Background:

Somali Lifeline Organization (SOLO) is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization established in 2008. Through its integrated program design and delivery approach; SOLO works with local communities and structures to mitigate the effects of drought, floods, conflicts, disease outbreaks and gender-based violence. SOLO focuses on empowering the less privileged and most vulnerable in order to enhance, strengthen and accelerate development through capacity building, training and mentoring of youth, livelihoods and economic diversification, provision of quality education, health and nutrition, improvement of food security initiatives, environmental conservation and promotion of peace and harmony across different groups. The organization also provides tailor-made trainings; researches and capacity strengthening to Local Authorities and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to ensure good governance and rule of law at all levels (i.e. Local; Regional and National).

SOLO advocates for inclusivity and human rights protection of all to create positive environment for individuals to fulfill and realize their potentials. SOLO’s capacity and strength in executing programs in Kenya and Somalia/Somaliland particularly in areas of operation lies in the close partnership and participation of the communities throughout the Project Cycle Management (PCM).

SOLO is working in partnership with Save the Children and RRDO for the REAP project in Dadaab.

Background to the Project:

Solo is working in partnership with Save the Children and RRDO on the REAP project, funded by Save the Children, Italy. The project is a 27-month project in Dadaab sub-county targeting both host communities and the refugees. The project “Providing equitable, uninterrupted access to resilient, equitable, protective, inclusive, innovative quality education in emergencies and child protection services for children affected by crisis in IFO 2 in Dadaab refugee camp by 2026.” is running from October, 2024 to December, 2026.

The project is targeting 80% refugees and 20% affected host community children’s. The direct beneficiaries are 25,000 girls and boys as indirect beneficiaries are 40,000 children and adults.

The project aims to achieve the following key results:

• Result 1: Refugee and affected local community boys and girls have access to quality basic education.
• Result 2: Refugee children are protected from violence, abuse, exploitation and have access to suitable care arrangement

The project overall goal is refugee and local communities are empowered to address barriers and promote quality, sustainable and inclusive education and protection services for all children by end of 2026.

SOLO contribution area is towards the outcome 4 “Foster resilience and sustainable livelihood outcomes among adolescent mothers and foster parents to withstand a shock and stress”.

As such, the output 4.1: Increased participation of adolescent mothers and foster parents in viable and environmentally sustainable enterprises, is where this particular contributes to. The project ought to conduct a market and value chain opportunity analysis with the greatest potential to support livelihoods, with relevance potential and feasibility of economic sub-sectors. By thoroughly analyzing market conditions, customer needs, competitive landscape, regulatory requirements and industry trends, draw recommendations for interventions that can be applied to support refugees/host to pursue value chains that have potential for profitability, are relevant, and are feasible for refugees to pursue employment opportunities.

Purpose of the assignment:

SOLO is seeking a firm/group of consultants to support its preparatory work for value chain interventions in Dadaab. The assignment will lay the groundwork for the REAP project that will take SOLO project participants to the next level, continuing to boost their income by providing the skills necessary to evolve from subsistence dependence to small scale enterprises.

Key objectives of the assignment include:

• Understanding the market: the high potential value chains our participants can feed into and the key tools required for growth.
• Understanding the market gaps and proposing strategies and recommendations to support the project achieve intended goals.
• Developing a training curriculum with enhanced skills providing individuals with the skills needed to move to the next level.

Key Activities

This is a comprehensive assignment covering 4 areas of work, all of which will be led by the consultant(s) with significant input and oversight from SOLO. The 4 areas of work are interlinked and will feed into the overall objective of the labor and market assessment to lay the ground work for the series of interventions to follow.

Each area of work is detailed below:

Areas of Work

Timeline2

Approximate No. of Days

1. Labor and Market Research

26th Feb 2025

12 days

3. Curriculum Development

10th Mar 2025

10 Days

4. Training of Trainers

23rd March 2025

4 Days

Final report

30th March, 2025

1. Labor and Market Research

Conduct a deep dive market research analysis into the high-potential value chains our target groups could feed into and the tools they require for growth. The consultant will be required to conduct a labor and market research relevant to the Dadaab high value chains and ensure the research delivers the following objectives and outputs:

To validate the identified market opportunity within the value chains proposed and determine which products and clients the project should work with.

• Describe the opportunities in the value chain that would help community members and refugees reach the identified markets.
  • Determine the target group’s strengths and constraints in reaching the

identified market.

• Identify key actors in each node of the value chain at local and county level.
  • Establish these actors’ level of involvement in the value chain, and their quality and quantity requirements.
    • Draw a value chain map for each value chain identifying current market opportunities, market structure, and where SOLO target participants fit into the market.
    • Suggest additional value chains if appropriate.

To conduct a gender analysis on the gender dynamics on the proposed value chains and the implications for women participants.

• Identify specific barriers and core challenges women entrepreneurs face in these value chains.
  • Propose specific strategies to overcome gender inequality and subordination.

To determine which supply gaps the programme will work to address.

• Assess the key inputs and services participants require for increased growth and profitability – quantifying input costs for a typical entrepreneur.
  • Identify market actors who can provide these inputs consistently and with sufficient quality.

To evaluate the viability of existing and potential cooperatives.

• Establish which types of cooperatives and producer groups operate in identified value chains around Dadaab.
  • Recommend whether members form new cooperatives or join existing groups.
    • Describe challenges women face to get a leadership positions in such cooperatives and ways to address them.

To map capital access needs and potential financial partners.

• Identify financial organizations providing access to capital to entrepreneurs with micro, small and medium enterprises.
  • Determine which financial partners should be connected to producer groups through the program.
    • Define the range of capital requirements to level up entrepreneurs.

To map potential partners.

• Identify organizations which are also seeking to improve smallholder Entrepreneurs incomes in the proposed value chains in the counties of operation.
  • Recommend partnerships that would strengthen the value chains and support long term growth.

The deliverable from this activity will be a Labor and Market Research Report with findings and recommendations on each of the objectives outlined above, as well as on time, budget and resource allocation for additional inputs required for the programme.

Targeting tool:

Develop a targeting tool SOLO can use to identify members that could potentially participate in the intervention based on the following criteria:

• Potential for growth (differentiate between business women and men looking to grow an enterprise, and ‘survivalists’ looking for subsistence income).
  • Define criteria to identify potential leaders in producer groups who can play a key role in the intervention.

1. Curriculum Development

The findings from the market research will be crucial inputs into a training curriculum to be developed by the consultant/s. The curriculum will address the specific knowledge gaps identified amongst SOLO participants and provide them with the skills and tools they need to evolve from small farmers to effective cooperatives and producer groups.

This activity will have two deliverables that should draw on:

• Specific selected value chains’ demand of skills, products and services
• Knowledge gaps identified
• Gender barriers that hinder women to integrate into profitable value chains
• Best practices in other organization’s value chain programmes, via external and

internal experts.

• SOLO’s learning experiences from previous programmes.

Deliverables:

Training Curriculum

Training manual addressing the following competences (or any other identified on the previous activities):

Group governance/leadership: Effective producer group leadership, control processes to prevent mismanagement by group leadership, such as fraud, or leadership favoring only men.

Marketing Skills: Sales channels, clients, pricing, seasonality, contract negotiation skills.

Production skills: Agricultural/ technical best practices specific to the validated value chains.

Financial management skills including accounting, loan management. Understanding typical costs and drivers of profitability.

Advocacy skills for systemic change: e.g. how to influence county government budgets.

Mentorship support.

Business Development: strategy, business planning, forecasting, etc.

Master trainer manual

Master-trainer materials to train facilitators including a training of trainers’ handbook.

Blueprint materials for use by producer groups such as, for example, a template constitution, or a template memorandum from a group to a county government advocating for budget, etc.

Training of Trainers

In order to validate and roll-out the new curriculum, the consultant/s should carry out 2 activities:

• Validation workshop of the competences integrated in the new curriculum with SOLO staff. Integrate feedback into the master-trainer materials.

The validation workshop should include a test to pilot the curriculum with a group of actual beneficiaries. Integrate feedback from potential members and make necessary adaptations to the curriculum before presenting the final version.

• Train SOLO facilitators and staff on the new validated curriculum.

Profile of Consultants/Consultancy Firm:

SOLO requests that consultants submit proposals responding to the Terms of Reference outlined above. We expect the firm or team of consultants to demonstrate excellent skills and experience according to the criteria below:

• Excellent track record conducting detailed market research, including designing a methodology, collecting data, providing detailed analysis and delivering actionable, practicable recommendations. Previous experience providing research for or designing value chain or private sector development programmes will be an advantage.
• Strong track record conducting value chain and market analysis in an East African context, ideally across Kenya.
• Experience with participatory and mixed research methods, combining techniques and tools for quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
• Detailed knowledge of participatory market systems development approaches.
• Track record of working on projects targeting grassroots entrepreneurs and enterprises, self-help groups, and financial institutions.
• Demonstrated experience of successfully developing training approaches (curricula, training materials and practical capacity building) for value chain focused programmes. Previous experience providing Training of Trainer (ToTs) will also be essential.
• Proven experience of working alongside national teams within civil society organizations’; NGOs, academic institutions, social enterprises etc.
• Capacities with electronic data collection methods will be favorably considered.
• Fluency in verbal and written English and Kiswahili; Somali would be an added advantage.