Sudan – Value Chain Analysis Consultant Consultancy NEW

1. Introduction & Background

COOPI is implementing a project funded by the EU titled A.LI.V.E – Agriculture and LIvestock Value chain Enhancement The EU funded project spans from January 2025 to December 2028, with 48 months of implementation. It is currently within the inception period of its 1st year of implementation. The project aims to contribute to sustainable livelihoods and food security in rural communities most affected by food insecurity, climate change, and conflicts in Sudan.

Scope of work

1. The project will identify and analyze systematically three crop and two livestock value chains from production to marketing (local/regional, national and international) with the aim to enhance competitiveness, profitability and sustainability in the crop and livestock sub-sectors, increase incomes, generate employment and support activities that increase households and communities’ resilience to recurrent shocks. To achieve this, COOPI requests a detailed market mapping and value chain analysis of the crop and livestock sub-sectors by identifying: the primary and secondary actors, numbers (women and youth), volumes/quantities, key functions; the supply chain, operational challenges and potential interventions; value variations along the VCs together with the margins of fluctuation, market share, sub products and transactions along the VC.
2. The consultant(s) will also evaluate the social aspects, such as participation and governance to transform the sub sector into a robust market-oriented VC, and labour dynamics.
3. The ultimate goal is to make the VC work for the poor or include them in them in the VC.
4. Specifically, the consultants will focus on the following key areas:

• Understand the strategies currently deployed by the poor to make these markets work for them to help develop actions/steps that would expand space for participation of the poor.
• Identify capacity gaps limiting competiveness of key actors/traders, livestock associations and women engaged in crop and livestock marketing enterprises and other service providers.
• Establish gaps of actors such as CBOs and other community development agents engaged in crop and livestock trading arrangements.
• Analyse the overall market and business environment including extension services (input supplies, market information, financial, transport, quality assurance services) that facilitates/limits regional/local, national cross-border markets and market linkages (local market structure and enabling environment).
• Identify and document successful crop, livestock marketing models and enterprises for replication and scaling up
• Recommend potential business opportunities for entrepreneurs to invest in viable businesses, including crop and livestock marketing associations, women and youth.
• Document/Recommend existing mechanisms/models that provide opportunity for business coaching and mentoring for women and youth businesses in the crop and livestock value chains
• Recommend interventions which will enable the crop and livestock producers to engage more with markets and other key actors
• Identify areas where private sector can catalyse the VC or reduce inefficiencies instead of having NGOs leading the process.
• Recommend upgrading strategies for the selected value chains including how to grow the crop and livestock enterprises into business hubs which will increase farmers’ bargain power, market access and demand for services
• Inclusion of People with Disabilities in the targeted crop and livestock Value Chains:
  • Map local disabled persons organisations (DPO) – contact list and describe their area of focus
  • Identify people with disabilities participating in the target value chains to be assessed to understand barrier for market access,
  • Map ongoing stakeholders (government, NGOs, private sector etc.) efforts to improve disable persons access to markets and capacity development efforts to increase their participation in governance related to the target crop value chains.
  • Consult people with disabilities and DPOs in targeted Value Chains to identify approaches to disability inclusion that can be included in Value chain development or improvement.
• Inclusion of women in the targeted crop and livestock Value Chains:
  • Map local women empowerment organisations – contact list and describe their area of focus
  • Identify women participating in the target value chains to be assessed to understand barrier for market access,
  • Map ongoing stakeholders (government, NGOs, private sector etc.) efforts to improve women access to markets and capacity development efforts to increase their participation in governance related to the target crop value chains.
  • Consult women and women organizations in targeted Value Chains to identify approaches to women inclusion that can be included in Value chain development or improvement.

Deliverables

1. A general market mapping and analysis for the selected sectors (agriculture and livestock rearing) to be used as a reference for the subsequent sub-sector analysis;
2. Identification and selection of key products from the two sectors (three for agriculture and two for livestock) to be promoted in the framework of the project..
3. Related to the selected products, the study will identify and analyse the existing service gaps challenging the equitable and fair access to markets.
4. Based on the findings of the study, outline key future strategic interventions and development required to trigger and stimulate the development of the identified agricultural crops and livestock value chains for the following five years.
5. Proposal of a functional and working business model for the selected crop and livestock value chains, adapted to the context of the locations under this study, enabling vulnerable target groups to engage in meaningful business ventures.
6. Service Terms
7. Time Frame for the consultancy is 45 days.

• One week: methodology and inception report
• Two weeks: data collection
• One week: draft report
• One week: comments
• One week: final report and presentation

1. The data collection will take approximately 15 days to be completed, and will include: Interaction with COOPI Management, field teams, beneficiaries, key stakeholders.
2. The consultant is responsible for organizing the field work and data collection, including recruiting at his/her own expenses enumerators or sub-contracting parties (duly informing COOPI in advance), training them, follow up, and collecting raw data for the analysis. The consultant will also be responsible for the quality and soundness of the data analysis and its results.

COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale is a relief and development organization founded in Italy in 1965. COOPI’s envisions a world without poverty where diverse cultures live together sharing equal rights and equal opportunities. COOPI’s mission is to reduce poverty in the global South through interventions of long-term sustainable international cooperation. COOPI also conducts advocacy activities in Italy, to fight the cause of the serious economic gap between the North and South.