A consultant needed to train and demonstrate other water use efficiency practices

Training and demonstrating other water use efficiency practices

Rikolto is an international NGO with more than 40 years of experience in partnering with farmer organizations and food chain stakeholders across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Rikolto runs programs in 17 countries worldwide through seven regional offices. Rikolto is ambitious in tackling one of the greatest challenges we face – ensuring that we have food systems that deliver for all of us in the future and that do not burden our planet more than it can bear. Therefore, we ask the question: “What will we eat tomorrow?”. The G-STIC Climate Action the Government of Flanders launched in 2021 the G-STIC Climate Action Programme to support developing countries in the fight against climate change. By providing financial support to projects for climate change adaptation and mitigation, the G-STIC Climate Action Programme aims to strengthen developing countries' implementation of climate policies, strategies, regulations, and action plans. G-STIC Climate Action Programme in collaboration with Rikolto is implementing a 3-year (20223 – 2026) project titled ‘’ Water for Resilient Communities and Food Systems in Northern and Southern Highlands, Tanzania’’. The project will be piloted in Meru district (Arusha region) and Rungwe district (Mbeya region) as example districts for Northern and Southern Highlands respectively. The main objective of the project is to support Tanzania's climate change intervention strategies including the protecting and conservation of water resources by stimulating the adoption of efficient irrigation systems that are economically viable and environmentally sustainable in smallholder farming communities in Meru and Rungwe districts and scale-up of this model into Northern and Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

The specific objective of the project is

• To demonstrate how to reduce the impact of erratic water availability on the livelihoods of vegetable and fruit farmers in Meru and Rungwe districts and to strengthen their resilience against the effects of climate change through the adoption of integrated solar-powered drip irrigation systems.

• To reduce the environmental pressure of vegetable and fruit farming in Meru and Rungwe districts on water resources through more sustainable water management, including practices to increase rainwater harvesting and infiltration and to reduce water usage from natural water sources (wells, rivers, lakes) from vegetable and fruit farming by 70% and

• To scale up integrated solar-powered drip irrigation systems as a resilient water management solution, affordable for smallholder farmers, in Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, and Songwe region by January 2026.

The program will operate through the establishment of 40 demonstration plots, the financial support and technical services for a minimum of 700 early adopting farmers, the training of 9,000 farmers on sustainable water management (including efficient use of the solar-powered irrigation technology), and demonstration events hosting an estimated 16,000 farmers, the project aims to directly impact a minimum of 9,500 individual farmers.

The consultant role includes the scoping of best practices with respect to both water harvest/capture and water use/water management, evaluation of applicability for the selected value chains, development of a plan to deliver these best practices, and oversight and guidance on implementation.

The specific deliverable stages will follow two tracks and include: a. Water Capture/harvest Strategies

• Scoping the available approaches, and best practices, including existing cases and evidence.

• Evaluating each approach, pros/cons, costs of implementing each, appropriateness for our target audience (aka complexity to implement), appropriateness for our target value chains (by value chain), and appropriateness by geographic/topographic considerations (soil, slope, etc.)

• Development of a plan to deliver, including the budget, timeline, resource requirements, and measurable outputs.

• Implementation of the plan in a collaborative manner with Rikolto and Simusolar teammates, as well as stakeholders, providing guidance and oversight.

• Periodic reporting on progress; ongoing communications with stakeholders; and participation as part of the broader G-STIC team.

Water Application Strategies

• Outlining available approaches, and best practices, including existing cases and evidence.

• Evaluating each approach, pros/cons, costs of implementing each, appropriateness for our target audience (aka complexity to implement), appropriateness for our target value chains (by value chain), and appropriateness by geographic/topographic considerations (soil, slope, etc.);

• Development of a plan to deliver, including the budget, timeline, resource requirements, and measurable outputs;

• Implementation of the plan in a collaborative manner with Rikolto and Simusolar teammates, as well as stakeholders, providing guidance and oversight

• Periodic reporting on progress; ongoing communications with stakeholders; and participation as part of the broader G-STIC team.

• Rainwater harvesting;

• Artificial well creation;

• Low-cost water tanks or bladders;

• Water infiltration techniques;

• Digging swales and earthworks

• Irrigation scheduling,

• Crop cover planting and mulching to reduce evaporation,

• Planting of drought-resistant varieties

• Early planting to increase harvest success,

• Planting of windbreaks to reduce evaporation and soil erosion,

• Incorporation of agroforestry techniques to similarly reduce evaporation

As an output of the project, we seek to build the capacity of farmers. The penultimate stage of this TOR is just that: ensuring skills creation, adoption of practices, and positive impact. Capacity-building interventions target 9,500 farmers in the Meru district in the Arusha region and Rungwe District in the Mbeya region for piloting and scaling up into other districts of the regions of Arusha, Kilimanjaro Mbeya, and Songwe. The interventions will focus on their areas. The objective of this activity is to reduce the environmental pressure of vegetable and fruit farming on water sources through more sustainable water management, including practices to increase rainwater harvesting and infiltration, to reduce water usage from natural water sources (wells, rivers, lakes) from vegetable and fruit farming by 70%. The training service will be conducted in Meru and Rugwe districts for 2.5 years.

• Assessment of diverse water capture and water application and conservation strategies.

• Evaluation of the strategies with consideration of the target audience, location, and crops;

• Integrate various techniques to support further water sustainability on 40 demonstration plots such as irrigation scheduling, crop cover planting, and mulching to reduce evaporation, planting of drought-resistant varieties and early planting to increase harvest success, planting of windbreaks to reduce evaporation and soil erosion, digging of swales and earthworks to harvest and infiltrate rainwater.

• Implement rainwater harvesting techniques on demonstration plots to reduce the water extracted from wells and rivers for 9,500 smallholder farmers.

• Support through the design and implementation of water harvest and infiltration strategies for established demonstrations

• Support the program through the Identification of cost-effective solutions to retain large quantities of water and provide practical demonstrations

• Scaling of irrigation technology by Developing tools and materials that can be used by Simusolar (with minimal resources) to scale water sustainability and harvesting solutions

• Support with the design of integrated irrigation solutions identified and specified in collaboration with similar experts.

Consultant to propose the methodology of implementing the assignment in four regions.

The consultant should be an expert with diverse water harvesting and water-efficient practices. Also, should attach 1-2 track records of the similar assignment carried out in Tanzania or any country in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The proposed budget should be well delineated and rational including estimates for training required personnel and related operational costs. Also, should include consultancy fees and direct project costs. The proposed budget will form the basis for the negotiation of the final budget which will form part of the Agreement of Cooperation. The budget should be in Tanzanian shillings.

This assignment will be implemented in Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Rugwe, and Songwe regions via demonstration plots and has been allocated 200 working days redistributed in 6 days per month for 2.5 years based on the developed and agreed work plan. The final submission of the report is due by the end of July 2025.

Qualified firms/candidates are invited to submit their Technical and Financial proposal, Methodology/approach, and CVs via email at eastafrica.recruitment [at] rikolto.org by 23 June 2023 and should indicate the source of this advertisement. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.