Consultant for a Feasibility Study of a Food Security and Agriculture-related Project

Background:

AWO International was founded in 1998 as a professional association for development cooperation and humanitarian action within the framework of the German welfare organization “Arbeiterwohlfahrt” (AWO). It draws on the expertise and vast experience of AWO in Germany, which has been an integral part of the German welfare state since the last century.

In close cooperation with local non-governmental organizations in Central America, East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, AWO International is working to ensure that disadvantaged people can sustainably improve their living conditions. The organization adopts a special approach in all its development projects, which is the “Enhancement of Social Structures”. Its goal is to set up and strengthen the social structures wherein people interact. To achieve this, AWO International and its partner organizations concentrate their efforts on providing organizational development and supporting civil society networks at the local and regional levels.

The Regional Office in Southeast Asia (RO SEA) under the Humanitarian Action program has been aiming to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities by conducting measures on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) and responding to the needs of people affected by disasters and crises. Currently, a project is being planned in Indonesia under the Engagement Global – BENGO program for Private Entities with the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as the donor agency. Together with the partner organization, YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU), a concept note was prepared and submitted. The project seeks to enhance food security and resilience in 7 vulnerable communities across disaster-prone villages in Yogyakarta Province. This will be achieved through boosting food production, improving market access and sales, implementing a comprehensive disaster management plan focused on the food sector, and raising stakeholder awareness about food security and climate-adaptive livelihoods. The initiative aims to strengthen community resilience and reduce poverty within the food sector.

The pre-registration of the concept received an “A” prioritization from BENGO, indicating the availability of funding for the project. However, the final approval by the donor will only be granted after a full proposal is submitted that meets the expectations and standards of BENGO-BMZ. To support the proposal’s development, a feasibility study is thus planned to be conducted.

The main objective of the feasibility study is to conduct a feasibility appraisal of the proposed project including suggestions for improvements of the concept in view of the situation of the target groups and the specific context in the 7 communities. It should outline recommendations to be addressed in the final project proposal and contribute to the finalization of the log frame.

Brief background of the project:

The project will be implemented in 7 villages in rural areas in two regencies in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province with the highest poverty rate. In 2023, the number of poor people in Kulon Progo regency reached 70,735, with a percentage of 16.64% of the total population; 81,120 people in Gunungkidul regency, with a percentage of 18.30% of the total population.

The overall objective of the project is to alleviate poverty, have secured food, and increase the community resilience of the impoverished most at-risk communities in disaster-prone areas in Yogyakarta Province.

The project will have the following 4 outputs of the log frame:

• Increased food production: The 350 smallholder farming households have improved their food production by 20%.
• Increased Market Access and Sales: The 525 targeted women and smallholder farming households have increased their market access and sales by 20%.
• Disaster risk reduction in food sector: All targeted 7 disaster-prone communities have implementing their disaster management plans with a specific focus on food sector.
• Advocacy for government support: All targeted 7 disaster-prone communities are aware of their rights and have submitted proposals for complementary government support.

The project combines the strategies of community organizing; capacity strengthening including the most at-risk groups, the village disaster task force, and community-based livelihood groups in understanding and addressing food insecurity both at household and village level, livelihood support, and rights-based advocacy; community-led innovation development; and building partnership with government and relevant stakeholders. It will target existing civil society structures (CSS) in the villages such as Famer groups, Women groups at the village level (PKK), and Village disaster task forces.

Objective of the Feasibility Study:

AWO RO SEA seeks to contract into service a short-term Consultant to do the feasibility study. It shall provide AWO RO SEA and YEU with a good basis for the development of the project proposal. It should examine the context of the planned project at all relevant levels (micro-, meso-, and macro) and collect essential, project-relevant data on the project concept incl. stakeholders. It should be able to clarify the pre-requisites, potential benefits, opportunities, barriers, and risks in implementing the planned interventions. Overall, it should critically examine the project concept with respect to the OECD DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability, and assess the feasibility of the project logic to determine whether it will likely succeed and the plan of action is likely to produce the anticipated result. Finally, it should produce concrete recommendations for improving the project concept including the impact matrix (log frame) and project measures (activities).

Note: A guide on conducting a feasibility study, from BMZ, will be shared with the selected Consultant before the start of the study. It contains important information that the Consultant shall consider and make use of as a reference to ensure all requirements of BENGO-BMZ will be met.

Degree of Expertise and Qualifications:

With the vast scope of the study, a team of consultants is preferred that possesses the following background and experience.

Professional background in key areas:

• A University Degree in a related field of study like Research, Program Management, Agriculture, Food Security and Livelihood, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM), Climate Change, Development Studies, Environmental Studies, etc., with a Master’s level is an advantage but not required.

Required Knowledge, Experience, and Capacity:

• Knowledge, expertise, and several years of experience doing work in relevant areas including resilience, food security and livelihood, DRRM, and climate change.
• Knowledge, expertise, and experience in formulating qualitative and quantitative data research, and applying OECD DAC evaluation criteria.
• A robust capacity in technical report writing, excellent analytical skills, and an understanding of working in partnership with NGOs, government, and other stakeholders.
• Experience working with German-funded international organizations and with BMZ as a funding donor is an advantage but not required.
• A strong knowledge of and working experience in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia, is an advantage but not required.

For the full terms of reference, please refer to this link: https://tinyurl.com/AWOYEU2025FSAgriProject