Download January 2017 The INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION

January 2017
THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION (WORLD BANK GROUP)
TERMS OF REFERENCE
BASELINE DATA COLLECTION FOR THE KENYA TEA DEVELOPMENT
AGENCY (KTDA) PROJECT – KENYA
A. About IFC
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the largest global development institution that is focused exclusively
on the private sector. A part of the World Bank Group, IFC’s vision is that people should have the opportunity to
escape poverty and improve their lives by engaging in economic activity. To achieve this goal, IFC finances private
sector investments, mobilizes capital in international financial markets, facilitates trade, helps clients improve
social and environmental sustainability, and provides advisory services to businesses and governments. IFC is
strongly focused on measuring development results to understand the impact of our projects on clients and
countries. Many of our projects are evaluated using rigorous research methods, and often times local survey firms
help us collect the data we need to analyze the impact of our projects.
B. About the tea growing sector in Kenya and project description
1) Tea growing sector in Kenya:
Kenya is the third largest tea producing country in the world and the leading exporter of black tea. Just over 60%
of this tea is grown by 560,000 smallholder farmers across the country, who are also shareholders of IFC client,
Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). To meet growing global demand, the smallholders have been expanding
land under tea cultivation rapidly and unfortunately, in some cases encroaching on protected natural forests to
obtain firewood for the drying of tea leaves. Productivity is also a challenge. While yields of smallholders in Kenya
at an average 2T/ha, are higher than the global average of 1.4T/Ha, they remain lower than the average 3T/ ha
produced by Kenya's tea plantations.
2) Project description and objectives
The IFC Advisory project with KTDA seeks a positive impact for the tea farmers but also expects to have a larger
impact by maintaining Kenya’s competitive position in the world tea markets and its ability to continue to generate
foreign exchange through the export of tea.
In line with the goals outlined above, IFC has implemented a project that aims to: (a) improve farmer productivity
through soil fertility management and thus its ability to generate revenues and (b) strengthen farmer business
skills (c) strengthen the biomass fuel strategy.
By the end of the project the following impacts will be achieved: 1) KTDA annual biomass fuel expenditures spent
more effectively, and 2) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduced annually, reflecting investments in and
improved strategic, operational and safeguards management of biomass fuel supply from KTDA tree farm
expansion and small hydropower plants.
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Main project objectives:
This project will be implemented over 4 years and will have the following components:
COMPONENT 1: Improve productivity of smallholder farmers through better tea nutrient management
This component will be implemented over four years and will cover all 65 KTDA factories. The aim of the work is
to provide KTDA with better data on the nutrient deficiencies across all their tea plantations, build the internal
capacity to interpret this data and improve tea nutrient management and better tailor the advice to farmers.
During the preparation for the project a soil and leaf testing was conducted in two factories representative for the
western and central cluster of tea estates. The pilot demonstrated significant differences in the soil properties
and the nutrient conditions in the two area suggesting the universal fertilizer formula used today by KTDA is not
appropriate for all estates/farmers. It also suggested cost could be reduced while yields improved by optimizing
the fertilizer formula and improving tea management practices. The nutrient deficiency data collected through
this project should be coupled with farmer practices data and form an internal database that KTDA uses for a
continuous improvement program and better tailored advice to the farmers.
COMPONENT 2: Improve business skills of smallholder tea farmers
Improved business skills will help farmers to effectively manage their farms and the income received from tea
sales. This will in turn improve tea productivity as they will be able to buy appropriate inputs at the right time. IFC
has designed a comprehensive training program to be delivered over three years to farmers and tree farm staff.
COMPONENT 3: Biomass Fuel Strategy and Efficient Energy Use
KTDA currently spends significant resources annually on fuel biomass to operate their 65 tea factories. Fuel wood
is purchased mainly from third party sources. Costs are rising and supplies are often of unknown origin. KTDA has
recently initiated a tree farm program to better manage biomass fuel costs and safeguards. The subcomponent
addresses KTDAs incomplete biomass fuel strategy, lagging tree farm development, and weak management
systems and safeguards. The aim of this subcomponent is to strengthen KTDAs biomass fuel supply chain, including
environmental and social impacts and security of supply, in line with international best practice through
supporting the expansion of KTDAs own tree farm program and expansion of alterative biomass fuel resources.
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C. Scope of work and objectives of assignment
The International Finance Corporation proposes to conduct a baseline data collection exercise, which will include
topics on poverty, food consumption and gender. The data collection, aimed at farmers, will be conducted in two
rounds: baseline and end-line. IFC is looking to hire an experienced survey firm to conduct the first round of data
collection – the baseline data collection – in Kenya as part of an assessment of the impact the project has made
through a) improving farmer productivity through soil fertility management and thereby helping farmers to
improve their livelihoods and (b) strengthening farmer business skills.
The questionnaire will likely include questions on income/livelihood, business skills, gender smart solutions and
food security/consumption. The survey firm will work closely with staff from IFC and is expected to provide regular
updates over email or telephone.
The impact assessment methodology is developed by IFC’s Development Impact unit in partnership with KTDA,
and includes qualitative and quantitative research methods. Comparison of data collected at pre- and postintervention level will allow an assessment of the project’s impact.
The survey firm will collect data from 50 farmers per tea factory (65 factories in total). The firm is expected to
interview approximately 3,250 smallholder farmers. Given that women are involved in the farming and processing
of tea, the assessment will include a gender survey for the smallholder farmers (with a sufficient number of men
and women included into the sample). The gender-related questions will be provided by IFC’s Gender Secretariat.
Prior to conducting interviews the firm will review the questionnaires with IFC to ensure that all questions are
aligned with the local context and practices.
The external firm is responsible for logistics and inviting respondents to participate. Data collection should occur
at the farm/home sight of the respondent. GPS coordinates for all smallholders at their farm or home must be
recorded at the time of the interview or at the very least GPS coordinates should be collected from the farm/home
of the respondents.
The external firm is to conduct the following:
Step 1: Brief desk review of existing project documents and external documents that are identified as relevant.
The end result of this will lead to the inception report
Step 2: Hiring and training of enumerators with IFC Staff and KTDA invited to attend (attendance will be at the
discretion of IFC and KTDA)
Step 3: Finalization of questionnaire: review and translation as well as pilot testing of questionnaire which can be
done as part of enumerator training
Step 4: Data collection in the field which will include capturing of GPS data points through tablet technology
Step 5: Code and clean data set prior to transmission to IFC
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D. Deliverables/specific outputs expected from survey firm
The work of the survey firm is considered successful after outputs are delivered and IFC has judged their quality
as acceptable. All deliverables will be reviewed by IFC, and IFC will support the firm in its work by providing
guidance, answering any questions the firm may have and by providing a number of inputs (specified in section
E). In addition, the firm is asked to report on progress on a regular basis and upload survey data to an online survey
platform specified by IFC.
Key deliverables:
1) Inception report (5-8 pages) outlining: a) interview timeline (to be developed in collaboration with IFC and
KTDA), b) contingency measures (c) measures to ensure confidentiality, proper data storage and
management, d, and e) names of interviewers, who will conduct the interviews
2) Finalized version of the questionnaire after feedback from KTDA and IFC in English and Kiswahili (Draft
questionnaire in English has been developed by IFC)
3) Coded and cleaned datasets in xls/csv or dta/spv format (incl. data and question labels)
Payment Schedule:
Deliverable / Milestone
Signing of contract
Inception report
Finalized questionnaires (English and Kiswahili)
Coded and cleaned datasets
Payment (% of total contract value)
10%
20%
20%
50%
E. Specific inputs to be provided by IFC
IFC will provide guidance and support to facilitate the work of the survey firm.
1) Project background documents
2) Randomized list of farmers supplying to each tea factory
3) Potential participation in enumerator training
4) Draft questionnaire in English (including gender survey) for smallholder farmers to be finalized by firm
F. Required qualifications from the firm and its personnel
Firms participating in this competitive tender process must possess the following qualifications:

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Demonstrated prior experience in similar impact assessment studies with appropriate in-country
knowledge; experience with agricultural data collection is strongly preferred
Experience (at least 2-3 completed assignments) with the use of tablets for interviews and SurveyCTO
software (or other survey software e.g. ELMA) is preferred
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



Strong capacity in data management
Knowledge of key agricultural value chains in Kenya, in particular, tea
Knowledge of Kenyan agri-finance mechanisms is preferred
Good spoken and written English language skills, as well as staff with Kiswahili and local language skills is
also desirable
G. Special terms and condition/specific criteria
The Firm is expected to start work by April 2017 and complete the field work by June 2017 for the baseline
portion of the assignment (deadline subject to discussion with IFC team upon contracting). The contract will
continue through the end of the baseline data collection and submission of all final deliverables as outlined
above, which are due in July 2017.
The IFC team will use its right to conduct its own checks on 5-10% of the interviews (in addition to the checkbacks of the Firm). If the data do not meet the IFC’s requirements in terms of integrity of data, IFC will reserve
their right to reduce or renege payments for the work done.
All the data and information collected or received for the purposes of this study will be kept strictly
confidential and will be used exclusively to execute the TOR. All the intellectual property rights stemming from
the execution of the TOR belong to IFC. The content of written materials that are obtained and utilized during
this task will not be shown to third parties without the written consent of IFC.
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