North East Rural Livelihood Project

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONDUCTING LIVELIHOOD BASED AGRI BUSINESS AND MARKET STUDIES FOR THE NORTH EAST RURAL LIVELIHOOD PROJECT

A.

North East Rural Livelihood Project

I. BACKGROUND

1. The North Eastern Region of India comprising of eight States Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The total population is 39 million (about 3.8% of Indias population) and it covers 7.98% of Indias geographical area. The region is bounded by Indias neighbours to the extent of 96%. It is underlined by its tenuous geographical link with the rest of India and large tracts which are sparsely populated hilly, remote and difficult to access. 2. Agriculture is the main stay of North Eastern economies accounting for 30% of the regions NSDP a major source of employment and livelihood for around 80% of the population. Even though NER covers 7.98% of countrys total geographical area, it produces only 1.5% of the countrys total food grain production. A strategy for growth and equity has to focus on enhancing livelihood options and incomes in the rural sector through agriculture and better management of local natural resources. 3. Issues relating to poverty alleviation are critical to the region. Estimated poverty ratio in the region in terms of mixed recall period (MRP) data in 2004-05 was 14%. This is lower than Indias poverty ratio of 22% but the general and widespread view is that this measure grossly under estimates the three extent of poverty in the region due to statistical extrapolation of limited data. There are significant inter and intra-state variations in standards of living and socioeconomic condition that are not reflected in these general figures. 4. Poverty is largely rural and agrarian. The self-employed in agriculture constitute the bulk of the rural poor. Productivity and income generation potential of the rural sector in the region needs to be tapped through community based peoples initiatives. In addition to farm based agriculture and horticulture related sectors such as bamboo and cane production and craft, fisheries, animal husbandry, timber and non-timber natural resource based products also have potential for sustainable livelihood generation in the region. 5. To address the issues of rural poverty and creation of sustainable livelihood for the rural poor particularly for women, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Government of India with the support of World Bank and IFAD proposes to implement the North East Rural Livelihood Project. The
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proposed project will build on the strengths of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) supported North Eastern Regional Community Resource Management Project for Upland Areas (NERCRMP) and relevant experiences in the region and outside. 6. The project will be implemented in two districts each of Sikkim, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura. Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura Aizawl and Lunglei Peren and Tuensang South, West and 15 Panchayat wards of East district West and North districts

II.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

7. The basic thrust of the project would be aimed at empowering poor households in rural areas to directly deal with the wide and diverse range of problems and constraints that hamper livelihoods development in the region, as well as better position them to capture opportunities for livelihoods improvement. These problems express themselves at the household level in terms of e.g. food insecurity; at the production level in terms of low productivity; at the community level in terms poor infrastructure and service delivery; and at the supply chain level in terms of inadequate access to input and output markets, including financial services. These problems are interrelated, commonly leading to a vicious of poverty. 8. In order to break out of the poverty traps, there is a need for a holistic approach that allows for dealing with these interrelated problems in a simultaneous fashion. To make this happen, the Project would provide direct support aimed at building organizations of the poor and putting assets in the hands of the poor as the building blocks to amplify their voice and increase the scale of local economic activity allowing the poor to help themselves in dealing with both government and market failures.

III.
9.

PROJECT COMPONENTS
The four components of North East Rural Livelihood Project are:

III.1 Social Empowerment: investment under this component will be geared towards intensive and long-term training efforts to strengthen/build institutions of the poor (e.g. Self-Help Groups, Youth Groups, economic activity-based groups, and/or natural resource management-based groups) involving all poor household in the village, establish leadership, protect vulnerable sections of communities, and conduct participatory planning processes. Under this component, there will be two major components of community mobilisation of the kinds of groups
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mentioned in this para and institution building of the above groups. In addition, support will be provided to federate community-based groups into higher-level associative tiers. III.2 Economic empowerment: investments under this component will be aimed at enhancing productivity package on a demand-driven basis consisting of : support for improving access to finance/investments and formation of capital support for improving access to finance/investments and formation of capital assets at the household level; vocational skills training to facilitate employment generation, with special emphasis on youth; community-based infrastructure and service delivery, with emphasis on upgrading of small agricultural linkage roads and micro hydro-power schemes; natural resources management, with special emphasis on communitybased forestry management, Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) and mobilization of carbon financing; and technical assistance and seed capital for value-addition activities in the downstream segments of relevant supply-chains. Project support under this component will include cost-recovery modalities.

III.3 Partnerships development and management: support under this component will be aimed at establishing and managing effective linkages with: III.4 line departments in each of the participating States to facilitate technology transfer of productivity enhancing innovations as well as quality assurance of community-owned and managed productive infrastructure; specialized institutions (e.g. NERAMAC, NEHHDC, Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre) and private sector to improve market access and employment generation; financial institutions to increase access to finance for both long term and short term needs; International Finance Corporations South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (IFC-SEDF) to improve both access to finance and access to markets; and NGOs/service providers to upgrade skills and capacity that would allow them to work more effectively with participating communities. Project management: under this component: required incremental staff, training, facilities, office equipment, transportation modalities and operating expenses would be made available; a comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and learning system would be

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deployed and operated; effective communications with all relevant stakeholders would be maintained; and an easily accessible complaints mechanisms would be set-up and made fully functional.

10. The outline of the task to be carried out that have described below are based on the above accepted project components.

IV.

EXPECTED KEY OUT COME INDICATORS

11. In line with this objective, key outcome indicators of the project, to be further detailed during preparation, would include: Evidence of an upward trend in livelihood productivity among participating economic groups; Evidence of the emergence of viable new market and employment opportunities and new livelihood practices among the residents of the eight selected districts of the four States of Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

V.

TARGET GROUP

12. The target groups are the poor and the vulnerable people in the project area to be covered in a phased manner. 13. Within selected communities, wealth ranking will determine the actual incidence of poverty. The target group thus will include the poor, SC and ST populations, female headed households and unemployed youth. Weightage will also be given to households with aged persons, persons suffering from high risk diseases (such as HIV+, AIDS, TB, malaria, cancer) and persons with disabilities. In line with the gender strategy, the project will ensure that women will constitute at least half (50%) of the beneficiaries. Targeting will also include an element of self-targeting by the type and size of the support the project will provide in response to specific local context and rationale.

B. Livelihoods Based on Agri & Other Business and Market Potential

VI. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
14. The proposed study will have the primary objective of assessing rural economic opportunities in the selected project area, both farm and non-farm, based on local resources. Intensive and innovative use of these local opportunities is expected to result in enhanced livelihood opportunities and
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incomes in a participatory, collective manner through sustainable demand driven activities. 15. The components of such a study are as follows:
(i)

Identify the major sources of existing livelihoods in specific commodities/products/services, in which the rural population in the selected districts/blocks are largely involved; categorize them as far as possible according to geographical/ecological/watershed clusters. Identify the potential sources of enhanced livelihood through interventions in improved farm practices, more intensive engagement with local markets, improving capacities and skills for rural non-farm livelihood options. Identify potential for collective action for the above sources of livelihood. Identify major sub-sectors / commodities / services in each selected districts/blocks/ clusters, where there is potential for growth befitting project intervention. Since the target area is largely agricultural, carry out study the existing agricultural practices (including jhum, horticulture, floriculture, pisciculture, animal husbandry and any other related activities) and production and suggest specific interventions for raising income levels and nutritional security. Value chain Map the existing value chain in terms of economic returns at each stage from the rural household to the final consumer for the important commodities/products/services in each geographical/ ecological/ watershed clusters. Identify few major sub-sectors/commodities in each selected state, where there is potential for growth and in which the project should intervene. Major players Identify major players within and outside the region in the identified sub-sectors who could contribute to the development of the sub-sector in terms of technology, markets, finance and other inputs. Explore possibilities of partnership with such players. Infrastructure availability and institutions Identify the infrastructure availability and institutional arrangements for input supply and output marketing for the identified activities. These could include services as well. Obstacles, risks and vulnerability Identify the institutional obstacles, social processes, vulnerabilities and risks impeding

(ii)

(iii)
(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)

(viii)

(ix)

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the poor from benefiting adequately from the existing livelihood systems in these sub-sectors. (x) Critical intervention points Identify the critical intervention points in the value chain that need investment to enable the poor to gain more. Investment planning/estimating intervention points. unit cost for these critical

(xi) (xii)

Provide guidance in setting up small, viable and sustainable Processing units to gain value addition, mitigate perishability of farm products. A few techno feasibility reports for establishing the same for the project to take guidance from will be prepared Provide guidance for agriculture and horticulture development and marketing in the context of the North Eastern Region, changing demand and supply scenario, projection of future trends to ensure that farmers are able to face the challenge of negotiating on an equitable basis with market players to get a full benefit of enhanced volumes of production that will emerge after project intervention. (This has been an important intervention in the success of the IFAD NERCRMP project) Provide guidance for setting up units for production and marketing of nutritional energy foods using local agricultural and horticultural produce.

(xiii)

(xiv)

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VII.

METHODOLOGY

16. The consultant will need to study and identify all the above in each of the project states within the specified project districts. The study should encompass the following methodologies; (i) (ii)
(iii)

(iv) (v)
(vi)

(vii)
(viii) (ix)

Primary Data Collection through field visits, case studies, and focused group discussions with different sectoral players Secondary Data Collection and and literature survey Stakeholder Analysis through direct interaction Focused Group Discussion with the commodity / activity / groups at the village level Meetings with the various Line Departments / Banks / NGOs / Commercial Agencies / Institutions involved in the sector. Meetings or discussions with the middlemen involved in the village / commodity / activity/ sector / produce based livelihood Visits to successful models / approaches if any within the region or neighbouring region. Workshop to present the draft report with key stakeholders at State level. Submission of the final report after the incorporation of the feedback in the draft report presentation.

17. The consultant will be responsible for identifying the most relevant secondary data, as well as for proposing survey instruments and a plan for primary data collection. The survey plan must be approved by the client before commencement of the field work. The proposal should describe the field methods to be used, as well as suggest the most appropriate analysis methods for the primary data collected. Outputs

C.

General Conditions

VIII. REPORTING
18. The Consultant will work under the guidance of the Ministry for the Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER) and Project Director, NERLP to deliver on the purpose and outputs of this TOR. The Ministry of DONER and the Project Director, NERLP will create a small team of experts to review and provide advice and guidance to the Consultant on time to time basis.

IX.

KEY OUTPUTS AND REPORTING SCHEDULE

19. The consultant while delivering on all of the specific tasks to meet the purpose of the TOR will document clearly all processes followed and provide
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short description of each of the tasks accomplished and follow up required if any. 20. The consultant will submit draft reports and other outputs mentioned below at least 10 days before expiry of the contracts end date seeking comments and advice from the Ministry of DONER, Project Director, NERLP and the World Bank. The final reports/outputs shall be submitted at least three days before end date of the contract. Following are the outputs/reports proposed to be produced and delivered by the consultant: (i) (ii)
(iii)

Inception report : within 7 days after signing of the contract Mid Term Status Report Draft Final Report: atleast 7 working days before submission of the final report for comments, suggestions and advice from the MoDONER and the World Bank. Final Report : after incorporation of suggestions from the MoDONER, Project Director, NERLP and Social Development Specialist, World Bank. Date: as mentioned in the contract letter. Five hard copies at each stage have to be submitted.

(iv)

21. In addition to the hard copies, the consultants will make available 3 electronic copies on compact Disks (CD) of (i) (ii) All reports in MS Word File format; All raw data in tabulated form, together with relevant summary tables, in MS Excel Files/MS Access Database/SPSS at the time of submission of draft report and revised final report.

X.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

22. The multidisciplinary consulting team will consist of Team Leader and identified key experts with relevant operational experience and qualifications to undertake the work. (i) Domain Knowledge and Experience: Experience in conducting studies/consultancy assignments with national and international organizations in the farm and off farm livelihoodsectors/agriculture/horticulture and allied sectors, understanding of the complexities of the rural livelihood/agriculture sector.

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(ii) (iii) (iv)

Community development: Experience in working with NGO / development agencies with community driven development Expertise in the field of rural development in general and livelihood enhancement in particular. Operational Experience of doing field work among rural communities, project beneficiaries, project affected people, including participatory rural appraisal methods, household census interviews, and land use surveys. Experience in Indian, preferably Northeast region, rural livelihood/development sector and also with scheduled tribes and vulnerable groups. Experience in data analysis, both quantitative and qualitative

(v)

(vi)

XI.

DURATION

23. The duration of this consultancy for the scope of work outlined above consists of 16 weeks from signing the agreement. Sl No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Bench marks (Reports) Inception Report (three copies). Interim report (three copies) Draft Report (three copies) Draft Report Consultation Workshop Final Report (five copies) TOTAL Time Schedule as signing of contract 2 weeks 6 weeks 2 weeks 1 day 2 weeks 12 weeks of

XII.

OWNERSHIP

22. This assignment is funded by Department of North Eastern Region (DONER), Government of India, and therefore it shall be the owner of the assignment output. The consultant will have no right of claim to the assignment or its outputs once completed. Any reports / research reports / process documentation produced as a part of this assignment shall be deemed to be the property of GOI and the consultant will not have any claims / rights and will not use or reproduce the contents of the above documents without the written permission of Department of North Eastern Region(DONER), Government of India,. .

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