1. Title of Consulting Service

Development of Trainer's Manual and Organizing ToT on Organic Cultivation and Certification

2.  Background

National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) is a commodity-based board established on 1993/06/02, under the aegis of Ministry of Agricultural Development, by Tea and Coffee Development Board Act 1992 of Nepal. National Tea and Coffee Development Act, 1993 has mandated to promote and strengthen Tea and Coffee sector through policy formulation, technical and managerial support. With this, NTCDB has been implementing number of initiatives and “Nepal’s Increased Sustainable Tea Exports Project” (NISTEP) is one of them.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) with the support from Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF/Tier 2) is implementing a project entitled “Nepal’s Increased Sustainable Tea Exports” (NISTEP) aimed at boosting the international competitiveness of orthodox tea from Nepal. The project aims at stimulating growth in export market of orthodox tea by enhancing international competitiveness of concerned stakeholders in the supply chain through introduction and institutionalization of technology based traceability system, organic certification scheme and collective trade mark promotion of Nepal Tea. A number of capacity building interventions are underway to help induce measurable results in terms of increased exports and income, export diversification and job creation with a particular focus on youths and women. The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) is the Main Implementing Entity (MIE). MoICS works closely with National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), an implementing entity to execute Outcome One of the project stated below. A Project Steering Committee (PSC), representing national and local level stakeholders, is established to oversee the project implementation.

In particular, the project strives to deliver concrete results in terms of: I) Improved Compliance to international standards of Nepal Tea through a) Technology based traceability and, b) Institutionalization of Organic certification practices, and II) Improved access to international markets through a) Strengthening, Promotion and establishment of Collective trademark “Nepal Tea” Quality from the Himalayas, b) Increased access and sales to new markets c) Formulation of tea sector investment strategies. 

In this regard, to improve compliance with the organic production standards and other related requirements of the targeted markets and thereby enhance the international competitiveness of organic orthodox tea, the project intends to carry out the capacity development activities for subsequent certification of potential small producer groups/cooperatives, processors, collectors and other actors involved in the supply chain. These interventions will complement the introduction of technology based traceability system, as well. In this connection, NTDB has planned to prepare a Trainer’s Manual and Organize Training of Trainers (ToT) on Organic Cultivation and Certification and seeking services to prepare a Manual and organize ToT on Organic Cultivation and Certification as per the guidelines given and activities mentioned in Table-1.

The Service Provider have to carry out the activities and sub-activities in close coordination with NTCDB, National Project Coordinator and Technical Expert.

3.    Objective and Scope

3.1 Objectives

The overall objective of hiring the consultancy/firm (as a service provider) is to facilitate the process of institutionalization of organic certification schemes through designing and producing standard  trainer's manual and subsequently developing resource persons, qualified trainers, for organic cultivation and certification in Ilam district. The specific objectives include:

• To build the capacity of producers' groups, cooperatives and processors at local level on organic practices that meets required international standards for organic certification.
• To develop a "Training Manual" and conduct Training of Trainers’ on organic cultivation and certification.
• To develop a batch of qualified 12 to 15 trainers at the local level who can work with various groups of producers’ for organic cultivation and certification.

3.2 Scope of work

The proposed interventions are planned to develop trained and qualified trainers who will work with those groups of producers working in conversion process or are interested to go into organic cultivation and certification. The batch of trainers at local level will be supporting producers interested in organic production, building local level capacity and ultimately able to be organically certified. The assignment will focus on;

• Design and develop Trainer’s Manual on organic cultivation and certification process
• Design a selection criteria for potential trainers on organic cultivation and certification
• Organize "Training of Trainers (ToT)" on organic cultivation and certification process for selected group of trainers
• Supervise and monitor at least two training programs at field level conducted by newly developed batch of trainers

4.    Activity and Deliverable

The service provider shall conduct the activities to produce indicated deliverables as per the proposed timeline given below. The expected deliverables of the assignment are summarized below:

Table 1: Detail activities, deliverables and timeline

The time period for the assignment is estimated to be 2.5 months (75 days) from the start of the work.  The master copy of TOT Manual will be in Nepali language whereas, training completion and other relevant reports will be in English language. The language of the training manual and report will be in English whereas the executive summary will be on both English and Nepali. The TOT manual will be reprinted for circulation after it has been tested at the field level.

5.    Team Composition and Responsibility

The consultant(s) for development of trainer’s manual and conducting training of trainers (TOT) will be Nepali nationals proposed by bid winning company or firm. The selected company or firm should have adequate experiences on conducting similar type of assignment assignments. Preferences will be given to those that have experiences in organic agriculture promotion and tea sector development. In case of a consulting company or firm, besides proposing the team of key experts listed below, it must have over seven years of experience working in the field of organic agriculture, preferably related to national and international organic inspection and certification system. Priority will be given to those consulting firms or company that have exposure to tea cultivation and processing. Proven knowledge of Tea Certification and Traceability system in Nepal will be an added advantage.

5.1 Team composition

The consultant/firm shall be required to form a team for this assignment. The consultant’s team shall be manned with an adequate number of experts having relevant experience in similar assignments. The service provider should provide a list of key experts for the service as given below.

Table 2: Indicatives on key experts (National)