Alliance For Green Revolution In Africa (AGRA)- Request For Proposal For Videography And Photography For The South-south Triangular Cooperation 2021

DEADLINE: 12TH OCTOBER, 2021
ALLIANCE FOR GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA (AGRA)
RFP: SOLICITATION FOR A VIDEOGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE SOUTH-SOUTH TRIANGULAR COOPERATION 2021

SYNOPSIS OF THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Background
Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led, Africa-based and farmer-centered institution working to put smallholder farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economy by transforming their farming from a solitary struggle to survive to a business that thrives.

Working in collaboration with our partners—including African governments, researchers, development partners, the private sector and civil society— AGRA’s work primarily focuses on smallholder farmers – men and women who typically cultivate staple crops on two hectares or less.

In the new strategy for 2017-2021, AGRA is supporting 11 African countries and 30 million smallholder farm households to increase their incomes and improve their food security. Under this strategy, AGRA will deliver through an approach that simultaneously catalyses change at farmer level, strengthens input and output market systems and puts government at the centre to enable and champion private-sector-led agricultural growth at national level.

Objective
AGRA has partnered with The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to identify, document, and promote the uptake of 25 private sector-related innovative rural development solutions in Africa.  The goal of this program is to leverage the South-South Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) to boost rural transformation through solutions that work in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.

For this programme, a rural development solution is an initiative that solves specific challenges in the rural environment. It is a tool that can be used and re-used to address common issues like resource management, marginalization of rural communities, financing concerns, erosion, pollution, financial stress and the effects of climate change. It can be a technology, such as a sustainable energy source, a financial scheme that gives rural people access to credit or savings, or a process that supports rural businesses, like enterprise support centres, or training programmes.

The identified solutions will be incorporated into IFAD and AGRA programmes, uploaded onto IFAD’s “Rural Solutions Portal” (https://ruralsolutionsportal.org/), and showcased at forums like the African Green Revolution Forum to encourage adoptation and scaling up. This initiative is, therefore, designed to deliver multiplier effects through indirect target groups who will be reached through the portal and other platforms including governments, development partners, SMEs, women and youth in the selected regions and globally, and who can adapt the solutions to their own contexts.

These initiatives will be delivered through three distinct but interrelated components;

(i) Identify innovative solutions with potential for replication in different context.  AGRA will carry out this work with both breadth and depth of coverage of rural solutions by identifying solutions from four broad thematic areas;

(a) Input system development (e.g. research and development, seed systems development, fertilizer systems development, innovations for input adoption through private business models, etc.).

(b) Policy (e.g. solutions in policy sequencing, land registration and online land rental market and agricultural parks among other things).

(c) Small machinery and mechanization (e.g. pre-production and post-harvest tools and equipment and irrigation technologies).

(d) Information Communication Technology (e.g. solutions in e-commerce enabled value chain development, digital-enabled extension, use of satellite imagery or drones for monitoring & information systems).

(ii) Knowledge Management and Communication: AGRA will develop a suite of knowledge products and communication materials including journals, white papers and videos for use in creating awareness about the identified and documented solutions.

(iii) Promotion and uptake: AGRA will showcase identified and documented solutions at the annual African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) to create awareness about the solution and promote their adoption and uptake.

Knowledge Management Pool of Writers
Selected candidates will be placed in a pool of  writers and may be contacted as the needs arise for specific assignments in any of the countries in which AGRA operates for the next 3 years.

The Scope
Working closely with the AGRA project team and partners,  the consultant(s) will lead in the documentation of 3-minute videos of 25 solutions across Africa against  an agreed selection criteria that considers the following basic elements:

RELIABILITY
The solution has been tried and tested, producing good results. In the case of an innovation that has not yielded clear results yet, the expected results should be clear, tangible and concrete on food security, increased incomes, contribution to agricultural sector

RURAL DIMENSION
The solution The solution needs to be focused on solving a specific problem/challenge in rural areas, e.g., for the smallholder farmer, the rural small business, or the fisher folk.

REPRODUCIBILITY
The solution can be re-used, adapted, and adopted by others in similar socio-economic or environmental situations.

In addition:

After making sure solutions respond to the three basic criteria above, prior to being uploaded to the Portal, they undergo a thorough vetting process that makes sure they address the following questions:

• Does the solution address a clearly articulated development challenge?
• Effectiveness/efficacy. Does the solution solve the problem/challenge? (i.e., does it remove the constraint? Does it help the target group address the development challenge they face?)
• Impact potential on rural poverty. Does the solution effectively address a specific challenge related to rural poverty reduction within the target group? Does it have the potential to improve the living conditions of the target group, addressing rural poverty in the area where it is implemented?
• Link to public goods. Can the solution address challenges have associated with regional or global public goods (e.g., adaptation to climate change, water management, etc.)?
• Replicability in other development contexts. Is the solution of broad applicability/utility to different and diverse contexts? Does it work only within a specific natural or socio-economic environment or can it be used also somewhere else?
• Replicability in other countries. Is the solution of broad applicability/utility to different countries? Does it work only in the country where it has been implemented?
• Scaling up. Has the solution the potential for ‘scaling up’? Can it be replicated (in the same context or elsewhere) and scaled up?
• Innovation. Is the solution featuring new technology, new business model or new implementation approach – institutional, process-related, or technical?
• Is the solution sustainable, whether in financial terms (cost-effectiveness) or in broader social, political, or environmental terms?
• Private sector. Is there private sector engagement in the solution?
• Communications and knowledge management. Has the solution generated a broad body of literature or communication products? Is this body of literature appropriate for uploading the solution onto a web portal?

The consultant (s) will also provide technical expertise and guidance in production of 3-minute videos of the identified solutions identified below as knowledge products.  This assignmet will involve field work.

The consultant(s) will be expected to collaboratively work with AGRA, knowledge managment lead, communication team, country teams and technical staff,  as well as, AGRA partners to document the selected solutions in 3-minute videos.  Specifically,

• To shoot  short videos on the solutions indicated in the table below as discussed and directed by AGRA
• Provide high resolution photographs on the solution

Deliverables
Key activities of the assignment will include:

• Delivery of a 3-minute video for each (5) documented solutions (in the table above) to AGRA at an agreed time and in the right format
• High resolution still photographs

(A) Five 3-minute videos in HD

• Video shooting and editing
• Narration, translation and subtitles in English
• Script development
• Full usage rights for music (or music for which copyright has been granted)
• One fully-produced clip of approximately three minutes in length in 1080p (HD) resolution, aimed at an international audience.
• All B roll footage

(B) High resolution photographs:

• High-quality and high-resolution, edited and captioned pictures of each solution. This should include:
• Pictures of selected project beneficiaries, where they live, what they do on a daily basis, how environmental degradation has impacted their lives and what they are doing to change this
• Pictures of landscape and project interventions

Duration
The assignment will commence immediately after signing the contract for a period of  Two (2) Months

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

The experts will have:

• 5 years of demonstrated experience in writing scripts for shooting videos material on Africa’s agriculture and economic development.
• Wide and proven experience in documentation of agricultural transformation in Africa
• Exemplary analytical and writing skills
• Proven ability to conceptualize, plan and execute ideas as well as transfer knowledge and skills.
• Excellent written, oral and comprehension command of English. Knowledge of French is an added advantage.
• Reporting arrangements

The consultant shall report to the Head of M&E who will assign all activities under the contract and approve all deliverables and invoices.

Evaluation Criteria

• Organization capacity …………………..……………………………10%
  – Company profile and company accreditations
• General experience and experience in writing technical material on Africa’s agriculture and economic development……………………………………………………………..30%
  – 5 years of demonstrated experience in writing scripts for shooting videos material on Africa’s agriculture and economic development  (10%)
  – Wide and proven experience in documentation of agricultural transformation in Africa (10%)
• Proposed methodology and approach criteria: ……………20%
  – Proposed approach and methodology (15%)
  – Workplan (5%)
• Experience and Qualification of key personnel: ……………40%
  – Team leader (20%)
  – Key expert 1 (10%)
  – Key expert 2 (10%)

Total:……………………………………………………………………………….100%

Weightage

• Technical Proposal will be weighted out of 80%
• Financial Proposal will be weighted out of 20%

NB: Only the consultancy firm(s) with technical proposal equal or above 75% shall be considered for financial negotiations

APPLICATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The proposal should include:

(A) Technical Proposal

• Company profile and company accreditations
• Proposed methodology and approach
• Proposed key staff including their CVs
• Report writing skills (at least two sample reports from previous studies will be required)
• Relevant experience including list of clients
• Current company registration documents/certificate of incorporation

(B) Financial Proposal

• A breakdown of the financial proposal in USD indicating daily rate for each of the proposed experts, time input and all applicable reimbursable expenses (international and/or local transport, accommodation as applicable).
• All applicable taxes (VAT and withholding taxes) should be quoted separately.
• If the financial proposal is silent on taxes, AGRA shall assume that these are inclusive.
• Other costs, e.g., accommodation, travel, support staff, printing and other incidental costs will be reimbursed based on the actual costs incurred.
• Use the template provided under annex 1 for the financial proposal

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATIONS AND SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

• The proposals SHALL be submitted to procurement@agra.org by deadline indicated in the synopsis
• The proposal and ALL Attachments submitted via email SHALL NOT exceed 10MB
• VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for a period of 90 days from the date of bid closure.
• Financial proposal shall be sent as a separate attachment and MUST be password protected. The password shall be requested from companies meeting the minimum technical score

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