COMMUNICATIONS AND VISIBILITY STRATEGY SPECIALIST – Emerging Farmers Partnership (EFP) GDA

EMERGING FARMERS PARTNERSHIP (EFP) GDA PROJECT

COMMUNICATIONS AND VISIBILITY STRATEGY SPECIALIST

(INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)

Maximum level of Effort: 45 days

1. Background and Context

The Emerging Farmers Partnership GDA

The Emerging Farmers Partnership (EFP) GDA is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for three years, starting in October 2020 and ending in October 2023. The EFP GDA is an innovative partnership with private sector companies which uses a market-based approach to catalyze agriculture transformation by supporting the commercialization of emerging farmers in selected districts. The EFP GDA includes two private sector partners, John Deere and Corteva Agriscience. John Deere supports business advisors working with emerging farmers to develop business plans that fully utilize tractors’ potential. The partnership allows emerging farmers to participate in field demonstrations and training and access credit for purchasing tractors and other implements to drive the commercialization of the agriculture sector. For Corteva Agriscience, its market best-in-class agricultural technologies, including hybrid (drought resistant) seed and crop protection products, are used to show the benefits of the technologies. The partnership supports activities to improve agronomic practices through extension services and access to input/supplier credit in the form of seed and inputs to qualified emerging farmers.

The EFP GDA project is currently being implemented in a total of 15 districts in 5 provinces of Zambia, namely, Central province (Mumbwa, Chibombo, Kapiri, and Luano), Southern province (Chikankata, Mazabuka, Monze, Kalomo, and Choma), Copperbelt province (Mpongwe, Lufwanyama, and Masaiti), Eastern province (Petauke) and North-Western province (Kasempa and Solwezi).

The overall objective of the EFP GDA project is to catalyze the transformation of Zambia’s agriculture sector through improving the sustainable farming practices and commercialization of emerging farmers in the selected 15 districts. The EFP GDA project’s overall objective is expected to be achieved through three intermediate objectives:

1. Increased capacity of emerging farmers to plan and manage risks in the targeted districts

2. Increased emerging farmers’ adoption of improved inputs and technologies; and

3. Increased emerging farmers’ ownership and use of productive assets in the targeted districts.

Emerging farmers participating under the EFP GDA project in the selected 15 districts of Zambia are facing challenges in accessing commercial finance, both short- and long-term, to enable them to invest/purchase and utilize irrigation equipment and mechanization such as tractors. Commercial banks have established financial products for these operations and often require an off-take agreement, assignment of proceeds, and crop insurance; however, these products are not available to emerging farmers.

2. Scope of Work

2.1. Purpose and Objectives of the Consultancy

The purpose of the scope of work is to to facilitate the development and successful implementation of the project’s communications and visibility strategy addressing the following key areas:

• Relevant, direct and impactful messaging between the project and target beneficiaries. Emerging farmers need to be able to see the relevance of the project and how it will benefit them.
• Streamline and strengthen internal partner communication and coordination that is mutually beneficial and reflective of each partner’s roles within the project, to ensure the successful delivery and coherency of project activities.
• Increase project visibility amongst stakeholders and project beneficiaries using multimedia platforms such as radio, social media, USSD information dissemination etc.
• Develop and profile success stories of emerging farmers that can attribute their continuous growth and enterprise expansion to the EFP project.

3. Deliverables

The consultant shall deliver the following expected outputs:

1. Supporting the development and implementation of a targeted communication and visibility strategy; assisting in designing communication materials; and supporting efficient internal and external communication including coordination with project partners, stakeholders and target beneficiaries.

2. Collaborating with assigned local Global Communities staff members and management to implement communications activities for the project, in adherence with corporate communication guidelines from USAID and Global Communities

3. Developing consistent messaging between the project, its beneficiaries, and external stakeholders. This includes supporting communication with partners (e.g., drafting letters and invitations, press statements, compilation of quarterly reports, etc.)

4. Assist in developing a good working relationship between the EFP Project and various market actors to ensure emerging farmers fully benefit and grow as a result of project facilitation.

5. Provide guidance on communication during events such as field days, project visits by official delegations, presentations of project successes to cooperating partners and/or launch events etc.

6. Develop and implement awareness campaigns highlighting the opportunities available for women and youth emerging farmers to commercialize.

7. Drafting multimedia communication materials such as factsheets, adverts, press-releases, and social media content pertaining to project activities

The consultant will provide bi-weekly updates and short stories to the Chief of Party with photos covering the following thematic areas in executing this assignment.

• Success stories
• Meaningful programmatic results
• Compelling quotes or testimonials from program participants/partners/donors
• Significant media coverage or visibility events, etc.
• Any other programmatic highlights