Call for Proposal: International Expert for Econometric Analysis and Workshop Facilitation in Togo Coffee Sector

Background

The ICO’s Coffee Public Private Task Force (CPPTF), created in 2019 to address key sector challenges, is moving towards implementing activities at the national and regional producer country level.  The Living and Prosperous Income Technical Workstreams (TWS) of the CPPTF have established specific time-bound commitments as part of an ICO Council approved roadmap to achieve the CPPTF objectives and vision.  One of these commitments focuses on measuring Living Income gaps of producers and working with national and international stakeholders to close those gaps. 

The TWSs have established a collaboration with the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) to support the implementation of these objectives, through knowledge exchange with its members, national level income assessments, and using this information to inform sector policy to enable the transformation to a resilient, prosperous and sustainable coffee sector. The objective of the collaboration between the CPPTF and IACO, is to ensure that activities reflect the needs, challenges, and situation of producer countries, in particular smallholders, and that it appropriately responds to those needs to the benefit of producers and brings real value to the national/regional, as well as global coffee sector.

Currently key activities of the TWS include, knowledge sharing and income assessments. These assessments form the basis for Private-Public Partnerships to close the income gaps identified, in particular related to smallholders.  To achieve this, efficient and effective communication and knowledge sharing with the national and regional representatives of the member-states is needed.  Equally important, effective facilitation is required to channel the results of the in-country work to the regional and international sector level to inform and effect sector transformation.  This consultancy builds on the work done to measure Living Income Benchmarks in key target countries, including for the Togo coffee sector. It primarily focuses on guiding the assessment process to identify drivers and stakeholders.

This involves employing credible econometric analysis to examine the incomes of coffee producers in Togo and linking those results to regional learnings and actionable strategies.

Position

For this reason, IACO is seeking a technical expert to conduct econometric analysis on incomes of coffee farmers. This expert will also lead a workshop involving key coffee stakeholders, in coordination with Togo’s Comité de Coordination pour les Filières Café et Cacao (CCFCC). The workshop's aim is to present the results of the analysis and identify income drivers, stakeholders capable of influencing these drivers and strategies to address income gaps. These strategies will encompass subnational, national, regional and international responsive actions. The consultant will be required to use approved methodologies for assessing Living Income and have strong experience in econometric analysis in the coffee sector.  Furthermore, the consultant must be capable of effectively presenting and guiding the CCFCC and other key stakeholders through an in-person workshop. This workshop will involve collectively analyzing the results and structuring approaches to bridge income gaps.

Specific Activities

Activity	Description
Conduct econometric analysis	Access credible information to identify the income gap of smallholder coffee producers as a basis of the analysis and work.
Coordinate and present a workshop on                driver and stakeholder assessment	Working with the CCFCC to coordinate a workshop that will inform the participants of the Living Income assessment, econometric analysis and methodology for driver and stakeholder analysis. This will lead to the stakeholders working on a smart mix of measures to close income gaps.
Share results at regional level	The consultant will share the results of the assessments, workshop and closing the income gap process with IACO. IACO will then share those results with their members at the regional level, potentially to replicate in other member countries.

Experience and skills required

1. At least 5 years’ experience in the coffee sector.
2. Strong coordination and communication skills.
3. Experience working with national coffee sector actors (industry, government, and producers).
4. English fluency and strong level of French.
5. Proven ability to coordinate and communicate with a variety of national and international actors.
6. Experience in econometric income analysis in the coffee sector.
7. Experience in Living Income assessments in the coffee sector.
8. Access to credible data on actual incomes and living income benchmarks in the Togo coffee sector.
9. Availability to travel to Togo to present workshop.