AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION CONSULTANT

(Nakuru, Vihiga, Homa Bay, Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia Counties – One Consultant for Each County)

Background

Sauti East Africa is a women-led social enterprise combining development research and technology solutions to address the digital information gaps facing women working in agricultural value-chains. Sauti leverages the competitive advantage of mobile technology to deliver tailored agro climate and market information to farmers and traders in East Africa. Our mission is to empower women farmers and traders to trade legally, safely, and profitably.

Project Context 

In rural Kenya, the agricultural sector employs up to 70 percent of the population. These regions are very vulnerable to climate change. However, few farmers have access to the online and digital resources needed to mitigate the climate challenges. This IKI Small Grants project addresses this challenge by leveraging local, proven, and easy-to-use SMS and other mobile phone-based techniques to deliver climate information and adaptation resources for women farmers. This considers the digital gender divide. Women of the area hardly use smartphones, but mobile phones are widespread. The mobile-based information includes real-time weather forecasts, seasonal climate hazard forecasts, agricultural adaptation strategies, climate risk assessment tools, and climate finance opportunities. It also provides up-to-date trade and market information. The project enhances accessibility of information to farmers in a simplified and multilingual format that is free to access for maximum social impact.

Project Overview

Rural regions in Kenya are extremely vulnerable to climate change. The rainfall in Kenya is highly variable and projected to increase in volatility, which increases the risk of heavy rain and extended periods of drought destroying local crops. In the past century, 28 major droughts have been recorded, with increasing frequency and severity. While public agronomy service delivery to rural areas already faces challenges, the volatile impact of climate change is increasing the challenges to sustainable agricultural crops and livestock livelihoods. The project targets five counties in Kenya across western and rift valley regions which are part of the main food basket region in the country. The counties are Homabay, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, and Vihiga.

Project Approach

The project improves the adaptability of women farmers to climate change by leveraging local and easy-to-use USSD/SMS-based platforms to deliver climate-related information and adaptation tools. The users dial the short code *716# and navigate through a numbered menu of options using any kind of phone. Thus, smartphones and the internet are not required to access the platform. The obtained mobile-based information includes real-time weather forecasts, seasonal climate hazards, agricultural adaptation strategies, climate risk management tools, climate finance opportunities, and up-to-date trade as well as market information. All the information is provided for free and translated into several local languages. 

The overall goal of the project- Improved climate resilient agricultural practices and awareness among women smallholder farmers and their households in Homabay, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, and Vihiga counties in Kenya

Scope of Work

The Agricultural Information Consultants will be responsible for collecting, simplifying and translating to Kiswahili the relevant Agricultural, climate information and adaptation resources for women farmers in the Project Counties. Each of the 5 project counties will have a consultant preferably working in the counties to ensure that the information populated is customized to the specific prevailing agricultural and climatic circumstances in the counties. The wider information areas of focus would be Sustainable Agricultural Methods and Practices, Environmental Conservation and Farming Technologies.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

1. Population of  relevant Agricultural and Climate related information for smallholder women farmers 
2. Simplification of the populated information to a level easily understandable by farmers
3. Translation of the information into Kiswahili
4. Share the compiled content with the relevant government departments at the Counties for verification.
5. Customization of the content for USSD/SMS deployment
6. Weekly updates on the progress of the assignment
7. Participate in the trainings of the women farmers on the use of phones to access the information
8. Represent Sauti in any meetings at the counties during the information population period

Office Station

Remotely but the consultants must be based in the counties of focus or demonstrate their ability to coordinate activities in the focus counties

Timeline

The assignment should take a maximum of 30 days between January and February.

Qualifications

A suitable candidate should hold the following qualifications and key competencies:

1. Education Qualification: Minimum Diploma in Agriculture, Communications or any other relevant field from a recognized Institution of Higher Learning;
2. Work Experience: Experience in working with local women farmers is desirable
3. Communication: Ability to speak and write clearly in English/Swahili is a must. Prior experience developing communication materials for farmers would be an added advantage. 
4. Additional Skills: Excellent computer skills (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Email, internet searches, online databases, and data retrieval) are required.
5. The position is only open residents of the project counties preferably with farmers 

Expected Remuneration

Each consultant will be awarded 700 EUR on completion of the 30-day assignment.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should present applications as follows:

• A one-page cover letter summarizing the consultant’s fit for the position;
• A CV detailing the consultant’s experience; 

The application should be submitted to info@sautiafrica.org indicating ‘AgricInfoConsultant: Equitable access to climate-related information and adaptation tools for women farmers in Kenya-’ as the subject. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, but the first round of selections will be made from submissions submitted at close of business on 30th Nov 2023.