Malawi_More Income and Employment in Rural Areas (MIERA)

Malawi’s economy is characterised by a high dependence on agriculture, with little value being added in the country. The vast majority of rural workers are engaged in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) or operate as smallholders. They are usually dependent on middlemen, have limited access to the market and often lack adequate market information. Consequently, for the most part, they have just a few options for reaching new and higher-end markets and for increasing their income by expanding business activities and by processing products. MSMEs and smallholders are not in a position to add further value (core problem). Therefore, virtually no new employment opportunities are being created in rural Malawi.

The module objective is as follows: MSMEs and smallholders in selected value chains use inclusive business models and new marketing models and increase their value added.

Keys tasks of the long-term expert include:

• Support to the development and strengthening of multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms;
• Support to establish, develop and nurture partnerships with private sector partners;
• Oversee, coordinate and support the implementation of activities to support the establishment and strengthening of inclusive business models;
• Support in the design and implementation of strategies to link smallholder farmers, their organizations and other rural enterprises to commercial ventures and structured markets;
• Facilitate the provision of technical assistance and advisory services to key partners;
• Facilitate the improvement of services provided by key partners along the value chain;
• Adapt, develop and training and coaching approaches targeting the business capacities of smallholder farmers, FO, MSME and their networks;
• Monitor progress of activities against the program indicators and manage program learning;
• Develop clear work plans and implementation plans in preparation of the next phase of the programme.

More specifically in terms of project management:

• Implementing the German contribution in the partner country as the project’s principal advisor;
• Responsibility for carrying out checks on the use of funds and financial planning in consultation with the officer responsible for the commission at GIZ;
• Coordinating stages of the project with key stakeholders and ensuring transparency for the partner;
• Supporting the officer responsible for the commission in updating and/or adapting the project design on the basis of the five success factors of Capacity WORKS;
• Ensuring the connectivity of project management with established GIZ practice by applying Capacity WORKS;
• Identifying the need for short-term assignments within the available budget, planning and steering the assignments, and supporting the local and international short-term experts;
• Helping to place orders with local experts;
• Coordinating the organisation and delivery of training measures;
• Insuring project administration is in place for the German contribution;
• Monitoring and documenting work progress, as well as preparing regular reports;
• Ensuring a monitoring and evaluation system is in place;
• Supporting the officer responsible for the commission in preparing and adapting the plan of operations;
• Planning and supporting project-related research;
• Securing contacts with other donors and the German Embassy;
• Supporting the officer responsible for the commission in preparing and conducting the interim evaluation;
• Supporting the officer responsible for the commission in preparing the follow-on phase.

More specifically, in terms of the provision of advisory services, experience in a majority of the following fields will be important:

• Agricultural production and agribusiness, including farm management;
• Private sector or market systems development;
• Commercial and business-led approaches to development;
• Integration and linkage of smallholder farmers and small rural enterprises to structured markets, contract farming schemes or inclusive businesses;
• Multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms;
• Value chain analysis and development for the relevant value chains;
• Design and facilitation of business development services, embedded services, market-support services;
• Farmer organisation and MSME development;
• Farmer Business School (FBS) or similar methodologies’ implementation;
• Conceptual design and material development of business training and coaching approaches for smallholder farmers, FO, MSME and their networks;
• Implementation of business training and coaching methodologies targeting for smallholder farmers, FO, MSME and their networks;
• Planning, strategy development, facilitation;
• Monitoring and evaluation.