Myanmar_Capacity Building and Climate Smart Agriculture Training Consultants

The Climate-Friendly Agribusiness Value Chains Sector Project supports implementing the government’s Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS), 2018-2023 and the National Export Strategy, 2015-2019 by boosting competitiveness in value chains for rice, beans, pulses, and oilseeds in the Magway, Mandalay, and Sagaing regions in the Central Dry Zone (CDZ). The project will increase climate resilience for critical rural infrastructure, promote quality and safety testing capacity, strengthen technical and institutional capacity for climate smart agriculture (CSA), and create an enabling policy environment for climate-friendly agribusinesses. The project will reduce food insecurity and rural poverty, increase smallholders’ incomes and access to markets, and improve resource efficiency and environmental sustainability for agribusinesses.
The project aims to create an enabling environment that reduces the incidence of poverty, malnutrition, and food insecurity among the rural poor. The project is aligned with the following impact: agricultural competitiveness improved. The project will have the following outcome: productive and resource-efficient agribusiness value chains in project areas developed.

Tasks of the expert: 

(i) Responsible for overall direction of the consultant team, overall team coordination, and delivery of quality and timely outputs, and coordination and management of inputs;

(ii) Manage the team relationships with government, the PMU, ADB and other stakeholders;

(iii) Identify tasks on the critical path, and ensure that implementation schedules are followed;

(iv) Take the lead in the preparation of the initial work plan and personnel schedule (including determining resource needs), periodic reports, and other deliverables.

The scope of work includes:

• Help (i) in developing an agribusiness policy framework, and (ii) in formulating climate- smart, agribusiness policy priorities and a workplan which includes, but is not limited to, the policy topics described in the PAM.
• Guide the Policy Unit Director and Research Officers in formulating agribusiness policies that have a direct impact on creating an enabling environment for agribusiness stakeholders in the Project’s value chains;
• Recommend agriculture policy training programs that are available regionally;
• Train the Director and Research Officers in various policy tools for analyzing policy options and potential outcomes, using priority policy topics, such as, the expected impact from registering Shwebo Paw San Rice as a Geographic Indication;
• Assist the Policy Unit in advocating agribusiness policies across departments in the MOALI, across ministries (MOALI, MOC, MOI), and among the stakeholders along the value chains;
• Assist the Policy Unit in preparing “Policy Briefs” disseminated among public and private stakeholders to inform them of specific attributes of the agribusiness policy reforms taking place and in getting feedback on policies that are in the formative stages;
• With support from the gender specialists from the PIC firm, ensure that gender is mainstreamed into policies.