Support to the modernisation of the agriculture sector in Sri Lanka

The purpose of this contract is to provide technical assistance (TA) to support the Government of Sri Lanka to work on 4 key results areas which are instrumental to achieve a more productive, diversified, climate-resilient, market-oriented and equitable agriculture in Sri Lanka.

This contract expects to achieve the following results:

  • To develop an overall agriculture policy in line with the Government development goals,
  • To create the enabling environment and implement relevant reforms and policies for the modernization and diversification of existing agriculture production, and promote exports to meet expanding international demands,
  • To improve existing systems and practices used by central and provincial ministries involved in agriculture for planning, budgeting/resource allocation, implementation of sectoral and sub-sectoral policies,
  • To monitor and assess the impact of implementing the Government's overall agriculture policy through an improved statistical and data analysis system.

The TA will operate at the national, provincial and local levels. It will also provide support to the main stakeholders in identifying and addressing the needs/gaps in capacities, policy, fiscal, legislative or institutional regulatory frameworks needed to enable smallholder farmers to move towards a more sustainable, resilient and productive agriculture.

Key beneficiaries of long-term support will be: the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Primary Industries. Following specific needs-assessments, the TA will also provide ad hoc support, through non-key experts, to other sectoral ministries as well as deconcentrated and decentralised levels (mainly provincial and district levels).

Qualifications: 

Key experts have a crucial role in implementing the contract. These terms of reference contain the required profiles for each key expert. The tenderer shall only submit CVs and Statements of Exclusivity and Availability for each KE.

Criteria are identified below as a Minimum Requirement (MR) or as a Preferred Requirement (PR).

For the purpose of this contract Senior Experts are considered to be those whose relevant professional experience is more than 10 years, while Junior Experts are considered to be those whose relevant professional experience is more than 5 years. The tenderer shall submit CVs and Statements of Exclusivity and Availability for the proposed key experts.

Apart from the specifications indicated further in this section for each of the key experts, all of them will meet the following minimum requirements:

  • Strong management skills and experience
  • Strong analytical skills
  • Excellent reporting skills
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
  • Excellent command of English
  • Knowledge of local languages is an asset
  • Excellent computer skills
  • Demonstrated experience in having worked successfully in multicultural teams

Support to the modernisation of the agriculture sector in Sri Lanka.

The Team Leader will be responsible for the overall project implementation and reporting, including the coordination and supervision of the other KEs, Senior Non Key Experts (SNKEs) and Junior Non Key Experts (JNKEs), and financial management tasks in a timely and professional manner, and during his/her tenure responsible for the professional coordination of the project.  S/he will be based in Colombo in the MoNPEA, but will undertake frequent field missions in the country (around 6 times per year), some missions may take place outside the country. S/he will be the primary point of contact for the EU Delegation, Government officials and the Project Steering Committee. The Team Leader will supervise the implementation of all results and his/her involvement in specific result areas will depend upon his/her experience.

The Team Leader will need strong skills in implementation and "hands-on" experience in working with public authorities. Consequently strong coaching and inter-personal skills are essential.

In addition to the implementation of the activities, the Team Leader will hold the additional responsibility to ensure the following tasks:

  • Liaison with the EU Delegation, the beneficiaries’ partners, key stakeholders and other interested parties (national and international)
  • Forming and supervising of Project Team
  • Supporting the main beneficiary in planning, carrying out and monitoring all project activities
  • Ensuring preparation and issue of all deliverables as defined through activities of the project as well as strong involvement in all activities of the project described in this ToR
  • Coordination of all inputs and outputs from other team members
  • Play lead role in carrying out all activities and submitting all outputs of the Inception phase and finalisation workshops as well as Secretariat function to PSC
  • Fulfilling financial management tasks in a timely and professional manner
  • All the reporting requirements under the project.

 

Qualifications and skills

  • A University degree, or equivalent, in Public Policy and Administration, Economics, Development Studies, Political Studies, Law, Agriculture or a directly related discipline (MR);
  • Specific trainings in the areas of agriculture development, and/or the economics of rural development, development studies, public policy, administration reform (MR);
  • The expert must possess excellent project management, supervisory/mentoring and leadership skills (MR);

General professional experience

  • At least 10 years’ general professional experience in developing countries (MR);
  • At least 7 years' experience as team leader (MR);
  • At least 7 years' experience in the implementation and management of cooperation programmes/projects, in support to public sector/national authorities in developing countries (MR);
  • Experience working with EU-funded projects (PR)
  • Professional experience in Sri Lanka and/or Asia (PR).

Specific professional experience

Out of the minimum 10 years of general professional experience required, the team leader must have:

  • At least 7 years' experience in Public Policy analysis and design, planning & budgeting, monitoring and evaluation (MR), preferably in the agriculture sector;
  • At least 5 years' experience in developing, implementing, coordinating programmes of capacity/institution building for Government counterparts (MR), preferably in the agriculture sector;
  • Experience of gender in agriculture (PR);
  • Experience of climate change issues and their impact on agriculture (PR);
  • Experience in the identification, design and/or implementation of EU budget support operations using sector reform contracts (PR).
Start / Duration: 

The project office will be located in the premises at the Ministries of National Policies and Economic Affairs, of Agriculture and of Primary Industries, Colombo, Sri Lanka, although travel throughout the country may be necessary.

The intended start date is 1 December 2017. The period of implementation of the contract will be thirty six (36) months from this date.

Please send your most recent CV to

barbara.braun [at] afci.de


Thank you!

Please note, that only shortlisted experts will be contacted