TechnoServe is seeking proposals from qualified consultants for the following scope of work. For information on timeline, application requirements, and evaluation criteria, please review the full Request for Proposalshere.Please submit your proposal for this consultancy to buy MZ P0024894@tns.orgby October 31, 2023. 

Project name: Mangwana
Expected start date: November 2023
Subject: Request for Proposal to conduct Gender and Youth Empowerment Assessment in the Beira Corridor - Mozambique

Background on TechnoServeTechnoServe is an international nonprofit organization that promotes business solutions to poverty in the developing world. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and operates in 29 countries worldwide. TechnoServe's mission is to work with enterprising men and women in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries. It does this by linking people to information, capital and markets. With nearly 50 years of proven results, TechnoServe believes in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.

Project Background and Objectives
Despite rich natural resources and a growing Gross Domestic Product, Mozambique is ranked 185 of 191 countries on the 2021-22 United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index. One of the reasons for its low ranking is that chronic malnutrition impacts the health of 43% of the population. Challenges in the agricultural sector contribute significantly to widespread malnutrition, shown below as they relate to the three outcomes in the Dutch food and nutrition security Results and Indicator Framework 2022:
● Outcome 1: Food and nutrition security: In the agricultural communities in the Beira Corridor, there is limited understanding of dietary diversity, effective cooking techniques, and sanitary practices. In addition, regardless of awareness levels, 80% of Mozambicans cannot afford a healthy diet. 

● Outcome 2: Productivity and income: Although Mozambique has ample arable land, water, and energy, agricultural production is low, and the country relies on imports
to feed its population of 32 million. In a country where agriculture provides a livelihood for over 70% of the population agricultural incomes are insufficient to meet household nutritional needs.

● Outcome 3: Sustainable and resilient farmland: Mozambique is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Extreme climatic conditions lead to volatility in food production, which makes the food system unstable. Furthermore, poor land use practices degrade the soil and other natural resources, limiting farm productivity.

To address these challenges, a consortium of Technoserve, Resilience BV, Agência de Desenvolvimento Econômico da Província de Manica (ADEM) and the Zambeze Valley
Development Agency (ZVDA) is implementing a four-year programme called Mangwana to transform the agricultural sector in Manica and Sofala provinces in the Beira Corridor. The project intends to benefit over 227,000 people by strengthening food systems and food and nutrition security. The programme is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Maputo and therefore aims to contribute significantly to the goals in the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ Food Security and Nutrition Policy and Framework.

2 General Requirements & Scope of Work
The objective of this consultancy is to conduct a gender and youth empowerment assessment that enables Mangwana to understand the current gender and youth dynamics among the project’s targeted beneficiaries and provide the project with a roadmap for supporting economic empowerment of women and young people during the implementation and monitoring of the project. The gender and youth empowerment assessment will identify the constraints and opportunities facing women and men, of different ages, at and beyond production stages of different agricultural farming systems in the Beira Corridor. The assessment will identify key issues that limit women’s and men’s participation in and benefit from a growing agriculture sector, as well as opportunities to support employment and entrepreneurship for young people and women. A strong understanding of the project’s design and M&E plan is important to understanding the areas where the project will have influence and the appropriate strategies for advancing the economic empowerment of women and young people through direct intervention approaches in the farming systems and market systems around the farming systems (enabling environment).

The deliverables include:
● An inception report that details the revised methodology, questionnaires, interview guide, target audience, and revised implementation plan within the agreed-upon timeframe
● Updates during field work
● Presentation with preliminary findings and recommendations following the field work
● Draft report of findings and recommendations
● Final report with the results, including a strategy that describes how the project can address the findings of the gender and youth assessment across the project’s three
activities, including a detailed gender and youth action plan that will serve as a mechanism to monitor actions and progress to achieve women’s economic empowerment objectives and targets. The action plan should include all of the actions the program will implement to ensure women and men are able to participate in and benefit from the project, align those actions with the results framework and indicators (including additional indicators where appropriate), identify recommendations for processes, staffing, and other elements associated with inclusive program implementation, and include examples of success stories and successful program approaches that may be relevant to this activity.
○ Defines inclusive selection criteria and related expected results (e.g., % increase in production) for different target groups/products, including considerations for equality in the grants manual
○ Proposes processes and mechanisms for inclusive program implementation (e.g. (female) program staff, content, location and timing of capacity building activities, registration of project participants, additional budget/time requirements)
○ Defines targeted affirmative actions per component resulting from needs assessment (not all defined, allowing for adaptive activities in the continuation of the program)
○ Where possible, identify examples for showcasing (producers, businesses and other potential stakeholders)
● A 2-3 page standalone brief in both English and Portuguese, presented to project staff, and potentially EKN and other stakeholders
● Training with the Project senior leadership who will be responsible for training project technical staff on outcomes of the gender assessment throughout the course of the project.

The consortium, in particular the gender experts, will be closely involved throughout the assignment to support the consultant making the analysis as tailored to the program and context as possible and ensuring the strategies are implementable.

Please review the full Request for Proposals here.