Vacancy title:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE TRAINING OF PROJECT STAFF AND PARTNER STAFF (GLOBAL AIM AND VISION TERUDO) ON BUSINESS SKILLS

[Type: FULL_TIME, Industry: Nonprofit, and NGO, Category: Business Operations]

Jobs at:
Self Help Africa

Deadline of this Job:
Friday, May 23 2025

Duty Station:
Ajumani and Katakwi | Uganda | Uganda

Summary
Date Posted: Monday, May 19 2025, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

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JOB DETAILS:

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an Irish Based, International Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) implementing rural development, sustainable livelihoods, and food security programmes in nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Uganda, SHA has been operational since 1989, implementing various programme across all regions of the country. Self Help Africa with funding from Irish Aid is implementing a 5-year “Sustainable Food for All” project in 2 districts of Adjumani and Katakwi (2023 -2027) to ensure 2,000 refugees and their host communities attain improved access to and consumption of sustainable, diverse, and nutritious food among low-income farming households. To achieve this, the project adopted market systems approach, fostering partnerships and collaboration among different actors in the ecosystem to increase income opportunities for targeted beneficiaries through strengthened relationships and networks. Emphasis is placed on facilitating partnerships to deliver interventions in collaboration with other market actors from the public and and private sectors. The approach focuses on facilitating market actors to deliver relevant training, extension services, business services, and market linkages to the Households; it builds capacity within the ecosystem itself and builds on the incentives of the actors to sustain change. This market-based approach better ensures that successful activities are adopted and driven by the market;and that these new services and business models continue to reach more and more households beyond the project itself.

SHA has adopted a whole value chain approach in its work, using its experience of working with smallholder farmers and other partners from the public and private sector to improve productivity of the smallholder farmers and supporting farmers to deliver produce and products to the markets more efficiently at a competitive price.

The intended impact of the project is improved access to and consumption of sustainable, diverse, and nutritious food among low-income households. This will be measured through improved household income and improved food and nutrition security.

Brief background to the activity

According to World Bank data, “While about 700,000 young people reach working age every year in Uganda, only 75,000 jobs are created each year. This leaves more than 70% of Ugandans employed in agriculture, mainly on a subsistence basis.” (World Bank, 2020d, Economic Overview para. 3). About 75% of the population live in rural areas (World Bank, 2020b). Smallholder farmers generate 80% of national annual agricultural production, with an average of one hectare farm per household. Agricultural production contributes to about one quarter of Uganda’s GDP (FAO, 2018). The agriculture sector has had an important role in past efforts to reduce poverty, though it continues to operate at subsistence level, with limited production for commercialization and income generation (FAO, 2018; World Bank 2020d). Farming continues to be labour intensive, based on rudimentary methods, with important challenges in terms of access to quality agricultural inputs, limited use of fertilisers and of improved practices for enhancing soil fertility or water harvesting, limited skills, information, and financing, and being highly vulnerable to climate change; all of these together lead to low productivity and poor-quality yields (FAO, 2018; FAO, 2019).

Poor productivity is due to several factors which include lack of access to adequate and improved production inputs (seeds and tools), poor farming practices, crop pests and diseases, limited economic resources like land and working capital for smallholder farmers, impacts of climate change like drought and water logging, low technical capacity on climate sensitive agriculture, limited land for refugees and poor agricultural extension services, gender disparities and social exclusion of the youth, elderly and PWDs. The combined impact of poor rainfall, crop failure and poor yields that have persisted in Adjumani and Katakwi means that over 200,000 households face problems accessing planting materials like seeds for planting. Consequently, the large numbers of the population will need help with increasing crop productivity through livelihood input transfers to enable them to produce their sufficient, affordable, nutritious, and safe food.

Low levels of agricultural production prevent smallholder farmers from meeting their nutrition and market needs; smallholders have a limited integration into local, regional agricultural markets reducing their earning potential; and inequitable access to sufficient nutritious foods leading to malnutrition particularly affecting children under five.

The project will support youth, men and women through establishment of the micro-grant system to support access to various inputs that would support in the growth and development agro-entrepreneurs. To achieve this, it is very important that the project staff are well equipped with the right technical and business skills. The TOT training on business skills will enhance technical capacity of the project staff in business planning and management. By doing this, the team will be in better position to guide the farmers in enhancing their entrepreneurship skills.

General objective of the consultancy

To enhance the knowledge, skills, and understanding of business planning and management skills among the project staff and the partner staff (Global Aim and Vision TERUDO)

Expected output of the assignment

Expected outputs include:-

Increased knowledge, skills and capacity among project staff in business development. The consultant is expected to equip project staff with skills and knowledge on but not limited to the following:
Focus on developing a business mindset with entrepreneurship at the core…
Building a business mindset

Linking business mindset to sustainability

Deep dive into entrepreneurship concept

Core entrepreneurship principles

Cultivating entrepreneurship resilience

Business modelling
Markets, market systems and market information
Financial management
Business planning and analysis
Financial oversight, mentorship planning, business plan development, mentorship: enhanced capacity of staff to support youth and women establish successful enterprises through the micro-grant system

Develop and a training manual on all aspects of business development to ensure sustainability of the training
Expected outcomes

1. Enhanced technical knowledge: Staff demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of core business concepts, including entrepreneurship, market systems, financial management, and business planning.

2.⁠ ⁠Improved training capacity: Staff confidently apply adult learning methodologies to transfer business knowledge to farmer groups and micro-grant recipients.

3.⁠ ⁠Standardized approach: Staff utilize consistent, high-quality business assessment and planning tools when supporting farmer groups.

4.⁠ ⁠Effective micro-grant support: Staff provide structured, informed guidance to farmers throughout the micro-grant application and implementation process.

5. Quality business mentorship: Farmers receiving staff support to develop viable, market-oriented business plans with realistic financial projections

Methodology

Training Approach

Adult Learning Principles: The training must employ adult learning methodologies that emphasize experiential learning, practical application, and participant engagement. Sessions should balance theoretical concepts with hands-on activities that reflect real-world agricultural business scenarios in Uganda.
2. Participatory Methods: The consultant shall use a variety of participatory training methods including case studies, role plays, group discussions, practical exercises, simulations, and field-based problem solving to ensure active learning and skill development.

3. Contextualized Content: All training materials and examples must be adapted to the Ugandan agricultural context, with specific relevance to the Adjumani and Katakwi regions where project staff work. Content should reflect the realities of smallholder farming, refugee contexts, and local market systems.

4. Competency-Based: Training should focus on building specific, measurable competencies in business skills that can be immediately applied by staff in their work with farmer groups and micro-grant recipients.

5. Training Structure: Pre-Training Assessment: The consultant will conduct a brief pre-training assessment (digital questionnaire) to gauge participants’ existing knowledge and skill levels, allowing for customization of content to meet identified gaps.

Training Delivery

The training will span 3 full working days

– A balanced mix of plenary sessions and smaller group work

– Practical exercises comprising at least 60% of total training time

Post-Training Assessment: Conduct immediate post-training assessment to measure knowledge gain and collect feedback on training effectiveness and content relevance.

6. Follow-up Support: Outline a mechanism for limited remote follow-up support to participants for one month after training to address questions that arise during initial application of learned skills.

Administration and logistical support

The consultation fees shall be payable as per the agreed instalments and progress made on completion of deliverables. The payments shall be made in two instalments before (For training materials and transport) and after the completion of tasks (Professional fees)
Transport, meals and accommodation for the consultant and their entire team is catered for within the consultancy fees payable above
The consultant will work closely with and report directly to the project manager, Agribusiness Coordinator and Agribusiness Officer
Venue selection and setup: Identify appropriate training venues that can accommodate the number of participants and provide the necessary facilities such as seating arrangements, audio-visual equipment, and internet connectivity. Ensure that the venue is accessible and meets specific requirements for the training activities.
Minimum Requirements:

The ideal applicant should possess: –

University degree in business studies or related field
A minimum of five years of experience working as a business trainer /coach
Strong communication and facilitation skills
At least 2 references from Humanitarian organizations you have worked with
Ability to work within tight deadlines and manage multiple priorities

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 24

Level of Education: bachelor degree

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