Consultant Opportunity: Field mentoring and coaching of farmers and food businesses on Global Gap and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) within the Horticulture value chain in Rwanda (Activity 2.1.9)
Land O'Lakes Venture37
People & HR
Rwanda
Posted on May 20, 2025
Consultancy Opportunity
Field mentoring and coaching of farmers and food businesses on Global Gap and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) within the Horticulture value chain in Rwanda (Activity 2.1.9)
Piloting the Use of Third-Party Assurance (TPA) Programme in East Africa
Background: Land O'Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. Since 1981, it has implemented over 315 integrated dairy, livestock and crops development programs in nearly 80 countries — creating lasting impact by linking farmers, businesses, and the public and private sector in local and global contexts. Land O’Lakes Venture37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. sets it apart. Land O’Lakes, Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports Land O’Lakes Venture37 project implementation with nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives Land O’Lakes Venture37 development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world.
Project Summary: The Piloting the Use of Third-Party Assurance Programme in East Africa to Improve Food Safety Outcomes for Public Health and Trade is a three-year activity that began November 2022 and ending October 2025 funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF). The project is piloting the use of Voluntary Third-Party Assurance (vTPA) Programme in Rwanda for the horticulture sector and Uganda for fisheries to improve food safety, based on the Codex Principles and Guidelines for the Assessment and Use of Voluntary Third-Party Assurance Programmes (CXG-93-2021). The pilot is implemented in close cooperation with the governments of Rwanda and Uganda and will complement two other ongoing pilot projects, generating additional data and evidence on the use of the vTPA approach in developing countries, and promoting dialogue and learning across West Africa and Central America. The project will also assess and make use of data and information from vTPA Programmes to support ongoing food safety reform processes in Rwanda and Uganda, including the move towards a more risk-based inspection system that will further strengthen dialogue and cooperation with small-scale producers and food business operators, as part of efforts to modernize and strengthen food safety management.
The pilot project aims to achieve the following outcomes:
- Outcome 1: Increased awareness of regulatory authorities on how to assess and use data / information generated by vTPA programme in Rwanda and Uganda.
- Outcome 2: Improved food safety compliance of food business operators (FBOs) in the horticulture and fisheries value chains based on the use of vTPA programme.
- Outcome 3: Increased awareness of food safety regulators on the application of vTPA approaches in other countries.
Purpose and Objective of the Consultancy:
In order to work towards achieving Outcome 2 above, the “Piloting the Use of Third-Party Assurance (TPA) Programme in East Africa” project has so far undertaken a number of activities aimed at increasing awareness levels among the private sector on the existence and use of vTPA programs to manage food safety outcomes. A mapping exercise was undertaken during the inception phase of the project to understand the commonly implemented vTPA programmes in the target value chains, and highlight the vTPA programmes with potential. A scan/review of the regulatory environment in both project countries, to provide insights into the existing regulatory framework with reference to vtPA programmes and food safety outcomes was undertaken. A value chain analysis focusing on compliance issues including analysis of the conditions, reservations and specific problems etc of FBOs to participate in the vTPA approaches within the horticulture value chain in Rwanda, was also conducted. The project also undertook a Training of Trainers on vTPA for food safety practitioners in private sector within the Horticulture value chain in Rwanda.
The project has further developed simplified materials on the standards for use in awareness creation to horticulture farmers. The project is now seeking a consultant to coach and mentor horticulture farmers on the implementation of good agricultural practices as a building block towards attaining Global Gap certification. The specific objectives of this consultancy is to initiate behavioral change among the private sector food safety practitioners in the horticulture value chain using the simplified materials on the generic principles of the Global Gap standard and specific principles of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to create awareness and bridge the knowledge gap.
Consultant Tasks:
Under this scope of work, the Consultant will complete the following tasks:
- In liaison with the RICA project focal person and with guidance from the Project Coordinator, the expert will develop a detailed program for the field mentoring sessions, clearly indicating the days and places where the mentoring sessions will take place, and the individual Trainer of Trainers that will work with the expert for each place.
- Travel briefly to selected rural areas to launch and oversee the provision of training to farmers and producers using the published simplified standards’ materials on Good Agricultural Practices and the Global Gap standard.
- In liaison with the trainers of trainers under this STDF project, make a register of persons trained, and propose a simple and practical means of monitoring their future processes so as to facilitate the determination of the effectiveness of the training.
- Taking into account the experiences in different regions / products, prepare a report on all aspects of this assignment with recommendations.
Consultant Deliverables:
Under this scope of work, the Consultant is expected to complete the following deliverables:
- A detailed programme for the field mentoring and coaching of the farmers and FBOs in the horticulture value chain in Rwanda.
- Field training missions undertaken by the consultant and the identified trainer of trainers for all the rural areas selected in the agreed detailed programme.
- A way forward (monitoring system) has been agreed and put in place whereby training in the use of the brochures will be monitored and any improvement in product quality identified over time.
- Final report also detailing any recommended follow on activities.
Requested Qualifications:
An individual local consultant is required for this assignment. The consultant will meet the following criteria:
- A relevant tertiary qualification in food science or related biological sciences from a recognised University;
- Approximately 5 years’ experience in working and/or providing consultancy in the field of food standards, certification,
- Proven experience in providing consultancy services within local communities in the Food sector in Rwanda, experience in providing coaching and mentorship to private sector companies in Rwanda will be an added advantage;
- Fluency in English, Kinyarwanda is required; and
- Experience working with government officials in Rwanda is preferred.
Reporting: The Consultant will report to the STDF Project Coordinator.
Period of Performance: The selected individual will be awarded an independent consultancy contract with a level of effort 20 working days. The consultant will propose an appropriate timeline such that the final report is completed by September 30th, 2025.The final detailed schedule and timeline will be agreed upon with the chosen consultant.
Application Instructions: Applicants should submit their CV and proposed daily rate to be considered by 5 PM CST on June 5, 2025.