1. Background
Somali region is the second largest region in Ethiopia by area covering 327,068 square km. It had a population of 10,318,000 by 2013. The region has large populations of refugees and host communities and refugees who are mainly Somali. One of the key economic activities is livestock with most people being pastoralists. Livestock activities are only second to trade. The Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia in 2019 stated the livestock population in Somali region of 36.7million with 3.6 million cattle, 6.1 million camels, 9.1 million sheep and 17million goats. The cattle, goats, sheep and camels are 97.76 to 99% indigenous. The region faces challenges of low production and productivity of milk. The livestock on average produce 1-7 litres of milk per animal (cow or camel) per day. The lactating period for cows is 6 months while that for camels is 9 months. Total milk production in 2019 was 177,582,308 litres from cows and 144,288,580 litres from camels[1]. The main feeding system is by grazing or green fodder on own or communal land holdings which accounts for 90% of feeding while the other feeding systems include is use of crop residues, hay, animal feed, improved feed and others each accounting for 6.29%; 0.58%; 0.31%; 0.16%; and 2.48% respectively1. The farmers, who are dispersed across the region, expressed challenges in marketing of their milk as the value chain is not well developed. There is also a challenge of not having enough feeds and water for the animals especially during the drought seasons that usually occurs once every 2 years. The milk storage containers are mainly plastic cans that not only reduce the shelf life of the milk but also affect the milk quality. There are few milk cooling and processing facilities. The farmers need to be organised to address the aforementioned challenges while also increasing on their incomes by engaging in entrepreneurial activities.
The milking, milk collection, transportation and local marketing in Somali region is mainly a female dominated activity with some estimates putting it at 96% female dominated. There are women owned and managed cooperative societies that are actively involved in the milk value chain. It is estimated that there are 3.9 million pastoralists or approximately 600,000 households in the milk value chain in Somali region. The estimated annual production of milk by Value from Somali region was ETB13.3 Billion or USD632 Million[2].
The annual per capita milk consumption in Ethiopia is averaging 30 litres. This highest consumption is in Addis Ababa that is 52 litres per annum. This milk consumption per capita is very low when compared to annual per capita consumption of 120 litres in Kenya. Moreover about 25% of the milk produced is lost through production losses. Most of the milk consumed is sold through informal channels from farmers through milk collectors to the consumers. It’s estimated that only 20% of the milk produced in Ethiopia is formally processed[3].
The Partnership for Improving Prospects for Forcibly Displaced Persons and Host Communities (PROSPECTS) is a multi-country programme implemented between ILO, IFC, UNICEF, UNHCR and World Bank with funding from the Government of the Netherlands. The partnership aspires to improve the lives of host communities and refugees in 5 countries in Africa including Ethiopia. Under PROSPECTS pillar 2, the programme aims to strengthen the local labour market ecosystem and the communities operating within it, through improved access to financial services, non-financial services, business development services and local value chain development in growth-oriented sectors.
ILO uses the Approach to Inclusive Market Systems (AIMS) for Refugees and Host Communities to create opportunities in sectors with high potential for inclusive growth and promising value chains. This starts with the assessment of the market system around a given sector to identify promising value chains. A value chain analysis follows looking at the different actors along the value chain, the supporting functions, rules and regulations. The analysis leads to the development of “push” and “pull” interventions to address the underlying constraints by developing of the capacity of the target communities together with developing the market systems available to the target communities in such a way as to expand the opportunities for the target community market respectively. The “push” interventions aim to enable and build the capacity of the target communities to access market opportunities and “pull” interventions focus on creating market demand and opportunities in the selected value chains.
The analysis of the milk value chain in Somali region revealed the following constraints:
a) Low production, productivity and quality milk
b) Limited access to fodder and water for animals especially in the dry season
c) Animal health challenges affecting milk production
d) Limited value chain linkages between producers, collectors and processors for milk and milk products
e) Limited access to finance for the milk value chain actors
The constraints faced in the dairy value chain in Somali region are due to the following underlying causes:
a) Low knowledge and skills by farmers on good animal husbandry methods and feeding practices
b) Inadequate access to animal health workers and veterinary services to prevent or control diseases
c) Limited access to quality inputs
d) Limited skills in commercial fodder production
e) Lack of skills in entrepreneurship, financial education and low development of dairy cooperative societies for milk aggregation.
f) Limited access market information, few linkages between actors within the value chain and markets for the milk
g) Low processing capacity for the milk produced in the region
h) Financial service providers not having appropriate financial products for the value chain actors
In light of the aforementioned, that ILO is seeking an implementing partner who can be an organization or company with a local presence in Somali region to work with women and youth in existing or new cooperatives societies. There should be strong focus on building the capacity of actors to deliver and include refugees in to their regular programs and services.
The cooperative societies will mainly comprise of women and youth from host communities and refugees in the Fafan zone of the Somali region with a mission to serve their members in the dairy value chain. The women and youth, grouped in 9 cooperatives, will be supported in the production and marketing of the dairy products including camel and cow milk together with fodder production for the animals to cater for the drought season.
Establish cooperative societies (with membership from host and refugee communities) comprising of mainly women will be directly engaged in milk production and marketing. The cooperative societies with mainly youth (from host communities) will be involved in fodder production and fabrication of milk storage containers and marketing. The members of the cooperative societies will be skilled in the areas of good animal husbandry practices, fodder production, cooperatives, entrepreneurship and financial education to engage in agricultural and other enterprising activities. The dairy cooperatives will be supported with solar powered milk cooling facilities to lengthen the shelf life of milk before marketing at local level or through processors. This project will be implemented over a period of 18 months.
2. Project objectives
a) Increase production and productivity of milk in Fafan Zone of Somali region
b) Increase access to markets for milk and other products
c) Improve the competitiveness of the milk value chain in Somali region
d) Support entrepreneurship and cooperatives development for women and youth
3. Project outcomes
3.1 Enhanced capacity of women and youth in the production and marketing of quality camel, goat and cow milk
3.2 Empowered youth in metal can fabrication and commercial fodder production
3.3 Empowered women and youth in cooperatives, entrepreneurship and financial education
3.4 Improved linkages for women and youth to inputs, markets and finance.
3.5 Conducive business environment for milk production and marketing
4. Project outputs
4.1 Train 600 women and youth in good animal husbandry including improved feeding systems and milk production practices for their camels, goats and cows
4.2 Train 200 youth in commercial fodder production and processing for marketing to feed processors and the milk production cooperatives
4.3 Train 50 youth in metal milk can fabrication which will be sold to the milk production cooperatives to ensure better storage of the milk.
4.4 Train the women and youth cooperative society members in entrepreneurship using ILO tools such as SIYB and GET Ahead and on Financial education and cooperative management.
4.5 Support the cooperative society members’ access better animal health services through trained community animal health workers and linkage to animal input supply shops to enable them access quality drugs and chemicals for their animals.
4.6 Support the milk production cooperatives with 6 solar powered milk cooling facilities for prolonged storage that will be owned and operated by the cooperative societies.
4.7 Link the 6 milk production cooperatives to private sector markets and processors for the milk in Jijiga city and other urban centres in Somali region.
4.8 Support private milk processors to ensure that they offtake, process and market the milk produced by the milk cooperatives
4.9 Support financial service providers to develop appropriate financial products for use by the value chain actors.
4.10 Link the cooperative societies to financial service providers to access finance for inputs for their animals, metal can fabrication materials and other businesses
4.11 Support the regional government in the development of a favourable policy environment for the milk production and marketing.
5. Role of the implementing partner
The major role of the implementing partner will be coordinating different service providers and actors to deliver quality service to beneficiaries through facilitation, coordination of capacity building of service providers in line with the approach for inclusive market systems (AIMS). Some of the expected role of the implementing partner includes: **
a) Identify the cooperative societies and facilitate building of the capacity of the members of the cooperative societies in cooperative development and business, entrepreneurship and financial education
b) Identify, train and capacitate Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW) in collaboration with the veterinary department. The CAHW will provide veterinary extension services to the farmers.
c) Link the farmers to input shops where they can access quality inputs and drugs.
d) Train or facilitate training of the youth in commercial fodder production and harvesting
e) Link the youth cooperatives to markets for the fodder including women dairy cooperatives and feed processors.
f) Identify sites for setting up of the milk cooling facilities in consultation with stakeholders
g) Train or facilitate training of the members of the dairy cooperative societies in the management of the milk cooling facilities and also monitor the performance of the facilities in terms of quantity and quality of milk deliveries.
h) Link the women dairy cooperatives to the private sector milk processors to ensure market for the milk.
i) Link the cooperative societies to the MFIs to access finance for their activities and monitor their performance
j) Collaborate with the regional government departments of livestock, cooperatives and Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) to ensure that they are informed of the progress on the project and that the milk value chain activities and cooperatives are effectively supported
k) Ensure effective coordination of the different stakeholders in the milk value chain
l) Monitor and evaluate the progress of the project to ensure efficient and effective service delivery to the beneficiaries and value chain actors together with documenting lessons learnt for dissemination.
m) Report on the progress of the project to ILO and other relevant stakeholders
n) Actively participate in the already established periodic and regular coordination forum among different actors lead by UNHCR, ARRA and regional BOFED[4] and others
6. Eligibility Criteria
The potential implementing partner must fulfil the following requirements:
a) Must be a registered and licenced organization or company operating in Ethiopia.
b) Must have office and staff presence in different parts of Somali region
c) Must have been in operation for a period of not less than 3 years.
d) Should have experience in working with the local communities and refugees
e) Should demonstrate experience in working in the livestock or dairy value chains and market systems development
f) Should be ready to work with the regional government, private sector actors and other stakeholders best placed to deliver on the different outputs in the implementation of the project.
h) The proposal should provide a mechanism to ensure sustainability of the interventions started after the end of the project.
i) Experience working with government and relevant bodies as well as target communities, preferably FDPs and host communities
j) The implementing partner should be capable of assembling/ providing a team of technical experts that can deliver the above activities and outputs.
k) Willing to collaborate with ILO in co-creating and implementing inclusive and sustainable milk value chain push and pull interventions.
7. Budget
The proposal should not exceed USD 300,000. The applicant should also show their commitment and contribution to the project.
How to apply:
Interested applicants that meet the eligibility requirements should submit their detailed technical and financial proposals including CV of the key personnel to work on this project electronically to: ADDIS_PROCUREMENT@ilo.org
ILO Country Office for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan
UNECA Compound- Addis Ababa
Kindly title your email subject as, “**Call for proposal – Call for Proposals for an Implementing Partner to Develop the Dairy Value Chain in Somali Region of Ethiopia**”
Shortlisted/ Successful applicants/organizations will be interviewed. The successful organization will be expected to start the project in September 2021.
Deadline for application will be 03 September 2021 02:00 pm.