Consultancy: Building Back Better - Rehabilitation of Gaza Agriculture Sector

Terms of Reference – Consultancy Services

Guiding the implementing of the Building Back Better approach toward "Improving Food Security and Enhancing Resilience in Gaza through optimized rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure after the 2014 conflict".

Context

Gaza makes up part of the Palestinian territories which includes the West Bank. The Gaza Strip is considered as one of the highest population densities in the world, high poverty and unemployment rates, chronic lack of potable water, electricity shortages, and longstanding economic restrictions severely impeding everyday life. Within the last seven years the Gaza Strip suffered of the ongoing conflict with Israeli. In 2014 the Israeli offensive lasted for 51 days from July to August 2014. The damage was extensive and has affected many aspects of life in the Gaza Strip. The damage to the agricultural sector is estimated to amount to approximately 550 Million USD (PNGO & MoA). More than half of the cultivation land of Gaza (more than 14,000 hectares) was destroyed, hundreds of sheep and cows died and a large number of the irrigation wells, irrigation systems, greenhouses, productive trees, post-harvest facilities and agricultural equipment was heavily damaged or destroyed.

In addition, the Gaza Strip is categorized as highest-risk area for a looming hydrological drought with devastating consequences for the population that already start to show. Other natural hazards such as floods and winter storms happen regularly in Gaza. The population’s vulnerability is high due to difficult social and economic circumstances, making their resilience to face these hazards low.

Background

The Agricultural Development Association (PARC) is a leading Palestinian Agricultural Development Organization, established in 1983 under the name of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC). Since its establishment, PARC has been efficiently engaged in Palestinian land development, water resources and environment, poverty reduction and women empowerment, olive oil marketing, as well as other crucial rural development programs.

Already, PARC has built a solid partnership with Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) a German humanitarian aid NGO that has been serving the most in need worldwide especially in the field of disaster risk reduction DRR and management. Both PARC and DKH aim to enhance the resilience in the Gaza Strip through the implementation of a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disasters in previous and in ongoing projects – including Building Back Better after the 2014 offensive.

The need to build back better (BBB) is urgent because any disaster in the Gaza Strip brings temporary changes to a community. PARC and DKH see these changes as opportunities to rebuild in a better way, and enable communities to take advantage of this window of opportunity that disaster recovery and rehabilitation brings to enhance resilience levels. Involving communities and individual farmers to develop tailor-made solutions for the recovery of their livelihood and enhance their coping mechanisms for future shocks will do this.

Therefore, as a proper response within, PARC and DKH are implementing a project entitled “Improving Food Security and Enhancing Resilience in Gaza through optimized rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure after the 2014 conflict”. The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) funds this project.

The project aims to build back better medium scale agribusinesses that were affected by the last 2014 offensive in the Gaza Strip. The activities of the project include rehabilitation and reconstruction of targeted households that rely for their livelihoods and employment on green houses, poultry farms, livestock and dairy farms or fisheries. Over the next 18 months, the project targets 310 farmers with the aim to develop and implement individual rehabilitation plans in accordance with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) principles and by integrating BBB approaches.

Immediately after the 2014 offensive PARC conducted a rapid damage and loss assessment of the agricultural sector in Gaza. The assessment took place among 4,684 businesses and 37 CBO’s in 29 locations – covering 5 Governorates in Gaza. The results can be found in the table below:

Crop production: 761 dunam damaged; 358 farmers affected; 1, 522,000 USD losses

Poultry farmers: 1,219,000 broilers lost; 984 farmers affected; 16,509,170 USD losses

Livestock farms: 9301 sheep/goats lost; 1886 farmers affected 3,720,400; USD losses

Fisheries: 1,239,060 USD losses

For this project, PARC with the support of DKH is seeking the expertise of a consultant to provide short-term guidance in the initiation stage of the project.

Project Goal and Results

Project goal: by using the BBB approach for the rehabilitation of 310 agribusinesses/fisheries, the resilience against future disastrous shocks will increase and the food security situation will improve through the return of minimum subsistence means and an improved supply of fresh food products to the local markets.

Result 1: By project end, the BBB approach has been introduced in the agricultural sector of Gaza, and best practices have been shared with the relevant actors and allow for possibilities of replication and improvement of the approach.

Result 2: By project end, the resilience of 310 HH and their agribusinesses and fisheries against future shocks will be strengthened via the use of the BBB approach in the rehabilitation process.

Result 3: By end of the project, the minimum subsistence means have been restored to 310 HH and their food security situation is improved.

Result 4: By project end, 310 agribusinesses and fisheries are rehabilitated and are contributing to food security in the region by increasing production and supply of food products to the markets in Gaza.

Target group

Agricultural households (HH), Fishery households, young agronomists, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Food Security Cluster, Population of Gaza Direct beneficiaries: 310 HH = 1,860 people

• 100 HH with medium-sized farms (green house cultivation)
• 100 HH with poultry farms
• 60 HH with livestock and dairy farms
• 50 Fishery HH

In addition, 15 young agronomists will be learning from the BBB approach and apply it with regards to supporting the case study development.

The Assignment

Location: Gaza Strip with visits to project locations throughout the Gaza strip

Reporting to: Project Manager and DKH Representative of Gaza

Assignment Period: 15 days (of which a minimum of 10 working days in Gaza) with possible follow-up assignment for the next project phases (to be confirmed).

Starting date: mid-September, October

Deliverables

The consultant, together with the PARC project team and under supervision of the DKH Representative of Gaza, and the direct beneficiaries will develop a roadmap for the incorporation of the BBB approach and guide the implementation. The consultant will play an active guiding role to build capacities of the project team, and provide practical solutions that can be tailored to the different agricultural value chains and individual cases. He or she will:

• Provide capacity building trainings for PARC staff and CBO’s regarding the practicalities of the BBB approach which will be used to enhance resilience of the targeted project beneficiaries.
• Develop a roadmap for the implementation of the BBB approach. Including practical examples and project specific recommendations of how the BBB approach will be used during the design and implementation of interventions.
• Conduct short field investigations and interviews with (potential) beneficiaries in order to assess and adapt the BBB solutions. The existing knowledge, solutions and practices among farmers and PARC staff will serve as a foundation to contextualize the BBB approach and select appropriate solutions.
• Facilitate the development of assessment tools for the monitoring and evaluation of project interventions. Tools will be practical and easy to replicate, developed in line with existing monitoring and evaluation practices within PARC. The development of these assessment tools will be done in collaboration with PARC project team, the DKH Representative of Gaza and beneficiaries.
• Based on needs, is available to provide remote follow-up after the delivery of the abovementioned outputs. This may include providing inputs for the mid-term review and evaluation in order to adapt and suggest corrective measures if necessary.

Qualifications of the Consultant

• Postgraduate degree/s in management, social science, environmental sciences and/or agriculture.
• Demonstrated experience in the outlined four agribusinesses sectors of this project - se(greenhouses, poultry farms, dairy and livestock) – as well as fisheries.
• Experienced in disaster preparedness and disaster management.
• Proven experience working with disaster risk reduction (DRR), and BBB tools and techniques (preferred to be related to the agriculture)
• Affiliation with the region is desirable
• Preferred Arabic speaker, fluency in English essential
• Additional condition: willing to travel to the Gaza Strip and able to obtain the necessary permits to access the Gaza Strip to and conduct the task personally