Detailed description of project Back
Agriculture remains the backbone of Fiji’s economy, providing food security, income and employment. The overall agriculture sector, which is composed of sugar and non-sugar crops and livestock, contributes approximately to 8.2% of GDP and around 28% to total employment. Indirectly the sector involves many more people: 83.7% of the rural population are engaged into agriculture and/or fisheries.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has designed its Strategic Development Plan 2019–2023 (SDP) which was launched in August 2019. The SDP aims to achieve ‘sustainable and inclusive growth in a modern agriculture sector’ by focusing on five strategic areas: (1) Improve food and nutrition security for all Fijians; (2) Increase farmer household income for sustainable livelihoods; (3) Improve the adoption of sustainable resource management and climate smart agriculture; (4) Establish and improve commercial agriculture; and (5) Improve quality public sector performance and service delivery.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to poverty eradication and to enhance rural livelihoods, environmental sustainability and food and nutrition security for all Fijians.
The purpose of this contract is to support the Government of Fiji for the implementation of the Strategic Development Plan of the Ministry of Agriculture and related policies in order to facilitate an effective transition to a sustainable and more diversified agriculture sector and to develop a market driven and environmental friendly agriculture.
Results to be achieved include:
- Result 1: Strengthened institutional capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and relevant authorities;
- Result 2: Improved existing systems and practices used by the Ministry of Agriculture and relevant authorities for planning, budgeting/resource allocation, implementation of sectoral and sub-sectoral policies and reporting;
- Result 3: The impact of the SDP’s implementation is monitored and assessed, including through an improved statistical and data analysis system;
- Result 4: Relevant reforms and policies are implemented. An enabling environment for the farmers and the actors involved in agriculture is created thanks to an improved provision of support services to the agriculture sector;
- Result 5: Adequate communication and visibility of EU support.
Type of services provided
Result 1
- Support the MoA in the restructuring process and facilitate change management and alignment with policy agenda;
- Support the MoA to identify the skills set needed for specific positions from the restructure;
- Support HR development based on needs assessment;
- Promote and contribute to evidence-based decision making (policy, legislation, etc);
- Support the development, implementation and monitoring of Annual Costed Operational Plans aligned with the SDP, NDP and government priorities;
- Support the MoA in the mid-term review of the SDP;
- Support the design of a Communication Strategy;
- Support the Government to ensure adequate coordination in the sector, including intra ministerial, inter-ministerial, with development partners and with other stakeholders;
- Contribute to the timely and adequate preparation of EU budget support disbursement request (including supporting documents, MoA reports).
Result 2
- Review existing strategic processes and practices used by the MoA in a participatory manner and make recommendations accordingly;
- Facilitate the implementation of agreed and prioritized recommendations;
- Support the MoA to improve the Information Management System and practices between HQ, division, provincial and local level;
- Contribute to improving MoA communication with relevant institutions, organisations and farmers.
Result 3
- Support the further development of a rigorous and sustainable M&E system and framework to assess the implementation and impact of SDP and relevant policies;
- Contribute to the training and awareness of all stakeholders and implementers of the M&E framework and promote regular feedback of users;
- Contribute to the analyse the information gathered within the M&E framework, draft analytical notes, feed reports into decision-making processes and ensure all actions are followed through and their impact monitored;
- Facilitate the analysis and review of the statistical system in agriculture, and provide ad hoc support where necessary;
- On request facilitate the undertaking of targeted surveys to measure the results and potential impact of specific aspects of implementation of the SDP e.g. actions related to women/social exclusion, environment/climate change and youths assisted in commercial agriculture;
- Contribute to improving reporting and adequate communication of results. A specific focus should be given to the quarterly and annual report of MoA. Contribute to ensuring a periodic joint review of results and indicators.
Result 4
- Provide capacity building and technical support to Government staff to promote value chains – including but not exclusively sub-sector analysis, research capacity, market knowledge and agri-business development;
- Provide technical support to the Government to improve the provision of services to the farmers and increase value for money;
- Assist the Government by facilitating the development of a robust 10 Year Agriculture Policy and setting the vision for the agriculture sector in Fiji;
- Undertake gap analysis/mapping exercise to review current agricultural programmes and incentives of the Ministry of Agriculture and provide recommendations that would be in-line with the new Agriculture Policy;
- Provision of technical support to facilitate the implementation of reforms and policies.
Result 5
- Assist the national authorities in the design and implementation of a Communication and Visibility Plan in line with the “Communication and Visibility Requirements for EU-financed external actions”.
Main staff provided:
- Team leader (385 w/d);
- M&E and Statistic Expert (365 w/d);
- Agriculture Value Chain Expert (365 w/d);
- Pool NKE (986 w/d).
