AGRA is a not-for-profit organization working with African governments, other donors, NGOs, the private sector, and farmers to improve the productivity and incomes of resource-poor smallholder farmers in Africa. AGRA aims to catalyze an inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa by increasing incomes and improving food security for millions of smallholder farmers in Africa. For more information about AGRA, please visit www.agra.org.

AGRA is a not-for-profit organization working with African governments, development partners, civil society, the private sector, and African farmers to improve the productivity and incomes of resource-poor smallholder farmers significantly and sustainably. AGRA’s overall goal is to catalyze and sustain an inclusive food systems transformation in Africa, increasing incomes and improving food security for at least 30 million smallholder farming households. As part of this work, AGRA partners with African countries in the design of transformational food system centered programs and subsequently supports their financing and implementation. One of the platforms that AGRA uses to promote these programs is the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF).

AGRA facilitates the participation of different countries in AFSF. In 2023, the AFSF Secretariat introduced an innovative model to support countries in structuring and presenting bankable, impactful transformational programs into what are called “Legacy Programs”. The goal of these programs is to present these projects to key players in the global investment and finance landscape with the ultimate objective of securing financing and closing deals. The Legacy Program highlights how specific demand driven prioritized value chains could pilot food system transformation at country level with specific focus given to youth and women empowerment. Its main objective is to support a Food System Transformation that is sustainable, resilient, and inclusive, stimulating sustainable social and economic growth and a radical transformation of production and consumption patterns.

In 2025, Somalia will be among the 7 countries that will pitch their Legacy Programs at the AFSF in Dakar, Senegal. AGRA and the AFSF Secretariat hence made decision in February 2025 to proceed to the design stage of the Somalia Country legacy Program using resources (human and financial) allocated from AGRA and other interested AFSF partners. To this end, AGRA is onboarding a consultant to develop the required market and business case analysis, support the development of the legacy program document and the presentation of the program at the AFSF forum. The section below presents the activities to be done, timelines, including key internal quality review processes up to the presentation of the final pitch to investors at the AFSF forum in Dakar, Senegal.

The overall objective of this consultancy is to contribute to the provision of technical assistance to the Government of Somalia in designing an agriculture legacy programme to be presented at the African Food Systems Forum (AFSF in September, 2024). Specifically, the consultant is expected to:

I. Carry out literature review and collect relevant data from primary and secondary data sources in Somalia

II. Conduct markets systems analysis that informs a complete understanding of how markets in specific value chains operate. This entails identifying market actors and demand projections for target value chains, especially those value chains that are sensitive to the needs of, and appealing to, women and youth SMEs.

III. Conduct a business case analysis that presents the financial, economic and social viability of investment opportunities in prioritized value chains. The business case analysis of the value chains will be based on the prioritized VCs by the AGRA country operation plan

IV. Support the development of the legacy program document, complete narrative as well as presentation and the preparation of investment pitch documents for the AFSF forum.

The goal of this consultancy is to collect, organize and analyze the required information that will serve as the basis of Somalia’s legacy program. The consultant will also develop the necessary economic, market and business case analysis products that will be critical for the development of the legacy program. Moreover, he/she will be expected to contribute to the design of the legacy programme and socialize it with various agri-food systems stakeholders including government institutions, the private sector, civil society and development partners.

The expected outcomes are: i) Successful development of business cases analytics for identified business cases along the prioritized value chains; (ii) estimated number of work opportunities for proposed investments in the identified business cases.

This is a full-time assignment that will be executed in Somalia. The consultant will need to travel within Somalia for collection of the relevant data and other information.

The full execution of the consultancy will take 5 months.

The consultant should have at least 5 years of experience in developing market analysis and business cases in food systems and related sectors. Consultant must have a food understanding of Somalia’s food systems landscape including key institutions, contacts and processes.

iv. Relevant experience in the region

• Consultant should be fluent in the English language

AGRA works to achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa through the promotion of rapid, sustainable agricultural growth based on smallholder farmers. Smallholders--the majority women--produce most of Africa's food, and do so with minimal resources and little government support. AGRA aims to ensure that smallholders have what they need to succeed: good seeds and healthy soils; access to markets, information, financing, storage and transport; and policies that provide them with comprehensive support. Through developing Africa's high-potential breadbasket areas, while also boosting farm productivity across more challenging environments, AGRA works to transform smallholder agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, sustainable and competitive system, and do so while protecting the environment.