Consultancy Services for Beekeeping Training – International Labour Organization (ILO)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights, pursuing its founding mission that labour peace is essential to prosperity. Today, the ILO helps advance the creation of decent work and the economic and working conditions that give working people and business people a stake in lasting peace, prosperity and progress. Its tripartite structure provides a unique platform for promoting decent work for all women and men. Its main objectives are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.

The International Labour Organization’s Country Office for Zimbabwe delivers on its mandate through development cooperation programmes and research and technical advisory services delivered through the Zimbabwe Decent Work Country Programme (Z/DWCP) which supports the Government of Zimbabwe and its Social Partners (Employers and Workers’ Organizations) in promoting decent work for all. A significant part of its development cooperation portfolio is in the promotion of employment through the promotion of sustainable enterprises. Some of this work is being implemented under the Youth and Women Empowerment Project (E4WAY).

The Youth and Women Empowerment Project is a partnership between the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Government of Zimbabwe and ILO to promote economic empowerment of women and youth in rural areas of Zimbabwe. The project focuses on facilitating the integration of women and youths into local value chains as a pathway for employment creation and improvement of incomes and living standards. The project aims to economically empower youth and women in situations of economic vulnerability through the development of technical and business skills as well as the promotion of enterprise development in horticulture, mopane worm, honey and artisanal gold milling value chains.

The Project uses the “Anchor Enterprise Model” to integrate rural producers into the selected value chains and promote more inclusive business practices. The Anchor Enterprise Model uses the Market Systems Development (MSD) framework to address the dual challenge of post-harvest losses and market information asymmetry affecting rural producers. The MSD approach seeks to identify, address and remove system-level constraints inhibiting the growth of more inclusive markets. Its goal is to tackle underlying causes of market failures and strengthen the participation of the private sector in a way that creates large-scale, lasting benefits for the poor through influencing incentives and capacities of market actors.

Under the model, the project has established medium sized firms as value addition hubs (Anchor Enterprises) that forged forward and backward commercial linkages and strengthened the capacity of the rural producers and other market actors to effectively participate in the operation and governance of the value chains. The Anchor Enterprises are established as profit-orientated private sector companies that are professionally operated. The market actors are integrated into the value chains as co-owners of primary processing (value addition) infrastructure, employees, suppliers of feedstock and providers of business support services thereby creating multiple pathways for the economic empowerment of local communities. In addition, the primary producers are capacitated through technical, business management and financial literacy skills training so that they can effectively engage and negotiate with other market actors and improve their productive capacity. These interventions seek to increase access by youth and women to employment, enterprise development support and income earning opportunities along value chains.

A Rapid Market Assessment conducted by the ILO in 2016 identified the Apiculture value chain as one of the key sectors with potential for growth, employment creation and income earning opportunities for women and youth in Lupane District. Lupane District is home to more than 90,000 people, many who get by through limited cropping and extensive cattle rearing. The area is also home to state-owned indigenous hardwood forests, on which communities depend for fuel and food. Beekeeping has remained one of the most lucrative enterprises despite the several challenges faced by the farmers that include abandonment of beehives; low bee colonization rates, honey theft and recurring droughts. Beekeeping is highly favoured because of the value attached to its products, low upfront costs, low maintenance, environmental conservation, high ecological benefits and does not compete for space with cultivation of crops.

Beekeeping in Lupane District is under developed with the majority beekeepers still using the traditional system of beekeeping. They also lack basic skills on bee management, honey harvesting, processing, and handling. Majority of the beekeepers have no access to extension services and marketing of products and have no training on effective preservation, processing, transportation, management and marketing of bee products.

With this background, ILO is therefore looking to engage an experienced registered consulting firm to train 300 women and youth on modern beekeeping to provide income opportunities and create employment for women and youth.

The general objective of the consultancy is to train and enhance women and youth skill sets in modern beekeeping practices to improve their productivity.

Scope of work

The local consulting firm will be responsible for: Conducting training in beekeeping to three hundred (300) beekeeping farmers in Lupane District. Specifically, the consulting firm will cover the following modules among others -Introduction to beekeeping and its importance, Bee products, uses, processing and marketing, Types of beehives (pros and cons), beehive tools, Making modern beehives making using locally available materials and maintenance, Bee forage and environmental conservation, Apiary sitting and site selection, Life cycle of bees, colonization, and baiting, Management of apiaries, beehives, hive inspection, safety & hygiene, Honey harvesting (& other bee products) and storage, Pests & diseases and their control; Set up three (3) apiaries at selected sites in the district, with each apiary composed of at least 50 baited beehives, small pond and enclosed with a diamond mesh fence and provide modern beekeeping equipment; Supply and distribution of beehives that promote sustainable, natural honey production and forest management and provision of relevant bee-keeping equipment for the apiaries and use during the training; Collaborate with the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation to organize the beekeeping farmers into independent groups to facilitate their registration as Private Business Corporations or Cooperatives; Conduct two follow up visits to check and to help the groups with colonization.

The consulting firm is expected to spend a maximum of forty-five (45) days including preparation of training materials, travel days, training, apiary set and report writing.

Deliverables

Submit an inception report detailing training content and methodology for the training; Share detailed training modules and curriculum; Delivery of beekeeping training to 300 farmer in Lupane District; Three colonized apiaries, each with at least 50 beehives, a small pond and enclosed in a diamond fence; Supply and distribution of 150 sustainable beehives and relevant beekeeping equipment to the three apiaries; A training report detailing the modules covered and an assessment of levels of comprehension of the topics; A database of beekeeping farmers trained.

Minimum Qualifications of the consultant: Education – Suitably qualified Team leader with at least a bachelor’s degree in agriculture/apiculture or related field; Experience – At least 7 years of relevant work experience in enterprise development and apiculture related activities; Experience in facilitating trainings on beekeeping and with knowledge of beekeeping and apiculture in Zimbabwe; Experience on marketing and promotions of beekeeping products.

Competent and possess practical skills in bee handling abilities in all situations, colony reading, Preparation and assessment of honey bee products and Disease diagnosis and knowledge of the correct remedies

Excellent communication and writing skills in English language and Ndebele.

The ILO standard of payment is the output-based lump-sum scheme and payment will be made upon completion of the tasks as agreed at the time of signing of contract. The amount paid shall be inclusive of all associated costs necessary for the delivery of the assignment.

The financial proposal must have adequate breakdown of expenses such as consultancy fees, transport and accommodation costs, training materials costs and apiary set up costs.