FFS Implementation, Gender Mainstreaming & Knowledge Exchange

Description

The objective of the project is to facilitate direct access to information about social, economic and agricultural issues in order to strengthen the position of men and women in Fayoum. The FFS- Farmer Field School approach as introduced in the Fayoum in the nineties is a group-based learning approach. FFS need to become more community driven with the support of local community leaders and of Community Development Associations (CDA) and/or Water Users Organizations (WUO) where these exist. The project aims to achieve independent effective village based FFS groups, being coherent and sustainable groups that can be the focal point for community based follow-up activities after completion of the FFS training, encouraging self-responsibility for learning.

The respective work programme will target to achieve four main purposes:

• Develop and implement ‘broad context’ Farmer Field Schools (FFS) at the governorate level.
• Develop an informed strategy for mainstreaming gender in the institutional set-up and activities of the project.
• Advocate for the adoption of the participatory FFS approach in more governorates.
• Develop at farmers’ level a sustained system of information flow for all topics affecting their
  livelihood.

Services

Provision of consultancy team comprising both long term and short term expertise to fulfil the following tasks:

Gender Mainstreaming

• Advise the Team Leader in all aspects related to gender, gender mainstreaming and gender sensitizing;
• Contribute to designing and implementing a Gender Strategy for the FFFS project;
• Design activities related to gender mainstreaming and human development on the basis of the existing log frame together
  with the short term gender consultant and the Team Leader;
• Design mechanisms to facilitate equal participation of women at farmer, facilitator and staff level;
• Coordinate the gender related activities at field, district and Fayoum city level;
• Participate in the design and implementation of a needs assessment, especially for the gender related issues;
• Design and conduct gender related courses and workshops for all stakeholders;
• Support the Monitoring and Evaluation department in design and use of gender sensitive indicators and collection of sex dis-aggregated data;
• Design and monitor basic and refreshment training on gender components in the FFFS program for Facilitators.
• Review and update gender analyses;
• Design, implement and monitor a program for raising gender awareness with the Fayoum Agricultural Directorate and the Ministry of Agriculture
• Collect case studies on gender and women’s empowerment;
• Report on gender related activities to the international Team Leader for incorporation into the 6 monthly Progress Reports;
• Provide support and gender related methodology for associations or grass roots organizations to be established by farmer participants after closure of the Farmer Field School;
• Liaise with gender related organizations in Fayoum and Cairo;
• Ensure a gender friendly environment in the Fayoum and district offices;

Strategy Development

• Study previous gender analyses and data for the Fayoum and update these with new information and insights to refine the Gender approach for the FFS Project
• Use the above for the mainstreaming of gender at institutional, policy and strategic level
• Assist into the design and update the data base for Monitoring and Evaluation to become gender sensitive
• In cooperation with the national consultant on Gender and Training, discuss the gender related bottlenecks for project progress with the relevant parties and look for possible options for improvement
• Build up Strategic alliances with other organizations
• Contribute to the promotion of successes in the field of gender mainstreaming and the way obstacles are encountered.
• Contribute to the Inception report on the above mentioned subjects at request

Marketing and Communication

• Advise the Team Leader in all aspects related to marketing, information, communication and public relations;
• Design a strategy and tools for information dissemination in general in regular newsletters, a website or other forms of information carriers;
• Design and disseminate messages and promotion materials with regard to Farmer Field Schools and gender to various audiences;
• Create methodology to enhance access to information flow on economic, social, agricultural and environmental issues for farmer participant;
• Create, expand, update and monitor information data bases in coordination with Fayoum Agricultural Directorate (FAD) Information Center for facilitators, cooperatives and other stakeholders;
• Build the capacity of FAD to expand and monitor the information data bases in the Information Center on a continuous basis and improve the system of collecting, storing and disseminating of information to the farmers;
• Contribute to the design of education materials to be used in the Farmer Field Schools as per request and need of the farmer participants;
• Design a strategy to enhance emphasis on marketing in the program of Farmer Field Schools;
• Liaise with organizations, currently working in Fayoum on marketing and food processing together with small farmers;
• Design and implement and introductory program to incorporate into Farmer Field Schools’ curriculum to encourage
  participants in this field;
• Research the possibility for farmers to create demand driven organization in the field of marketing and actively support those;
• Map out the existing organizations, rules and regulations with regard to marketing organizations and design a program to raise awareness and enhance access for the farmer participants;

Finance and administration

• Support the team leader in all administrative tasks, including preparing TOR’s and job description for all supporting staff, supervising logistics, and other related tasks.
• Support the team leader in all financial tasks; including preparing financial reports, procurement, equipment and vehicles maintenance, etc.