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Digital Business National Consultant.

Vacancy Number: UN21/02241

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	04 Jun 2021, 23:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	09 Jun 2021, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	09 Jun 2021, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Reference to the project:	Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations
Expected Duration of Assignment:	50 days
Supporting Documents: None

Background

Organizational Setting

The Covid-19 experience has showed a need for accelerated adoption of digital solutions in various sectors of socio-economic life, with the purpose of maintaining and even improving the pre-pandemic quality of life. The UNDP-led Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Covid-19 revealed that the pandemic restrictions and economic hardships had a negative impact on poor rural farmers and small-scale food producers as they lacked the access to the markets to sell their products. Many companies acting in agri-business reported dramatic decline in sales in the context of the pandemic. Though, only less than 15% admitted that they did take into consideration the alternative of online sales, out of which only 50% used online channels for selling their products. At the same time, 53.8% of the surveyed agri-business companies said they need assistance in their promotion on the domestic market and other 17% said they need assistance with implementation of e-commerce solutions. This might indicate that the companies might not be well aware of the advantages the e-commerce solutions offer in their promotion on domestic market and also in increasing sales, or they need additional knowledge and skills in using IT solutions for commercial purposes.

To support the digitisation of the economy, the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure of Moldova developed the Roadmap for boosting the digitization of the national economy and development of e-commerce, with several priorities for 2020-2021 period, including: promotion of digital services for the business environment, stimulating the use of e-commerce by companies and consumers, promotion of the national and international e-commerce platforms in support of the local business.

USAID Moldova e-commerce review looked into the challenges and opportunities for the development of e-commerce in the country, which found that the majority of the building blocks for the e-commerce ecosystem in Moldova are in place, including the overall infrastructure, logistics, marketing, the regulatory system, financial and payment systems. Nevertheless, continuous improvements and innovations in further development of the ecosystem are still needed, such as the infrastructure (IT and logistics), better financial inclusion, improvement in knowledge and skill of small businesses to take their business online, among others. 

In the abovementioned context, FAO Moldova is looking for the possibility to support local smallholder farmers to enhance their access to markets and increase their sales through the adoption of digital tools and technologies. For this purpose, a study will be developed to assess the feasibility of developing and deploying an online platform to support farmers (including returned migrant workers and/or their dependents involved in agri-business) to market their products, increase their presence and visibility at home and abroad. The study also aims to identify the most optimal platform options to be of greater support in the current context, the service lines of such a platform and how it can ensure the best of support to the target group.

For this assignment, FAO Moldova is seeking to contract a Digital Business Consultant, with expertise in the areas of business development, e-commerce, digital supply chain management, and preferably UX. He/she will lead the analytical process and be responsible for the final consultancy output, which will include the contribution of the Agri-market Consultant and the consulted (interviewed) stakeholders. The Digital Business Consultant will coordinate the contribution of the Agri-market Consultant to the whole assignment.

The Agri-market Consultant, with knowledge and expertise in areas of agriculture and agri-markets, agri-business development, agri-food value chains, rural economic development, will be contracted for a duration of 25 working days to support the development of the feasibility study with area expertise and contribution. 

Objective:

The Consultant will undertake a feasibility study on the development and implementation of an online platform aiming to increase the access to markets of rural smallholder agri-businesses, as well as facilitate sales, with focus on supporting returned migrant workers and/or their dependents at home in generating additional income from their agricultural activities.

The feasibility study should cover, but not be limited to, the following aspects:

• Define the legal, economic, financial, cultural and operational environment from the perspective of implementation of digital platforms in the agri-food sector. Opportunities and challenges. Enabling factors.
• Map existent solutions, highlighting the challenges, lessons learned and possibilities for scaling up. Existing barriers to adopting current platforms.
• Define the needs, preferences and behaviour of the potential end-users, mainly returning migrants with agri-business at home.
• Conceptualise the feasible option for a prospective platform, based on examining a variety of possible options in terms of business models, functionalities, agricultural product range, customers, implementers, facilitators, IT infrastructure. The examined options shall be reflected in the study.
• Define the services the platform needs to cover and prioritise their integration into the platform. Consider the different added value services, such as logistics, product traceability, forecasting, legal support, accounting, insurance, secure payments, quality standards and quality controls, other.
• Propose several options for platform implementation and sustainability models. The main actors and responsibilities. Financing options. Enabling partnerships.
• Anticipated risks and mitigation measures. Assumptions and testing plan.
• Implementation work plan and costings. Needed resources and skillset.
• Matrix to evaluate results. Propose scale-up options.
• Define the pre-conditions for the proposed platform to function and develop a portfolio of actions needed to facilitate platform adoption and sustainability.

Tasks and responsibilities of the consultant/s:

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Technical Focal Point for Migration (ESP), the direct supervision of the Assistant FAOR for Moldova, the technical guidance of the National Project Coordinator and the Rural Migration Consultant (ESP),  the  consultant will be responsible for the delivery of the feasibility study, with the following main major responsibilities:

1. Develop the study methodology, the outline and work plan including the required instruments (such as interviews, workshops, focus groups, site visits, etc.) in order to deliver the study and meet its objective.
2. Undertake necessary research and data collection, as well as organize consultations and interviews with the relevant stakeholders for the purpose of the study;
3. Prepare the draft feasibility study and present its findings and recommendations to the main counterparts. Incorporate the collected feedback into the final version of the study.
4. Prepare recommendations for the portfolio of short and mid-term interventions aiming to support the overall operation and sustainability of the platform, to include activities on the preparatory phase, support in the implementation, as well as scale up. Activities could cover programmatic, communication/visibility and training needs, as well as areas of work for FAO Moldova, but also through building and developing existent and/or new partnerships.
5. Other: contribute with technical inputs, in an effort of up to 5 working days, to the development methodological tools (questionnaires, focus group and in-depth interview guides) for the study on assessing the digital skills of returned Moldovan migrant workers and their household family members from rural areas, engaged in agriculture, to market agricultural products online, which will be run in parallel to the feasibility study.