05 Solicitation 95332424Q0005.pdf

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

OFFEROR TO COMPLETE BLOCKS 12, 17, 23, 24, & 30

1. REQUISITION NUMBER PAGE 1 OF

2. CONTRACT NO. 3. AWARD/EFFECTIVE

DATE

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DATE

7. FOR SOLICITATION

INFORMATION CALL:

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13b. RATING

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18b. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN BLOCK 18a UNLESS BLOCK

BELOW IS CHECKED

RFQ IFB RFP

SEE ADDENDUM

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

(Use Reverse and/or Attach Additional Sheets as Necessary)

25. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA 26. TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT (For Govt. Use Only)

28. CONTRACTOR IS REQUIRED TO SIGN THIS DOCUMENT AND RETURN

DELIVER ALL ITEMS SET FORTH OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFIED ABOVE AND ON ANY

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29. AWARD OF CONTRACT: REF.

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OFFER

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RATED ORDER UNDER

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8 (A)

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95332424Q0005

05/31/24 02:00 PM

541990

See Schedule

See Schedule

953324

953324

See Schedule

MCC-HQ

Millennium Challenge Corporation, Contracts and Grants Management Division, 1099 Fourteenth St NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC, 20005-3550, US

IBC-FIN

Interior Business Center, M/S D-2773, 7301 West Mansfield Avenue Lakewood, CO, 80235-2230, US

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 3/2005) BACK

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

32a. QUANTITY IN COLUMN 21 HAS BEEN

RECEIVED INSPECTED ACCEPTED, AND CONFORMS TO THE CONTRACT, EXCEPT AS NOTED:

41a. I CERTIFY THIS ACCOUNT IS CORRECT AND PROPER FOR PAYMENT

32b. SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

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41b. SIGNATURE AND TITLE OF CERTIFYING OFFICER 41c. DATE

42a. RECEIVED BY (Print)

42b. RECEIVED AT (Location)

42c. DATE REC'D (YY/MM/DD) 42d. TOTAL CONTAINERS

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32d. PRINTED NAME AND TITLE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32e. MAILING ADDRESS OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE 32f. TELPHONE NUMBER OF AUTHORZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

32g. E-MAIL OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

33. SHIP NUMBER 34. VOUCHER NUMBER 35. AMOUNT VERIFIED

CORRECT FOR

PARTIAL FINAL

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38. S/R ACCOUNT NO. 39. S/R VOUCHER NUMBER

36. PAYMENT

COMPLETE PARTIAL FINAL

See Schedule

95332424Q0005

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Listing of Incorporated Purchase Requisitions Section B - Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs Section C - Description/Specifications/Work Statement Section D - Packaging and Marking Section E - Inspection and Acceptance Terms Section F - Delivery or Performance Section G - Contract Administration Data Section H - Special Contract Requirements Section I - Contract Clauses Section J - List of Documents, Exhibits, and other Attachments Section K - Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors Section L - Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors Section M - Evaluation Factors for Award

Listing of Incorporated Purchase Requisitions

Incorporated Purchase Requisition Numbers:

Section B - Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs

Item Number Base Item Number

Supplies/Services Quantity Unit

0001 Base 1 LT Contract Type:Time and Materials

Unit Price Other Direct Costs

Extended Price

Description:

BASE PERIOD

LABOR AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Purchase Requisitions

IDC Type: Not Applicable FSC Codes: R499 SUPPORT- PROFESSIONAL: OTHER NAICS Code: 541990 All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical S...

Supplies/Services Quantity Unit

1001 Option Period 1 1 LT Contract Type:Time and Materials

Unit Price Other Direct Costs

Extended Price

Description:

OPTION PERIOD ONE

LABOR AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Purchase Requisitions

Option: 1 Option Time Date: 7/8/25 Option Time Duration: 364 Option Time Units: Days IDC Type: Not Applicable

Supplies/Services Quantity Unit

2001 Option Period 2 1 LT Contract Type:Time and Materials

Unit Price Other Direct Costs

Extended Price

Description:

OPTION PERIOD TWO

LABOR AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Purchase Requisitions

Option: 2 Option Time Date: 7/8/26 Option Time Duration: 364 Option Time Units: Days IDC Type: Not Applicable

Supplies/Services Quantity Unit

3001 Option Period 3 1 LT Contract Type:Time and Materials

Unit Price Other Direct Costs

Extended Price

Description:

OPTION PERIOD THREE

LABOR AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Purchase Requisitions

Option: 3 Option Time Date: 7/8/27 Option Time Duration: 365 Option Time Units: Days IDC Type: Not Applicable

Supplies/Services Quantity Unit

4001 Option Period 4 1 LT Contract Type:Time and Materials

Unit Price Other Direct Costs

Extended Price

Description:

OPTION PERIOD FOUR

LABOR AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Purchase Requisitions

Option: 4 Option Time Date: 7/8/28 Option Time Duration: 364 Option Time Units: Days IDC Type: Not Applicable

Clauses incorporated by reference

None

Clauses incorporated by full text

SECTION B

B.1 SERVICES TO BE PROVDED

The Millennium Challenge Corporation requires a contactor to provide support to the GSI practice group in all aspects of compact preparation for implementation and implementation oversight related to Gender and Social inclusion in the Lesotho II compact, Market Driven Irrigation Horticulture (MDIH) and Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA) projects.

The Contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform the tasks as defined in Section C of the Statement of Work.

B.2 CONTRACT TYPE

MCC anticipates awarding a time and material type contract.

B.3 LABOR CATEGORIES, RATES, ESTIMATED LEVEL OF EFFORT AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

LABOR CATEGORY HOURLY

LABOR

RATE

BASE

PERIOD

HOURLY

LABOR

RATE

OPTION

PERIOD ONE

HOURLY

LABOR

RATE

OPTION

PERIOD

TWO

HOURLY

LABOR

RATE

OPTION

PERIOD

THREE

HOURLY

LABOR

RATE

OPTION

PERIOD

FOUR

Team Lead Level III

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III

(Agriculture and Irrigation)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III

(Entrepreneurship)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III

(Land)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III

(Organizational Development)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III (Agriculture and Gender

Transformative Approaches)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III

(Monitoring and Evaluation)

Research Assistant/Research Analyst II

ESTIMATED TOTAL HOURS BY PERIOD

MCC anticipates the level of effort for each period below. Quoters may offer different estimated hours based upon their technical approach and understanding of the requirement.

Labor Category Estimated Hours

Estimated Hours

Estimated Hours

Estimated Hours

Estimated Hours

Base Period Option Period One

Option Period Two

Option Period Three

Option Period Four

TOTAL

Team Lead Level III

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III (Agriculture and Irrigation)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III (Entrepreneurship)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III (Land)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III (Organizational Development)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III (Agriculture and Gender Transformative Approaches)

Social Scientist/ Technical expert/Sector Expert III

(Monitoring and Evaluation)

Research Assistant/Research Analyst II

Total Estimated Level of Effort in Hours

1,120 1,180 1,184 1,216 1,216

5,916

ESTIMATED OTHER DIRECT COSTS - TRAVEL BY PERIOD

(This not to exceed amount includes airfare, per diem, lodging, report printing, enroute expenses)

TOTAL LABOR AND OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Total Labor Other Direct Costs - Travel

Additional Other Direct Costs (non-travel)

Total by Period

BASE PERIOD $34,725

PERIOD ONE $35,025

PERIOD TWO $33,625

PERIOD THREE $27,425

PERIOD FOUR $28,175

GRAND TOTAL $158,975

Section C - Description/Specifications/Work Statement

SECTION C

STATEMENT OF WORK

Gender and Social Inclusion in Lesotho Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture and Business Environment and Technical Assistance Projects

BACKGROUND

The mandate of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is to achieve poverty reduction through economic growth in partner countries. MCC achieves this by making an investment through a Compact or Threshold program that is designed to release a binding constraint to growth in a particular country. In December of each year, MCC's Board of Directors selects lower income and lower-middle income countries eligible for MCC assistance by assessing individual country commitment to ruling justly, investing in people, and economic freedom using policy indicators compiled into country scorecards. MCC uses public, third-party, governance data for the indicators on the country scorecards. Selected countries are then notified of their eligibility and a process is established to conduct diagnostics for program development.

In July 2007, MCC signed a USD 362.5 million Compact with the Government of Lesotho (GoL), 'Compact 1," designed to increase private economic growth and reduce poverty. The Compact funded work with other international donors on one of the largest infrastructure improvement projects in Lesotho's history, the Metolong Dam, as well as work with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to mitigate the negative economic impacts of gender inequality, poor maternal health, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other diseases. The five-year Compact closed in September 2013. Having successfully completed the first compact, Lesotho was selected to develop a second compact in December 2017 after first becoming eligible in December 2013. The GoL identified the Lesotho Millennium Development Agency (LMDA) as the government agency that would lead the Compact development process in partnership with MCC. 'Compact 2,' also known as the Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact, was signed in May 2022.

Poverty and Inequality in Lesotho

Lesotho is a mountainous, landlocked country surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho has a population of 2.01 million people, 49.7% of whom live below the poverty line, with poverty more highly concentrated among female-headed households, as well as among the less educated, the unemployed, and those living in large families. This poverty exists alongside very high-income inequality and a growing rural urban income divide (World Bank 2019). The unemployment rate for women is 30% compared to 26% for men (World Bank 2016). Females constitute 51.1% of the entire population, while males represent 48.9%. Lesotho's population is relatively young, with 39.6% of the population between the ages of 15 and 35. Youth unemployment is also high—at 24%, with female youth unemployed at much higher rates than male youth. The two districts within which potential irrigation sites are located have high poverty and unemployment rates (HBS, 2019).

Lesotho's economy is based primarily on textiles and apparel exports (40%) diamonds (30%), wool and mohair, and water exports. The country has also begun to expand its export base with a focus on agribusiness. Some export products include fresh fruits, dried fruits, dried rosehip, trout, and indigenous plants for pharmaceutical purposes. Between 1980 and 2017, real GDP growth averaged approximately 3.8%. Despite the steady growth of the economy, however, there has been little poverty reduction. This stems from several factors, including geography, political instability, gender discrimination, and an underdeveloped private sector that is predominantly made up of small and medium-sized enterprises (FinMark Trust, 2016).

While women enjoy better health and education then men, are well represented among government workers, and have been the target beneficiaries of recent legislation on gender equality, they remain structurally disadvantaged within Lesotho's political economy. Low female representation in decision-making bodies and a lack of will, knowledge or capacity among historical institutions associated with the system, bolstered by discriminatory social norms, have resulted in systematic disadvantages for women. This is expressed in laws and institutional barriers that limit women's access to economic assets, including immovable property rights, in addition to a general neglect of gender issues in Lesotho's national development strategy and by government ministries that address economic development. As a result, women's ability to exercise their entrepreneurial talent and take advantage of other economic opportunities is more limited, stifling private sector growth. While the Constitution enshrines non-discrimination on the basis of sex, it also recognizes customary law which continues to dominate in rural areas. This has left women with highly insecure property rights.

As of 2022, the female unemployment rate in Lesotho is around 20%, which is four percentage points higher than the male unemployment rate (ILO, 2023). According to the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, Lesotho ranked 87th out of 145 countries in terms of gender equality, with a score of 0.700 out of 1.000. The two indices where it scores poorly in terms of gender equality are economic participation and political empowerment. The report also recorded a

15.27 percentage point gender gap between the labor force participation of females (56.07%) and males (71.34%) in Lesotho.

(WEF, 2022). Women in Lesotho make up around 70% of the agricultural labor force, but have limited access to land, credit, and agricultural inputs as they are often involved in unpaid, subsistence-level agriculture, rather than cash crop production.

(FAO, 2019)

The Lesotho II Compact

In 2018 the MCC and the GoL carried out a constraints analysis in Lesotho to identify the binding constraints to economic growth and followed this with an assessment of the "root causes" of the constraints. The overarching constraint is ineffective policy planning, coordination, and execution. This constraint is characterized by the Government's ineffectiveness in delivering the public goods and services necessary to create private-sector led, poverty-reducing growth in Lesotho.

The Compact is comprised of three projects designed to combat constraints to economic growth by either strengthening private sector participation, with a focus on smallholders and MSMEs, and/or by improving government coordination, capacity, and execution. Specifically, the proposed Lesotho II Compact, valued at $322.5 million, seeks to ensure greater access to quality healthcare, to create equitable business development opportunities that include women- and youth-owned enterprises, and to support investments in high-value crop production to boost profits and formal employment. The Compact also aims to address some of the unique challenges faced by women and youth in Lesotho by providing better legal protections in land tenure; better access to finance, skills training, and business development opportunities; and, strengthened gender-based violence (GBV) response in the health system. More detail on the compact is provided in Annex 1. The three main projects are:

• Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA) Project

The BETA Project plans to increase profits for high-growth potential firms, including enterprises owned by women and youth and firms in rural areas. This Project will work across key productive sectors like agriculture, creative industries, manufacturing, and tourism to support the growth of existing and new firms through technical assistance, business development services and linkages to financing opportunities. Grant funding will be available for select women- and youth-owned businesses to purchase equipment, goods, and facilitate business plan implementation.

• Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Project

The HSS Project will work with the Ministry of Health to improve district primary healthcare services and standards of care, including services for GBV survivors, improve healthcare financial and management systems, and modernize health data systems. The Project is expected to improve health outcomes, especially maternal and child health, and enhance efficiency and increase cost savings. The Project is also expected to support the sustainability of PEPFAR's hard-fought achievement in reaching HIV/AIDS epidemic control.

• Market Driven Irrigation Horticulture (MDIH) Project

The MDIH Project aims to increase rural incomes through commercial irrigated horticulture, including for women, youth, and the rural poor, and to establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management. It will invest in climate-smart irrigation infrastructure and attract commercial farmers to collaborate with local smallholder farmers to produce high-value crops and build strong value chains. The MDIH Project will also support government reforms and capacity improvements to sustain inclusive and sustainable growth of the horticulture sector.

The Market Driven Irrigation Horticulture (MDIH) Project.

This consultancy will be focused primarily on the MDIH Project, so more detail is provided here:

The MCC's due diligence focused on the horticulture sector because of its competitive potential, the presence of a strong local market within Lesotho as well as export potential, and the sector's capacity to reduce poverty by generating economic growth and quality employment.

The objectives of the MDIH Project ("the Project") are thus to increase rural incomes related to commercial horticulture, including for women, youth, and the rural poor, and to establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management.

The Project is dependent upon the identification of one or more commercial anchor farmers who will collaborate with local smallholder farmers to improve and sustain best practices in horticulture and to provide a financially viable path for all Project stakeholders to remain active in horticulture production after the end of the Compact. One of the Conditions Precedent in the Compact requires that MCA-Lesotho II identifies commercial investors (e.g., anchor farmers) willing to invest in the irrigation scheme prior to the start of construction of the irrigation infrastructure in any irrigation scheme. This Condition Precedent has led MCA-Lesotho and MCC to agree to sequence the work in each irrigation scheme-based on demand from an anchor farmer(s) or other commercial investors that meet the condition. To date, expressed interest among investors has been robust.

The objective of these investments is to encourage private sector engagement and growth in development of the horticulture sector at selected sites in order to:

• Provide higher incomes, formal and informal employment, and new business opportunities for local farmers, both men and women, and including youth/young adults.

• Encourage additional investment by farmers and the private sector in development of new horticultural operations.

This will support businesses up and down the value chain from inputs to the farm, along ICC, and to markets.

• Enhance the results of priority horticulture and irrigation initiatives –including productivity, sustainability, and equity—through improved policy, planning and coordination.

• Reduce soil erosion and ensure the sustainability of the water supplies needed for irrigation.

• Catalyse the renewal of Lesotho's horticulture sector to enable it to sell domestically or potentially to export to

South Africa and beyond.

The MDIH Project is composed of three activities, namely: the Institutional Reforms Activity, Irrigated Horticulture Support Services and the Irrigation Infrastructure Development Activity. This contract will complete certain activities that are part of the Institutional Reforms and the Irrigated Horticulture Support Services Activities.

Institutional Reforms Activity

The MDIH Project aims to ensure that strong legal and policy frameworks are in place in Lesotho to support the growth of irrigation throughout the country in an equitable and sustainable way. It intends to achieve this goal by improving the capacity of Government and other institutions to deliver and sustain the services necessary for inclusive growth in irrigated horticulture.

The Project includes three reform sub-activities in Land, Water, and Inclusive Service Delivery.

• Rural Land Registration Reform Sub-Activity will support interventions aimed at improving Lesotho's rural land registration system so that rural land market participants, including holders of irrigated land, can obtain registered land leases in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

• Irrigation and Water Reform Sub-Activity provides reforms in the laws, policies, and regulations governing Lesotho's irrigation and water sectors and the institutions that oversee, administer, and implement them.

• Capacity Support for Inclusive Horticulture Services Sub-Activity targets the structurally disadvantaged populations of women, youth, and the poor with the goal of including them in the emerging high-value horticulture sector.

Irrigated Horticulture Support Services

The Irrigated Horticulture Support Services Activity is comprised of three sub-activities that support development of a sustainable, market-driven commercial irrigated horticulture sector in Lesotho, characterized by gender and social equity and empowered smallholder farmers.

• The Land Rights Formalization Sub-Activity is intended to work in tandem with the Rural Land Registration sub-activity under the Institutional Reform Activity. The aim of the Land Rights Formalization Sub-Activity is to support landholders within the planned scheme perimeters in securing documented land rights through land leases, the strongest form of landholding in Lesotho. Documenting women's rights and those of vulnerable groups is a high priority. This will be accomplished through technical assistance and support to Community Councils and the relevant government entity to identify landholders, confirm land rights, facilitate land dispute resolution, conduct land use planning, support landholders to decide how they want to use irrigated land parcels, and issue registered leases for each irrigated parcel in the names of the landholders.

• The Scheme Management and Capacity Building Sub-Activity will support the design and establishment of the governance structures necessary to successfully manage, operate, and maintain the irrigation schemes, including farmers' associations, water users' associations, and scheme governance boards. It will also design and implement the training and capacity building required by smallholders and establish on-site support teams. Home gardens and other food security strengthening support are also included in this sub-activity. Social and behavior change and household-based gender-transformative methodologies will be used across all tasks under this sub-activity, including to mitigate risks for women, such as increased violence due to enhanced economic empowerment.

• The Financial Assistance Program Sub-Activity is intended to lower the immediate- and short-term barriers to participation in irrigated horticulture for smallholder farmers and small- to medium-sized commercial entities (e.g., costs of mechanized equipment, recurrent costs for inputs, maintenance or repair of equipment, cost of pre-cooling for produce, on-farm connections to main irrigation systems, etc.).

Irrigation Infrastructure Development Activity

MCC Funding will be used to construct and develop up to 1,580 hectares of irrigated land at several sites. Feasibility and design work completed prior to Entry Into Force (EIF) of the Compact included the AECOM Feasibility Study (2022) to refine the size and location of the irrigation perimeters and to identify measures for environmental and social sustainability.

Project Sites and Components

As part of a Feasibility Study of potential investments in the Irrigation Infrastructure Development Activity, four sites were identified, which include three in the north (Tsoili-Tsoili, Manka, Likhakeng) and one in the south, Phamong. The sites amount to a gross area of 8,600 ha, within which viable irrigation schemes were identified. After feasibility studies, the recommended net area of all four schemes was reduced to approximately 1,580 ha. The project description in Annex 1 shows the size (in hectares) and the estimated number of land holders in each scheme.

Gender and Social Inclusion in the Market-Driven Irrigated Horticulture Project

The Gender and Social Inclusion work under the Institutional Reform activity includes the following:

• Policy and institutional reform and capacity building, at the local level and national level, to strengthen women's land rights and strengthen protections for poor and less powerful rural smallholders in land sales and purchases.

• Policy and institutional reforms to address gender and inclusion in water and irrigation policy.

• Institutional reforms and capacity strengthening to enable the Ministry of Water and Ministry of Agriculture and

Food Security to better support women, youth, and small horticulture producers and value chain businesses.

• Support the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Social Development (MGYSD) to fulfil its mandate as the government's technical advisor on gender equality programming, by enhancing their ability to act as technical advisors to other government entities (especially, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition) on gender and youth mainstreaming in Compact activities.

The Gender and Social Inclusion work under the Integrated Horticulture Support Services Activity includes the following:

• Systematic identification and registration of women's legal land rights and the provision of protections for women and other vulnerable landholders in rural land registration activities.

• Facilitation of community/smallholder partnerships with private sector anchor farmers, which are commercially sustainable, include favorable contractual terms for smallholders, and enable economic empowerment.

• Technical assistance/capacity building for smallholders in irrigated horticulture production, post-harvest handling (PHH) and integrated cold chain (ICC) management, and marketing.

• Promotion of opportunities for women, youth, smallholders, and their communities as a core objective. Recent farming schemes involving foreign investment in Lesotho have demonstrated the vulnerability of communities to poor terms and unfavourable contracts. The project places substantial emphasis on developing a model involving large farmer investors, smallholders and communities that will ensure project viability and sustainability, while also ensuring good contractual terms and maximizing opportunity for smallholders, including women and youth/young adults, and surrounding communities, whether through direct farming contracts, employment provision, or through land leasing or equity arrangements. Methods to facilitate the above means of beneficiary inclusion will occur through consultations, community organization, use of a transaction advisor to negotiate fair, viable and sustainable contracts with anchor farmers, and extensive training and capacity building for smallholders. The model will seek to empower communities and smallholders both in terms of decision making as well as economic advancement. The anchor investor model has been favoured in part to enable sustainable markets and capacity for smallholders.

• Training, capacity strengthening, and behaviour change work to address the particular conditions and needs of women, youth and smallholders, as well as the social dimensions of transitioning from subsistence to commercial agriculture. This will include use of household-based transformational methodologies such as the Gender Action Learning System, which has demonstrated significant impacts on changing gender norms, increasing women's roles in commercial agriculture, and enhancing household incomes.

• The provision of grants and tailored financial products to support in-field irrigation systems and agricultural inputs, for an initial period before profits are available for reinvestment. These grants and financial products should be designed to meet the specific needs of, and be made available to, women, youth and vulnerable members of the community who are eligible by virtue of their participation in irrigation schemes.

• Protection for women and other vulnerable groups from Trafficking in Persons, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, and Gender-Based Violence.

The main implementation contracts for which this consultancy will provide oversight support, are included in Annex 2.

The Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA) project

While most of the time of this consultancy will be on supporting the MDIH Project, support for BETA will be added in the latter part of 2025.

The BETA project is a private sector focused activity that seeks to address obstacles faced by entrepreneurs and MSMEs in Lesotho, hindering development and investment in the private sector. The project has identified insufficient and inequitable provision of public goods and services, coupled with a weak policy environment and institutionalized gender discrimination, as core issues for the private sector. The objective of the BETA Project is to stimulate an increase in firm level profits and employment from a pipeline of firms supported by the Project, including MSME's, and those owned by women and youth, and firms in rural areas.

The Project has three (3) Activities: (i) Pipeline Development; (ii) Business Ecosystem Strengthening; and (iii) Financial Ecosystem Strengthening. The Pipeline Development Activity will work on identifying new and existing and high potential enterprises to support through direct technical assistance (TA) and business development services (BDS) to improve their profitability and move towards business maturation stage. Of beneficiary firms, 50 are anticipated to be medium and large firms eligible for individualized TA and BDS, including support to implement Gender Smart Business Solutions, and 500 micro, small and medium firms eligible for group TA. The activity will be explicitly designed to meet the needs and facilitate the participation of women, youth and resource-poor farmers; it will complement TA and BDS with investment facilitation and possible grant assistance and will provide capacity building support for local BDS providers. MDIH Anchor farmers and horticulture value chain firms will be prioritized for support, such as cold chain operators and agro-processors.

The second BETA Activity is Business Ecosystem Strengthening, which is aimed at increasing private sector participation in public sector decision-making to improve the delivery of public goods and services. The Activity will support the establishment of a Public Private Dialogue (PPD) platform and support for technical working groups, including one on Gender and Social Inclusion, to address inequalities that women, youth, and rural communities face in getting a foothold in private sector development. The Activity will also aim to increase connectivity to strengthen the business ecosystem nationally.

Furthermore, the project will support the strengthening of standards and quality assurance mechanisms, to establish quality assurance of horticulture products for domestic and export markets.

Finally, the BETA project's third Activity, Financial Ecosystem Strengthening, will support financial institutions to structure financial instruments to address the financing needs of different sized firms across the sector. Furthermore, there will be capacity building for actors throughout different parts of the financial sector, to nurture growth, development and facilitate innovation. One of the Activity's five sub-activities is to develop gender-smart financial products, including digital financial products and agricultural insurance, to meet the specific needs of female borrowers. Another sub-activity will pilot community-level crowd funding solutions to serve smallholder farmers and others in the agricultural economy.

The BETA project will support the MDIH project by assisting businesses that are part of the commercial horticulture value chain, such as cold chain operators and agro-processors. These are businesses with potential to engage a high proportion of women and youth, which will be target groups for these activities. BETA will also support business growth with high employment potential for women and youth, such as in the tourism and creative sectors. As noted above, the PPD will have a gender technical working group, and MCC is collaborating with the World Bank and local finance institutions to design products for SMEs and women-owned businesses. Gender-smart investment tools for agriculture, tourism and the artisan sector, all sectors will high growth opportunities for women and youth, developed through a women's economic empowerment partnership will be incorporated into the BETA.

OBJECTIVE/SCOPE

The objective of this requirement is to provide a range of gender and social inclusion due diligence support for GSI throughout compact implementation.

TASKS

This work will cover all project activities under the MDIH project and later in the BETA project. All work on the tasks below will be carried out to support the implementation of gender and inclusion objectives, sub-activities and designs. In addition to women, the main categories of interest from an inclusion perspective include youth, land users who are not landowners, less powerful landowners and laborers affected by the projects.

TASK 1: Document Development and Reviews

• Support the development of terms of reference, staffing plans and budgets for several procurements with gender and inclusion content, possibly including the Institutional Reform Inclusive Services procurement, the Legal Advisory Services procurement, the Victim Support Services contract or agreement, and the Independent Evaluator.

• Review documents produced by MCC, MCA, consultants and partners contributing to project design or due diligence, as necessary to understand the context and carry out the work under this SOW.

• Support development of the gender and inclusion content in the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for the compact.

• Develop activity summaries and presentations.

TASK 2: Research and engagement with MCC and Lesotho-based Stakeholders

• Conduct a limited number of assessments and research on specific topics to fill knowledge gaps, including desk reviews and fieldwork, using qualitative and quantitative methods. Prepare reports and presentations based on this work.

• Participate regularly in project activity calls with MCC, MCA, consultants, partners, Lesotho government officials, and others. Contribute to discussions, help to problem solve and make recommendations.

TASK 3: Support Project Implementation Oversight

• Support development of the MCA's Social and Gender Integration Plan (SGIP), which summarizes all GSI-related work under the projects, includes detailed workplans, roles and responsibilities, and monitoring systems. Conduct in-country missions to support oversight of project activities.

• Review deliverables from implementation consultants and contractors to determine if GSI-related TORs have been met and make recommendations for improvements. This will include the main GSI-related contracts:

Land and Gender; Horticulture, Gender and Social Development (HTGSD); Institutional Reform Inclusive

Services (IRIS); the Transaction Advisor, Legal Services and Victim Support; and the BETA manager. It may also include review of deliverables from Irrigation Infrastructure and Environment and Social Performance contracts. These contracts are described in Annex 2.

Deliverables and the relevant LOE will be agreed upon at the time of each technical directive for service and prior to services being rendered.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The expert would be precluded from bidding on work and services (design, assessment, construction, and supervision) to be procured by the MCA or using funds advanced under a Compact (known as 609g or CDF) in the relevant country, unless the expert submits a mitigation plan sufficient to ameliorate any conflict of interest pursuant to the rules applicable to the procurement process.

Annex 1: Compact and Project Descriptions

For further information about the Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact, see:

https://www.mcc.gov/where-we-work/program/lesotho-health-and-horticulture-compact/

For detailed project descriptions, including gender- and inclusion-focused content, see the Compact document:

https://www.mcc.gov/resources/doc/compact-lesotho-health-and-horticulture/

MDIH Project Description

Background

Theory of Change:The underlying logic of the MDIH Project is that building irrigation infrastructure and facilitating commercial investment will spur inclusive growth and investment in the horticulture sector. The objective-level result of the MDIH Project is to increase rural incomes related to commercial horticulture, including for women, youth, and the rural poor.The USD $118.6M Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH) Project, one of three projects under Lesotho's $300M Health and Horticulture Compact, aims to increase rural incomes related to commercial horticulture, especially for women, youth, the rural poor and the people living with disabilities. The project aims to achieve this by building irrigation infrastructure in up to four irrigation schemes to be made available to commercial and smallholder farmers. The Project also aims to establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management. In support of these objectives, MDIH will implement activities that build capacity and provide financial support to smallholder farmers as they transition from subsistence to commercial horticulture production. Specifically, the project supports programming to secure land rights and participation of existing landholders, including women and youth, in the irrigation schemes. Specific activities to be undertaken in the MDIH Project include construction of irrigation infrastructure, support to landholders as they make decisions about their use of land, grants to defray upfront capital and input costs, training and capacity building related to horticultural production and operation and maintenance of irrigation systems, and support for the partnering of smallholders and commercial farmers in commercial agriculture.

The design of the Project began in 2018, following the Government of Lesotho's (GoL) submission of concept notes which detailed the potential of a Compact-funded project in the horticulture sector. An irrigation project is strategically important to the GoL, which as stipulated in the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), is committed to expanding irrigated horticulture. Thus, the GoL sees irrigated horticulture as an opportunity to provide decent work, unlock investment into the sector, address food insecurity, and improve the balance of trade with South Africa, while making use of Lesotho's valuable natural resources -- land and water.

In order to advance these aspirations, the government received support from the World Bank in drafting a National Irrigation Master Plan. In supporting the aspirations of the GoL related to irrigated horticulture as stipulated in the NSDP, MDIH Project seeks to attract private sector investment in the horticulture sector through funding irrigation schemes where demand for irrigated land from commercial farmers exists. Commercial Farmers as also known as Anchor Farmers for their function of "anchoring" with respect to investment and potential arrangements with smallholder farmers within the scheme.

Summary of MDIH Project Activities

The Project is divided into three key activities namely, the Institutional Reform, the Integrated Horticulture Support Services, and irrigation infrastructure. The Institutional Reforms Activity strives to reform Lesotho's legal framework and institutions with the view to strengthen delivery of services for irrigated agriculture, improve rural land administration, water resource management, and promote gender and social equity and inclusion. The second activity, Integrated Horticulture Support Services, provides support to scheme landholders, who may also be smallholder farmers; commercial investors; and other actors in the horticulture value chain to promote inclusive, profitable, and sustainable commercial agriculture. Key to this activity is an approach that facilitates the consolidation of land to establish a viable model of irrigated commercial agriculture and scheme management and promotes commercial relationships between passive landholders and smallholder farmers with anchor farmers to ensure profitability and sustainability. A robust training and capacity building program will build the capacity of smallholder farmers in applying best practices in horticultural production and business management. Some of these aspects include but are not limited to Social and Behavior Change (SBC), scheme governance aspects etc. Women and youth are a target group for this activity, to promote their participation in scheme management and access to benefits from horticultural production. The third activity is construction of Irrigation Infrastructure, which includes water intakes, pumps, transmission and distribution pipes, dams, hydrants, access roads, catchment management structures, and training and services centers with demonstration plots that enable the development of commercial scale irrigation in the identified scheme areas. These three activities are described in greater detail below, based on the sequence of implementation. Irrigation construction will adhere to MCC and GoL requirements with respect to environmental and social risk assessment and mitigation.

Feasibility Study and other Due Diligence Findings

To identify suitable areas for horticulture cultivation, LMDA completed an initial screening and site identification by reviewing the suitability of some 50,000 ha of agricultural land in Lesotho. MCC Due Diligence Consultants then completed a Feasibility Study of the most promising potential irrigation scheme areas in November 2022. Sites were assessed based on water resources, soil suitability and agronomic assessments, estimates of irrigation water demand, potential climate change impacts, topographic and geotechnical surveys, water quality, environmental, and social and gender assessments. The studies narrowed the areas for irrigation based on the suitability of the site. The Consultants provided information for development of the concept, preliminary designs, and identification of inputs needed to develop the sites for irrigation and commercial investment.

This due diligence screening resulted in a narrowing of the list of proposed projects to four potential irrigation sites: Likhakeng, Manka, Tsoili-Tsoili and Phamong, with total gross area of over 7,000 ha. Preliminary market assessment indicated that large potential existed for import substitution to replace imports of horticultural crops from South Africa. Based on potential yield estimates, a surface area of 1,500 – 2,000 ha of irrigated land is required to satisfy local market demand for horticultural crops. Table 1 below summarizes the proposed irrigation scheme areas.

Table1: Proposed Irrigation Schemes

Proposed Irrigation Schemes

Approximate Irrigation area (ha)

Current average land holding (ha)

Estimated number of affected people

Communities in each Scheme

Tsoili-Tsoili 760 1.4 615 18

Manka 600 2.2 292 13

Likhakeng 100 1.5 75 34

Phamong 120 1.4 99 15

Total 1,580 Not applicable 1,081 80

The research also recommended initial designs for infrastructure, including irrigation infrastructure with water retention structures (weirs to facilitate abstraction of water and seasonal dams for water storage) and irrigation distribution network infrastructure (pipes and water points) as well as auxiliary infrastructure (access roads and power supply) and complementary infrastructure (service, training, and demonstration centers).

The Feasibility Study investigated the profitability of more than 60 crops based on a rigorous screening of multiple criteria such as adaptability to climate and soils of the study area, financial viability under irrigation, ease of production, market, etc.

The best-suited crops identified were beetroot, carrot, the brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.), onion, potato, tomato, and spinach. The study also identified other suitable crops, including food security crops: green maize, dry peas, dry beans; apple and peach as fruit crops; and asparagus as perennial field crop.

The Consultants also conducted extensive community consultations and social analyses to ensure that the potentially affected communities understood the project and its benefits, to gauge communities' interest in the project, and to obtain information to inform the design of a project that is responsive to the needs and conditions of the landholders that will be engaged and the communities that will eventually benefit. Understanding differences and barriers based on gender, age, resource access, and other socio-economic characteristics was an important part of this analysis. Consultants proposed scheme models based on market analysis and lessons from successful models with comparable objectives in the southern Africa region.

Other studies were conducted to learn more about the barriers to growth of the horticulture sector and the legal support the Project might require. Studies looking at barriers to growth included the ability of commercial investors to invest (e.g., access to finance, regulations around foreign investment), and smallholder farmers to participate (e.g., access to finance, inputs, skills, etc.), while studies to identify legal support to the project included a review of the regulations regarding access to water and land, and gender equality.

One of the key lessons from due diligence is the importance of beginning capacity building efforts as early as possible during the Compact implementation period to ensure end users of the irrigation infrastructure are sufficiently trained by the time the infrastructure is completed. Another key lesson is that users, particularly water users' associations need to be engaged and involved in the design process, particularly in development of the farm-level infrastructure designs to ensure the diverse smallholders' varied needs and concerns are adequately addressed.

The MDIH Project priority on women and youth

The MDIH Project places a strong priority on men and women having equal opportunity to participate in the schemes. This requires project design to overcome structural barriers that women face to participating in and benefitting from commercial agriculture. These barriers include limitations on land ownership; access to training, credit, and other farming assets; child-care responsibilities; gender-based violence; and social norms that discriminate against their equal participation and control over income. The Project addresses these challenges in a holistic way: through legal, regulatory and administrative reforms that affirm and enable women's land ownership; through training, credit products, and other support systems designed to address their different constraints and needs; and through innovative participatory methods that tackle discriminatory social norms. These norms are addressed by using Gender Transformative Approaches that work with men and women together to promote joint understanding of how gender inequalities within their own households and communities restrict economic benefits for the household, and how promoting gender equity benefits everyone. These messages are then reinforced as women and men jointly participate in training activities in production, marketing, nursery management, in field irrigation use, business and financial management, and organizational development.

Youth (ages 18-35) are another important target group. Youth employment is a GoL priority, and youth have skills, energy and entrepreneurial talents that are critical to success and sustainability of the irrigated horticulture schemes. MDIH will thus promote youth access to land and finance, leadership opportunities in scheme governance, and entrepreneurship opportunities in production and other value chain activities.

The Project will pay particular attention to using best practices in business arrangements for smallholders. This includes detailed work with smallholders to plan the type and level of participation that is right for each household -- e.g. leasing their land, or farming -- and to facilitating fair, viable and sustainable commercial relationships with anchor farmers. The Project will facilitate and provide training for smallholder-led creation of necessary governance mechanisms, including independent farming units (IFUs), water user associations (WUAs), and scheme governance boards.