Call for Expression of Interest (EoI) to source consultant (s) or firm to develop an online Agribusiness Employment Platform to link rural youth, employment, and other opportunities in agribusiness through the Rural Youth Employment Support (R-YES) Project in Rwanda.

Background information
Kilimo Trust (KT) is a not-for-profit organization working on agriculture and agribusiness for development and creation of employment opportunities across East Africa (Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi).
Kilimo Trust Rwanda is leading the implementation of a five-year project (June 2020 – December 2024) titled Rural Youth Employment Support (R-YES) project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to create employment opportunities for 3,000 rural youth (50% female) in agribusiness as wage earners or commercial providers of products /services (1,200 direct youth and 1,800 indirect).
R-YES project supports youth aged between 18 and 30 years from Rwanda’s 16 districts, including: NORTH (Gicumbi, Rulindo, and Musanze), WEST (Nyabihu, Rubavu, and Rusizi), SOUTH (Nyanza, Ruhango, Gisagara, Kamonyi and Huye), and EAST (Nyagatare, Kayonza, Rwamagana, Ngoma and Bugesera).
R-YES is implemented in Rwanda by Kilimo Trust in partnership with Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF) and Rwanda Polytechnic - with Integrated Polytechnic Regional Colleges (IPRCs), TVETs and Agribusiness Industries as Centers of capacity building and employment.
R-YES project builds technical skills and creates employment around ten (10) priority opportunities, including: (1) Vegetables Production and Processing, (2) Milk Handling and processing, (3) Refrigeration & Cold Chain Management, (4) Operation & Maintenance of agro-processing machinery, (5) Meat handling and processing, (6) Operation & Maintenance of Farm Tractors & Machinery, (7) Forage (Hay & Silage) Production & Marketing, (8) Animal Feed Production, (9) Operation & Maintenance of Field Irrigation, (10) Poultry Farming (layers and broilers).
Through R-YES project, the first cohort of 353 youth are currently undergoing experiential learning at different technical training colleges and agribusiness industries, and some have been retained by partnering agribusinesses as permeant employees.

R-YES project has two specific objectives:
1. Building integrated agri-business capacities of rural youth.
2. Generating empirical evidence of the developed and tested models to inform policy to drive scaling up of the models to create jobs for youth.

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Purpose of the call and scope of the assignment
After undergoing experiential learning at different technical training colleges and agribusiness industries, R-YES beneficiaries acquire technical skills that are required on the labour market.
To link potential employers and skilled rural youth for employment in agribusiness, Kilimo Trust invites applications from eligible consultant(s) or firm that will work in close consultation with R-YES project team to develop a dynamic multistakeholder e-platform to link rural youth and employment opportunities in relevant agribusinesses. The platform will serve as a one-stop centre for companies to post available employment opportunities for youth to take advantage, and to post youth profiles/CVs to potential employers or clients. This online platform should operate via websites and mobile apps. It should also have option for partnering agribusiness and youth to advertise their products/services and provide space for R-YES stakeholders (youth groups, districts/local authorities, etc) to capture youth voices/ideas, and peer-to-peer learning and sharing of information/opportunities.
The platform should be developed in English with Kinyarwanda translation

Required expertise and experience
1. The firm or the consultant (s) MUST have demonstrated experience in developing similar e-platforms.
2. At least 3 years of relevant professional experience in similar work.
3. Ready to showcase to Kilimo Trust and IFAD some of the previously developed similar e-platforms.

Tasks
1. Development of an Agribusiness Employment Platform that operates via websites and mobile apps to links rural youth and employment opportunities in agribusiness and provide space for youth groups, districts/local authorities, and other stakeholders to capture youth voices/ideas, provide for peer-to-peer learning and sharing of information and opportunities.
2. Training to Kilimo Trust team and partners on how to use the platform.
3. Uploading profiles of 354 youth from an existing R-YES database (excel), 28 partnering agribusinesses, and 7 technical colleges into the platform.

Timeline
The Assignment is expected to start in July 2022 for a period of 20 days.

Application Procedure
Interested and eligible consultant(s) or firm shall submit the following:
1. Expression of interest addressed to the Human Resource Manager of Kilimo Trust.
2. Technical proposal including methodology and the work plan for implementation of the assignment.
3. Financial proposal highlighting cost breakdown.
4. Personal CV(s) of leading technical personnel proposed for this assignment highlighting qualifications and experience in similar tasks; and
5. Work references - contact details (email addresses) of referees (firms for whom you have produced similar assignments in the past five years).
6. Firms should also provide:
o Company registration certificate.
o Tax Clearance Certificate.
o Social Security Clearance Certificate.

Submission and Deadline
All required documents must be written in English and submitted electronically in one folder to recruitment@kilimotrust.org not later than Wednesday 20th July 2022 at 5:00PM Rwanda Time. Late submission will be rejected.