The GIZ Project commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), "Youth Employment in the Agri-Food Sector in Western Kenya (YEA)" is implemented in five Counties of Western Kenya (Bungoma, Kakamega, Kisumu, Siaya and Vihiga). The lead political partner for the Project is the Kenyan National Ministry for Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD). YEA focuses on strengthening sustainable income and employment opportunities for young people, especially women, in the agricultural and food sector in Western Kenya, while promoting the sustainable transformation of the agri-food sector. Thos includes supporting companies contributing to import substitution of agricultural inputs (e.g., organic fertiliser production), supporting climate resilience (e.g., commercial production of climate-adapted planting materials), or promoting organic farming (e.g., use of agroecological practices).
The project targets young farmers (18 to 35-year-olds) and Agri-based micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) owners and employees. The agri-based MSMEs include both company founders and established micro and small businesses in the agri-food sector. Both projects acknowledge women as a special target group, supporting them in ensuring their rights, resources, and representation.
The structure of the project by outputs is as follows:
YEA
Output 1: Strengthen the institutional and personnel capacities of governmental and non-governmental actors to manage and implement the County Youth Agribusiness Strategies with focus on public-private exchange formats for developing solutions to increase youth employment in the agri-food sector.
Output 2: Improve young farmers' access to sustainable agricultural production resources, including knowledge, inputs, services, networks, and access to land. The project also supports climate adaptation and inclusive contract farming approaches, increasing young people's access to land and utilizing digital solutions and gender-sensitive advisory formats.
Output 3: Strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of young entrepreneurs and start-ups in the agricultural and food sector, focusing on MSMEs and start-ups with high market potential.
Output 4: Promote the attractiveness of the agricultural and food sector as an inclusive, modern, and lucrative source of income and employment for young people. The project supports implementing media, digital, and physical learning formats, highlighting successful young role models and addressing climate-resilient transformation and gender norms.

The module contributes to the ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable transformation of Kenya's agricultural and food sector. Its strategy focuses on sub-sectors and interventions with high potential for creating sustainable income and employment opportunities for young people and increasing the food system's resilience.
The project utilizes products and services from digital companies to improve the efficiency and reach of its funding approaches and supported companies. Kenya, known as the Silicon Savannah of East Africa, has a dynamic and creative digital technology sector with many digital start-ups led by young people.
Module objective:
Sustainable income and employment opportunities for young people, especially women, in the agricultural and food sector in western Kenya are strengthened.

The contractor contributes to achieving the following objectives and indicators of the project by providing specialized short-term expertise, advisory, facilitation and training services.

Module objective indicator 1
2,300 people (40 % women and 80 % young people) have found new or additional employment in the agricultural and food sector. (Full-time equivalents, FTEs)
Base value: 1,050 people (who found new or additional employment in agricultural and food sector as part of the previous project)
Target value: 2,300 people (40% women and 80% young people) (12/2026)

Module objective indicator 2
215 of the 387 agri-based MSME and start-ups supported by the project confirm that their competitiveness has improved significantly.
Baseline: 0 agri-based MSME and start-ups (Sector-specific data on the competitiveness of agri-based MSME and start-ups in the individual districts is not available. An improvement in competitiveness is expected as a direct result of the intervention and is recorded accordingly)
Target value: 215 out of 387 agri-based MSME and start-ups (12/2026)

Module objective indicator 3
The average income of 6,000 farmers (40 % of whom are women and 80 % young people) working in the agricultural production sectors supported by the project has increased by 20 % to KSh 140,000 after adjustment for inflation.
Base value: 117,300 KSh (base value will be specified when the sector analyses are carried out).
Target value: 140,000 KSh (adjusted for inflation) for 6,000 young smallholder farmers (40 % women and 80 % young people), (12/2026)

Module objective indicator 4
4,500 of the 9,400 farmers and 170 of the 387 owners of agro-based MSME and start-ups supported by the project (40% women and 80% young people) have confirmed that they have been strengthened in their capacity to adapt to climate change and adopt agroecological practices.
Baseline: 0 farmers and 0 owners of agri-based MSME and start-ups (sector-specific data on the climate resilience of the target groups in the individual districts is not available. An improvement in the capacity to adapt to climate change is expected as a direct result of the intervention and is recorded accordingly).
Target value: 4,500 farmers, 170 owners of agri-based MSME and start-ups (40% women and 80% young people), (12/2026)

Module objective indicator 5
The perception of income and employment opportunities in the agricultural and food sector for young people, especially young women, has improved among the population in Western Kenya.
Base value: 2.6 points (average rating of the baseline survey in 2024)
Target value: 5.6 points of the evaluation (12/2027)

Output 1: The institutional and personnel capacities of state and non-state actors to manage and implement the "County Youth Agribusiness Strategies" have been strengthened.
Output 2: Young farmers' access to sustainable agricultural production resources, in particular services, markets and operating resources, is improved.
Output 3: The entrepreneurial skills of young entrepreneurs in the agricultural and food sector are strengthened.
Output 4: Young people in Western Kenya are targeted through media, digital and physical learning formats that promote the attractiveness of the agri-food sector as an inclusive, modern and lucrative source of income and employment.

The contractor is responsible for providing the following work packages:

Work package 1: Technical and advisory support
This work package supports the project to improve its technical quality of implementation. It refers to all outputs of the project and includes advisory service, as well as capacity development.

Work package 2: Facilitation and moderation

The project enters in a phase where facilitation of events, dialogue fora and policy processes become a major success factor for impact, sustainability and scaling. This work package supports the project and its partners in achieving better and more sustainable results through high-quality moderation and facilitation. Need for support can arise in all outputs.

Work package 3: Capacity development

Capacity development for partners" and project staff is a necessary support specifically in newer topics, approaches and methodology. It shall lead to better understanding and knowledge of topics relevant for the project and the cooperation system across all outputs.

Work package 4: Support to project management

In this work packages, overarching management support will be provided to the project manager or the coordinator of the agricultural cluster.

GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.

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