TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR A RESEARCH STUDY ON THE MOST UNADDRESSED VIOLATIONS IN THE TEA SECTOR IN KENYA

1.0 About ActionAid

ActionAid International Kenya (AAIK) is a non-partisan, non-religious development organization that has been working in Kenya since 1972 to end poverty and injustices. ActionAid International Kenya is among the leading anti-poverty agencies in Kenya having a presence in 22 counties working directly with over one million people living in poverty and exclusion. AAIK is unapologetic in advancing Women’s Rights and ensuring that Women Living in Poverty and Exclusion are at the centre of its work. AAIK commits to work with Women, Children, and Young people living in poverty and exclusion to claim and realize their constitutional rights through working within four main pillars of the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA); empowerment, solidarity, campaigning, and alternatives.

AAIK is committed to undertaking all its work in a manner which does not put children or vulnerable adults at risk. All contractors and consultants are informed of their contractual and moral responsibilities to safeguard children, young people, and vulnerable adults in all areas of ActionAid’s work.

2.0 Context and Background

ActionAid in partnership with Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP), Taylors of Harrogate and Lavazza Pro is working with Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), tea companies, development organizations and County governments to implement the Empowering Tea Communities project in Kenya in 3 tea growing counties namely: Murang’a, Nakuru and Meru counties. The project targets smallholder tea farmers and informal workers with the goal of promoting their rights to decent work, freedom from violence, access to basic essential services and improved financial livelihood options for the tea communities. The project targets to deliver on five main outcomes related to:

1. Promoting respect and protection of human rights.
2. Fostering an enabling environment for empowering women and girls to realize their right to freedom from violence.
3. Improving access to gender-responsive public services for Smallholder Farmers (SHF) and informal workers in the tea sector.
4. Improving the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers and informal workers; and
5. Developing a sustainable model for scale-up for successful sustainability of established results.

3.0 Rationale

Smallholder farmers and informal workers, especially women workers, in the Kenyan tea industry are vulnerable to low incomes, as well as poor working conditions due to the informal nature of their employment. Workers are typically hired by farmers on a casual basis without formal contracts. These informal employment arrangements and the seasonality of available work mean both farmers and workers lack job security, living incomes/wages and access to basic services and entitlements such as medical care, safe housing, water and education. They are largely ‘invisible’ in the international tea supply chain and their rights, both as workers and as citizens, are therefore overlooked. Women tea workers and farmers are often exposed to different forms of gender-based violence at farm and community level, and this can be linked to weak institutional policies and structural issues such as poverty and cultural attitudes which normalize violence against women and girls[1]. Further, Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response services are largely inadequate and justice services are inaccessible for survivors, mainly due to the costs involved and the lengthy process of seeking for justice through the court system. Instances of out of school children, and in some cases child labour, are further hindering the realization of the right to education, which is critical in promoting access to gender responsive services for the tea communities.

The Empowering Tea Communities project has conducted several research studies and reviews of key tea sector legislation with a focus on specific violations identified at the start of the project. The studies conducted included a review of key laws and policies touching on the tea sector, a review of legislation touching on sexual and gender-based violence prevention in Kenya, prevalence of child labor, mapping of public services, and study on the audit of women’s land rights in the 3 project sites. The project is using the findings of the studies to develop policy briefs for purposes of informing advocacy and influencing for changes in legislation and practice around the tea sector to be more responsive to the needs of farmers, workers and the larger tea community. The project now intends to highlight some of the common but unaddressed human rights violations in the tea sector, policy gaps in tea laws that pose a challenge in addressing the issues, and a summary of policy recommendations that could be adopted to respond better to the violations. The findings are intended to provide insights on the existence of systemic violations in the tea sector and shall form the basis for engaging different actors in the tea sector to safeguard the rights of smallholder farmers and informal workers and improve their working conditions.

4.0 Scope of the assignment

The assignment will involve gathering data through participatory approaches to highlight on the most unaddressed violations in the tea sector that are happening but often go unnoticed, to inform future advocacy for improvements. The findings of the research will support project partners and stakeholders in tea to identify and prioritise action specific interventions to address a range of human rights violations that exist. The research will focus on the small-scale tea sector where the pilot phase of the empowering tea communities project was undertaken. The deliverables include:

1. Desktop review of relevant literature
2. Data collection in the 3 project sites and desktop research to determine the violations in the tea sector that remain unaddressed
3. A report capturing violations in the tea sector that remain unaddressed yet have an impact on the welfare of tea workers and farmers
4. Conduct a validation workshop to allow for feedback from partners on the draft report

5.0 Call for expression of interest.

AAIK is looking for a consultant to undertake and deliver on the task highlighted in section 4.0 of this ToR.

1. Management of the Consultancy

The overall guidance and supervision of the assignment will be provided by AAIK in collaboration with the Programme Management Team from AAUK, ETP and KTDA. The overall accountability rests with Programs and Strategy Lead at ActionAid International Kenya. The consultant(s) will work closely with the Project Manager of the project, AAIK Communications Lead, MEL Coordinator, Project Officers, with the guidance of the Programme Manager for Resilient Livelihoods and Emergencies and the Programme Manager for Women Rights and Governance. Official transport shall be availed where possible, and/or travel expenses reimbursed based on actual and realistic costs. However, the consultant shall seek consent from AAIK, prior to incurring travel expense(s), if not provided with official transport. Accommodation shall be provided by AAIK at the venues of the assignment.

Expected Timeframe

The assignment is expected to be carried out within a period of 4 weeks starting from 31st March 2024. The timelines will be as follows but timeframes can be slightly adjusted where need be.

Deliverable

Timelines

1. Inception report

To be submitted by 3rd April 2025

2. Data collection

To be done between April 7th and 14th April 2025

3.Draft report

To be completed by 18th April 2025

4.Validation of report

To be done 22nd April 2025

5 Final report

To be done by30th April 2025

Expected deliverables.

The Consultant will be required to submit the following:

1. An inception report: The consultant will share the inception report that details the study design (rationale, methodology), tools, and a detailed work plan to be approved by AAIK.
2. Conduct a data collection exercise in all the 3 areas where the project currently covers.
3. A report complete with design capturing the most unaddressed human rights violations happening in the tea sector. The report will be presented to different stakeholders to spotlight various issues of human rights violations which have been noted by the empowering tea communities project and some of the root causes with a view of starting conversations around improvements in the tea sector.
4. Provide an opportunity for at least 4 rounds of reviews to be conducted by the different partners in the project before finalization of the report.
5. The raw data (all transcripts, quantitative data, data collection tools) must be handed over to ActionAid together with the final report. Where photos are included, these should be provided to ActionAid in high resolution JPEG format.

6.0 Consultant qualifications

AAIK is looking for a consultant with the following key knowledge, skills and expertise:

• A master’s degree or work experience in social sciences, community development, gender, development studies, public policy and related studies.
• At least 5 years of experience in conducting research, writing publications and developing high quality reports in the non-profit sector.
• Demonstrable expertise and experience in working around women’s and girl’s rights, GBV and gender equality, human rights-based approaches and a good understanding of the tea sector.
• Demonstrable knowledge and skills in development and use of participatory approaches and data collection methods and tools for analysis.
• Evidence of use of ethical considerations and methodological measures that respect the rights of all stakeholders.
• Evidence of successfully having worked on large-scale, rigorous and robust research studies in the past
• Experience working on a similar assignment in the non-profit sector is desirable.
• Excellent facilitation skills.
• Proficient in English and Swahili with strong translation skills to engage the communities.

1. Bid’s document and timeframe

   All bids submitted shall be assumed valid for 90 days. However, the delivery period for this consultancy shall be 42 days. The consultant shall submit an expression of interest capturing the following details:

• Curriculum Vitae and a letter of interest briefly describing his/her understanding of the task, experience, and qualifications to work and deliver on the assignment.
• Technical proposal (not exceeding 5 pages): The technical proposal should reflect the consultants’ understanding of the task and how he/she intends to satisfactorily deliver on the task/ methodology. The applicant will provide a detailed work plan of specific activities and a timetable for carrying out the assignment.
• A separate financial proposal highlighting technical fees including withholding tax, mode of payment and any other relevant details.
• Copies of two previous works – RELATED to this task.
• Two referees who can certify that the consultant has in the past successfully undertaken and delivered similar assignment.