Background
The International Trade Centre (ITC) is a joint agency of the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). It has a mission to foster inclusive and sustainable growth and development through trade and international business development. ITC Headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland.
ITC is implementing the EU Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) - Tourism and Creative Industries. The project has an overall objective of increasing the competitiveness, inclusiveness, and sustainability of the Tourism sector and Creative Industries in The Gambia. It has three main specific objectives of: a) improving business environment and institutional ecosystem; b) improving investment and market access; and c) increasing the competitiveness of MSMEs in The Gambia’s tourism and creative industries. These will be achieved by implementing a number of key actions, including: i) streamlining and supporting implementation of strategies and regulation for the creative industries; ii) strengthening the technical and operational capacities of business support institutions; iii) building the branding and marketing capacities of actors in the tourism and creative industries; iv) creating market linkages and investment opportunities; v) budling capacities of MSMEs engaged in the tourism and creative industries with a focus on sustainable and inclusive tourism; and vi) enhancing skills of target beneficiaries, mainly youth and women in areas which promote their employment in the tourism sector and creative industries.
The project addresses a variety of challenges and constraints of the sectors, which include a) weak sector coordination and regulations, b) narrow product offering and sub-standard quality, c) limited market diversification and strong seasonality, d) skill gaps, e) climate vulnerability, and f) low sector integration and limited positive spillover effects of the sectors to the wider economy and society. The implementation of the project will enable the Gambia to diversify source markets and attract more visitors year-round, including tourists with higher purchasing power, and to boost its offering of green and inclusive products and services of the tourism and creative industries.
The EU YEP Tourism and Creative Industries is financed by the European Union (EU) for implementation over a period of 56 months. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE) and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MoTC) are the key focal point government institutions for the project.
The project focuses on youth and women as the main target beneficiaries. It also puts a special emphasis on vulnerable groups by creating quality jobs and pathways for skills development, business growth and sustainability. Micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) and public and private sector institutions, including, sector-based cooperatives and associations will be the target beneficiary groups of the project. About the Assessment
The objective of this consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive horticultural value chain assessment and mapping of the sector, guiding project interventions to strengthen backward linkages for smallholder farmers, particularly women-led farmers and cooperatives, in accessing opportunities within the hospitality and tourism sector. The assessment will adopt a gender-sensitive approach, analysing the roles, contributions, and constraints faced by women farmers and women-led businesses in the horticulture value chain. It will identify key challenges, market opportunities, and strategic interventions to enhance sector competitiveness, productivity, and market access, ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth
Objective of the Assessment
The objective of the assessment is to facilitate the design and implementation of activities to activate backward linkages between the tourism industry and allied sectors fostering market access for agricultural produce (with a focus on priority value chains) and foster value chain efficiency to meet demand in the tourism market.
The assessment result is envisaged to enhance:
• Inform activity design and ensure effective programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation through collection of gender-disaggregated data and identification of gender-based constraints
• Proposed interventions aligning with long term sustainability and economic empowerment of women in the horticulture sector
• Encouraging coordination with women focused organisations, cooperatives or networks to ensure locally driven and gender sensitive solutions.
• Promote local value addition, income diversification and sustainable market linkages for the smallholder farmers including WLBs for the domestic and regional markets.
Scope of work
The consultancy firm will conduct a comprehensive assessment of The Gambia’s horticulture sector with a strong gender lens, ensuring that each stage of the value chain is analysed in terms of women’s participation, challenges and opportunities as well as existing commercial alliances between the value chain actors and the tourism and hospitality sector The assessment will provide concrete insights into barriers, market dynamics and strategic entry points for interventions that enhance the sustainability, income diversification, and women economic empowerment in the sector.
The consultancy will also facilitate introductions between key stakeholders and project members to ensure continuity and implementation of findings. The participants in the assessments should be selected from all the administrative regions of The Gambia. The Consultancy will be undertaken the following.
Download the terms of reference in the downdables for more information.
Submission and Deadline
To apply, please submit all quotes (technical and financial) by 1:00pm 15th February 2025 to Suwaibou Cham scham@intracen.org and copy yusupha.keita@intracen.org. Late submission will not be considered.