CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT DEEP DIAGNOSTICS AND SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICY, REGULATORY, AND INSTITUTIONAL R

The consulting firm shall support the Ministry of Agriculture (TWG) to undertake a rigorous and evidence-based assessment of Zambia’s policy, regulatory, fiscal, market, and institutional environment for food loss reduction solutions (FL-RS), facilitate the prioritization and packaging of reforms, and provide hands-on support to Government and AGRA to initiate implementation of agreed actions. The scope of work shall therefore include both deep diagnostics and implementation support, and shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following tasks: 

Policy, legal, regulatory, fiscal, and market environment assessment: The consultant shall assess the adequacy, coherence, implementation readiness, and implementation gaps in Zambia’s national policies, strategies, laws, regulations, and related frameworks relevant to food loss reduction and post-harvest systems, and identify the legal, regulatory, fiscal, and market-related barriers and enablers affecting investment, innovation, and scaling of FL-RS. The task will include: 

• Map and review current national policies, laws, and strategies related to food loss reduction, post-harvest management, food systems, and agricultural transformation, using a Policy Review Matrix with clear matrix and parameters assessing the extent to which existing frameworks explicitly or implicitly support food loss reduction and the uptake of FL-RS;
• Analyzing policy coherence, overlaps, inconsistencies, omissions, and implementation gaps affecting FL-RS;
• Identifying fiscal, regulatory, standards-related, trade-related, and market-related barriers and enablers affecting public and private investment in FL-RS;
• Assessing the extent to which current frameworks create incentives or disincentives for manufacturing, importation, distribution, financing, adoption, and servicing of FL-RS;
• Examining the alignment of relevant national frameworks with broader national development priorities and relevant regional and global commitments.
• Assessing the extent to which existing frameworks explicitly or implicitly support food loss reduction and the uptake of FL-RS, and the extent to which current frameworks financing, adoption, and servicing of FL-RS.  Some of the assessment guiding questions are:

1. Are there explicit national strategies or provisions supporting FL-RS?
2. How well are these policies aligned with regional/continental frameworks (AU, RECs)?
3. What enforcement mechanisms exist for compliance with quality and storage standards? 
4. What policy gaps, inconsistencies, or overlaps hinder FL-RS scaling?
5. To what extent do these frameworks explicitly address food loss reduction, post-harvest management, and FL-RS?
6. Are the relevant policy and regulatory frameworks coherent, mutually reinforcing, and implementation-ready?
7. What policy, legal, or regulatory gaps, overlaps, inconsistencies, or outdated provisions constrain FL-RS uptake and scaling?
8. What fiscal, standards, certification, import, procurement, or market-related barriers affect investment in FL-RS?
9. What existing provisions or instruments could be leveraged to promote investment, innovation, and market development for FL-RS?  

Institutional assessment of mandates, capacity gaps, coordination, accountability, and performance: The consulting firm shall assess the mandates, capacity gaps, coordination arrangements, accountability mechanisms, and performance of relevant public institutions responsible for designing, implementing, regulating, enforcing, and monitoring FL-RS-related interventions in Zambia, and identify practical measures to strengthen institutional effectiveness and cross-agency coordination. This task shall include: 

•  Mapping and profiling relevant ministries, departments, agencies, regulatory bodies, parastatals, and coordination platforms with roles relevant to FL-RS;
• Assessing the clarity and adequacy of institutional mandates and the extent of overlap, fragmentation, or gaps in institutional responsibilities;
• Evaluating institutional capacities across relevant dimensions, including technical expertise, staffing, systems, resources, coordination capability, enforcement capability, data systems, and performance monitoring;
• Assessing the effectiveness of existing coordination arrangements across ministries, agencies, and relevant stakeholders;
• Reviewing the presence and effectiveness of accountability mechanisms, reporting systems, and decision-making structures relevant to FL-RS policy implementation;
• Identifying institutional bottlenecks, risks, and opportunities for strengthening institutional performance and coordination. Some of the assessment guiding questions are:
• Which institutions are responsible for policy design, implementation, regulation, enforcement, and monitoring of FL-RS-related interventions in Zambia?
• Are institutional mandates clear, complementary, and fit for purpose?
• Where are the main capacity gaps—technical, financial, operational, organizational, or coordination-related?  Are there overlaps, fragmentation, or gaps in institutional responsibilities that hinder effective action on FL-RS?
• What coordination mechanisms currently exist, and how effective are they in supporting cross-agency action?
• What accountability, reporting, and performance management mechanisms are in place, and how well do they function?
• Which institutions could serve as lead or anchor institutions for advancing the FL-RS agenda?

Stakeholder consultations and validation of findings: The consulting firm shall engage relevant stakeholders to gather evidence, validate findings, and deepen understanding of policy, investment, institutional, and coordination challenges affecting FL-RS in Zambia. This task shall include: 

• Consulting relevant government institutions, private sector actors, financial institutions, farmer organizations, solution providers, civil society organizations, research institutions, and development partners;
• Gathering stakeholder perspectives on major policy, regulatory, institutional, coordination, and investment constraints affecting FL-RS;
• identifying practical opportunities, reform priorities, and feasible entry points for strengthening the enabling environment;
• Capturing experiences, innovations, and lessons from existing initiatives relevant to FL RS; Validating preliminary findings and recommendations through stakeholder review and dialogue.

Some of the Guiding questions include:

1. Do the findings accurately reflect the policy, institutional, and investment realities affecting FL-RS in Zambia?
2. What do key stakeholders see as the most important barriers to investment, innovation, and scaling of FL-RS?
3. What reforms do stakeholders consider most urgent, feasible, and impactful?
4. What current initiatives, models, or experiences provide useful lessons for scaling FL-RS?
5. Which actors are most important for driving or supporting reform implementation?

Prioritization, reform packaging, and implementation support: The consulting firm shall support Government and AGRA to move from diagnosis to action by facilitating reform prioritization, translating agreed priorities into implementation-ready packages, and providing technical accompaniment to initiate implementation of selected actions. This task shall include: 

• Facilitating a structured process with Government, AGRA, and key stakeholders to prioritize a manageable set of high-impact, high-feasibility reforms and actions;
• Developing implementation-ready reform packages for each agreed priority action, including rationale, action required, lead and supporting institutions, sequencing, dependencies, indicative resource needs, implementation risks, and immediate next steps for the first 3–6 months;
• Preparing the technical notes, action matrices, concept notes, draft briefs, or other decision-support instruments required to advance selected reforms through ongoing Government processes;
• Supporting the establishment or strengthening of coordination arrangements, including roles, responsibilities, reporting lines, meeting cadence, and follow-up mechanisms for implementation;
• Facilitating implementation planning sessions with responsible institutions and stakeholders to agree on ownership, timelines, and immediate actions;
• Providing technical backstopping during the initial implementation phase of agreed actions and documenting progress, bottlenecks, and follow-up measures.  

Preparation of an implementation roadmap, reform tracker, and results framework: The consulting firm shall prepare practical implementation instruments to guide action on the recommended reforms and support tracking of progress over time. This task shall include:

• Developing a roadmap that translates prioritized reforms into sequenced short-, medium-, and long-term actions;
• Identifying lead institutions, supporting actors, coordination mechanisms, milestones, and indicative resource and implementation considerations for each action;
• Preparing a practical reform tracker and action matrix that can be used by Government and AGRA to monitor implementation progress, decision points, bottlenecks, and follow-up actions;
• Proposing a results framework with indicators, milestones, and means of verification for tracking progress in strengthening the enabling environment for FL-RS;
• Identifying key assumptions, risks, and mitigation measures relevant to reform uptake and implementation.  

Final validation, implementation planning, and final reporting: The consulting firm shall present the findings, prioritized reforms, implementation instruments, and early implementation progress to AGRA, the Ministry of Agriculture, and relevant stakeholders for validation and action planning, and finalize all required outputs based on feedback received. This task shall include:

• Preparing and presenting draft findings, prioritized reforms, and proposed implementation instruments in a validation and implementation planning workshop or other agreed forums;
• Facilitating structured discussion to agree on reform priorities, implementation responsibilities, coordination arrangements, and immediate follow-up actions;
• Incorporating feedback from AGRA, Government, and other stakeholders into the final outputs and implementation instruments;
• Submitting the final report, reform action matrix, implementation support outputs, policy brief, and presentation materials in agreed formats.