Annex A

SOCIAL SAFETY NETS IN WEST

AFRICA

PROJECT BRIEF TEMPLATE (PB)

Funding by ECOWAS and the Spanish Cooperation

Deadline for receipt of applications: March 27, 2017

Applicants name:

Dossier N
(For internal use only)

Call for proposals in the framework of the Financial support : Technical support :

1
 Regional Social Safety Net
Support Programme in West
Africa

Data on the Applicant and the Project

Title of the Call for proposals Reviews for the selection of innovative
projects on social nets food security in
West Africa

Applicant African Heritage Institution

Acronym AfriHeritage

Country of Applicants Head Quarters Enugu Nigeria

Legal status Registered

Address 54 Nza Street Independence Layout Enugu,

Nigeria
Telephone # +2347062093690

Fax # N/A

Email of the Organization info@afriheritage,org,

aeresearch@afriheritage.org
Website of the Organization www.afriheritage.org

Project Focal point name

Email and phone number of the project Focal

point
Project Title Old dogs can learn new tricks: Enhancing the
vulnerable rural livelihoods through training.
or
Rural Training Program: Enhancing
vulnerable rural livelihoods

Local Partners None

Location (country/countries, region(s), South East Nigeria

city/cities)
Total cost of the project $150,000
Contribution requested from RAAF

Contribution of other possible partners

Rate of Co-financing (%)

Project duration 24 Months

FORMAT AND CONTENT OF THE PROJECT BRIEF

The Project Brief (PB) should address four (4) categories of questions spread on a maximum of 4
pages (without logical framework and summary of the action). Each category of question should
be answered on one page maximum and the size of the font should not be smaller than Arial 10.
The logical framework to be annexed to this PB should not exceed 3 pages. A Project Brief that
does not meet these requirements will be rejected without being assessed.

Please provide the following information using the questions below as a guideline:

1. Summary of the action (maximum 1 page)

1.1. Brief description of the proposed action.

Enhancing the vulnerable rural livelihoods through training is a project of AfriHeritage for 100
farmers, unemployed and marginalized people drawn from the affiliate rural communities in South
East Nigeria.
Pursuant of the Organisations aim to organise projects for the development of rural dwellers,
AfriHeritage seeks to help farmers without basic or no education at all acquire vocational and
agricultural practical skills or engage in productive income generating activities to make them self
reliant and responsible. AfriHeritage will be collaborating with some of its affiliate rural
communities, professionals in Agriculture, economics, marketing and finance to carry out this
educational practical training.
The project targets marginalized farmers and unemployed women and youths of the affiliate
communities that can be gainfully engaged in agricultural related activities vis--vis production.
The program will involve demonstrations and empowerment of the participants to enable them
practice what they have learnt from the training. A total of 100 participants/farmers will be
mobilised to be gainfully engaged in the training. These farmers are mostly subsistence farmers,
unemployed youths and marginalised women.
The participants will be divided into four groups of twenty five persons and shall be engaged in
the following agricultural trainings on new farming innovations, marketing strategies,
cooperatives, product transportation channels, farm management (accounting, savings, cost
analysis etc), access to small loans, access to quality farm inputs and processing. This is
because the project directly aims at poverty alleviation among the target beneficiaries.
The project will be administered by the Research Department of AfriHeritage. A Project Officer
assisted by a crop of experienced field workers, will head the department. The Project Officer will
submit monthly reports to the Research Director of AfriHeritage through the secretary. The
Executive shall summon the project Officer to make specifications and clarifications if need be.
The Board Trustees of AfriHeritage will be known as the Advisory Committee which will monitor
and evaluate the project on a bi-monthly basis and make adequate recommendations and
suggestions to the Research Director for onward transfer to the project department.
Also the Project Officer together with representatives of the affiliate rural communities from which
farmers are mobilised will from time to time meet regularly in consultation with regards to policy
formulation and implementation.

2. Relevance (maximum 2 pages)

 2.1. What is the relevance of your proposal to the needs and constraints of the target
country/countries or region(s)?

Since the introduction of the MDGs to the current SDGs the issue of poverty, which has a direct
effect on food security and nutrition, has always been an issue. Development agencies constantly
look for ways to combat poverty. This project has developed an innovative way of addressing food
and nutritional insecurity amongst the vulnerable groups (farmers, unemployed and marginalized
women). According to 2016 World Bank Publication titled Poverty in a Rising Africa, while
poverty in Africa has decreased, the number of poor has increased. Furthermore, two in five
adults are still illiterate and violence is on the rise. The main source of income for the rural area is
Agriculture and despite this they lack adequate food and nutrition for households. Constraints
such as access to credit, rural-urban migration, lack of market information etc all inhibit their
growth. These are constraints, which are peculiar to our target country Nigeria and within Nigeria
South East region. This proposal aims to provide solutions to the issue of adult illiteracy, access
to market information, rural-urban migration etc.

2.2. What are the problems to be addressed and needs to be met?

The members of the rural farmers are in dire need to develop themselves, but cannot afford the
provision of basic inputs. The major problem faced by them and which this project will try to
address is the lack of the most appropriate agriculture inputs and skills to restart normal
production activities. These inputs include farm equipments, seeds, planting materials, processing
and storage materials. Other issues such as lack of the capacity to provide support service will
also be addressed.

2.3. Who are the stakeholders involved (end beneficiaries, target groups)?
Direct beneficiaries are 100 impoverished farmers, unemployed youths and marginalised women
between the age group of 20 to 60 years.
Indirect beneficiaries are their family members including their children, their old-aged parents, in-
laws etc., and their community (approximately 1000 people) will benefit indirectly from this project.
They are socially, educationally, culturally and economically vulnerable people.

2.4. What are the objectives and expected results?

In other to achieve this project, we have identified specific objectives which will help direct the
project. They are listed below:
To create sustainable livelihood sources among the vulnerable poor farmers thus
eradicate poverty and hunger among them and their children. (Sustainable Development
Goal 1,2,3,8,13)
Farmers training on new farming innovations, marketing strategies, cooperatives, product
transportation channels, farm management (accounting, savings, cost analysis etc),
access to small loans, access to quality farm inputs and processing.
Training rural women on small businesses to increase their standards of living.
Increasing labour force for agriculture through small scholarships for children of farmers

Expected Results

If we implement this project in the target villages the following will be achieved within the project
duration, as these farmers will improve their social and economical position through this project.
The poor, hungry farmers would be in a position to eat good food,
Their families could also be benefited as well,
Their standard of living will change as they will be able to afford their basic needs,
They will be educated alongside their children who will get good schooling facilities,
They would be in a position to get suitable medical treatment,
Other parts of the communities who observe our project activities can be motivated
positively,
The destitute and helpless target women can turn themselves to be helpful and
sustainable.
Rural urban migration will be reduced drastically.
 2.5. What is the added value of the action (what does the action add as compared to the
governments action (central or local) and the actions implemented by non-governmental
actors?

In trying to solve these issues, the government has tried several actions to combat them,
however; there still exists gaps in access to training and education. Without adequate information,
preventive issues will not be beneficial to those who need it.
Therefore in comparison, to the actions by the government and NGOs, the program will add more
value in rural education. This will help in widening the scope of knowledge of rural dwellers. They
need both non-formal and formal education to expose them to various skills. In addition they
should learn how to manage their resources, homes and understand the need to train their
children in schools or otherwise.

3. Methodology and Sustainability (maximum 1.5 page)

3.1 What are the main activities of the project?

The under-mentioned strategies will be carried out to achieve the set objectives.
The project will be administered by the Research Department of Afriheritage. A Project
Officer assisted by a crop of experienced field workers, will head the department. The
Project Officer will submit monthly reports to the Research Director of AfriHeritage
through the secretary. The Executive shall summon the project Officer to make
specifications and clarifications if need be.
The project will last for a period of 24 months were farmers will be trained for 5 months
before the farming season and follow up call will be done with the farmers in their farms
to enable them practice what they have learned which will last for 9 months. After which
farmers will be retrained on their failures, success and storage methods for their products
for another 5 months. The final stage will be 5 months monitoring, supervision and
evaluation of the farmers performance and guidance on their spending and practice.
Community mobilization and sensitization for further understanding of the project. A total
of 100 participants/farmers between the ages of 20 60 years will be mobilised to be
gainfully engaged in the training. These farmers are mostly subsistence farmers,
unemployed youths and marginalised women.
Mobilisation of Professionals from Afriheritage and the various areas of interest;
agriculture, cooperative societies, business, economics, accounting and finance.
Procurement of venue and training materials.
Skill Development Training Programme. The professionals will give adequate training to
the farmers on the specified areas of interest.
The other main parts of the training curriculum include as follows:-
Agriculture
How and where to purchase the quality farm inputs at a reasonable prices for get better
profits.
The various methods of farming and soil types
The use of agrochemicals.
Consumer behaviour
How to satisfy the customer (The pleasing manner, the way to receive them, how best to
talk to them and how to behave with them etc.,)
Marketing methods information and distribution channels
Importance of Self Help Groups Formation,
Importance of Savings activity,
Repayment of revolving loan amount in the stipulated time period.
Participation in monitoring and evaluation.
And many other required methods.
As in the part of Training programme, we will arrange them field trips where the farmers will get
first hand information and practical experiences from these successful commercial farmers.
 Supervision, monitoring, reporting and Evaluation of project activities. The Board
Trustees of Afriheritage will be known as the Advisory Committee which will monitor and
evaluate the project on a bi-monthly basis and make adequate recommendations and
suggestions to the Research Director for onward transfer to the project department. Also
the Project Officer together with representatives of the affiliate rural communities from
which farmers are mobilised will from time to time meet regularly in consultation with
regards to policy formulation and implementation.

3.2. Who will be your main partners for the implementation, how old is your relationship with
them and how will they be involved in the project?
Main partners for the program will be as follows:
Farmers from the affiliate rural communities in the five states of South East Nigeria.
Professionals from various fields of concern (agriculture, cooperative societies, business,
economics, accounting and finance)
3.3. How will the project reach its sustainability objective?
Although in Nigeria the Ministry of Agriculture has expressed its willingness to continue to train
farmers on new innovations and other productive areas but that desire is not systematically
carried through in the field. The organisational standards that will be set up under this project will
be an advantage for other NGOs and Governments agencies to continue on that platform to train
more farmers. It will help in changing the perception and attitude of farmers and target groups
towards farming, with greater preference for more educational trainings instead of doing things
under the influence of culture or fear of failure.
The farmers in the affiliate communities are mostly peasant farmers who have been involved in all
their lives in farming (pepper, garden eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, okra, watermelon, carrot, cassava,
etc.). Therefore this project will reach its sustainability objective by engendering the following to the
farmers:
Entrepreneurial skills to successfully operate small-scale farm businesses.
Skills for maintaining relevant records and managing finances.
Skills for developing farm business plans and budgets.
Marketing skills to identify and develop profitable agricultural markets.
3.4. Will the project have multiplier effects?
The project will have a multiplier effect, as will be seen in various stages:
As stated above the issue of violence is on the rise and violence breeds when there is
lack of resources.
Poverty impedes access to various development activities such as education, health,
wellbeing etc. Being able to reduce poverty can positively affect a farmers household
positively. Children can afford to get basic education; wives can access basic health
services for themselves and their children. This continues to spread to other areas of life
for the farmer.
One of the characteristics of rural areas is the communal attributes. After this programme,
the positive lessons learnt can easily spread to other communities which will help
increase their income, knowledge and awareness. Furthermore, the income generated
contributes to raising the states GDP.

4. Operational capacity and expertise (maximum half page)

4.1. What experience does your organization have in project

management?
AfriHeritage has proven experience and familiarity in implementing
complex projects. AfriHeritage is knowledgeable in coordinating field
assessments, assigning roles and responsibilities, and monitoring
project implementation against the work-plan and time-table. Lessons
from past AfriHeritage work show that leadership, team discipline and
coordination are crucial to successful implementation of any project
and our ability to deliver on projects have been confirmed by many
institutions. We have delivered on big projects, including the
Macroeconomic Assessment of Nigeria: Agenda for Reforms which
 generated significant inputs into the NEEDS document, the Business
Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States (BECANS)
and coordination of World Bank Sub-National Business, amongst
others.

4.2. What experience do your organization and partner(s) have regarding the issues to be
addressed?

AfriHeritage has successfully executed big projects involving

research/surveys, training, monitoring and evaluation. In January-
February 2003, AfriHeritage took part in the assessment of the USAID
agriculture portfolio comprising projects such as RUSEP, Farmer-to-
Farmer, DAIMINA, etc. In addition to the above, as an Institution, we
managed successfully, the following related projects:
Analyses and review on the performance and competitiveness of
Nigeria agricultural sector and the agricultural input subsidy policy of
the government, for the World Bank Country Office;

Supervision of the DFID-sponsored NESG-BBI Agriculture Work Groups

programs and activities which involve agricultural sector reviews, data
gathering and consultation with farmers, processors, and agricultural
stakeholders. It also includes four analysis papers on the Nigerian
agricultural sector - Review of Agricultural Research Recommendations
and their Policy Implications in Nigeria, An Assessment of Public Policy
Response to agricultural productivity and competitiveness.

With funding from DFID, provided technical assistance to the House of

Representatives Committee on Agriculture through briefing papers,
working sessions, sector documentation/reviews and expert

Carried out the Nigeria country analysis for the West African Common
Agricultural Policy Framework

LOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ACTION

Intervention Objectively Verifiable Sources and

logic Indicators of verifica
General What are the general objectives the action What are the key indicators What are the source
Objective will contribute to? related to these general information for these
s 1. To provide basic education which objectives?
will help agricultural practices of Community leaders,
rural farmers 1. Number of Farmers who Kingsmen/clan head
2. To create sustainable livelihood enroll for the project co-operatives create
sources inline with the SDGs 2. Number of
1,2,3,8 and 13. 3. Number of women and
3. To create awareness on the youths who enroll for the
economic value and benefits of training as a source of livelihood
agriclture
Specific What specific objective the action must What indicators show in detail What sources of info
Objective reach to contribute to the global that the objective of the action and can be gathered
objectives? has been reached? the methods for colle
information?
1. To create sustainable livelihood Indicators have to be SMART
sources among the vulnerable (Specific, Measurable, The major source of
poor farmers thus eradicate Achievable, Relevant) is literature review. H
poverty and hunger among them preliminary study wi
and their children. (Sustainable 1. conducted in the loc
Development Goal 1,2,3,8,13) the project take to a
2. Farmers training on new farming 2. information. The me
innovations, marketing strategies, collection will be FD
cooperatives, product questionnaires.
transportation channels, farm
management (accounting,
savings, cost analysis etc), access
to small loans, access to quality
farm inputs and processing.
3. Training rural women on small
3.
businesses to increase their
standards of living.
4. Increasing labour force for 4.
agriculture through small
scholarships for children of
farmers

Expected The results are accomplishments that will What indicators allow to verify What are the source
results help achieve the specific objective. What and measure that the action has information for these
are the expected results? (Number these reached the expected results?
results R1; R2; )
R1.
R1: Their standard of living will change as R1.
they will be able to afford their basic
needs,
R2.
R2: They would be in a position to get R2.
suitable medical treatment,
R3.
R3.
R3: Other parts of the communities who
observe our project activities can be
motivated positively,

R4: Rural urban migration will be R4.

reduced drastically.

Activities What are the key activities to implement, Means: What are the source
to develop and in which order to produce the What are the means required to information on the p
expected results? (Group the activities by implement these activities, for the action?
results, R1a1; R2a1.) example staff, equipment,
training, studies, supplies, Policy briefs,
R1a1: Training on Agricultural praticies operational installations, etc.? Round table discuss
How and where to purchase the important stake hold
quality farm inputs at a Staff: To provide training, design Presentation of infor
reasonable prices for get better and create the training content, necessary Agricltura
profits. plan and implement the daily
 The various methods of farming running activities Costs
and soil types
The use of agrochemicals Equipments: projectors, What are the costs o
printers, farming tools, their nature?
R2a2: Training on Consumer behaviour
which will increase their income and
enable them access to basic amenities Supplies: Printing paper,
such as good education and health for markers, field trips,
their families
How to satisfy the customer (The
pleasing manner, the way to
receive them, how best to talk to
them and how to behave with
them etc.,)
Marketing methods information
and distribution channels
Importance of Self Help Groups
Formation,
Importance of Savings activity,
Repayment of revolving loan
amount in the stipulated time
period.

R3a3: Community mobilization and

sensitization for further understanding of
the project. A total of 100
participants/farmers between the ages of
20 60 years will be mobilised to be
gainfully engaged in the training. These
farmers are mostly subsistence farmers,
unemployed youths and marginalised
women.

R4a4: Skill Development Training

Programme. With the intervention of
professionals, this can encourage more
youths to stay in the rural area and
engage in full time agriculture.
The professionals will give adequate
training to the farmers on the specified
areas of interest. Mobilisation of
Professionals from Afriheritage and the
various areas of interest; agriculture,
cooperative societies, business,
economics, accounting and finance.