CONSULTATIVE INTERNATIONAL CASHEW COUNCIL

(CICC)

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION (CPA)

1. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

The Consultative International Cashew Council (CICC) is an intergovernmental organization established on November 17, 2016 in Abidjan, whose mission is to serve the community of member countries through promotion, advocacy, knowledge sharing, innovation, partnership and to provide platforms for discussion on issues of global importance in cashew value chains. It now includes twelve (12) Member States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

The CICC has two permanent bodies, the Council of Ministers (CM) and the Executive Secretariat (SE) and three non-permanent bodies, including the College of Agricultural Production (CPA). The latter, which is the forum for discussing and formulating policies relating to agricultural production; it guides the Organization on economic and agricultural issues of cashew that have an impact on the development of the sector.

Installed in its second term on February 11, 2026, in Grand Bassam, Cote d’Ivoire, the CPA has developed and validated its annual action plan. One of the priority activities included in this plan is the realization of a “Study on the capitalization of good practices in the various member countries of the CICC”. In this context, and as part of the implementation of the RSA-CICC Project N°81318784 PN. 21.2199.4-506.00 funded by GIZ, budget line 2.12 “Support for the capitalization of agronomic achievements and cashew research and development”, the CICC plans to mobilize this funding to recruit a specialist to conduct this study.

It is in this context that the CPA is launching these Terms of Reference (ToR) to recruit one or more consultants to conduct this study.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objective of the study is to identify, document and capitalize on good agricultural practices, innovations and technologies promoted in CICC member countries with a view to improving cashew production and productivity and promoting their dissemination at the regional level.

Specifically, the study should:

•       Identify and document good agricultural practices in each of the CICC member countries;

•       Identify and analyze technical and technological innovations (improved varieties, cultivation techniques, mechanization, digital tools, etc.) adopted or being tested in the cashew sector;

•       Assess the impact and relevance of these practices and innovations on production, quality and producers’ incomes;

•       Propose a framework for the dissemination and scaling of best practices and innovations identified within member countries;

•       To make strategic recommendations to the CAP and the CICC to integrate these lessons into their policies and programmes.

3. EXPECTED RESULTS

At the end of the study, the expected results are:

1.    A detailed state of play report describing good agricultural practices and innovations and technologies by member country, with a comparative analysis;

2.    A structured database (or capitalization sheet) referencing the practices and innovations identified, with their conditions for success and replication;

3.    A practical guide or reference document for producers, producer organizations and decision-makers, which can be popularized in member countries;

4.    A dissemination and scale-up plan with operational recommendations to the ACC and CICC;

5.    A final report validated by the CAP and submitted to the CICC before 31 October 2026.

4. GEOGRAPHICAL AND THEMATIC SCOPE

The study will cover the twelve (12) member countries of the CICC: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. The consultant will propose an adapted methodology allowing a representative coverage of all countries, taking into account logistical and budgetary constraints.

The study should cover the following themes:

•       Cultural practices (planting, maintenance, pruning, fertilization, pest control, harvesting and post-harvest);

•       Access to and use of quality agricultural inputs (improved seeds (grafted seed, polyclonal seed), fertilizers, registered pesticides);

•       Agricultural mechanization adapted to cashew farms;

•       Digital technologies and decision support tools (mobile apps, marketplace platforms, etc.);

•       Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Practices;

•       Organization and capacity building of producers and their organizations;

•       Financing and access to financial models for producers.

5. METHODOLOGY

The consultant(s) will propose a rigorous and participatory methodology that may include, but is not limited to:

•       A systematic document review (project reports, scientific publications, data from national ministries and institutions, CICC reports, etc.);

•       Online surveys of a list of contacts from CICC member countries identified by the CPA (producers, farmers’ organizations, CPA members, CICC Focal Points, agricultural extension services, research institutions, technical and financial partners);

•       Field visits, demonstration and experimental sites in at least one country representative of cashew production;

•       A comparative analysis and classification of practices and innovations according to their level of maturity, impact and potential for dissemination.

The detailed methodology will be submitted and validated by the CPA/CICC before the actual start of the study.

6. CONSULTANT PROFILE

The study will be entrusted to an individual consultant or a consulting firm/consortium with the following qualifications:

•       Minimum Bac+5 level diploma in agronomy, rural development, agricultural economics, or related disciplines;

•       Strong experience (at least 10 years) in conducting studies or research in the agricultural sector in West Africa and/or Sub-Saharan Africa;

•       Proven knowledge of the cashew sector and its actors in the CICC member countries;

•       Demonstrated experience in experience capitalization and knowledge management in an agricultural development context;

•       Proficiency in qualitative and quantitative survey tools;

•       Proven writing and communication skills in French (fluency in English and/or Portuguese is an asset given the linguistic diversity of the member countries);

•       Ability to work in a multicultural context and meet strict deadlines.

•       Experience with African intergovernmental organizations;

•       Network established with actors in the cashew sector in member countries;

•       Knowledge of digital platforms and agricultural innovation tools.

7. DELIVERABLES

The deliverables expected from the consultant are:

(D = date of signature of the contract with the consultant)

8. DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The mission will be entrusted to a Senior Consultant, in view of the level of expertise required for the conduct of the study, it will begin from the holding of the scoping session between the Consultant and the monitoring team and must not exceed a maximum of thirty (30) man-days.

The Consultant must propose, in his technical offer, a detailed timetable specifying the distribution of man-days in line with the expected deliverables and the deadlines set.

9. ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CAC

As part of this study, the Collège de la Production Agricole (CPA) will fully assume the following responsibilities:

·         Proposal and submission of ToR to the CICC for validation;

·         Launch and management of the call for applications for the recruitment of the consultant(s);

·         Participation in the selection of the consultant(s) on the basis of technical and financial criteria;

·         Technical monitoring of the implementation of the study throughout the process;

·         Review and validation of interim deliverables (inception report, interim report);

·         Organization of possible consultation or restitution workshops;

·         Validation of the final report before submission to the CICC.

10. APPLICATION FILE

All applicants must submit a complete application including the following documents:

A. Technical offer:

•       A letter of motivation addressed to the Executive Secretary CICC;

•       A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae (or profile of key experts for a firm), highlighting relevant experience;

•       A ToR understanding note;

•       A detailed methodology and a work plan with a timeline;

•       At least three (3) references from similar assignments carried out in the last ten (10) years (with the client’s name, subject, amount and contacts).

B. Financial offer:

•       A detailed budget (fees, travel expenses, perdiem, communication costs, production costs of deliverables, etc.);

•       Any element that makes it possible to assess the quality-price ratio of the proposal.

The technical and financial bids will have to be submitted separately (two separate files).

11. SELECTION CRITERIA

The evaluation of the proposed financial offer involves the horizontal and vertical verification of the offer proposed by the consultant in order to confirm the amount of the offer and on this basis considered this offer for a rate of 30%.

The overall score of the evaluation is obtained according to the following formula:

The bidder with the highest overall score at the end of the process is the provisional

 successful bidder.

12. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES AND DEADLINES

Applications must be submitted exclusively electronically to the e-mail address relationspubliques@ciccashew.org no  later than 10/06/20262026 17:00 GMT.

The subject line of the email must include the following reference:

“Application: Capitalization study of good practices”

Any application that is incomplete, submitted after the deadline or does not comply with the above terms and conditions will be automatically rejected.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

All documents, data and information collected as part of this study are the exclusive property of the CPA and the CICC. The consultant undertakes to maintain the confidentiality of the information to which he or she will have access and not to disclose it to third parties without the prior written authorization of the CPA. All the deliverables produced will be protected by copyright and will belong to the CPA/CICC, which will be able to use them freely for the purposes of promotion, dissemination and development of the cashew sector.