MESPT-MGT-04 -2025 – Consultancy to Facilitate Development of MESPT 2026 – 2030 Strategic Plan.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

TENDER IS ELIGIBLE TO KENYAN REGISTERED FIRMS ONLY.

Bids submitted by individuals will be rejected.

Terms of Reference (TOR) for Consultancy Firms to Facilitate the Development of MESPT 2026 – 2030 Strategic Plan.

About MESPT

Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT) is a development organization that was established in 2002 by the government of Kenya and the European Union. In 2007 the EU bequeathed its Founder Rights and Status to DANIDA.

The main goal of the Trust is to promote economic growth, employment creation and poverty alleviation through the provision of financial services to financial intermediaries’ development of agricultural value chains and market systems which is underpinned by the principles of sustainable natural resource management (green growth) and enhancing food safety systems. MESPT has implemented its mandate through two segments; grant development & implementation and financial services. grants have largely focused on value chain and market systems development while financial services have been geared towards the wholesale lending with a focus on creating financial inclusion in value chain development.

Key workstreams include building the capacity of value chain actors, increasing agricultural productivity and food safety, facilitation of access to markets and finance and Green Transformation. MESPT promotes the uptake of green technologies and services that contribute to a greener economy as well as advocating for an enabling environment in the food safety sub sector in Kenya. Our vision is to build a more prosperous society, while our mission is to provide sustainable business development and financial services to smallholder farmers and Agri enterprises in Kenya.

Background

Since the commissioning of the 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan MESPT has increased its focus on Agri enterprise Development, Financial Inclusion, Agricultural productivity &Food Safety, and Green Transformation for Micro Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs). In addition, the access to credit and financial inclusion is now more targeted and focused on facilitating the growth of the agricultural & green portfolio for Financial Service Providers, increasing access to credit for Smallholder farmers and catalyzing job creation. The 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan had 4 strategic objectives. This includes:

1. Facilitate the establishment and growth of 100 sustainable Agri enterprises and integrate at least 75,000 smallholder farmers in targeted Value Chains in Kenya.
2. Grow MESPT niche in financial access and inclusion from the current Kes. 1 B to Kes. 4B and increase access to credit for 20,000 smallholder farmers
3. Increase agricultural productivity and food safety for 75,000 smallholder farmers.
4. Increase awareness and adoption of green technologies in targeted value chains.

Cross cutting issues include:

Gender equity by increasing the access of women to and control of productive resources, improving women’s economic gains which ultimately results in improved economic status of households.

Youth Empowerment through integrating 30% youth into all programme interventions across the various value chains, identifying business opportunities and supporting the youth to take up these opportunities.

Technology integrating technology in its value chain development approach.

Human Rights by integrating the PANT principles of Participation, Accountability, Non-Discrimination, and Transparency.

Expected Results for the 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan

• 300,000MT produce aggregated and sold by farmers
• 75,000 smallholder farmers reached and accessing markets
• 100 Agri SMEs capacity strengthened to integrate smallholder farmers in their value chains
• Kes. 10 Billion sales turnover for targeted value chains
• 5,000 Decent jobs created
• Kes. 4 Billion credit disbursed
• 75,000 smallholder farmers with 20% increase in productivity
• 17 Counties with capacity strengthened in food safety
• 7,500 smallholder farmers certified and accessing international markets
• 10,000 Acres land under conservation
• 10% loan book in green loans
• 40% Women and 30% Youth inclusion in all interventions

1. Rationale for the development of a new strategic plan 2026 – 2030
   1. Expiry of the Current Strategic Plan (2021-2025)

The current strategic plan is set to expire at the end of 2025, and a new plan is essential to guide the organization’s direction beyond this point. The expiry of the current strategic plan presents an opportunity to reassess the organization’s strategic objectives, vision, mission, and external environment. Without a new plan in place, the organization risks losing direction, missing growth opportunities, and/or failing to address emerging national and global challenges.

1. Changing External Environment

• Economic Shifts: The business and economic environment in which MESPT operates is constantly evolving. The market dynamics, inflation rates, technological advancements, and environmental challenges necessitate a forward-looking approach to ensure that MESPT remains relevant and responsive to the needs of microenterprises and their ecosystems.
• Post-Pandemic Recovery: The aftermath of COVID-19 has created new challenges for small businesses and microenterprises. A fresh strategic plan would allow MESPT to address these issues, whether it’s digital transformation, access to finance, or building resilience.
• Technological Advancements: The pace of technological development, including automation, AI, data and digital transformation, is changing business models across industries.
• Environmental Sustainability: With increasing pressure on sustainability, the organization needs to redefine its environmental goals and practices in line with international standards and expectations.
• Youth and Employment: The growing youth population presents both challenges and opportunities for the agricultural sector.
• Global Economic Trends: Lessons from global trends, including the rise of green technologies, the need for inclusive growth, and changing consumer behavior towards local and sustainable products.
• Local to Global Transition: Small businesses are now more empowered to expand beyond their local markets, and MESPT can assist them in scaling up, exporting, and tapping into the global economy.
• Geopolitical Environment; with the world being more interconnected with technology and shifts in geopolitical environment significantly affects the economic, trade, foreign relations with other countries

2. Shifting Stakeholder Expectations:

• Funders and Donors: The expectations of donors, governments, and other key stakeholders have evolved. A revised strategic plan will align MESPT’s goals with the current priorities of these groups, ensuring continued support and meeting funding requirements.
• Donor Shift from Aid to Trade: The transition from aid to trade represents a strategic shift toward promoting self-sufficiency and sustainable development in low-income countries by encouraging economic growth and market integration. While this change offers new opportunities for both donor and recipient countries, it also introduces challenges that must be carefully managed to ensure trade benefits are distributed equitably and contribute to long-term development.
• Partnerships: The dynamics of partnerships with organizations such as NGOs, government agencies, and the private sector are evolving. The new strategy will allow MESPT to create effective frameworks for fostering innovative collaborations that optimize resource mobilization and enhance outcomes.

3. Internal Organizational Changes

The organization’s goals, capacity, and internal structures are undergoing significant changes. Since the development of the last strategic plan, various changes have occurred, including staffing, resource allocation, staff capabilities, and operational processes. These shifts need to be carefully considered in order to align the new strategic plan with the organization’s current strengths and weaknesses.

In particular, the restructuring of MESPT to make it more sustainable and to accommodate the separation of the Fund from the Trust is a critical factor. This restructuring will have a significant impact on the organizational framework and requires a careful alignment of staffing and roles to ensure smooth implementation. The separation of the grant & the financial services operations will also be a key focus in the strategic plan implementation period

Additionally, other considerations for the strategic plan include staffing and skills development, organizational culture and values, performance management, innovation and growth, market expansion (including the exploration of potential new geographies and cross-border opportunities), strategic partnerships, institutional capacity strengthening, and MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning) to drive operational excellence.

4. Aligning with Long-Term Vision

• The new strategic plan offers the chance to reevaluate and refine the long-term vision and mission of the organization. Whether there has been a shift in stakeholder expectations, market demands, or organizational priorities, the strategic plan needs to ensure alignment with the broader vision for the next decade like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Vision 2030; Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda and The Africa and Middle East Scaling up Africa’s Food Systems Transformation for Economic Development (SAFE) Initiative among others.
  1. Strengthening Inclusivity:
• Gender Equality and Social Inclusion: The need to structure inclusion of marginalized groups (women, youth, and persons with disabilities) in economic development. The new strategy will emphasize more inclusive approaches to empowering these groups within our work.
• Diversity in Business: As new forms of businesses (e.g., social enterprises, tech startups) continue to emerge, the strategy can diversify the types of businesses MESPT supports, increasing its relevance across different sectors.

The objective of the Consultancy

The consultant will lead and facilitate MESPT Board of Trustees, staff and partners in a participatory strategic planning process, ensuring a sense of ownership, engaging meaningfully with the

Stakeholders to deliver a five-year strategic plan for the period 2026-2030. The plan will focus on:

• Climate Adaptation and Mitigation: Identifying practical, scalable strategies for addressing climate change impacts, particularly in the context of agriculture and financial inclusion.
• Sustainable and inclusive Market Systems Development: Incorporating MESPT’s principles of sustainable and inclusive market systems to drive long-term change in agricultural and financial sectors.
• Value Chain Enhancement: Ensuring strategies align with value chain development to increase income, resilience, and market access for targeted communities.
• Sustainable Food System: Ensuring a food system that delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised. This means that: It is profitable throughout (economic sustainability); It has broad-based benefits for society (social sustainability); and it has a positive or neutral impact on the natural environment (environmental sustainability)

Scope of Work

The plan must address, amongst other things, the development of strong partnerships and resource mobilization initiatives and how to more effectively engage private sector, smallholder farmers and government agencies more meaningfully in the realization of MESPT’s mission and vision. The consultant will draw from any best practices within similar strategic plans for other n organizations with similar modus operandi as MESPT. Elements of the plan will include but not limited to the following:

1. Needs Assessment & Situation Analysis

1. Stakeholder Consultation & Engagement

2. Strategic Framework Development

3. Monitoring & Evaluation Framework

4. Risk Assessment & Mitigation

5. Budgeting for the Strategic Plan

   2. Resourcing and Funding the Strategic Plan

• Develop a resource mobilization plan

Final Strategic Plan Document

• Prepare the final MESPT 2026 – 2030 Strategic Plan, with clear guidelines on implementation, resource requirements, and partnerships.

  Deliverables

• Inception Report: Outlining the consultant’s approach, methodology, and work plan.

• Needs Assessment & Situation Analysis Report: Including findings from stakeholder consultations and research.

• External environment assessment and internal environment assessment of the stakeholder’s analysis.

• Draft Strategic Plan (2026 – 2030): With clear climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, market systems development approaches, and value chain enhancements with a MEAL Framework with specific indicators for assessing the effectiveness of climate strategies, market systems, and value chain interventions.

• Final Strategic Plan: Incorporating feedback from MESPT and stakeholders, with clear implementation strategies.

Timeline

The consultancy is expected to be completed over a period of 3-4 months. The anticipated timeline for the major milestones is as follows:

1. Needs assessment

2. Stakeholders’ consultation and engagement

3. To have a strong inclination towards adaptation.

4. Monitoring & Evaluation Framework

5. Risk Assessment & Mitigation

6. Costing the strategic Plan

7. Resourcing and funding the strategic plan

   Qualifications and Experience

The Lead Consultant should meet the following requirements:

• Education: Advanced Degree in Agricultural Economics, Development Economics, International Development, or a related field. A master’s in strategic management will be an added advantage.
• Experience:
  • At least 7 years of experience in strategic planning, climate change adaptation and mitigation, agricultural development, financial inclusion and Women and Youth Economic Development.
  • Demonstrated experience in market systems development and value chain enhancement in agriculture and financial sectors.
  • Strong knowledge of climate-smart agriculture practices and sustainable finance models.
• Skills:
  • Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills
  • Strong communication and report-writing skills.
  • Proficiency in data analysis, strategy development, and project management.
  • Knowledge of the East African context and regional climate challenges would be an advantage.
  • Possess knowledge in the general social, economic and political environment that influences agriculture and financial inclusion landscape in Kenya

1. Reporting and Supervision

The consultant will report directly to the MESPT CEO or a designated MESPT focal point. Regular updates and progress reports will be required throughout the consultancy.