Consultancy for Development of User Requirements, Specifications, and Implementation Guidelines for Information Sharing Platform

1.0 Background and context

The Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) region of Northern Kenya is a vast and heterogeneous region, characterized by extremes of poverty and climate change related risks. With limited investment from the Kenyan government compared to high potential agricultural areas, the ASALs face significant environmental and socio-economic challenges, exacerbated by high rates of insecurity and conflict, poor infrastructure, low Human Development Index (HDI) numbers, thin markets, and a generally weak enabling environment. Crippling gender norms and patriarchal social systems and patterns of inheritance limit the influence of women, youth, and other disadvantaged groups in accessing and controlling resources such as land and livestock, and limit their decision-making power in community affairs.The region is further defined and bounded by its complexity: ethnic divisions, clannism, cultural differences, shifting political affiliations, religious extremism, herd and pastoral mobility, influx of groups from neighbouring counties and countries, arms proliferation, and high levels of conflict driven by compound combinations of the above all invest the landscape with added complexity at every turn. Climate change is having an outsize impact on the region, and climate projections indicate that the region may become hotter and drier in coming decades. In recent years, weather variability has seen increase in frequency of extreme weather events such as drought and flooding has risen significantly, enabling the spread of water and vector-borne diseases, loss of forests and wetland ecosystems, land degradation and desertification, and driving scarcity of potable water. These recurring climate-related shocks and stresses trigger humanitarian crises, threatening resilience and livelihoods of the local populations. Trends of increased urbanization, sedentarisation and land use changes across the region have contributed to the loss of traditional livelihoods and social structures. Continued high birth rate across the region have resulted in a “population bulge” of young people, leading to an increased demand for food and driving additional loss of land, from a pastoral perspective, for food production; instead of a demographic dividend, the region’s inability to absorb the extra population growth is turning it into a demographic burden.

In order to enhance resilience and adaptation by local communities to these extreme events, in the counties of Marsabit, Isiolo and Samburu, Mercy Corps and its consortium partners, Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) and Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente (ITC), present Resilient Approaches in Natural ranGeland Ecosystems (RANGE), a 5 year, 15 million euro programme with the aim of strengthening communities to improve sustainable economic and social development in a well-managed landscape in the three ASAL counties of Marsabit, Isiolo and Samburu. RANGE is designed to reach an approximate total figure of 569,019 (Direct and Indirect beneficiaries) small-scale pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, male and female, through producer associations, community structures, women and youth groups, as well as government stakeholders, private sector actors and development partners.

RANGE proposes an integrated package of activities and interventions that will: strengthen rangeland management and encourage regenerative practices, ensuring migratory and sedentary livelihoods can peacefully co-exist; improve herd management and market access for small-scale producers; strengthen the institutions and policy frameworks that govern the livestock sector, and prioritize the development of robust spatio-temporal data sets to strengthen outcomes and help mitigate the impact of climate change and prevent further land and rangeland degradation.

RANGE programme is built on the premise that transformative, inclusive growth in the livestock sector requires a commitment to a systems strengthening approach that will address root causes of disfunction and encourages local capacity building and partnerships. Our approach is integrated and holistic, operating at a landscape level to capture people, animals, and information flows across an interconnected ecosystem, and relies on extensive collaboration and coordination with a wide array of partnerships. Activities are designed to reinforce key resilience capacities at the community, ward, and county levels, including access to productive assets and information; rangeland resilience; women’s empowerment; financial and social capital, and social behavior change. RANGE will back all interventions with a focus on quality data, and support resilience of the intervention’s goals with a Programme Modifier to respond to unexpected shocks and stresses and ensure continuation of programme activities.

The regional economic bloc Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) represents the 10 ASAL counties and is a leader in championing devolution within the region, promoting cooperation, coordination, and information flows between counties and with the national government. FCDC has extensive experience working closely with governance structures within the livestock sector, Natural Resources Management (NRM) including water, land, range, and other socio-economic, environmental fields. FCDC seeks to tap into its experience in the region and with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN) through the RANGE programme to develop and strengthen information collection, storage and sharing platform in the Programme counties and build on the learning to expand to the rest of FCDC counties. The strategy aims at strengthening the information storage and sharing across the sectors for future use and reference in decision making in the region.

2. Task purpose

The RANGE programme document under outcome 3 envisages development and use of a Web-based knowledge and data repository platform. This is further reinforced by the need to develop a robust data repository supporting county stakeholders to be able to capture and store critical information for access and decision.

The information sharing platform will serve as a tool to foster a culture of information sharing among the various actors and provide a unified platform for sharing and accessing county through information outputs including scientific among other emerging study areas. The platform will also ensure that all information collected is archived and is ease of searching and finding online, easily accessible from a central repository to facilitate evidence-based decision making and practice.

There is a wealth of accumulated knowledge among the ASALs development actors, which needs to be consolidated and made available under the central repository or clearing house. The platform seeks to address the non-storage of accumulated knowledge, this knowledge is hard to access for practitioners and County staff, making it difficult to learn from existing successes and failures related to the effective management of natural resources, climate change adaptation among other thematic fields.The information sharing platform will provide the necessary infrastructure for collection, analysis and consolidation and centralisation of the existing vast volumes of data and information, for fast and authenticated access by partners and practitioners for enhanced collaboration, communication and learning.

The availability of the central repository calls for collective efforts in consolidating the data cross all sectors, stakeholders while respecting the established data sharing protocols both at national and county levels. Though preliminary needs assessment reports for the counties of Marsabit, Isiolo and Samburu are available, the consultancy firm or consultatn in consultation with the RANGE programme Manager and the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will assess the adequacy of these reports. They will identify any gaps and incorporate the findings into the stakeholder engagement plan to address the identified needs.

2.1 Overall objective

Develop and sustainably manage an information collection, storage and sharing platform in the FCDC counties starting with the programme counties of Marsabit, Samburu and Isiolo and thereafter expand to the rest of FCDC counties.

2.1.1 Specific objectives

Development of a Knowledge Management, Information Storage and Sharing (KMISS) system. The following specific objectives will be guiding the process;

1. Mapping and understanding different stakeholders and associated information needs to inform the platform scope
2. Enhance the capacities of FCDC and consortium partners, national and county levels teams to be able to manage and sustain the KM&ISS functions.
3. Develop the KM&ISS software facilitating the information collection, storage and sharing
4. Operationalize the repository in the counties of Marsabit, Samburu and Isiolo counites and thereafter expand to the other 7 FCDC counties.

2.2 Assignment Scope

The consultancy firm or consultant is expected to actively engage the FCDC CEO, RANGE team ( Programme Manager and the M&E Officer who is the focal point) on the execution and delivery of the repository. The rest of the consortium partners of Mercy Corps and ITC will also be engaged. Other stakeholders (national and County levels) will also be engaged at different stages of the project to understand the available information on diverse thematic fields of sustainable development, Disaster risk reduction, Climate change, socio-economic and other thematic areas information flow, needs and gaps among National and County stakeholders. The target stakeholders for the proposed platform goes beyond the above mentioned but the consultant is expected to work closely with RANGE team identify the key stakeholders. The information may be in the form of;

• Research/journals papers related to rangelands and pastoral resilience
• Reports from different sectors
• Development plans for example County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP)
• Tagging of documents in the database for ease of user search
• Survey data sets/statistics for example Cash transfers household’s registration
• Inventories, for example including details in existing rangeland interventions by government and projects (geographic location, extent, timing)
• Maps for example livelihoods, grazing, hazard atlas maps
• Agreements (intra and inter county) or government to government
• Documentaries on different areas (both narrative and media like videos).

The technology stack is foreseen to comprise the central processing unit (server), field stations linked to the central one, and diverse system users at both national and county levels. The consultant is thus expected through the needs assessments and user engagements to develop comprehensive technology stack and adopted through the inception phase. The server management and linkage to the other units of FCDC, County units and where necessary national sector can thus be managed comprehensively and sustainably.

The consultancy firm or consultant is expected to work with the technical team to identify the possible risks and the management mechanisms considering sustainability and management aspects. The long-term sustainability strategies ensuring that the system is integrated into other FCDC, county sectors, and other stakeholders existing systems where applicable . Systems trouble shooting, at both levels, accompanying user manuals development and training modules development to ease usability of the system should be clear in the proposed package.

The users’ engagement plan should consist of detailed strategies to continuously update the end-users throughout the development and post-deployment stages. This is to ensure that the system is user-friendly and meets the needs of all stakeholders. Training and Support should be an integrated accompaniment targeting diverse user groups.

Data management and quality control should be in cooperated and key procedures safeguarding data and information standards stipulated in the guidelines and manuals. The manuals should be comprehensive to detail the specific approaches for data validation, quality control processes, and regular audits to maintain the integrity of the information repository. This should include the core team to be involved in data and information quality control and their specific role.

Stakeholders engagement and partnership is a critical component of the project and should be integrated in the proposal defining the roles of each stakeholder in decision making and contributions to the system’s content. Stakeholders engagement is expected to lead to the potential collaboration and partnership with other entities or leveraging existing data-sharing platforms to enhance system capabilities. For example, other knowledge management systems that exist within the national agencies or county governments for example the https://knowledgeweb.ndma.go.ke/.

Specifically, the consultant will be required to do the following;

1. Review current information and data sharing practices among the key target counties of Marsabit, Isiolo and Samburu stakeholders.
2. In close consultation with the assignment implementation RANGE team and county planning units, develop and administer appropriate tools for an information needs assessment among relevant FCDC, county sectors and national sector (where necessary) staff as well as staff of recommended partners/stakeholders.
3. Review the data management protocol among different stakeholders both at the national and county levels with clear responsibilities, reporting lines and feedback;
4. Review the reporting needs of FCDC and key stakeholders in terms of the type of information generated, content, process and presentation taking into consideration the varying needs, uses and formats of the various stakeholders;
5. Propose and develop appropriate system based on user information needs, scale of information systems, data gathering processes, and the potential of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure for implementing the data management, storage and sharing platform.
6. Develop the conceptual design for the proposed system.
7. Prepare a technical design document and workflow analysis for all the processes including use cases for the different identified user types and groups.
8. Prepare a comprehensive user requirements document for the proposed system.
9. Prepare a comprehensive specification document for the proposed system.
10. Provide details of costs, time and effort required for system implementation including resources associated with post implementation support.
11. Propose methods and details of possible ways and means of integrating the existing systems other potential systems likely to be developed like stakeholders’ inventory, Livestock marketing system data bases among others.
12. Clear roadmap to bring all the envisaged system users to speed on usability of the developed system
13. Identified the risks in implementation of such systems and suggest/ recommend plans to mitigate / manage the risks.
14. Prepare and submit preliminary Project Plan proposal describing, among other things, the methods & human and material resources that will be required to design, develop and implement the proposed solution, as well as the estimated timelines for each major activity.
15. The Preliminary Project Plan should also state the Consultant’s assessment of the major responsibilities of the Purchaser and any other involved third parties in System supply and installation, as well as proposed means for coordinating activities by each of the involved parties to avoid delays or interference.

3. Results and Expected Deliverables to be achieved by the consultant

The consultancy firm or consultant will provide the following deliverables:

1. Inception report detailing the program of work against the consultants terms of reference.
2. A comprehensive information needs assessment report that outlines the nature of information required and by whom, source (s), frequency, preferred formats, tools as well as gaps.
3. A detailed Software Requirement Specification Document (SRSD) that has;
   1. A clear identification and specification of each proposed module of the KM&ISS platform.
   2. A well documented advice on software system design considerations with the intended system architecture, hardware and software resource requirements well outlined.
   3. An identification of the intended users of the system with properly formulated use-case diagrams outlining possible views and “walk-throughs” through the system by the identified system user groupings.
4. Detailed terms of Reference (ToR) for the development of the KM&ISS platform.

3.0 Duration

The consultancy duration is 30expert days over the period of February /2025 for results/ deliverables 1-4 and a further 30 expert days spread over the development period of the system.

4.0 Requirements

4.1 Personnel Expert requirements

This consultancy envisages one expert. The profile of the key expert is expected to be as follow:-

Qualifications and Skills

• A Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Information Technology, Information Systems, Mathematics, Telecommunications, Software engineering
• Masters degree related to Natural Resources Management, Project Management, development studies, Climate change, Communications, Computer Science, Information systems, Information Technology or related fields would be added advantage.
• At least 10 years experience in the Systems Analysis, Systems Specifications, Systems Documentation and Software Development with at least 3 years of software project management experience.
• Experience in systems modeling and the development of use cases using any of the softwares/ tools used to conceptualize and construct systems in business and IT development.
• At least 10 years’ experience in development of systems supporting ASAL policies, programmes, knowledge management systems will be an added advantage.

General professional experience

• Fluency in both spoken and written English
• Excellent communication, report writing and software systems technical specification and documentation skills.
• Ability to identify and develop project plan documents understandable to both non-technical users and technical users including software developers.
• Experience in the translation of user requirements to systems specification documents.

Specific professional experience

• Extensive consulting experience in the area of Project Management, Process improvement, Systems development, System implementations and Management.
• Knowledge of sustainable development and food security sector in Kenya, agriculture, dry land environments/landscapes and livelihoods.
• Minimum of 10 year working experience in Business systems analysis with project management experience
• Extensive and demonstrable knowledge of web applications development, web systems hosting and database technologies for centrally hosted and desperately accessed systems.
• Knowledge of networking platforms, server and hosting technologies and operating systems.
• Qualification/ skills in project Management and/or information systems audit
• Proven ability to engage with different business stakeholders to gather requirements and translate the same to requirements documents.
• Provide at least 5 reference sites pure consultancy of similar kind, two of which should be on Information/data repository systems specification documents development. Provide brief description of the overall project, what methodology/frameworks/tools were used to study the client organization and mapping of the processes, evaluation and selection methodology, and Client name if reference.
• Provide names, addresses, contacts and details of all the major clients in the areas relevant to the current assignment.

4.2 Exclusion Clause

Extra days of consultancy have been included for their response to the queries from the systems development process and short period support services to the user groups.