October 22, 2010

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS WORKSHOP IN DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE Preliminary Terms of Reference Fall 2010-Spring 2011

Project Title: Scaling an Integrated Village-based Social Enterprise in Aquaculture and Adult Education in Senegal: the Tostan-Yarum Jёn Model

Client/Host Agency: Tostan and Yarum Jёn

Background: Tostan is a US 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization. Based in Senegal, West Africa, Tostan is dedicated to educating and empowering Africans who have had little or no access to formal schooling. Tostan works primarily in rural regions to provide basic education and increase community engagement in projects related to health and hygiene, child welfare, human rights and democracy, the environment, and economic development.

Tostan's Founder and Executive Director, Molly Melching, began working in Senegal in the 1970s. Over 30 years later, Tostan remains committed to community-led grassroots development through the hundreds of African staff members who work in collaboration with volunteers, interns, partners, and supporters around the globe. Recognized as a leader in non-formal education and community development, Tostan is now expanding our operations to meet increased demand across Africa.

Yarum Jёn, or ‘raising fish’ in Wolof, is a sustainable aquaculture- based social enterprise registered as a GIE (Groupement d’Interet Economique) in Senegal, which started as a pilot project in the village of Gniling Mbao in the Northern region of the Gandiol in 2007. The pilot was developed by one of Senegal’s eminent aquaculture experts with the support of the villagers and a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in the village six years earlier. Yarum Jёn launch their pilot project in partnership with Tostan with the belief that through Tostan’s non-formal education program, villagers would have the necessary foundation for training in sustainable tilapia farming and in running a social business.

Yarum Jёn’s fish farming has developed steadily alongside the successful implementation of the three-year adult non-formal education module delivered by Tostan. With an observable increase in villagers' capacity for literacy, human rights, democracy, health education, microfinance, and basic techniques of fish culture, villagers have become the enterprise’s expert producers and sellers. In addition, the village council, reinforced through Tostan's democracy training, has organized to seek sustainable solutions to their most pressing issues, such as access to potable water for themselves and the surrounding villages, and a strategy to slow the serious problem of coastal erosion. In its sustainability phase, Yarum Jёn’s revenues are slowly being re-invested into the enterprise and any profits are invested in the microfinance fund created by Tostan. Women villagers are using the opportunity of selling their harvested fish to surrounding villagers to share their knowledge of sustainable aquaculture, education, democracy, health and human rights. The aquaculture scaling-up strategy is being developed in a completely integrated fashion with Tostan’s program of reinforcement of local community capacities (programme de renforcement des capacités communitaires – PRCC). The pilot project is now moving into its sustainability phase, preparing to scale-up to 10 surrounding villages.

A related challenge is to measure the pilot’s sustainability and impact, both as a social business (Yarum Jёn) and as a component of an NGO’s broader socio-economic development program (Tostan). Thus, as part of the scaling-up process, Tostan and Yarum Jën need help to develop a simple but effective framework for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) that can be mainstreamed into the village’s daily, weekly and monthly activities, as well as integrated into national and regional operations.

Tostan and Yarum Jën would like the assistance of a SIPA team to, first, analyze the current state of this integrated social enterprise (i.e. integrated within Tostan’s operations, as well as integrated into village life); and second, develop appropriate systems and materials necessary for scaling-up the current pilot operation, particularly from an ecosystems approach, looking at the links between social structures, environment, health, transportation, the market, and at the internal finance/operations, governance and capacities of the main stakeholders (villagers) and funding partners. The scaling-up proposal would also include recommendations for an appropriate M&E framework.

Objectives: In both French and English, the SIPA team will:

1. Develop a strategic proposal for expanding the current pilot operation into 10 villages (initial review & market analysis to identify and elaborate the technical/economic standards and norms of fish production/consumption; map current operations, the financial and social value of the social enterprise, and any risks/barriers to scaling-up; propose indicators). 2. As part of this proposal, and using an eco-systems approach, develop an integrated, community-driven (Tostan-Yarum Jёn) M&E framework that will track financial and social impact indicators, report progress, flag potential risks and propose recommendations to diverse stakeholders.

Tasks: The expected tasks under this assignment include:

. Through desk research and existing field data, analyze the supply chain for fish both in and between local market hubs; identify and elaborate the technical/economic standards and norms of fish production and consumption; . Meet with local stakeholders, conduct key informant interviews and analyze their roles and levels of engagement going forward as potential partners; . Working closely with Tostan staff in Thiès and Yarum Jen Director in Saint Louis, employ participatory methods (interviews, focus groups, structured field observation) within an ecosystems approach to develop a set of new, results-oriented social and financial impact indicators for monitoring and evaluating the integration of the social enterprise with Tostan. These indicators would be simple enough for committee members to track and report to Tostan and Yarum Jen; and . From a synthesis of findings, develop a set of operational recommendations for the sustainable and successful scaling-up of Yarum Jёn -Tostan that will encompass the environmental, economic, social/political, institutional and technical challenges facing the villagers, other concerned stakeholders, and the client.

Deliverables: The expected deliverables include (1) a detailed workplan; (2) two interim progress reports, one by February 1, 2011 and one by March 31, 2011; (3) a draft outline of the team’s final report; (4) a draft final report by mid-April 2011; (5) a final report by early May 2011; (6) presentation of initial findings to Tostan and Yarum Jën staff at the end of the team’s March 2011 field visit; and (7) a final presentation of the team’s findings and recommendations at SIPA in late April 2011.

The final report will include the following:

 Strategic proposal for scaling-up the pilot which a) analyzes the economic, social and technical standards for sustainable fish culture in cages, b) a market analysis using an eco-systems approach, c) a stakeholder analysis using a competition / collaboration / risk analysis, and d) an integrated M&E framework with financial and social impact indicators; and  Recommendations for the client and the multiple stakeholders concerned with the scaling-up of the Tostan-Yarum Jёn model .

Requirements: Ideal candidates for the project team (of approximately six students) should possess the following interest, experience and skills:

Language proficiency: Fluency or professional proficiency in French (at least 4 team members); knowledge of Wolof an advantage. Country or regional experience: Knowledge of African development; experience working with villages, communities, rural NGOs, small businesses, local government; professional experience working in the field in West Africa, highly desirable. Technical expertise: Familiarity or experience with social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, fisheries, aquaculture, farming, BOP business strategies, social marketing, hybrid value chain analysis, participatory methods, adult education and training, and/or public-private partnerships. Applied research skills: Ability to research and synthesize data on economic and social policy, small business and community development, M&E; interest in sustainable development, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, ecosystem analysis and natural resources management Personal qualities: The most important qualities for this project: 1) resourcefulness – the ability to work with what the information you have (i.e. incomplete data) and be committed to delivering results, 2) professional maturity, adaptability, a sense of humor 3) cultural optimism and problem- solving 4) critical thinking 5) and tenacity.

Logistics: The student team will conduct desk research and informational interviews in New York City beginning in November 2010. Subject to further consultation with Tostan and Yarum Jën, the team will conduct field research in Senegal in early January and March 2011. The team will complete its final report by early May 2011.

Initial expectations for the team’s field work include:

. Two weeks travel (2/3 people) in January: one week in Dakar and one week in the village; and . Two weeks travel (2/3 people) in March: one week the village, one week in Saint Louis.

Tostan and Yarum Jën will provide the team with relevant background documents, and will provide logistical support as needed for the team’s field research.