Short Term Consultant for
Capacity Need Assessment of
Punjab Halal Development Agency to Set and Monitor Standards

USAID PEEP Project

Capacity Need Assessment of Punjab Halal Development Agency

Short Term Consultant for Capacity Need Assessment of Punjab Halal Development Agency to Set and Monitor Standards

The Punjab Enabling Environment Project (PEEP) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the Government of Punjab in improving business environment for the livestock, dairy, and horticulture sub-sectors. The project is working to build a strong business enabling and policy environment to help boost private sector investment and employment in the three sub-sectors.

USAID PEEP wants to develop the capacity of selected sector associations to assist them in developing performance solution packages that can help develop its human and institutional capacity. It requires the services of a short term consultant to carry out a comprehensive “Capacity Need Assessment” and in turn to develop the “Institutional Capacity Building Package” for Punjab Halal Development Agency (PHDA).

1.       Background:

Punjab is endowed with extensive horticulture and livestock potential but unlike other developing countries/regions with such potential, it has not yet been able to promote growth and alleviate poverty by exploiting its resources to the maximum extent possible. Our dairy and livestock sector is still at primitive stage and informal sector is contributing more than 90% of our meat and milk production. It is quite recent, that milk and meat production has gained attention of big investors, and new dairy farms and few calf fattening farms have popped up in Punjab. Government of Punjab (GoPb) is taking many policy measures to control and regulate the milk and meat sector, with the ultimate benefit of formal private sector local and foreign investors, who can come up with modern management, capital and technical know-how. Effective policy measures at the same time can ensure food safety for general public.

In its efforts to develop dairy, livestock and horticulture sector, Government of Punjab has established many new companies / authorities to work on specific functional areas where as many others are in the pipeline. The objective of some of these organizations is to introduce and monitor standards, in line with international best practices. These standards will help grow formal businesses in these sectors and in turn spur new investments. Moreover, standards will ensure food safety for consumers.

Since most of the newly established organizations are in its infancy stage, one of the interventions of PEEP is to work with such organizations to provide technical assistance to develop their capacity to set and monitor standards / regulations and in turn to train their staff members for setting and monitoring standards.

In this backdrop, services of an individual consultant are required to work with Punjab Halal Development Agency (PHDA) to undertake assignment as per details given in subsequent sections.

2.        Objective and Purpose of the Consultancy:

With the ultimate goal of developing the capacity of PHDA to set and monitor the standards of “Halal Food”, falling under horticulture, dairy and livestock sectors, for local and export sales; the objective of this consultancy is to conduct a “capacity need assessment” of PHDA to identify performance gaps and in turn develop the “capacity development initiative / performance solution package” including training needs at all levels, in order to capacitate PHDA for setting, execution and monitoring standards of Halal food.

3.       Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

• Conduct a background reading of all the relevant literature including but not limited to PEEP scope document, relevant sections of annual work plan, issued RFA, etc.

• Meet with PEEP project’s COP, and other relevant personnel as well as key stakeholders, including private and public sector players, involved in production, processing, slaughtering, local and export sales of meat to understand the national and international Halal meat regime and its standards requirements.

• Work in close coordination with PHDA for assessment of their human resources and institutional capacity, as well as national and international technical support / linkages, available to them for setting and monitoring standards.

• Submit a detailed report including, situational analysis, capacity need assessment, comprehensive institutional capacity development program of PHDA and final recommendations.

4.       Specific Tasks of the Consultant:

                           i.      Briefly review the following documents to develop the general understanding of international best practices of Halal standards, applicable to horticulture, dairy and meat products as well as processes and international best practices followed to develop and implement such standards:

• Halal standards of Malaysia (JACAM), South Africa and other countries.
• Halal standards developed by Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and processes adopted to develop these standards.
• General criteria issued by Pakistan Accreditation Council for certification body for the Halal certification bodies    http://www.pnac.org.pk/info/PS_4992_2010.pdf
• By-laws recently approved by Punjab Government for Halal certification of slaughter houses – “Slaughter of Animals and Maintenance of Slaughterhouses By-laws, 2014”

                         ii.      Conduct meetings with following stakeholders:

• At least two certification bodies of Halal food operating in Pakistan, to have an idea of Halal standards they are following and challenges being faced by them for compliance of standards, as well as their widespread application in Pakistan. Moreover, the consultant will get their inputs to compare the standards developed by PSQCA with respect to standards developed by other countries.
• Four producers of Halal food having Halal certification, to identify and assess their viewpoint about nature of standards, enforcement procedures, and related issues being faced etc.
• Four exporters of meat and /or other products of Halal food to assess their competitive position to export market with respect to applicable standards.

                        iii.      Have a meeting with key personnel of PHDA to understand their mandate and their role of developing / revising or providing inputs to standards and their implementation.

                       iv.      In view of mandate and role of PHDA given by Government of Punjab, the consultant will develop an assessment tool to assess the current capacity of PHDA to set and monitor the standards and gaps therein to meet international best practices in setting and monitoring standards. The tools, including but not limited to the following aspects, will be approved by PEEP before execution:

• General understanding of the key personnel on the mandate and role of PHDA
• Knowledge, skills, professional experience, competency, motives and capability of relevant personnel to develop / revision of the standards or to provide the inputs to standard setting bodies
• System to collect and analyze information, gathered at various tiers that are required for standards setting and transforming these information into required recommendations for policy inputs / standard setting
• Nature of system / process in place (if any); for developing the standards  / reviewing the standards or at least providing inputs to standard setting bodies
• Local and international linkages available that can provide technical inputs / backstopping for developing standards / technical committees and working group for review and development of standards
• The organizational capacity in terms of human resources and other support services to work as Halal certification body, to certify the commercial producers, processors and exporters of Halal product and the gaps therein
• The capacity and performance gap of PHDA in terms of outreach, human resources, logistics, and other resources required for mandatory Halal standards enforcement and monitoring at slaughters houses and / or at butcher shop

                         v.      After capacity need assessment, the consultant will develop an institutional capacity development program / performance solution package with the following initiatives:

• Capacity building initiatives such as trainings, workshops, coaching or technical assistance for employees to develop and monitor standards. The consultant will submit a complete training work plan along with tools and training contents, required for strategic leaders, managers, and field staff of PHDA as well as other stakeholders to impart required knowledge and skills.
• The nature and major contents of training and information materials, required by PHDA for effective execution of its role, along with name of potential training providers for suggested training programs.
• Development of various organizational systems / processes that are required to set and monitor standards.
• SOPs for gathering inputs from stakeholders, information flow, engaging stakeholders for their inputs, reviewing prevailing standards, developing and monitoring standards, engaging auditors for internal audits of PHDA
• Requirement of physical and intellectual resources to ensure smooth functioning of PHDA as per its mandate
• Need of technical backstopping through national / international linkages or core advisory groups

5.       Job Qualifications

• Advanced university degree in a related field, preferably in food & nutrition and/or human resource development
• Lead auditor course in halal products or alternative certification in halal industry will be preferred
• At least 8 years of professional experience with capacity need assessment and institutional capacity strengthening assignments in national / international organizations.
• Current knowledge of the latest developments and trends in the Halal Food Industry.
• Experience in developing training material / instructional material.
• Strong writing skills, and experience of presenting complex technical information in an easily comprehensible way for non-specialist readers.
• Good communication skills and fluency in English and Urdu.
• Knowledge of government processes will be plus

6.       Duty Station:

The duty station for this consultancy is Lahore

7.       Reporting:

The daily monitoring and oversight of the consultant’s work will be the responsibility of Component 2 Lead – HICD Expert

8.       Duration of the Assignment:

This assignment is planned to take place as per a start date of on or around August 05, 2015 and end date of on or around August 25, 2015 hereto for a total of 10 days LOE.