Beekeeping Training Opportunities at IESC Tanzania

Beekeeping Training Opportunities at IESC August 2024
Program Description:
The
Feed the Future Tanzania Agri Finance Project is an access to finance
project working to improve access to finance for smallholders, women,
youth, and micro, small, medium (including large) enterprises ( MSMiLs )
in Tanzania by improving the agri -finance ecosystem and strengthening
the capacity of both borrowers and lenders. The Feed the Future Tanzania
Agri-Finance Project will prioritize interventions that increase
availability and adoption of priority technologies, including
climate-smart technology, and create more inclusive agricultural finance
ecosystems, enable expanded and sustained lending and investment, and
increase productivity and incomes.

Project interventions will
support 20 financial institutions, 15 demand-side institutions including
agricultural enterprises and women and youth groups, train 300
financial institution staff, and reach 18,000 borrowers with $21 million
in agricultural finance facilitated in Tanzania. The
Feed the Future Tanzania Agri-Finance Project will utilize a
system-driven, private sector-led approach to target agricultural market
coordination failures and develop commercially oriented solutions that
will sustain and scale agri -financing. The project includes two
interconnected strategic objectives to achieve tangible, positive impact
for smallholder farmers, women, youth, agro -enterprises, and financial
institutions.

Objective 1: Improve income and bankability of
smallholders, women, youth and micro, small and medium (including large)
enterprises.

The Feed the Future Tanzania Agri-Finance Project
will deliver targeted technical capacity strengthening and direct
training and coaching to smallholders, women, youth, and MSMiLs
beneficiaries in financial and money management skills and tools,
business planning, finance and investment, development of business
funding proposals, records keeping, loan applications, and loan
repayment and/or savings strategies.

Objective 2: Strengthen financial institution operational capacity to expand agri – lending.
The
Feed the Future Tanzania Agri-Finance Project will provide targeted
support to supply side financial institutions to develop new agri
-finance products and improve operational capabilities and efficiencies,
build capacity and strengthening their motivation to expand agri
-lending to smallholders, women, youth, and MSMiLs – with a focus on
priority and climate-smart technologies such as irrigation, inputs,
storage, and value addition. The Feed the Future Tanzania Agri Finance
Project is an access to finance project working to improve access to
finance for smallholders, women, youth, and micro, small, medium
(including large) enterprises ( MSMiLs ) in Tanzania by improving the
Agri finance ecosystem and strengthening the capacity of borrowers and
lenders.

With a particular emphasis on priority technologies,
including climate- smart technologies. The Feed the Future project is
working to create more inclusive agricultural finance ecosystems, enable
expanded and sustained lending and investment, and increase
productivity and incomes. The Recipient interventions will increase
supported financial institutions from 9 to 20, train 300 financial
institution staff, and reach 18,000 borrowers with $21 million in
agricultural finance. The project will utilize a system-driven, private
sector-led approach to target agricultural market coordination failures
and develop commercially oriented solutions that will sustain and scale
agri -financing.

Problem Statement:
Pollination plays
a significant role in the agriculture sector and serves as a basic
pillar for crop production. Plants depend on vectors such as water ,
wind, and animal pollinators to move pollen . Bee-pollinated crops
contribute to approximately one-third of the total human dietary supply.
Proper pollination improves the quantity and quality of fruits, nuts,
oils, and other crops produced. Bees are considered significant
pollinators due to their effectiveness and wide availability. Therefore,
g reater crop production leads to an increased demand for pollination
to enhanc e biodiversity and increase food production without
threatening the environment. However, continu ous changes in land use (
ex : insensitive urban development , intensive farming , and the
excessive use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture ) have caused
significant losses and fragmentation of pollinator-friendly habitats and
undermine d bee health and pollination efficiency

The Feed the
Future Tanzania Agri-Finance Project has partnered with a youth
cooperative established by 268 youth beneficiaries of the Build ing a
Better Tomorrow (BBT) Program. The youth cooperative has directly
experienced bees’ pollination effects on the productivity and
profitability of their agriculture crops, particularly sunflower s . The
Youth cooperative wants to restore bee habitats in their farm area to
increase free pollination levels and healthy crop yields.

The
Feed the Future Tanzania Agri-Finance Project is recruiting a local
beekeeping expert to develop and facilitate a tailored, hands-on
training program for the Youth Cooperative leadership and members i n
beekeeping basics and best practices . This training will includ e legal
requirements for keeping bees in the area, the types of hives available
, management of honeybee colonies and all other equipment needed to get
started . The Volunteer Expert will also support the youth cooperative
to develop an understanding of how to set up beehives, location
selection, bee sourcing and acquisition and how to recognize various
behavioral patterns in managing and handling honeybees; and an
understand of how to manage and deal with bee sting accidents.

Objectives of the Assignment:
1. Develop and provide a comprehensive, “learn by doing” beekeeping training for the youth cooperative leadership and members
2.
Work with the youth cooperative in the field to review and choose an
appropriate location for bee hives and support the setting up of at
least one beehive.
3. Provide recommendations on any interventions
that the youth cooperative should implement to achieve their goals of
the bee keeping