DAI is hiring a Seed Law Specialist.
The Feed the Future Southern Africa Seed Trade Project (Seed Trade Project) is funded by the USAID Southern Africa Regional Mission, and implemented by DAI Global, LLC, from December 2015 to December 2021. The primary goal of the Project is improving the availability of and access to high-quality seed in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. It is designed to support SADC and Member States’ leadership by providing the necessary technical assistance for harmonizing policies and regulations governing seed trade in the region. The work facilitates seed trade across the region, integrating small and isolated national seed markets into one larger SADC-wide market trading high-quality seeds. While the primary focus is on Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, many regional Project activities benefit all 16 SADC Member States.
The Seed Trade Project leverages Southern Africa’s more advanced seed sectors and agricultural economies to benefit lower-income countries in the region. Tapping into leading public and private sectors, universities, and other institutions, it shares technologies, innovations and management practices with target countries to improve seed value chains.
SEED SECTOR IN MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique is a signatory of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the SADC Harmonized Seed Regulatory System. The system consists of three technical agreements, namely: (i) SADC Seed Variety Release; (ii) SADC Certification and Quality Assurance and (iii) SADC Quarantine and Phytosanitary Measures for Seed. As per the MoU on the Harmonisation of Seed Regulations in the Southern Africa Development Community (2010) and the SADC Technical Agreements on Harmonised Seed Regulations in the SADC region (2008), by signing these agreements, the member states agree to use national facilities, managed by the National Seed Authorities (NSAs) to domesticate the SADC Harmonised Seed Regulations (HSRs). The purpose of accepting and adopting these agreements, is to create common national standards and regulatory procedures for operations.
Mozambique continues to work towards improvement of the quality of seed and aligning with the SADC regional quality standards by domesticating the SADC Harmonized Seed Regulatory System (HSRS). In a quest to align the legal and regulatory system in Mozambique to the SADC HSRS, the Mozambique NSA with support from the U.S. Government through its Feed the Future Southern Africa Seed Trade Project (Seed Trade Project) conducted a study to assess whether the existing legal and regulatory framework was adequate and aligned with the SADC HSRS. The study also assessed whether the legal and regulatory framework created an enabling environment for all actors in the country’s seed value chain.
The findings of the assessment indicated that although the legal framework in Mozambique was aligned with the SADC HSRS, the Mozambique NSA still has challenges in implementing the quality assurance systems. The report further revealed that there was limited awareness of the systems, among the seed value chain stakeholders, limited infrastructural and institutional capacity of the NSA, National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO), Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM) and seed companies. In view of that, the report recommended the need to strengthen the human and institutional capacities for the NSA, NPPO, and private sector actors to guarantee full implementation of existing legal instruments and production, marketing and movement of quality seed in Mozambique.
Following the recommendations from the assessment of the legal and regulatory framework of Mozambique’s seed sector, the U.S Government through the Seed Trade Project supported the NSA, and APROSE to develop eight (8) subject-specific policy briefs, facilitate a collective review and identify specific interventions to address the gaps in the legal and regulatory system of Mozambique’s seed sector. The policy briefs formed the basis for the policy dialogue between the seed sector stakeholders and the Government of Mozambique. This would address the constraints identified in Mozambique’s Seed Sector Law and Regulatory Framework and support the development of the seed sector, paving the way to full implementation of the SADC HSRS in Mozambique.
As part of the U.S Government grant through the Seed Trade Project, the APROSE in close collaboration with the NSA of Mozambique hosted a one-day Seed Policy Dialogue between the Government and the Seed Sector Stakeholders, on November 28, 2019 in Maputo, Mozambique. This was one of the APROSE’s deliverables of the grant awarded by the Seed Trade Project. The Policy Dialogue was aimed at socializing the findings and recommendations of the Assessment of Mozambique’s Seed Sector Legal and Regulatory Framework with the seed sector stakeholders. The dialogue was also meant to present the eight (8) decisive actions recommended on the legal and regulatory framework of the seed sector summarized in eight (8) subject-specific policy briefs; and develop an action plan for reforms to improve the seed sector in Mozambique and align with the SADC HSRS.
The current scope of work intends to support the NSA and APROSE toward drafting amendments to the 12/2013 Seed Regulation decree. The amendments will include provisions on regional seed variety release and seed certification and quality assurance, as described in detail in the assessment report for Mozambique’s Seed Sector Legal and Regulatory Framework. The activity will be divided into two steps. First, the Project will contract a team that includes a legal and a Seed Systems specialist who will conduct desk research and virtual consultations, draft the amendments stated in the report and present the amended draft in a policy meeting for discussion and validation. This activity will contribute towards consolidating the Project’s support to position Mozambique to fully domesticate the SADC HSRS. The Activity is aligned to 4.2.4 of the approved 2021 Seed Trade Project Workplan: Support NSA and APROSE to convene a national policy meeting to review the implementation of the recommendations drawn from the assessment report on Mozambique’s Seed Legal and Regulatory System
The consultants will be engaged to conduct an introspective review of the existing seed regulations, decree 12/2013, review of the recommendations of the assessment of Mozambique’s seed legal and regulatory system and other existing seed systems related reports. The consultants will also look at other regional and international protocols pertaining to the seed systems harmonization and identify the amendments to be included in the revised seed regulations.
The draft will be presented to the seed sector stakeholders for validation and submission to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for concurrence and inclusion in the proposal for revised seed regulations in Mozambique.
The activity will be divided into two steps.
The consultant(s) will be responsible for the following:
The Seed Law Specialist will:
The seed systems specialist will:
Both specialists will
Timeline
Activity
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Submission of SoW for approval
SoW approval and hiring consultants
Engagement of the two (2) consultants
Desk review and report preparation
Draft report reviewed by NSA and APROSE
Feedback from NSA and APROSE
Stakeholder policy meeting
Submission of the final report
Outputs and Deliverables
Deliverable
Due date
Preliminary report with recommended amendments and adjustments to the seed regulations, decree 12/2013
30 July 2021
Presentation to the seed sector stakeholders of the proposed amendments to the seed regulations
08 September 2021
Final draft document with stakeholders’ comments incorporated for submission to the Ministry of agriculture and Rural Development
15 September 2021
Level of Effort Allocation
Specific Task
LOE (days)
Seed Law Specialist
Seed Systems Specialist
Review the recommendations of the assessment of the Mozambique’s seed sector legal and regulatory framework; the decree 12/2013; the SADC Harmonized Seed Regulatory System protocols; seed sector related policy briefs and other existing reports relevant to the seed sector in Mozambique on the seed systems in Mozambique
Consolidation of the draft report including both seed legal framework and seed systems
Presentation to the stakeholders
Incorporation of the recommendations in the draft report
Qualifications
The following expert profile is required for this assignment. This assignment will require a high level of technical competence in research, data collection, analysis and presentation, and the seed law in Mozambique.
The Seed Law Specialist should have:
The Seed Systems Specialist should have:
Please use the following link to apply until 14 June:
Link: https://bit.ly/3gbKqjn
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