The ”Macedonian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives” – (MAAC) is an organization that consolidates the work of agricultural cooperatives and their members to achieve their individual and mutual rights and interests in a modern and democratic way and contributes to the development of sustainable agriculture and quality of life. The aim of the organization is to protect the economic, social and cultural interests of the cooperatives and to work on improving the conditions of the production market.
MAAC has the status of socio-economic partner of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and is representing the interests of agricultural cooperatives before the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy (MAFWE).
MAAC is an association established in 2012, and from 2020 MAAC has 48 members (agricultural cooperatives from all regions of the country and from different sectors).
This call for consultancy is issued within the wider program “Support to Development of Agricultural Cooperatives” and implemented within the project “Business Plan 2019-2020”, funded by CARE International, Macedonian Enterprise Development Foundation (MEDF) and the European Union and implemented by MAAC.
Description of the problem
The function of providing services for agricultural cooperatives is not sufficiently developed in MAAC. Members have higher expectations in this regard when joining and believe that it is necessary to offer much more. To resolve this deficiency, MAAC plans to establish the needs of its members for additional services, formulate standardized packages of services and prepare a catalogue of services that will be delivered to all its members.
The Catalogue of Services is a part of the promotion of MAAC, which will be further elaborated in the Strategic Development Plan and the document on financial sustainability which will be developed in the future period. The processes for developing services in MAAC and the capacity to deliver those services are very important for the further financial sustainability of the organization.
Obligations to be implemented by the consultant:
• Provide detailed consultancy plan, in agreement with the MAAC Project Coordinator;
• Through a participatory process, polls focus groups and interviews with all MAAC member cooperatives, establish their needs for services to be provided by MAAC;
• Working closely with the MAAC Executive Office, analyse the members’ needs, decide on the priorities and facilitate the process of standardisation of MAAC’s services for its member cooperatives. Develop protocols for each service, taking into account comparative experiences from the region and the EU;
• Compile a Catalogue of MAAC Services, in Macedonian, with specifications (procedures, outputs, prices), written in reader friendly manner;
• Provide the consultancy report, in highest standard Macedonian, 10 pages max.
Required qualifications of the consultant:
• Minimum master degree in agriculture, agro-economy, or similar field, with minimum 10 years of practice;
• At least 5 years of proven experience in the topic of development of agricultural cooperatives;
• Vast experience in service methodology in the field of agriculture;
• Great analytical skills. Vast experience in data gathering;
• Well-developed interpersonal and teamwork skills;
• Multicultural values and the ability to adapt to work in a multi-ethnic environment;
• Excellent planning and organisation skills;
• Highest quality writing and oral Macedonian and English.
Criteria for selecting the consultant:
• Analysis of the provided draft methodology and plan for the consultancy;
• Portfolio of the applicant;
• Financial offer.
Application process
All interested candidates can apply no later than 05.05.2021, at the e-mail care.macedonia@care.org with the subject: Application for the call Standardisation and promotion of MAAC services for its members. The applicants are required to submit the following documents:
• Proposed methodology for the planned activity;
• Professional CV.
• Portfolio / list of clients / organizations for which the same / similar activities have been delivered (with specified types of engagements);
• Financial offer, i.e. compensation per day in gross amount, with all expenses included (daily allowance plus travel expenses). The offer should include twenty (20) consulting days for the realization of the task. The offered price should be expressed in gross amount in Macedonian denars, including personal income tax. The project is financed by the European Union and registered in the Central Donor Assistance Database of Republic of Macedonia (CDAD) with number of confirmation 07/01-18/3764 exempting the project from VAT, and the selected bidder should respect the procedure for tax exemption.
The selection of the most favourable bidder (consultant) will be made according to the principle “best value for money”.
The candidates will be notified of the results of the call, via e-mail, no later than 3 days after the selection.
MAAC/CARE retains the right not to select any candidates upon this call, in case the received bids do not match the required quality.
