National Consultant to Facilitate Training for Women Cassava Processors in Cross River State, Nigeria at UN Women

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of the assignment is to strengthen the practical, business and organizational capacities of women cassava processors so that they can operate processing equipment safely and efficiently, improve the quality and value of cassava products, reduce losses and production costs, meet relevant food-safety requirements, and improve their access to markets and income-generating opportunities.

Specific Objectives

• Train women on good cassava-processing practices from raw material selection through processing, storage and sale.
• Build practical skills for safe operation, routine cleaning, basic maintenance and responsible use of cassava-processing equipment.
• Improve product quality, hygiene, food safety, packaging, labelling, storage and traceability practices.
• Strengthen value addition for products appropriate to local demand, including gari, high-quality cassava flour, fufu/akpu and other viable derivatives where relevant.
• Strengthening enterprise skills in costing, pricing, record keeping, inventory management, savings, financial literacy and cooperative business management.
• Improve women’s understanding of aggregation, collective marketing, buyer engagement, quality specifications, and market linkages.
• Promote gender-responsive, climate-smart and environmentally responsible practices, including waste management and productive use of cassava residues where feasible.

Scope of Work and Responsibilities:

• Conduct a rapid inception assessment of participants’ existing skills, processing practices, equipment, product mix and priority learning needs.
• Prepare a concise, practical training plan and materials using accessible language, demonstrations, illustrations and locally relevant examples. Materials should be suitable for participants with different literacy levels.
• Deliver hands-on training on cassava reception and sorting; peeling, washing, grating, pressing/dewatering, fermentation where applicable, pulverizing/sieving, roasting or drying, milling, cooling, hygienic handling, packaging and storage.
• Demonstrate safe equipment start-up, operation, shutdown, cleaning, routine preventive maintenance, fault identification and escalation. Training must emphasize PPE, machine guarding, electrical/fuel safety and safe handling around moving parts.
• Train participants on good hygiene and manufacturing practices, contamination prevention, water quality, moisture control, storage, batch identification and quality assurance. Where products are sold as packaged foods, explain the practical relevance of applicable NAFDAC requirements and Standards Organisation of Nigeria specifications without presenting the training as regulatory certification.
• Facilitate modules on enterprise management, including calculation of processing costs and margins, simple bookkeeping, stock control, pricing, customer management, savings and responsible use of finance.
• Support participants to assess viable product and market opportunities, develop simple market-linkage actions, and improve packaging/branding decisions based on buyer requirements.
• Integrate gender equality throughout the training, including women’s control over productive assets and income, leadership within cooperatives, equitable participation in decision-making, safeguarding, and practical scheduling that recognizes unpaid care responsibilities.
• Administer pre- and post-training assessments and maintain sex-disaggregated attendance and participation records.
• Provide short post-training coaching/mentoring and submit a final report documenting results, participant feedback, lessons, photographs where consent is obtained, recommendations and outstanding technical support needs.

Training Methodology

The trainer will use an experiential and participant-centred approach, with approximately 70% of contact time devoted to practical demonstrations, supervised practice and problem solving. Methods should include demonstrations of equipment, small-group exercises, product-quality checks, business simulations, peer learning, question-and-answer sessions and coaching. The approach must be respectful, inclusive and adapted to the local context. Training dates and daily schedules should be agreed with participants to reduce barriers arising from care responsibilities and travel constraints.

Indicative Training Modules

• Cassava quality, raw-material selection and post-harvest loss reduction
• Processing workflow and improved techniques for major cassava products
• Safe operation, cleaning and basic preventive maintenance of processing equipment
• Food hygiene, quality assurance, storage and basic traceability
• Value addition, packaging, branding and product presentation
• Costing, pricing, bookkeeping, inventory and financial literacy
• Cooperative governance, leadership, collective processing and marketing
• Market requirements, buyer engagement and market-linkage planning
• Gender equality, safeguarding, occupational safety and care-responsive work organization
• Climate-smart processing, waste reduction and environmentally responsible disposal/utilization of residues

Performance Indicators

• Approved inception report, curriculum and training tools delivered on time.
• At least 90% of enrolled participants complete the agreed training programme, subject to the final beneficiary list.
• At least 80% of participants demonstrate improved knowledge or skills between pre- and post-training assessments or practical competency checks.
• At least 80% of participants demonstrate correct key steps for safe equipment operation, hygiene and product-quality control during practical sessions.
• Participant satisfaction rate of at least 80%, with feedback disaggregated where feasible.
• Final report provides credible evidence of results, challenges, lessons and actionable recommendations for continued coaching, equipment management and market linkage.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of issues related to Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE).
• Strong practical facilitation, coaching and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively with rural women, cooperatives, technical teams and community stakeholders.
• Strong planning, documentation and results-reporting skills.
• Strong knowledge of Women’s Economic Empowerment and gender-responsive agricultural value-chain development;
• Strong practical knowledge of cassava processing, value addition, food hygiene, quality assurance and post-harvest loss reduction;
• Demonstrated knowledge of cassava-processing equipment, occupational safety and routine preventive maintenance;
• Strong practical facilitation, adult-learning, coaching and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to train participants in basic enterprise management, costing, pricing, bookkeeping, financial literacy and cooperative management;
• Good understanding of product development, packaging, branding, buyer requirements and agricultural market linkages;
• Ability to integrate gender equality, safeguarding, climate-smart practices and environmental sustainability into technical training;
• Strong communication skills and ability to deliver accessible, participatory training to participants with varying literacy levels.

Required Qualifications

• Advanced diploma or university degree in Food Science and Technology, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Extension, Agribusiness, Crop Processing, Nutrition/Food Technology or a closely related field. Comparable substantial practical experience may be considered for a specialist artisan/processor trainer where justified.

Experience

• At least 5 years of demonstrated practical experience in cassava processing, agro-processing, food production or agricultural value-chain development.
• Demonstrated experience training rural women, farmer groups, cooperatives or micro/small agro-processing enterprises using hands-on adult-learning approaches.
• Practical familiarity with cassava-processing equipment and routine preventive maintenance, occupational health and safety, food hygiene and quality assurance.
• Experience in Cross River State or southern Nigeria and knowledge of local cassava market systems is highly desirable.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills in English. Ability to facilitate in relevant local language(s) spoken by the target participants is an advantage.
• Prior experience with UN agencies, government agricultural programmes, private-sector foundations or development organizations is an advantage.