Call for Proposals
(extended to 28 June 2026)
Consultancy:
Development of a policy brief and an advocacy roadmap:
Obtaining and/or influence agro-ecologically conducive policies supporting organized Fairtrade small holder producers in the Asian and Pacific region in their efforts to transition to or maintain sustainable agriculture
1. Background
Fairtrade is an alternative approach to conventional trade and is based on a partnership between producers and consumers. When farmers can sell on Fairtrade terms, it provides them with a better deal and improves their market access. Fairtrade’s vision is a world in which all producers can enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods, fulfil their potential and decide on their future. Fairtrade therefore works to provide small farmers from producing countries with fairer trade conditions that allow them to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take control over their lives.
In this context, and supported with EU co-funding Fairtrade has developed a policy on sustainable agriculture to clarify its stance on programmatic and advocacy work, and to better guide internal operations in monitoring, evaluation, learning, producer support, partnership building, and strategic alliances. The policy incorporates agroecology principles as a comprehensive approach to sustainable agriculture under Fairtrade terms.
As part of implementing this policy, Fairtrade aims to enhance producer-led advocacy for agroecologically supportive policies at key product sector and value chain levels. This effort seeks to create a favourable policy and regulatory environment in producing countries or regions ("at origin") to enable producers to maintain or transition to agroecological farming practices including certified organic production.
Through the European Commission Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (ECFFPA) programme, Fairtrade has received funding to develop a series of agroecology policy briefs. These briefs will outline advocacy requests to support the agroecology transition for priority product sectors and will be operationalized through a roadmap to guide future advocacy efforts. The briefs will be co-developed with producers in selected countries.
In 2024, the focus of the first consultancy was on the Fairtrade banana sector in selected Latin American countries (Colombia, Dominican Republic and Ecuador).
In 2025 the second consultancy had a focus on coffee in Peru, Kenya and Uganda.
In all six countries advocacy opportunities were assessed in relation to national agriculture related policies at various stages which reference agroecology in different ways.
In 2026, the third consultancy assignment will focus on the Asia and Pacific region. The work is closely coordinated with the Fairtrade Network of Asia and Pacific Producers (Fairtrade NAPP). The Fairtrade NAPP has already conducted several studies to better understand the policy schemes in relation to sustainable agriculture. Fairtrade NAPP also commissioned strategic stakeholder mappings for several countries. At regional level, an interesting development is the fact that the Association of South-East-Asian countries (ASEAN) with its eleven members developed in 2024 “Policy Guidelines for Agroecology Transition” aiming to provide support for voluntary action by ASEAN member states (AMS) and ASEAN bodies to scale up and scale out agroecology transitions.
In the Fairtrade NAPP region Fairtrade certified producers are organized in several country and/or product networks and have different levels of experience and capacity in producer-led advocacy for policy influencing.
For this consultancy the following product categories and a pool of three countries have been pre-selected as a potential focus of the consultancy. The final focus of 1-2 countries, however, will be decided at the end of the inception phase considering the capacity requirements and organizational ability to take outputs to action,
Tentative selection
|
Product
|
Country
|
No. Of Pos
|
|
Tea (Hired Labour Producers)
|
India, Sri Lanka
|
25
|
|
7
|
|
Coconut
|
India , Sri Lanka , Philippines
|
5
|
|
22
|
|
1
|
2. How will the advocacy briefs and the advocacy road maps be used?
The policy brief outlines a series of policy requests aimed at policymakers, designed to support producers in maintaining agroecological farming practices, such as organic production, or transitioning from conventional to agroecological methods. These policy briefs will be grounded in a comprehensive analysis including consultation meetings with producers preferably in person. These meetings will cover value chains aspects and identify both present uptake of agroecological practices as well as barriers to agroecological transition including those beyond just the production level, and which require policy and regulatory changes.
The advocacy roadmaps will assist product or country networks in enhancing their advocacy priorities, identifying opportunities, mapping targets/allies/opponents, creating an advocacy action plan (advocacy road map), and taking concrete action. Additionally, the evidence-based policy brief can be utilized by other Fairtrade advocacy actors to support calls to action in various forums.
3. Objective of the consultancy
The general objective of the consultancy relates to output 1 of the ECFFPA programme funding the action which reads as follows:
Output 1: The Fairtrade network strengthens its capacity to exert greater influence on legislation and public policies and private sector practices at national, regional and global levels that impact Producer Organisations
More specifically, the consultancy objective is to:
Develop a policy brief and an advocacy roadmap focusing on commodities mentioned above, through a consultative process.
The advocacy roadmap:
- Is based on a thorough analysis of the agroecology practices, challenges and opportunities in the respective product sector and of the policy context in the countries at stake, for enabling producers to successfully transition to or maintain agroecological practices.
- Identifies advocacy priorities on agroecological transition, maps stakeholders and resources, and comprises an advocacy action plan tailored to the capacity of the Fairtrade country/product network that will implement it.
The policy brief is a set of key policy asks, targeting policymakers at local, national, regional, EU and global levels aimed at policy and regulatory change relevant for the product category in scope of the assignment. This could include for example, targeting national governments but also EU-Delegations who could play a role in supporting the integration of agroecological transition measures in their multi-annual indicative programmes (MIPs) agreed with EU partner countries or other regional (e.g. ASEAN level) and international bodies.
4. Methodology
- Document review (e.g. FI policy documents and positions supported, Producer Networks strategies and plans, legislation documents, academic literature and studies, EU programmes such as MIPs, selected scientific literature)
- Interviews with selected key stakeholders and resource persons (such as Fairtrade coconut farmers, and workers and management from Hired Labour tea plantationsand their networks, Fairtrade country/product network members, Fairtrade International staff, Producer Network staff, National Fairtrade Organization staff, buyers, traders)
- Sample size per country/product for data collection
- Facilitation of (a) consultative workshop(s) (preferably in-presence with producers), or hybrid or online with selected stakeholders, such as experts, partners and other resource persons per country/product
- Travel to producer country or countries for meetings is required
- Participation in online meetings
While consultants are responsible for the coordination of the consultancy work, Fairtrade NAPP will support the in-country visits, meeting with Fairtrade producers within their available resources.
5. Deliverables and Milestones
- Inception report with recommendation for final product and country scope considering estimated capacity requirements and organizational ability to implement planned outputs
- Consultative workshops with producers (in-person preferred) and meetings with stakeholders
- Workshop/Meeting report (1 per event)
- Draft policy brief (1 per country) 5 pages max.
- Draft advocacy road map 1 per country), 10-15 pages plus annex
- Final policy brief (1 per country), 5 pages max.
- Final advocacy road map, 10-15 pages plus annex
- Final workshops to present results (incl. reports)
(Due dates to be defined at the start of the consultancy)
6. Qualifications of the consultant (or team)
The below specified qualification criteria are deemed relevant for the professional (s) applying for the assignment:
a. Essential:
- Fluency in English (equivalent to C1 level or above, according to CEFR)
- Experience in desk research related to sustainable agricultural production, policy analysis, compiling policy papers and building advocacy plans
- Working experience in countries of the Global South, particularly in Asia
- Policy and advocacy practitioners with plus seven years of working experience in advocacy work for public policy influencing
- Experience with workshop facilitation and moderation
- Good knowledge of participatory processes and tools
- Ability to present information concisely and clearly
- Demonstrable policy on research ethics, and a willingness to adhere to Fairtrade research and ethics policies
b. Asset:
- Professional background on tropical sustainable agriculture and export value chains, sustainable development frameworks and strong understanding of producer livelihoods and/or voluntary sustainability standard setting and certification systems
- University degree in policy and advocacy
- Working knowledge in relevant local languages, particularly in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines
- Policy and advocacy work experience with relevance for Asia and Pacific region
- Good knowledge of Fair Trade movement and Fairtrade International as an organization, including the Fairtrade Strategy, Theory of Change, standards and producer support, and Fairtrade structures
- It would be an asset if the applicant has specific knowledge of the relevant product sectors
7. Envisaged Timeline
a. Date advertised: 22 May 2026
b. Deadline for submission of proposals: 28 Jun 2026
c. Interviews in calendar week 27/28: 06 Jun-10 Jul 2026
d. Contracting by: 31 Jul 2026
e. End of contract: 11 Dec 2026
8. Budget
We estimate that 50-60 workdays will be required to complete the consultancy assignment. The proposal should include both the consultant fees as well as costs for consultant travel and for consultative meetings with producers, stakeholders (venue, facilities, catering for participants)
A percentage of the available budget for this work is funding granted by the European Commission, hence all deliverables must follow the communications guidelines of the EC.
9. Application process
Please hand in your proposal comprising of a technical and financial offer, of max. 8 pages (not including CVs, annex) until 19 Jun 2026 cob CEST to advocacy4agroecology@fairtrade.net
The technical offer should clarify the consultants’ understanding of the assignment, a proposal for a suitable study design including methodologies proposed, an initial workplan detailing team collaboration (if applicable).
The financial offer should include a calculation of days and staff time needed including any potential expenses (e.g. for travel, workshop).
The CV(s) of the individual consultant(s) working on the assignment (providing proof of the qualifications) should be provided in the Annex together with other relevant documentation (e.g. work examples and references, if applicable).
Please note that participation in this Call for proposals is open to all natural persons who are nationals of, and all legal persons who are effectively established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country eligible for the EC’s Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI - Global Europe) programme. For details, please see the Annex A2a1 of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2021-2027, where the countries corresponding to the EC’s rules of nationality under NDICI – Global Europe are listed.