Germany - Foreign economic-aid-related services - 10040386-Mejorar mecanismos políticos, técnicos y financieros para escalar la gestión sostenible de suelos en Bolivia

In the Bolivian High Plateau ("Altiplano") rural families rely on agriculture, livestock farming, and other economic activities -such as tourism and trade- to sustain their livelihoods. However, an acute soil degradation, frosts, droughts, hailstorms, and strong winds reduce productivity and increase the vulnerability of rural communities. Compounding this issue is migration to urban centres and other regions from youth and women. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE, 2025), more than 50% of rural families in the Altiplano live under poverty line, with limited access to technical, financial, and innovation services. All these factors result in greater vulnerability to climate change and a reduced adaptive capacity. In response Bolivia committed to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030 through soil restoration, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation; under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Sustainable soil management is a fundamental pillar for restoring soil health and strengthening agrifood systems and ecosystems resilience. Hence, the German Cooperation together with national subnational stakeholders, producers and civil society organizations will implement the Sustainable Soil Management for agrifood system adaptation and resilience Project (SUAGRI) to foster soil management through a comprehensive approach. This approach includes strengthening the political, regulatory, and institutional framework; developing a soil information and monitoring system; fostering soil technological innovation; managing bioinputs; and ensuring access to public and private financing mechanisms to farmers. SUAGRI aims to improve and consolidate the political, regulatory, technical, and financial enable conditions to scale up sustainable soil management and biodiversity restoration in the Bolivian Altiplano. Thus, it contributes to increase agrifood systems and ecosystems resilience improving the livelihoods of households. SUAGRI proposes four components, described below: 1. Political and Regulatory Instruments: Improve norms and policy instruments to strengthen the regulatory framework, guiding territorial planning and public investments toward sustainable agricultural production. Through a participatory and multisectoral approach that brings together public, private, and local actors, it promotes policy coherence, inter-institutional coordination, and the integration of environmental, social, and economic criteria. 2. Soil Geoinformation: Generate and facilitate soil-related information to strengthen the availability, quality, and access to technical and scientific information for sustainable soil management. This enables better territorial and natural resource management. It also promotes the integration of traditional knowledge, with an emphasis on the participation of women and youth. 3. Financial mechanisms: Facilitate access to public and private financial mechanisms to scale up soil restoration and resilient agricultural production. This component is aimed at producers: micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the private sector, and civil society organizations. . 4. Integrated Bioinputs Management: To increase the supply and demand for bio-inputs (such as compost, humus, among others), under sustainability criteria that contribute to soil recovery and health; biodiversity; and resilient agricultural production. This will be done with the participation of producer organizations and MSMEs, led primarily by women and rural youth. Description of the services to be provided: Component 1 aims to develop policy and regulatory instruments to scale up sustainable soil management and biodiversity restoration in the Altiplano. The contractor will be responsible for ensuring the achievement of Outcome Indicator 1.1, that includes the following strategic activities: 1) strengthening the consolidation of the Denomination of Origin (DO) for Royal Quinoa from the Altiplano. Activities includes i) ensuring the process of obtaining the DO Seal for quinoa products and byproducts (SENAPI certificate), ii) developing the quinoa real traceability system, iii) quinoa real information platform, iii) strengthening the functioning of the DO Regulatory Committee, and iv) enhancing the positioning of the "Quinua Real" DO in international markets (e.g. European, MERCOSUR, CAN markets); 2) the formulation and readiness implementation of the "Strategy and Action Plan for the Restoration of Degraded Lands and Critical Ecosystems of the Altiplano (Potosí, Oruro, and La Paz)". Both strategic activities will be reported as two policy-regulatory instruments contributing also to the Outcome Indicator 1 of SUAGRI Project- Controbution to the fulfilment of the output indicators for components 3 and 4 of SUAGRI. Component 3 aims to facilitate access to public and private financial instruments to farmer organizations for implementing resilient soil management practices and technologies for soil and biodiversity restoration, and to scale up resilient agricultural practices for agricultural value chains in the Altiplano (ej. quinoa, cañahua, amaranth, tarwi, camelids, native potatoes, barley, etc). The contractor must ensure that subnational governments (GADs and GAMs) and national sectoral programs (e.g., EMPODERAR, APROCAM, PRORECA, IPDSA, etc.) regularly allocate budgets for the implementation of soil restoration and resilient agriculture practices into the Subnational Development Plans (PADs) and specifically into the annual investment plans (POA 2027, 2028 and 2029). The contractor shall provide technical assistance to farmer organizations to formulate bankable proposals and, at the same time, advise producers, farmer associations, MSMEs, grassroots organizations and private agricultural sector to prepare funding proposal for private financial sources aimed to improve resilient agricultural production and restore soil health. Advise and training shall be provided to producer organizations in the development of agricultural business models to be submitted for calls for proposals, startup accelerators, project incubators, and other private financing mechanisms (e.g., applications for agricultural credit and green credit from financial institutions). Finally, the private agricultural sector (e.g. Andean Valley, Irupana, SAITE; Jacha Inti, Orkidea Andina, Samiri, etc.) shall be supported on preparing projects proposals to strengthen strategic value chains in the Altiplano (using GIZ idpp or iEPW mechanisms). To support the strategic actions described above grants should be provided to national NGOs (e.g., CIPCA, PNS, ADEMA; Probioma, IPC; Agua Sustentable, Practical Action, ADEMA, Caritas, CONAPQUIBOL, ANAPQUI, and others) and foundations (PROINPA, AGRECOL) to scale up sustainable soil management across the project intervention area. Component 4 aims to increase the bio-inputs supply to contribute to improve crop yields in the Altiplano. The contractor shall backstop research institutions (e.g., IPC; PROINPA; ECOTOP, PROBIOMA, universities) in the development and scaling up of innovations for bioinputs production from sustainable biomass sources, advise producers organizations, MSMEs, and the private sector (e.g., CONAPQUIBOL, ANAPQUI, CECAOT, etc.) on developing and implementing business models for bioinputs production that contribute to improving soil health on productive farms. Capacities of rural youth and women must be strengthened on conservation, production, propagation, and dissemination of native crop seeds and native species (shrubs and forage) that are relevant for ecosystem restoration (e.g., high-Andean wetlands and grasslands). Milestones of Work Package 1: - Milestone 2: Strategy and Action Plan for the Restoration of Critical Lands and Ecosystems in the Altiplano - Milestone 1: Regulatory Committee of the "Quinua Real" Denomination of Origin strengthened. - Milestone 3: 50 funding proposal developed of which 30 approved proposals, for the implementation of innovative soil restoration and resilient agricultural practices, submitted by individual farmers, producer organizations, community-based enterprises, cooperatives, private sector - Milestone 4: producers (500) and technical advisors (50) with strengthened capacities on soil restoration and resilient agricultural practices through training programs developed by educational institutions, NGOs and/or academia - Milestone 5: soil health on productive farms monitored within productive areas prioritized Milestones of Work Package 2 - Milestone 6: At least 3 innovations on bioinput production developed and scaled up with the support of research institutes in the Altiplano - Milestone 7: At least 10 business models developed and scaled up by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). - Milestone 8: propagation and reintroduction of native plant species (biological practices) scaled up as effective land (wetlands and grasslands) restoration practices led by rural youth and women; - Milestone 9: Producers (500) and technical advisors (50) with strengthened capacities on integrate bioinputs management through training programs developed by educational institutions, NGOs and/or academia - Milestone 10: soil health improvement and native biodiversity restoration monitored on critical ecosystems and productive areas