Terms of references for recruiting private nursery operators in project of “Restoring Rusizi river catchment and improving livelihoods of communities of Mururu sector, Rusizi district”.

• Background

 Initiative pour la Promotion de la Famille et du Genre (IPFG) is a women-based public organization established in 2002 and legally registered by Ministerial Order N° 17/11 of 31 January 2006, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda (O.G N° 10 bis of 15 May 2006). IPFG is headquartered in Gasaka Sector, Nyamagabe District, Southern Province, and currently operates in the Southern and Western Provinces, with a strategic ambition to expand its geographical coverage in the coming years. 

IPFG vision is to foster a democratic society where both women and men are conscious of their challenges, collaborate harmoniously, and actively engage in overall development initiatives. The mission of IPFG is to advocate for and strengthen the partnership between men and women, while encouraging their active involvement in endeavors that promote social and economic development based on principles of fairness. To achieve this mission, IPFG focuses its interventions across 3 main areas:

• Agricultural production chains, climate change adaptation and mitigations. 
• Youth and women empowerment (economic and leadership); and
• citizen participation.

• Context

From January 2O26,IPFG in partnership with TerraFund for AFR100 program is starting to implement a project of “Restoring Rusizi river catchment and improving livelihoods of communities of Mururu sector, Rusizi district”, a 6 years' project aiming to make a positive impact on 280 hectares of farmland, involving 560 smallholder farmers at Gikungwe and Cyate in Rusizi Districts. This project aim at community-led agroforestry practices, integrating in-plot and boundary tree planting, fodder and soil-improving species, and income-generating initiatives. Farmers will actively participate in creating Community Agroforestry Action Plans, while environment committees at the village level will promote local ownership and share knowledge within communities. The project also emphasizes youth inclusion in agricultural value chains, supporting entrepreneurship, training, and market linkages. Field Officers will play a critical role in guiding farmers, facilitating training, ensuring tree survival, and monitoring progress, making this position essential to achievingthe project’s environmental, social, and economic impact goals

ln this regard, IPFG is looking for potential company/nursery/entity to collaborate with in the large-scale production of tree seedlings for the project. 

3. Agroforestry tree production requirements 

3.1. Tree species to produce the contractor shall supply tree seedlings for the following species, with numbers to be précised in contract

For that the producer must,

• Meeting targets of seedling according to production plans
• Producing high quality and ready for planting seedlings according to schedule
• Distributing quality seedlings to designated points of distribution.
• Ensure Environmental Health and Safety of workers and community,

3.2. Scope of production (production schedule over the Years) 

Agroforestry trees will be produced in different years, and all the above species are subject to production in all years. The following table shows the production period, the location of implementing sectors and number of trees to be produced in that sector. 

Note: Disaggregation by species and by numbers is to be communicated to selected contractor.

3.3. Production sites

The project activities will be implemented in Mururu sector, Gikungwe and Cyete Villages of Rusizi districts. Depending on project's ramp up and activities scheduled with in specific year, a nursey must be in a convenient location based on the targeted area and targeted locations. The following map illustrates well all the implementing Villages in Mururu Sector of Rusizi districts.
 

3.4. Production Period
Mature and hardened Agroforestry tree seedlings should be availed in the last week of the month of August of each production year.

This is to ease the transportation of the agroforestry seedlings and meet the planting schedule on time, and in favorable climate (before the rain periods), so to cope with the challenge of damaged roads in the areas that could disturb tree distribution activities'
3.5. Capacity building

The private nursery in the implementing area should have the duties of training community nursery technicians, and managing community nurseries' staff and equipment' This task is negotiable and applicable after the seedlings producer is selected to do the job 

Thus, the Producer will ensure: 

• The safety of seedlings at community nursery 
• Quality and prompt production of seedlings by community nurserie
• Safeguarding of the employees in all the seedling’s nursery operations

3.6. Transport of seedlings to holding nurseries (optionol) 

The producer should ensure that seedlings of all required species are well distributed without loss to the site if the Nursery is located far away from the planting site. lt is good to note that the Nursery could be in the implementing villages of the sector to avoid the damage of seedling during the 

transportation period.
4. Technical Specifications

• The height of the shade will have to be 2 m high. The width of the band will be 1.2 meters to allow nursery workers to do the weeding of bands from either side without having to step into the band. 
• The beds can be any length, but 10- 12 m is often convenient in Rwanda to facilitate hand tending and watering and task allocation to workers. 
• Paths between the beds are essential, and these should be at least 1 m wide to allow access for workers with wheelbarrows, baskets and other materials. 
• Plastic bag should be 1.2 cm length, 10 cm diameter for forestry/agroforestry trees
• Plastic bag should be 20 cm length and 18 cm diameter for fruits trees 
• Nursery shade must be a movable mat made with reeds or papyrus or black shade net.

5. Scope of work 

Under supervision of IPFG, the contractor will have to carry out the following activities: 

Activity 1: The contractor will be responsible for Hiring the land for nursery establishment within the selected landscapes (in implementing Villages)

Activity 2: Tree nursery establishment, including Smart Visible marking out the shape and sizes of the beds, erecting beds using durable mature poles and orienting beds according to the sunlight direction to avoid direct sunshine when shaded, providing shades using smart materials locally available or shade nets in case of scarcity of local materials.
Activity3: Fencing well the seedlings Nursery with local materials to ensure that they are secure during production.

Activity 4: Purchasing and sowing the seeds obtained from the National Tree Seed Centre or other quality assured suppliers. Seeds must be disease free and the contractor will be responsible for seeds replacement in case seeds are not germinated at >75%. 

Activity 5: Tree nursery management, including watering, pot filling, pricking out from seedbeds into pots, shading and watering after pricking out, weeding, root pruning, hardening off, pest and diseases management in nurseries. 

Activity 6: Ensure the safety of tree nurseries from theft of seedlings. 

Activity 7: Ensure that the number of seedlings for each species as per the contract are healthy and delivered on time. Activity 8: Preparation and delivery of training modules tailored for farmers (including youth and women) on nursery preparation and management practices and provide the appropriate report.

6. Submission of bidding documents 

The interested companies/entities who are confident of fulfilling the above requirements and committed to doing the task as prescribed should submit/send their application documents which must include the following information: 

• 2 certificates of good completion for similar work
• Motivation letter 
• RDB Registration certificate
• A document with unit prices in the production of each of the above-mentioned species including distribution costs (remembering that we prefer the Nurseries to be in the villages of implementation), all taxes included.
• CV of the company/entity showing location, the working experience with 3 professional referees and other relevant information on the implementation of agroforestry trees production works.
• A demonstration of implementation for the above endeavor like, location of your nursery(ies), seed source, manpower mobilization, land mobilization, Protection of the environment etc.
• Demonstrate human resource capacity to undertake such endeavor.
• Field visits may be necessary to either client, existing sites etc….

Note:

1. The selected nursery (ies)' company (ies) will have yearly contract {s) which is/are subject to its/their renewal based on performance. 
2. After selection of nursery(ies)' company (ies), proposed prices are subject to negotiations 
3. Selected companies will be expected to comply with country labor law and various IPFG policies and working ethics, including safeguarding and child protection policy.
4. Selected companies should implement environmentally sensitive activities in their nurseries and ensure the safety of their workers and the sites they are working in.

Qualified bidders should submit above mentioned documents in English to the following email: info@ipfg-rwanda.com . not later than the 02nd March 2026, at 5.00 pm.

Done at Nyamagabe 20 th February 2026

Therese UWIZEYE

President of IPFG