Cambodia: TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO IMPROVE CHARCOAL QUALITY AND PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY

Groupe Énergies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités
Group for the Environment, Renewable Energy and Solidarity
Southeast Asia Regional Office • 1/F, building #3, Street 240 • Sangkat Chaktomuk • P.O.Box 2528 •
Phnom Penh • Cambodia • Tel. +855 (0)23 986 891 • Fax. +855 (0)23 221 314 • www.geres.eu

TERMS OF REFERENCE
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO IMPROVE
CHARCOAL QUALITY AND PRODUCTION
EFFICIENCY
BACKGROUND
Access to energy is fundamental for achieving economic growth and poverty reduction. Providing
improved access to energy sources, products and services play pre-determining role in achieving
health, education and income generation goals.

Cambodia
Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia with 80% of its economy being informal
and 17.7% of its population living under the poverty line. 80% of the 15 million inhabitants live in
rural areas and forest resources contribute between 30 to 42% to the total households’ incomes.
According to FAO, Cambodia has the highest rate of deforestation in Southeast Asia, the land-use
change and forestry sectors accounting for 46% of the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.
Biomass-energy represents 70% of the energy mix of the country and woodfuels (wood, charcoal
and sawdust) account for more than 90% of the biomass-energy final demand. Domestic cooking
itself generates a demand of 4.7 million tons of primary wood per year, which represents three times
the energy demand of the transportation sector. Meanwhile, the increasing scarcity of wood
resources and the illegality of wood collection in Protected Areas will soon translate into an increase
in wood and charcoal prices, and will directly threaten Cambodia’s remaining wood heritage and
resilience to climate change.

PROJECT CONTEXT
GERES and SEFED project
GERES- Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités- is a French non-profit NGO
created in 1976 after the first Oil Crisis. Environmental conservation, climate change mitigation and
adaption, energy poverty reduction, and livelihood improvement of the poor are the main focus
areas for GERES. GERES teams are particularly involved in the implementation – in partnership with
the communities and local stakeholders- of engineering solutions for development.
In south-east Asia, GERES has 20 years of experience in Cambodia providing locally adapted, low-
cost, transferable technology solutions and sustainable practices in the biomass value-chain to
improve the economic empowerment and lives of vulnerable people.

“Support the Emergence of Sustainable Supply Chains in the Domestic Energy Sector”
(SEFED) - is a 3-year project cofunded by AFD and implemented by GERES. The project started in
July 2016 and will end in June 2019. GERES | 2018-02_ToR_TA_Charcoal-quality | 2/4

The aim of SEFED project is to create the conditions for the emergence and empowerment of two
local value chains engaged in the production and distribution of sustainable energy solutions
(improved stoves and sustainable charcoal) in Cambodia.

More specifically the project seeks to test de feasibility of creating a value chain for sustainable
charcoal that is financially viable. To this end, the project will focus on building the resources and
in-house capacities of the value-chain actors, stimulate market demand and move the regulatory
framework forward, with a view to rolling out sustainable energy solutions and ensuring the long-
term development of the biomass-energy supply chain for domestic cooking in Cambodia.

Charcoal sector in Cambodia
It is estimated that 80,000 Cambodians produce charcoal. The degree of mastery of the kiln
technology and production process vary greatly. For most producers it is only a secondary activity
during dry season while some other can be considered professionals with charcoal production being
their main source of income and showing more advance kilns and process.
However even the most advance kilns found in Cambodia are made using the technology of charcoal
kiln mud mound. The wood that is collected for free in the forest is rarely dried. Both the technology
used and the practices are highly inefficient.
The project will engage with traditional charcoal producers to assist them in improving their
technology and practices to produce sustainable charcoal. The assistance of a “skilled charcoal
producer” will be sought to disseminate the improvements proposed.
PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The main objective of the assignment is to provide technical assistance to GERES in supporting the
activity of improvement of the charcoal kiln technology and production practices of the traditional
producers participating in the project. The logic adopted here is to maximize the quality and
efficiency of the charcoal produced using traditional practices.

The specific purpose of the proposed intervention is to provide methodological support and practical
guidance to GERES team and to the charcoal producer champion to support this activity. This include
developing one handbook of guidelines on practical kiln construction and operations based on the
data collected and observations from the field. This guideline should be as simple as possible so that
they might be designed by local staff.
The consultant will work in close collaboration with the skilled charcoal producer that he will train in
the new practices and technology.

SCOPE OF WORK
Expected activities and deliverables

General Activities Specific Activities Deliverables

1. Diagnostic/assessment
   of the quality of
   charcoal produced in
   relation to charcoal kiln
   construction skills and
   production practices
    Provide methodological support
   for data collection: test wood and
   charcoal for humidity contents,
   raw material characteristics,
   transformation ratio,
   carbonization process and
   duration, etc. that will be used as
   baseline for improvements.
    Provide charcoal producers with
   better understanding of charcoal
   and production process.
    Observe production practices in
   the field
    Diagnostic compiling
   observation from the field,
   interviews and analysis of
   the current kiln
   construction skills and
   production practices.
    List of priority issues to be
   addressed for improvement
   of charcoal quality and
   production efficiency.

2. Support GERES team
   and skilled charcoal
   producer in
    Propose set of improvements
   based on based practices,
    Handbook of guidelines on
   practical kiln construction
   and operations GERES | 2018-02_ToR_TA_Charcoal-quality | 3/4
   implementing charcoal
   quality and production
   efficiency
   improvements.
   diagnostic and priorities
   identified
    Support GERES team and skilled
   charcoal producers in the
   implementation in the field of
   these improvements
    Methodology to implement
   guidelines.

3. Evaluation of the
   quality and production
   efficiency
   improvements and final
   recommendations
    Conduct evaluation of the
   implementation of
   recommendations (easiness of
   implementation, full or partial
   implementation by producers,
   etc.)
    Provide methodological support
   for the evaluation of level of
   improvements achieved through
   the implementation of
   recommendations (did the
   recommendations allowed to
   achieve the level of quality and
   efficiency targeted?).
    Propose a set of final
   recommendations to GERES team
   and skilled charcoal producer.
    Comprehensive evaluation
   report
    Set of final
   recommendations.

Duration of Assignment
The assignment is expected to start in April 2018 and to be completed by the end of September
2018, representing an estimation of 15 days of work. The assignment is expected to take place as
follows:
 Diagnostic mission: in the field (Pursat province, Cambodia) and home-based, at the start
of the assignment for a maximum of 7 man days of which 5 man days in the field.
 Handbook guidelines development: home-based, over the next month for a maximum
of 4 man days
 Evaluation mission: in the field, at the end of the assignment for a maximum of 4 man
days

BUDGET
The maximum available budget for this assignment is USD $12,500 inclusive of all costs and all
taxes.

QUALIFICATION REQUIRED
 Master’s degree or higher in engineering or related field.
 At least 10 years of experience in biomass energy thermochemical conversion processes.
 In depth experience of charcoal production technologies including practical experience with
traditional charcoal producers in developing countries.
 Proven experience in development of charcoal kiln technologies and efficiency assessment.
 Experience in charcoal laboratory characterisation
 Experience of work and familiarity with the context of Southeast Asia.
 Khmer language an asset.
 Experience communicating with a range of stakeholders.
CONDITIONS
 Starting date: April 2018
 Desk review and other preparation works, as well as report writing, will be done from
consultant’s home station
 The consultant is expected to travel to visit the target group in Pursat province, Cambodia.
All expenses related to his travels should be budgeted in the financial offer  The consultant will be using his own computer and will cover the cost of his own office
expenses while home based.
 The consultant is responsible for his insurance expenses and applicable taxes.

TO APPLY
Applications should comprise:

A technical offer, made of:
 CV outlining why the consultant is well suited for this assignment
 Two relevant professional references
 Understanding of the assignment
 Description of the methodology and work plan for performing the assignment

A financial offer, detailing the number of man-days with unit prices, and the various reimbursable
costs (flight tickets, other transportation costs, per diem and accommodation).

The applications will be assessed on both the technical and financial offers.

Information can be requested to the SEFED Project Manager, Héloïse Pichot: h.pichot@geres.eu
The applications should be submitted by email as soon as possible to the SEFED Project Manager,
Héloïse Pichot: h.pichot@geres.eu , with the title “Application External Consultancy SEFED”.
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.
The deadline for submission is the 15/03/2018.
Technical and financial offers should be in separate files, in generally accepted electronic format.
Electronic submission should be less than 5 Mo (if more please split in several files). Files with
extensions not supported by PC will not be considered.

GERES is an equal opportunity organization: suitable applications are invited irrespectively of age,
race, religion, gender and physical criteria.