RECRUITMENT OF INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE ENGINEER CONSULTANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGINFO WEB APPLICATION
The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is a West African intergovernmental organization, headquartered in Accra, Ghana with a current membership of 13 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
WASCAL provides comprehensive climate change solutions, through capacity building, research and innovation, climate and environmental services, as well as the promotion of green hydrogen and renewable energy.
WASCAL is operationalising “Customized and Integrated Climate Services for Improved Resilience and Sustainable Socio-Economic Development in West Africa”, with funding from BMFTR/PT-DLR (Grant Contract No. 01LG2292B, 2023-202_6. The overall objective of CICLES is to design, demonstrate and disseminate climate and environmental services that strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience to climate variability and climate change in West Africa.
As part of the CICLES, WASCAL is developing AgInfo, an operational agro-climatic information web application designed to transform climate observations, forecast products and agro-climatic indicators into practical decision-support information for agriculture. AgInfo will support climate-informed agricultural decision-making by linking climate data processing, forecast interpretation, advisory generation and last-mile communication.
To support the finalisation and operational deployment of AgInfo, WASCAL seeks to recruit an independent Software Engineer Consultant with strong experience in web application development, data processing, database management, machine learning and climate-service applications.
The overall objective of this consultancy is to design, develop, test and deploy the AgInfo web application as an operational climate-service tool for agricultural decision support. Specifically, the consultant will develop a user-friendly web application capable of processing climate and agro-climatic datasets, generating predictive outputs related to false onset, extreme rainfall, dry spells and drought risk, and presenting the results through an intuitive interface for technical users, agricultural extension actors and decision-makers.
The consultant will work under the technical supervision of WASCAL and in close collaboration with the CICLES team. The assignment will include the following tasks.
First, the consultant will review the existing AgInfo concept, workflow diagrams, available datasets and technical specifications. This will include clarifying user requirements, application modules, data-processing needs, expected outputs and deployment conditions.
Second, the consultant will collect, organise and pre-process relevant datasets required for the generation of agro-climatic indicators, including false onset events, extreme rainfall events, dry spells and drought-related indicators. This will include data cleaning, formatting, quality checks, metadata organisation and preparation of model-ready datasets.
Third, the consultant will develop or integrate predictive models for estimating the probability or occurrence of false onset, extreme rainfall, dry spells and drought conditions. The models should be documented, reproducible and designed in a way that allows future updates when new data become available.
Fourth, the consultant will develop the AgInfo web application, preferably using Streamlit or an equivalent framework agreed with WASCAL. The application should provide an intuitive user interface allowing users to select locations, periods, parameters and indicators; visualise results; access summary outputs; and download relevant information where appropriate.
Fifth, the consultant will integrate the data-processing and prediction modules into the web application. The system should allow the incorporation of updated datasets and, where feasible, near-real-time or regularly updated climate information.
Sixth, the consultant will test and validate the application in collaboration with WASCAL. This will include functional testing, debugging, performance checks, user testing and revision of the interface based on feedback from the technical team.
Seventh, the consultant will deploy the final version of the application on a server or hosting environment agreed with WASCAL. The deployment should include configuration, access management, basic security settings and documentation of deployment procedures.
Finally, the consultant will provide technical documentation, source code, user guidance and a handover session to WASCAL staff to ensure sustainability and future maintenance.
| Deliverable | Description | Indicative Timeline |
| D1. Inception report and technical specification note | Brief report confirming understanding of the assignment, application architecture, work plan, data requirements, technology stack, and detailed implementation schedule. | Week 1 |
| D2. Data-processing and model-development package | Cleaned and structured datasets, documented scripts for preprocessing, and initial predictive models for false onset, extreme rainfall, dry spells and drought indicators. | Week 3 |
| D3. First AgInfo prototype | Functional first prototype of the web application with core interface, data input structure, preliminary visualisation and at least one operational prediction module. | Week 5 |
| D4. Advanced / final AgInfo application | Complete application integrating all agreed modules, including false onset, extreme rainfall, dry spell and drought prediction/visualisation functions. | Week 8 |
| D5. Testing, validation and revision report | Report summarising testing results, bugs corrected, user feedback received and improvements made. | Week 9 |
| D6. Deployment and handover package | Deployed application, source code, technical documentation, user guide, administrator guide and handover/training session for WASCAL staff. | Week 10 |
- Required Qualifications and Experience
The consultant should have at least a Master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, data science, information systems, engineering or a closely related field.
The consultant should demonstrate strong practical experience in web application development, preferably using Python-based frameworks such as Streamlit, Flask, Django or equivalent technologies. Experience in the development of interactive dashboards, data portals, climate-service tools or decision-support applications will be an advantage.
The consultant should have proven experience in data acquisition, data cleaning, data processing, statistical analysis and machine learning. Strong proficiency in Python libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib, Scikit-learn, Xarray, GeoPandas or equivalent tools is required.
Experience with climate, meteorological, hydrological or geospatial datasets will be a strong asset. Familiarity with rainfall indicators, dry spells, drought indices, onset of rainy season, extreme rainfall analysis or seasonal forecast products will be particularly valuable.
The consultant should have experience with database systems such as PostgreSQL/PostGIS, MySQL or equivalent relational database systems. Knowledge of API integration, data pipelines, ETL processes, version control systems such as Git, and deployment on Linux servers or cloud environments is expected.
The consultant should have good communication skills and the ability to produce clear technical documentation. Working proficiency in English is required, and knowledge of French will be an advantage.
- Duration and Timetable
The assignment is expected to last approximately 10 weeks from the date of contract signature. The final timetable will be agreed during the inception meeting.
The consultancy will include an inception meeting, regular technical check-ins, milestone review meetings after each major deliverable, and a final handover session. The consultant will be expected to submit short progress updates during the assignment and to participate in technical discussions with the WASCAL team as needed.
| No. | Criteria | Points |
| 1 | Academic qualification and relevance of degree | 10 |
| 2 | Proven experience in web application development, dashboards, portals or decision-support tools | 25 |
| 3 | Experience in data processing, machine learning, climate/geospatial data and predictive modelling | 25 |
| 4 | Quality and relevance of proposed methodology, technical approach and work plan | 25 |
| 5 | Experience with deployment, documentation, source-code management and handover | 10 |
| 6 | Language, communication and availability | 5 |
| Total | 100 |
The minimum technical score required to proceed to financial evaluation should be 70/100.
- Composition of the Offer
Interested consultants shall submit one PDF file containing a technical proposal and a financial proposal.
The technical proposal should include a cover letter, a detailed CV, evidence of relevant previous assignments, a proposed methodology, a work plan, a description of the proposed technology stack, and examples or links to previously developed web applications, dashboards or data tools where available.
The financial proposal should be submitted in both FCFA and EUR, excluding VAT.
- Payment Terms
Payments will be made upon satisfactory completion and approval of milestones according to the following schedule:
| Milestone | Payment |
| Approval of inception report and technical specification note | 10% |
| Submission and approval of data-processing/model-development package | 20% |
| Submission and approval of first prototype | 25% |
| Submission and approval of final application | 25% |
| Deployment, documentation and handover accepted by WASCAL | 20% |
All payments will be subject to WASCAL’s administrative and financial procedures and to acceptance of the deliverables by the technical supervisor.
- Ownership, Confidentiality and Handover
All source code, scripts, datasets prepared under the assignment, model files, documentation, interface designs and other outputs produced under this consultancy shall be the property of WASCAL. The consultant shall provide WASCAL with full access to the source code repository, deployment files, credentials, documentation and all materials required for future maintenance and further development.
The consultant shall maintain confidentiality regarding all data, information, documents and technical materials accessed during the assignment and shall not share or reuse them without written authorisation from WASCAL.
Applications must be submitted by email in a single PDF file no later than 31 May 2026 to:
For questions or clarifications, before closing date, bidders may contact:
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