AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Climate Change and Green Growth Department (PECG)
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR CONSULTING FIRMS
FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A NATIONAL CONSULTING FIRM TO CONDUCT FEASIBILITY STUDIES AND SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT (WITHIN AGRICULTURE SECTOR) IN CAMEROON
- The African Development Bank (AfDB) hereby invites National Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the in the following assignment: “Consultancy Services for undertaking feasibility studies and supporting the development of a climate change project (agriculture sector) in Cameroon” ;
- Through the Climate and Green Growth Department (PECG), AfDB seeks to invite expressions of interest from firms with expertise in conducting feasibility studies, economic and financial analysis, climate analysis and rationale for climate change, agriculture and /or natural resources management projects ;
- The services to be covered under the terms of the assignment include, but are not limited, to the following :
- Undertake the feasibility studies of the project while ensuring its consistency with national and international policies, including alignment with donors’ policies ;
- Analyze and compare scenarios with and without the project under a climate change projection and against a baseline situation; compare scenarios to determine the impact of the project ;
- Based on the relevant policies, conduct the overall financial analysis and profit/loss calculations of the project, including the internal rate of return in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) and other relevant ministries and institutions ;
- Provide the climate analysis and rationale to be used for the project proposal ;
- Identify and describe existing and planned project as part of the baseline ;
- Undertake an ESIA and a gender assessment for the project ;
- Support the project proposal design, using the GCF (Green Climate Funds) template.
- PECG invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible firms or associations of firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience while demonstrating their ability to successfully provide the services (documentation, references for similar services, experience in similar assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.) ;
- The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedures shall be in conformity with the Presidential Directive No 02/2012 Concerning the Procedures for Acquisition of Consulting Services funded by the Administrative or Capital Expenditure Budget of the Bank Group and its Implementation Manual which are available for consultation on AfDB’s website at afdb.org. Please note that interest expressed by a Consulting Firm does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include tat firm in the shortlist ;
- The assignment is expected to last for a period of 4 months and the estimated starting date is August 16th. In case of need, Interested Consulting firms may obtain additional information by contacting the email addresses below during the Bank’s working days, from 09:00 to 17:00 hours ;
- Expressions of interest must be delivered via email to the addresses below no later than June 21st, 2021 at 17:00 Abidjan local time and specifically mention “Consultancy Services for undertaking feasibility studies and supporting the development of a climate change project (agriculture sector) in Cameroon”.
For the attention of Mrs. Davinah MILENGE-UWELLA
African Development Bank/Climate Change and Green Growth Department (PECG) Avenue Joseph Anoma, 01 BP 1387, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire Tel: (+225) 27 20 26 32 65. Email: D.MILENGE-UWELLA@AFDB.ORG with copy to R.JIAGHO@AFDB.ORG
Annex I: Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference (ToR’s) to conduct feasibility studies on a climate change project (within the agriculture sector) in Cameroon
Back ground :
The Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) hosted within the Climate Change and Green Growth Department (PECG) of the African Development Bank, is an enabler fund which builds institutional capacity for regional member countries or institutions to access climate finance. The Africa Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Hub whose secretariat is hosted within PECG, is a multi-stakeholder platform, which allows for leveraging of technical and financial capacity of various development institutions to efficiently and effectively address NDC implementation needs.
The Africa NDC Hub with funding from the ACCF is supporting institutional capacity building in Namibia, Uganda, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cameroon through a project entitled, “The Africa NDC Hub: Supporting NDCs Implementation in Africa”, to accelerate access to climate finance and the effective utilization of funds for the implementation of NDCs.
As part of the project activities, Cameroon plans to set up an integrated agricultural mechanization system, focused on intensive and sedentary agriculture to improve crop yields, reduce land use changes by farming longer periods in same land and consequently reduce carbon emissions from conversion of forests to agricultural lands. The African Development Bank (PECG) seeks to hire a consulting firm to support the elaboration of the feasibility study (including economic and financial analyses and models) and the climate analysis for the project “Setting up a climate-smart and integrated agricultural mechanization system” in Cameroon.
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT :
- Undertake the feasibility studies of the project while ensuring its consistency with national and international policies, including alignment with donors’ policies ;
- Analyze and compare scenarios with and without the project under a climate change projection and against a baseline situation; compare scenarios to determine the impact of the project ;
- Based on the relevant policies, conduct the overall financial analysis and profit/loss calculations of the projects, including the internal rate of return in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) and other relevant ministries and institutions ;
- Provide the climate analysis and rationale to be used for the project proposals ;
- Identify and describe existing and planned projects as part of the baseline ;
- Undertake an ESIA and a gender assessment for the project ;
- Support the project proposal design, using the GCF (Green Climate Funds) template.
Specific tasks :
Feasibility studies :
- Review the findings of the existing feasibility studies, if available ;
- Provide a technical assessment of the viability of the projects. If a particular technological solution is chosen, the consultant should describe why it is the most appropriate for the project ;
- Apply in-depth technical design studies for the proposed technological solutions to present technical, environmental, social, policy assessment of feasible options/solutions for the proposed project, and propose outcomes and recommendations with the most feasible and sound options for the project ;
- Apply relevant engineering study/analysis with testing work and on-site appraisals ;
- Include deeper analysis and testing of each feasible option.
Economic and financial analysis :
- Conduct an in-depth analysis and specify the expected economic and financial rate of return with and without the Fund’s support ;
- Conduct an in-depth analysis of the economic and financial cost-effectiveness of the projects, based on key barriers and relevant factors ;
- describe the key characteristics and dynamics of the sector or market in which the projects will operate ;
- Specify the cost–economic benefit ratio of project activity by comparing their positive and structuring effects on the national economy through job and income generation contributing to achieving the project development goals and the emergence of the country ;
- Analyze the financial cost–benefit ratios of the project investments ;
- Analyze the intrinsic cost-effectiveness of the funding ;
- Calculate and analyze the net added value prior to projects financing ;
- Identify private sector institutions to engage in the project ;
- Propose transformative approaches that will aid in scaling up climate resilience building and low emission activities ;
- Develop the project’s financial and economic models.
Climate analysis and rationale :
- Complete the description and analysis of climate change profile and trends, using relevant and recent data ;
- Explain and provide evidences of the climate change taking place in Cameroon (e.g. decrease and irregular distribution of rainfall and increase in temperature and its link to events like drought, erosion, etc.) ;
- Provide recent data and specific indicators (i.e. soil moisture) and/or indices to demonstrate the effects on the physical environment and on agricultural production ;
- Expand on the vulnerabilities and the climate change impacts to provide clear evidence and justification of the suggested solutions ;
- Characterize and describe the agricultural production and the actual and expected impacts of climate change on this production ;
Demonstrate the relationship between the impacts and climate change needs.
For example: How is climate change affecting :
- crop selection for a specific location ;
- choice of cultivars / varieties ;
- timing of planting / sowing ;
- yield; and
- overall suitability for certain cultivars ;
- Propose the prioritized sites for the implementation of the project activities ;
- Considering the role of water resources in reaching the project outcomes and expected impacts, provide a hydrological model and proposed interventions to address water demand for agriculture production ;
- Contribute to the elaboration of barriers and the solutions proposed to address the climate change impacts and vulnerability of agriculture production ;
- Complete the description and analysis of the mitigation needs (GHG emissions profile) and/or adaptation needs (climate hazards and associates risks based on impacts, exposure, and vulnerabilities) related to the projects ;
- Propose the climate rationale for the project (both mitigation and adaptation), with links to the required transformational change.
ESIA :
Description and analysis of the social context in which the project operates.
This will include :
- Analysis of the social diversity and vulnerabilities ;
- Identification and analysis of vulnerable groups ;
- Description of the rights situation of relevant social groups and the legal framework for land and property rights and other legislation and regulations on aspects pertinent to the project ;
- Emphasises on the differences between relevant social groups (including indigenous peoples and vulnerable groups) and their particular needs, concerns and vulnerabilities and relevant differences between men and women ;
- Description of identified impacts, including predictions in terms of probability and magnitude of impact and resulting significance. The following impacts should be taken into consideration ;
- Direct impacts caused by project activities in the primary project site(s) and related facilities ;
- Indirect impacts – unplanned but predictable activities enabled by the project which will occur immediately or later; this might include inadvertent knock-on effects or side-effects of the project given the complexity of social processes and the human-environment interface ;
- Cumulative effects that materialize through interaction with other developments at the project site as well as in the wider area of influence ;
- If the Standard on Indigenous Peoples or other relevant standards (access restriction, involuntary resettlement, etc.) are triggered during the assessment, develop an Action Plan to Mitigate these Impacts ;
- Development of the risk management strategy in form of an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP). The ESMP should have the following content ;
- Project description including logframe and project activities, location and geographic extent of the project ;
- Brief reference to the legal framework in the host country relevant for environmental and social management and how the project ensures compliance ;
- Complete list of identified negative effects that specific project activities may cause and their significance ;
- Planned measures to avoid adverse environmental and/or social impacts, to minimise them to acceptable levels or to compensate for them; including responsibilities (staffing) and schedule for implementing the mitigation measures, their technical feasibility, cultural appropriateness, expected effectiveness in providing mitigation to all affected groups ;
- Reference to plans required by the Standards (e.g. Indigenous Peoples Plan, Action Plan Access Restrictions etc.) and whether mitigation measures have been included or not in the ESMP ;
- Cost estimates for the proposed mitigation measures and for ensuring compliance, to be included in the budget of the project proposal ;
- Description of the executing entities’ capacity to implement the ESMP; where needed, provide for capacity building measures (to be included in the ESMP budget).
Gender assessment :
- Produce a gender-responsive proposal for the project ;
- Gather gender information at the national level and develop a gender analysis, focusing in the areas where the project will be implemented ;
- Ensure that participatory and inclusive approaches, gender-responsive considerations, and sex-disaggregated information are included in the baseline methodologies, tools and analyses ;
- Analyse the social context, with special attention to differences between relevant social groups (including indigenous peoples and vulnerable groups) and their particular needs, concerns and vulnerabilities and relevant differences between men and women ;
- Develop a gender action plan (GAP) to guide and advise gender mainstreaming in the project.
KEYS DELIVERABLES :
- A complete and detailed climate analysis and rationale for the project and the project sites ;
- A complete and detailed economic and financial analysis and models for the project ;
- A technical, environmental, social, policy assessment of feasible options/solutions for the proposed project, and propose outcomes and recommendations with the most feasible and sound options for the project ;
- ESIA and gender assessment Reports, Gender action plan and ESMP (including specific mitigation action plan for IPs, etc. if relevant) ;
- Finalized concept note and project proposal developed with the support of the Bank.
Qualification :
The following expertise is expected to be available among the experts who will compose the team proposed by the consulting firm :
The Climate Change Expert must have :
- At least a Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in environment, natural resources management, climate change or related field ;
- At least ten years of project-relevant professional experience in analyzing climate change trends, impacts and vulnerability ;
- Demonstrated knowledge of the natural resources’ management challenges of Cameroon ;
- Demonstrated knowledge of large-scale projects design in natural resources and / or agricultural sector, with a climate change objective or focus on the fight against climate change ;
- Experience working in Cameroon and knowledge of its agro-ecological regions ;
- Proven experience in research and climate change project development for different environment and climate finance donors (including inter alia GCF; GEF, ACCF, etc.) ;
- Experience working with stakeholders, including senior government officials, donor countries and government organizations, as well as regional organizations ;
- Excellent technical and analytical skills and proven experience in operational and policy work on climate change, green growth and climate finance ;
- Excellent communication and team-working skills and excellent command of spoken and written English and French ;
- Previous experience in conducting training activities for keys stakeholders (private sector, government institutions, CSOs, etc.) on climate change and climate finance related issues.
The Agriculture expert must have :
- At least a Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in agriculture, agronomy, agribusiness or other relevant field of expertise ;
- At least ten years of project-relevant professional experience in agriculture development, specifically on sustainable agricultural projects ;
- Experience on greenhouse gas accounting and reporting for agricultural projects, with proven use of specific tool(s) ;
- At least ten years of project-relevant professional experience in analyzing large-scale development projects and financial modelling; project finance; green finance experience with bank lending for large-scale is an advantage ;
- Experience in financial structuring for projects ;
- Experience in preparing economic (Cost Benefit Analysis – CBA) and financial appraisal (Internal Rate Return – IRR) for projects ;
- Working experience in Cameroon is considered as an asset ;
- Excellent communication and team-working skills and excellent command of spoken and written English and French ;
- Excellent knowledge of relevant national standards and codes and computer programmes.
The ESIA expert must have :
- Degree in environment sciences, social sciences, Development Studies, Community Development, Sociology, or related field ;
- Advanced training in ESIA studies is an asset ;
- Demonstrated previous experience in the Environmental and Social Assessment Procedures (ESAP), applying the international safeguard standards, E&S services for similar projects, socio-economic baseline studies, and stakeholder / community engagement and consultation ;
- Track record on E&S impact assessment, management, auditing and monitoring of similar projects with a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience (Resettlement Action Plans, Process Framework, FPIC Processes, Environmental and Social Management Frameworks or Plans, Monitoring and Reporting), of similar projects with specific experience ESIA in development and nature conservation in Cameroon or Central Africa subregion ;
- Significant experience with gender issues and social impacts is required with some experience in relevant socio-ecological frameworks ;
- Track record on E&S impact assessment, of similar projects with specific experience ESIA in development and nature conservation in Cameroon ;
- Excellent communication and team-working skills and excellent command of spoken and written English and French.
The Gender expert must have :
- A Degree in social sciences, Social Work, Gender/Women Studies, Development Studies, Community Development, Sociology, or related field ;
- An advanced training in Gender and Development studies ;
- At least five years’ experience in advocacy for gender issues and evidence-based results in gender analysis and mainstreaming especially in institutions and projects that deal with climate change, environment, forest and natural resources management ;
- Significant experience with gender issues and social impacts is required with strong experience in Cameroon socio-ecological and gender analysis frameworks ;
- Experience working with stakeholders at multiple levels, including local, regional, and national ;
- Strong analytical ability to design, implement and evaluate gender mainstreaming options for promoting climate adaption and mitigation ;
- Excellent communication and team-working skills and excellent command of spoken and written English and French.
The consulting firm and proposed team will have to demonstrate a track record of conducting feasibility studies, economic and financial analysis, climate analysis and rationale, ESIA and gender assessment for climate change and /or natural resources management projects in Cameroon or in Central Africa Region for at least 5 years (recent), including working with donors such the GEF, the GCF, the World Bank and other relevant UN agencies. The team will be constituted in a way to easily fulfil the tasks in a context of travels restriction (eventually).
SUPERVISION AND REPORTING :
Technical guidance and supervision will be provided by NDC Focal Point at the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED) and PECG. The overall responsibility is under the authority of the designated staff at the Climate Change and Green Growth Department of the African Development Bank. The consultancy firm is expected to be based in Cameroon. All the deliverables and reports must be provided in English.
MODALITY OF PAYMENT AND TIMEFRAME :
Payment of the consulting firm will be made upon satisfactory accomplishment of the key deliverables outlined in the Terms of Reference.
It is expected that the final report documents including all annexes are submitted to the Bank no later than 4 months after the contract between the Bank and the consulting firm is effective.