The African Development Bank: expression of interest of Mozambique country office partnership engagement initiative

The African Development Bank: expression of interest of Mozambique country office partnership engagement initiative

1. Context

The African Development Bank is a development finance institution that promotes socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic development in African Countries. In 2013, the African Development Bank approved a Ten Year Strategy (LTS) covering the period 2013-2022, entitled “At the Center of Africa’s Transformation’. The overarching twin objectives of the LTS are ‘achievement of inclusive growth’ and ‘transition to green growth’. In 2015, the strategy was refined to encompass 5 focal areas referred to as the ‘High 5 Agenda’: Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. These focal areas are essential for transforming the lives of the African people and are consistent with the Global 2030 Development Agenda defined by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Banks medium term strategy for Mozambique, defined by the new Country Strategy 2018-22, focuses on two areas of priority: (1) Development of infrastructure to enable transformative inclusive growth and job creation; and (2) Support to agricultural transformation and value chain development. The strategy aims to address the country’s overarching development challenge of pervasive poverty and inequality, particularly in rural areas where most of the population live, dependent on subsistence agriculture and disconnected from the centers of growth. Various other donors and likeminded intuitions (including private sector) are supporting development efforts in the country and these, like those of the Bank, align with national priorities e.g. Mozambique’s long-term development strategy ‘ENDE’ 2015-35.

The Bank has built a solid reputation as a partner of choice for the Government of Mozambique, development partners and private sector entities, and aims to strengthen these ties. For example, through pro-active and innovative leadership, the Bank has positioned itself as a key partner in infrastructure and for the country’s Green Growth agenda, in close collaboration with various stakeholders. The prevailing fiscal constraints and limited African Development Fund (ADF) allocation to the Government of Mozambique make it necessary for the Bank to prioritize the leveraging of resources through co-financing arrangements and non-sovereign operations. Co-financing has potential to contribute the additional benefit of reducing duplication of effort amongst donors.

Though the needs are great countrywide, the region of particular interest is the Cabo Delgado region of Northern Mozambique that is resource rich but infrastructure poor; the region is already generating significant donor and private sector interest. The discovery of significant offshore gas resources is anticipated to drive rapid development in the region in particular on the coastal areas of Cabo Delgado––especially around the town of Palma where new facilities to liquefy natural gas are being built onshore. At present detailed plans have been prepared for the natural gas industrial complex. However, there are no integrated urbanization master plans or frameworks in place to manage natural capital and climate risks/ dependencies for downstream natural gas industries, nor the essentials of water supply, housing form and materials, energy supply, transport, and coastal protection.

In response to these bottlenecks, the Government developed the Natural Capital Program, jointly with the Bank and other partners, under the co-leadership of the Ministry of Economy and Finance together with the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development. It is a keystone initiative under the Government’s vision set out in its Green Economy Roadmap to become an “inclusive middle income country by 2030, based on rational use of natural capital to guarantee development within planetary limits.” The Natural Capital Program will address climate adaptation, ecosystem degradation and poverty alleviation challenges through a combination of Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA), market-based ecological infrastructure livelihoods interventions with community entrepreneurs and blended finance innovations to drive private sector investment in ecological infrastructure stewardship. These core areas of intervention will be supported by cross cutting policy, knowledge, institutional and human capacity building.

2. Assignment

The Bank is seeking the services of an individual consultant to support the Mozambique Country Office to identify new partnerships and to strengthen existing linkages with liked minded donors and private sector entities in support of the Bank’s CSP objectives specifically and in alignment with Mozambique’s national development priorities more generally. The consultant will assist the Bank to convene, connect and catalyze donors and the private sector in order to identify opportunities for the co-financing of project and programmes, and joint economic and sector work. Specific activities include:

• Developing the framework document for the partnership platform (for Palma and the broader Cabo Delgado region, initiated in mid-2018) in consultation with key donors and other development partners ;
• Convening meetings between the Bank and relevant donor and private sector partners on pertinent issues in particular on the Cabo Delgado framework ;
• Providing backstopping support to Country Programme Officer and Country Economist on partnership activities ;
• Representing the Bank in key stakeholder meetings ;
• Reviewing and contributing to relevant documents and reports such as project documents, reports (including economic and sector work), studies and concept notes and– to identify gaps and issues to be addressed and propose corrective actions and liaising with relevant parties to define and track follow-up actions ;
• Support resource mobilization efforts for projects identified, including in the context of preparation for the Africa Investment Forum ;
• Other relevant activities as instructed by Country Manager.

The consultant will prepare detailed monthly reports on the partnership development and engagement activities. At the end of the contract period, the consultant will prepare a Partnership Engagement Plan for the Mozambique Country Office for the year 2019.

Assignment location and duration

The assignment will be undertaken in Maputo Mozambique for the duration of 5 months. The expected starting date is 22 October 2018. The consultant will report for day to day issues to the Agriculture specialist, COMZ, in consultation with the Climate Change and Green Growth Officer, RDGS, under the general guidance of the Country Manager COMZ.

3. Qualifications and experience

The following competences are particularly desirable:

• Business development ;
• Donor engagement ;
• Strategic partnership building.

Academic qualifications and experience :

The applicant must have :

• At least a university degree at Masters level in economics, development studies, environmental economics, agriculture and rural development, urban development, or other relevant sector ;
• At least 5 years of relevant project experience working in one or a combination of the following: agriculture, natural resource management, urban development, transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure, water supply and sanitation infrastructure ;
• Sound understanding of the policies, strategies, rules, guidelines of Multilateral Development Banks (including those of the AfDB) ;
• Sound understanding of the global development agenda and national level processes engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ;
• Strong analytical, operational, conceptual and strategic skills ;
• High degree of initiative and strong record of performance with low supervisory requirements to function effectively ;
• Strong analytical and organizational skills, with the ability to deliver results on time ;
• Strong inter-personal skills and commitment to work in a team-oriented and multicultural environment ;
• Good knowledge of the Africa region with project management experience in the region ;
• Strong oral and written proficiency in both English and Portuguese ;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office Suite applications. Competence with Power Point particularly desirable.

4. Other requirements for the performance of the assignment

The consultant will take full responsibility for the following logistics related to the Assignment, including :

• Own accommodation and day to day living/work related expenses ;
• Any and all required insurance ;
• Any and all required travel visa’s and work permits ;

The client/ AFDB will provide the following support :

• In-country travel to the field locations and associated costs such as transport, subsistence and accommodation (no international travel is envisioned) ;
• Letters of support or invitation needed for visa applications ;
• Office space and access to work related facilities at the Country office in Maputo.

5. Due process

The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedures for the Use of Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.

Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the email address below during the Bank’s working hours: 09:00 to 17:00 hours.

Expressions of interest comprising letter of motivation and detailed CV (PDF Format) must be received at the email addresses below no later than 11 October 2018, at 17h00 local time and specifically mentioning Partnership Engagement Initiative Consultant – Mozambique Country Office (Medium-Term).

Contacts: C.TIQUE@AFDB.ORG and M.MUSUMALI@AFDB.ORG