Consultant at Conservation International

Key Tasks

The Consultant Will Undertake The Following Tasks

• Undertake a review of relevant literature, including government and donor strategies for meeting enhanced transparency requirements as defined in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement. This will include but is not limited to activities and or projects (i)Tracking greenhouse emissions sinks and sources (ii)Tracking progress towards achieving Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contribution (iii)Providing information related to climate change impacts and adaptations (iv)Providing information on financial, technology transfer and capacity building support in line with the Paris Agreement transparency framework. The literature review will ensure alignment with existing related work and avoid duplication of efforts.

• Consult with key stakeholders to solicit their input into the development of the Project Document including the project work plan. These consultations should take place in person, via telephone, electronic conferencing and or workshops and should at minimum, involve Vital Signs, the MENR, and SLEEK identified representatives and/or participating government institutions.
• Interact closely with VS, SLEEK and other stakeholders to encourage cross-fertilization of ideas and ensure coherence between the design of the GEF CBIT Kenya project and the overall direction of Kenya’s national climate change mitigation and adaptation plans and achievement of her Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.
• Informed by the literature review, and input from the GEF Secretariat, the CI team, Vital Signs, Government of Kenya teams, as well as stakeholder consultations, prepare a Project Document for a medium-sized GEF project based upon the approved PIF and GEF feedback documents. The project framework from the PIF is given in Annex 1.
• Work with the Vital Signs and MENR team to prepare a presentation on the 1 st draft Project Document for an open meeting of project partners, community representatives, private partners, and stakeholders, proposed for early February 2017, Nairobi.
• Revise the Project Document to address comments from Vital Signs, MENR, stakeholders, the CI GEF Project Agency, and the GEF Secretariat for final approval.

Deliverables

• By 30 th March 2017, a zero draft of the Project Document, using the outline provided by the CI GEF Project Agency, the approved PIF, the GEF Secretariat’s comments on the PIF and additional information provided by VS and MENR. This draft will indicate gaps that need to be filled and sections requiring elucidation, and is intended to be a guide for further preparation of the contents.
• By 30 th April 2017, a first draft of the Project Document which incorporates all the comment from GEF Secretariat, CI team, MENR first round of consultations, meetings, etc., and which will be submitted to Vital Signs and MENR project team for review and comment.
• By 30 th May 2017, a second draft of the Project Document, incorporating all feedback and comment from the project team and the open meeting, which will be submitted to Vital Signs, MENR and CI GEF Project Agency for review and comment. This draft will respond to comments from the project key stakeholders and the inception meeting (key task 5); and the first drafts of the Gender Mainstreaming Plan and Accountability and Grievance Mechanism.
• By 30 th June 2017, a final draft of all documents, which responds to the comments from the CI GEF Project Agency, MENR and the GEF Secretariat.
  
  

Period of Performance

It is expected that the Project document will take approximately 45 days to develop, spread over a period of 6 months. The process is expected to begin on 1 st February 2017, with final submission to the GEF Secretariat by 30 th June 2017.

• Services Provided by CI
  
  CI will provide the consultant with an initial orientation, and all relevant background documents. CI and MENR will be available for ongoing conversations, to clarify expectations about the process and outputs. Also, CI will facilitate close coordination between preparation of the Project Document, development of strategies, systems and processes for the project.

Contract Type

• CI will issue a fixed-price contract for this work. Per the consultant’s proposal and subsequent negotiations, the contract will include a set of fixed payments based on submission of deliverables, per Section 4 (Deliverables), above.
• CI will accept proposals from individuals, consulting firms or organizations. CI anticipates that the work will be completed by a single person. If a team of people is proposed, CI intends to execute a consulting contract with a single individual, firm, or organization, which will serve as the lead entity and be responsible for contractual and financial arrangements with all others.

Minimum Qualifications of Consultants

• CI requires an individual or small team of individuals with senior-level qualifications to perform the work described here. Individuals will have, at a minimum, 10 years of experience in the field of conservation and sustainable development, in addition to substantial experience of preparing full-sized GEF projects under the climate change, biodiversity and land degradation, sustainable forest management focal areas, as well as demonstrable experience working with the Government of Kenya.

Location of Work

• The consultant shall work from their own base of operations, and may be required to make visits to identified stakeholder’s organisations.
  
  
• Monitoring and Evaluation of Consultant Performance
  
  The Vital Signs Executive Director together with the SLEEK coordinator will supervise consultant performance, and be responsible for review and acceptance of all written deliverables.
  
  
• Key Personnel
  
  The completion of this work is dependent on personnel. As such, applicants must name every individual expected to work on the contract, as well as their individual CV’s. CI will not accept any proposal that lists an expert as “to be determined.” CI considers all personnel named in the proposal as “key,” and must provide express, written authorization for replacement of named personnel.
  
  
• Instructions for Submission of Technical Proposals
  
  
• Point of contact: the point of contact for this solicitation is the Executive Director, Vital Signs Monitoring system. Proposal submissions and queries should be sent to her attention at vitalsignsrfp[at]conservation.org .
• Right of award: CI may reject any or all bids that are not responsive to the Scope of Work.
• Language: proposals must be submitted in English.
• Validity: proposals must be valid from submission date through to 6 th January 2017.
• Currency: proposals should be budgeted in United States dollars. Payment will be made in United States dollars.
• Cover and signature: applicants should submit their proposals with a cover letter signed by an authorized representative of the applicant.
• Expert table: proposals should include a table with the name, position title, and level of effort (in person-days) of all individuals proposed to work on the project.
• Resumes: proposals should include the resume of all named personnel corresponding to the table in Item 7 above.
  
  

• Instructions for Preparation of Budget (Cost Proposal)
• Maximum : The maximum allowable budget to prepare the project document should include labour costs and consultant other direct costs(e.g telephone,photocopying).The cost will not include travel costs associated with preparing drafts for CI.Should such travel be necessary,CI will either pay for it directly or amend the contract.
• Format: budgets must be prepared and submitted in Microsoft Excel and explicitly show all units (e.g., labour days), unit costs (e.g., loaded daily rates), and total costs. Excel files should be “unlocked” and show all calculations.
• Included costs: budgets should include lines for:

• 3.1. Labour, by individual expert, in person-days, multiplied by either a base daily pay (in US dollars) or a “loaded” daily pay (e.g., inclusive of fringe benefits, other indirect costs, or fee). Proposed daily rates must be in accord with the qualifications represented in the resumes of the named individuals.
• 3.2. Other direct costs, including costs for items like telephone, internet, photocopying, small office supplies, etc. (if required).
• 3.3. Professional services or subcontracts, if the applicant will engage experts who are not direct employees of the organization, then, as with Item 3.1 above, these lines should list individual expert, in person-days, multiplied by either a base daily pay (in US dollars) or a “loaded” daily pay (e.g., inclusive of fringe benefits, other indirect costs, or fee). Proposed daily rates must be in accord with the qualifications represented in the resumes of the named individuals.

• Budget Justification: a budget narrative must accompany the budget spreadsheet, justifying proposed costs.
• Evaluation Criteria
  
  CI Will Evaluate Proposals Based On The Following Criteria
  
  Criterion
  
  Points
  
  Demonstrated experience working with the Government of Kenya and with preparing medium to full-sized GEF Project Documents under climate change, biodiversity and land degradation, sustainable forest management focal areas,
  
  60
  
  Relevant technical expertise to the project, including but not limited to: climate change, biodiversity and land degradation, sustainable forest management knowledge management and institutional strengthening.
  
  20
  
  Appropriate budget, demonstrating: appropriate allocation of labour days in relation to tasks and deliverables; appropriate consultant daily rates in relation to qualifications; appropriate other direct costs in relation to the scope of work; and overall cost effectiveness.
  
  20
  
  Total
  
  100
  
  ANNEX I: Project Framework
  
  Project Objective: To enhance the SLEEK system in Kenya to ensure Compliance with the Paris Agreement Transparency Requirements.
  Project Components Project Outcomes Project Outputs
  
  Component 1
  
  Strengthening national institutions for transparency-related activities
  
  National Capacity built through training scientists and key ministry personnel in MRV technologies, data and models for MRV systems and development and implementation of MRV systems.
  
  MRV system institutionalized in the government operating structure
  
  Data sharing protocols developed and adopted by participating institutions
  
  Component 2: SLEEK System Enhancements to assist with improvement of transparency over time.
  
  Indicators
  
  A fully functional MRV system for the AFOLU/Land based sector in Kenya, - enhancing data collection and management to allow for better tracking (MRV), reporting and transparency in the AFOLU sector:
  
  (i) A national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions (by sources) and removals (by sinks) in place
  
  (ii) Information necessary to track progress toward achieving their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is available
  
  (iii) Information related to climate change impacts available
  
  (iv) information on financial, technology transfer and capacity building support needed and received and (v) information on any support they provide to developing countries available
  
  Reliable, accurate & credible reports generated for UNFCCC & used by decision makers in Kenya & other stakeholders
  
  Activities Include
  
  
• Mapping of forest status for purposes of estimating degradation & deforestation
• To support NFMS process
• To support REDD+ readiness
• Mapping of forest types
• Separation between plantation and natural systems
• Useful for REDD+ and UNFCCC reporting
• Develop strategy for the establishment of Permanent Sample Plots in each of the identified forest types
• Develop more forest growth curves
• Fire mapping
• Improved soil model calibrations by sampling soils for the entire country
• Crop measurement and modelling
• Grasslands biomass assessment, mapping and modelling
• More automated methods for attribution and compare to the existing processes tested
• A comprehensive analysis of all weather stations to locate areas that require new stations to be installed undertaken

Component 3

• Regional Capacity Building
• Best practices shared and institutional mechanisms for data sharing in place
• Data informs decisions/interventions for achieving INDCs (including by informing REDD+ strategies).
• SLEEK best practices shared with Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania
• Tools developed based on SLEEK data to inform decisions/interventions