Job Opportunity Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

General description of tasks and objectives to be achieved

Background

The Restoration Initiative (TRI) Program has been developed to make a significant global contribution to restoring ecosystem functioning and improving livelihoods through the restoration of priority degraded and deforested landscapes, in support of the Bonn Challenge, and in response to the expressed needs of countries. Through the GEF programmatic approach, the TRI will create synergies, provide a wider array of tools and resources to national projects, and leverage key partnerships to yield cost savings and realize greater impact than possible under a fragmented, project-by-project approach.

The Program consists of 11 national projects supported by a Global Learning, Financing, and Partnerships project to develop and disseminate best-practices and tools, catalyze investment in restoration, expand the scope of countries and actors engaged in forest and landscape restoration, and realize benefits at scale. The Restoration Initiative has been developed through collaboration between and will be steered by GEF Agencies IUCN, FAO, and UNEP.

The global program document has been approved by the GEF Council on June 8^th 2016. It is now expected that all country program develop project documents during the project preparation phase.

The project is one of the 11 national Child projects under the TRI. As the other national Child project, it will focus on Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) in country working on policy, FLR implementation, capacity building, finance and upscaling as well as knowledge management.

Reporting Line

Under the overall guidance of the Lead Technical Officer (LTO) and the International Design Consultant, the direct supervision of the FAO Representative in Kenya, and in close collaboration with the GEF team at FAO, the consultant will be responsible for informing the development of the project in relation to Forest and Landscape Restoration policy improvement, FLR implementation on the ground and FLR financing for upscaling. The consultant will work in close collaboration with KEFRI (as the main executing partner), coordinating and consolidating existing data at KEFRI.

In particular, the consultant will be responsible for the following activities (the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) is a great resources for the activities below):

Functions:

1. FLR Policy Development and Integration

Coordinate and consolidate the assessments of knowledge gaps to underpin policy change and the current policy and legal frameworks in support of FLR

On information available:

Collect and consolidate information on the status of land degradation and restoration opportunities in project sites and in the status of existing domestic restoration targets and programs. Indicate how gaps can be filled, if any. Look into Land Degradation

• Assessment database (LADA) and other international land degradation programs and check if the information is available and/or used nationally.

• Indicate pathways to improve the knowledge base on benefits and co-benefits of forest and landscape restoration. Look into national natural capital accounting (UN Statistical Commission of the System for Environmental and Economic Accounts), The Economics of Ecosystem Services as well as national projects (check the work of the Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) partners) on costs benefits analysis.

• Identify partners able to support filling the knowledge gaps during the life of the project. Identify and budget the priority activities to fill these gaps.

On legal frameworks for FLR:

• Identify and list national, regional and international commitments to forest and landscape restoration. For example, look into Bonn Challenge, AFR 100, CBD, The Central African Forest Initiative commitments, Plan de Convergence COMIFAC, etc and see how these are/can be supported.

• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of policies, legislations, regulations and strategies related to forest and landscape restoration, either (i) directly supporting it or (ii) complementary land-use policies and incentive mechanisms that promote forest and landscape restoration.

• Assess the policy environment to understand if it is favorable to bio-enterprise development and NTFP and FLR support activities such as incentives for ecosystem services, enhancement of alternative economic activities, etc. Identify gaps and entry points for improving existing provisions and mainstreaming bio enterprises, FLR and integrated landscape management.

• Assess the policy and legal framework for integration of sustainable charcoal production into FLR activities.

2. Implementation of Restoration Programs and Bio enterprise development

The Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) is particularly relevant for this section

Assess (sub)-national FLR programs (and complementary programs) as well as existing bio-enterprise development

• Assess current restoration programs and complementary SLM programs: strengths and weaknesses. For this, look at projects supported by the government directly or by bilateral, multi-lateral donors (World Bank, African Development Bank, etc.) as well as private foundations etc. Private initiatives should also be considered. Pay a particular attention to other GEF programs. Identify if there are related donor groups to consult as well as the country Forest Investment Plan for the Forest Investment Program. In coordination with the project design Consultant, some of these could also be considered as baseline finance.

• Assess the overall status of NTFP in potential project sites, identify the main products that can be valued during the project implementation and the bio enterprise development potential for the main products.

• Define the main steps to undertake a value chain analysis for these products as part of the project implementation.

• Identify and budget the support needed for bio enterprise development in priority landscapes: technical assistance, strengthening of multi-stakeholders platforms, etc. The analysis of current and past program cross-checked with priority landscape in terms of degradation (cf part 1 above) will allow you to develop a list of potential sites.

• Identify relevant partners towards the development of possible bio-enterprise/NTFP bankable/investible projects – generating profits, e.g. financial and economic returns on investment - (to be developed over the course of the project) and pathways for the development of these bankable/investible projects (technical assistance need and budget).

• Assess the type of support needed to gather additional funding: proposal development need, linkages with potential donors and investors, tools for public-private partnerships, etc… as well as the potential for innovative source of funding (crowdfunding, remittances, payments for ecosystem services, etc.).

Selection of sites and elaboration of activities for FLR (including integrated landscape management)

Through literature reviews, meetings and interviews, and rapid site assessments, this activity will contribute to identify project sites (using synergies with other programs (cf above) and project site selection criteria developed during inception workshop), collect baseline biophysical information and restoration context (status quo at project sites and a national overview of forest and restoration and integrated landscape management), and elaborate possible activities for restoration activities in selected sites (they will need to be validated through multi-stakeholder processes over the life of the project). Specific activities will include the following:

• Through desk-based research, rapid site surveys and local consultations, gather biophysical information on the possible sites to be covered by the project.

• Analyze in detail the site-specific threats (drivers of forest and landscape degradation, etc.) to the landscapes covered by the project and the barriers for their sustainable management (this will include climate change risks and impacts).

• Gather information on past location specific experience, especially in terms of forestry/sustainable agriculture/restoration related interventions.

• Assess the capacities and identify capacity building needs at national, county and local levels in relation to forest and landscape restoration and integrated landscape management (agroforestry techniques, assisted natural regeneration, bushfire management, forest product value-addition, etc.).

• Using the information above and the socio-economic work (to be led by a specialized consultant), propose different scenario for forest and landscape restoration (including activity list and budget) to be chosen from/confirmed/implemented through multi-stakeholder processes during the project preparation phase and over the life of the project.

3. Liaison with the International Design Consultant and support for the development of the final project document for GEF

The consultant will also be responsible to answer any queries from the International Design Consultant in relation to FLR Policy, Implementation and Resources Mobilization, in order to satisfy the quality of documents needed by the GEF.

Minimum requirements

• Degree in forestry, natural resources management, environment or natural resource economics, or related discipline
• At least 10 years of work experience in forestry & land restoration on the policy and implementation sides
• Experience and thorough familiarity with the forestry sector in the country both and the policy and field levels
• Experience in forest policy and institutional analysis
• Experience in monitoring & evaluation preferred
• Fluency in English and good writing skills