Brazil: Consultancy: Analysis of Public Sector Climate, Forest, and Land Use Strategies and Determination of Investment Readiness Score

Organization: Conservation International
Country: Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Peru
Closing date: 25 Nov 2019

Analysis of Public Sector Climate, Forest, and Land Use Strategies and Determination of Investment Readiness Score

Date: 11/05/2019

Number of Positions: Eight

Location of Assignments: [Ghana, Dominican Republic, Peru, Brazil, Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Fiji]

1. General Background

The Forest Finance and Investment Incubator (FFII), is an initiative led by Conservation International (CI), which aims to support countries by curating a series of finance and investment plans (FIPs) that support companies/projects to implement climate, forest and land use strategies and plans which reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to the countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These finance and investment plans, and the enhancement of internal capacity and enabling conditions in partner countries, are expected to facilitate the attraction of private sector finance that will help achieve ambitious progress on key forest and land-use interests, climate goals and practices that improve economic livelihoods.

CI, a non-governmental organization with the mission of conserving biodiversity while ensuring that local communities directly benefit from the protection of their natural habitat, is seeking a consultant with experience and expertise in forestry and agriculture investment policy to evaluate climate, forest, and land use strategies and plans and the “investment readiness” of the sectors in the country of the assignment from a foreign investment and private sector point of view.

1. Objectives

· Identify and analyze climate, forest and land use strategies and plans that reduce GHG emissions and contribute to nationally determined contributions (NDCs) with respect to progress, resources and impediments for successful implementation

· Assess country readiness for finance and investment plans (FIP) for their climate, forest and land use strategies and plans using a standardized scorecard

· identify the need for and impact of technical support to increase investment and

antecedent conditions that must be addressed before successful financial investment plans may be developed

1. Estimated Timeline

This assignment will not exceed 3 months, with immediate start highly preferred. Templates for reporting the analysis and the FIP Readiness Scorecard will be provided to consultants before the start of the assignment in December. Draft analysis and FIP scoring should be completed by 31 January.

Opening Date: Nov 4, 2019

Submission due Date: Nov 25, 2019

Date of Award: To Be Determined (TBD)

1. Key Tasks

Analysis to be done through document review and interviews.

· Identify climate, forest and land use strategies and plans that reduce GHG emissions and contribute to the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) (or equivalent)

· Prepare a summary of each of the identified plans including actions to be implemented, progress on implementation, results, institutional roles and responsibilities, and capacities

· Review existing documentation and analysis of enabling and inhibiting factors for implementation and investment in the relevant sectors in the country

· Identify and analyze enabling and limiting factors for implementation of and investment in the identified plans

· Identify and summarize diagnostics that have been done to support implementation of the actions and any plans in place to address the impediments

· Identify commodity value chains and land use enterprises that align with the identified plans or otherwise contribute to reducing GHG emissions from the land sector and the NDC

· Conduct country Financial Investment Plan (FIP) readiness scoring

· Identify, collate and share relevant documentation, previous analyses and key contacts

1. Deliverables/Estimated Outputs

i. A list of the identified strategies and plans and a work plan to complete the assignment

ii. A report summarizing and analyzing national and/or subnational investment readiness with respect to identified strategies and plans using a template to be provided by CI. The report may include but not be limited to (indicative list subject to change):

· Identify the objectives, goals and targets of the strategies or plans

· Identify, document and order thematically, temporally and spatially the actions contained in the plans

· Describe the institutional roles, responsibilities and capacities for implementation of the plans and actions

· Describe the current status of implementation of plans and actions, and progress toward objectives

· Document in-country resources/support/enabling conditions available to implement the plans and actions including:

o Public Sector– e.g. historical, current and planned national/sub-national budget allocations / programs, bilateral or multilateral official development assistance and equivalent support

o Private Sector / Investment Climate – e.g. domestic and foreign sources of private sector financing across asset classes and inclusive of both commercial and concessional financing; investment and/or financing levels (if available); current financing institutions, intermediaries, etc.; examples of relevant specific loans, investments, and grants, which organizations are involved, how much is invested, etc.

o Political will – e.g. policy statements, national and international commitments, targets for GHG, forest and land use

o Technical capacity – e.g. government departments, private sector, in-country consultants

o Incentives— e.g. tax holidays, rebates, or forgiveness programs for actions, and extent of funding/implementation

o Supporting legal framework – e.g. laws and regulations concerning land and resource rights, contracting, asset ownership, including but not limited to ownership and transferability of non-traditional resources (e.g. carbon), existing laws/regulations/programs on payment for ecosystem services (PES) etc.

o Clarity of roles and responsibilities of different institutions

· Document any impediments to the success of the plans and actions e.g.

o Financial constraints

o Conflicting policies

o Technical capacity constraints

o Legal constraints – e.g. insecurity of land and resource tenure, laws that require “productivity” of land areas

o Barriers to implementing incentive measures

o Institutional arrangements that are not conducive to successful implementation

o Fiscal disincentives - taxes, subsidies,

o Trade barriers/tariffs or trade-driven demand

iii. FIP Readiness Scorecard evaluation for the country using a scorecard provided by CI, providing brief justifications for the scoring provided to each factor.

Deliverable i. to be submitted within 5 business days and to be approved by CI before further work is conducted.

Drafts of Deliverables ii and iii to be submitted in by January 31, 2020. Finalized versions to be submitted in February to a timeline agreed with CI after receiving feedback.

All deliverables are to be submitted in English.

1. Required Skills and Experience

Expertise in public policy, sustainable development, agriculture, forestry, business, markets, and impact investing. Preference will be given to consultants who have history of engagement with relevant government, private sector and financial institutions in Ghana.

1. Instructions for Submission of Offers

Please send your application to jdurbin@conservation.org.

Applicants must submit:

· Cover page (maximum one page) explaining your interest and a brief timetable (i.e. estimated number of days) including your fully loaded daily rate. Please specify the country which you are applying for.

· CV of the applicant

1. Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Applications will be reviewed by committee. Candidates will be evaluated against the following criteria:

· Relevant experience in public policy, sustainable development, agriculture, forestry, business, markets, and impact investing

· Experience completing similar assignments

· Applicant’s qualifications

· Relevant experience of forest, agriculture and other land use sectors, and engagement with relevant government, private sector and financial institutions in the country of assignment.

1. Transparency

Conservation International’s reputation derives from our commitment to our values: Integrity, Respect, Courage, Optimism, and Passion and Teamwork. CI’s Code of Ethics (the “Code”) provides guidance to CI employees, service providers, experts, interns, and volunteers in living CI’s core values, and outlines minimum standards for ethical conduct which all parties must adhere to. Any violation of the Code of Ethics should be reported to CI via its Ethics Hotline at www.ci.ethicspoint.com

Concerns regarding the integrity of the procurement process and documents shall be reported to www.ci.ethicspoint.com under the procurement and purchasing activities.

How to apply:

Closing Date is November 25, 2019. Please send your application to jdurbin@conservation.org

To view the full terms of reference, please visit the link: https://www.conservation.org/about/procurement-opportunities

https://www.conservation.org/docs/default-source/rfps/analysis-of-public-sector-climate-forest-and-land-use.pdf?sfvrsn=c532cb48_2