REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP

Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office(RDGS) 339 Witch-Hazel Avenue Highveld Ext. 78 Centurion, South Africa

Short-Term individual Local Consultant/or Local Consulting Firm-Design of a GEF PIF for Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program

 

  1. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral donor trust fund established in 1991 to finance actions which address critical threats to the global environment. It brings together 183 member governments in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. The GEF is currently in its seventh replenishment cycle (GEF7).
  1. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is one of the Implementing Agencies for the GEF. The aim of the GEF partnership with the AfDB is to support multi-stakeholder alliances which preserve ecosystems on land and in water, build greener cities, boost food security, and promote clean energy for more prosperous, climate-resilient development in Africa.
  1. The AfDB wishes to support the Kingdom of Eswatini to develop a GEF funded project to help the Kingdom improve the management of its water resources management. The AfDB hereby invites Individual Consultants or Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following position: Short-Term Local Consultant-Design of GEF PIF for Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program.
  1. The objective of this assignment is to develop all required documents needed to secure funding from the GEF to co-finance the AfDB funded Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program. The assignment will be under the direct supervision of the Principal Climate Change and Green Growth Officer of the AfDB. The consultant will also follow the guidance of the AfDB GEF Coordinator to align all relevant project documents to be delivered with GEF and AfDB requirements.
  1. Based on AfDB approved project documents related to the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program, the Consultant will be responsible for the development of the GEF7 project documents to be submitted for financing for a grant by the GEF 7 at the December 2021 GEF Council meeting1. The main deliverable is the GEF Project Identification Form (PIF) with annexes including but not limited to:
  • Project Concept Note
  • GEF information datasheet
  • Project information Document (for disclosure)
  • GEF 7 Core indicators
  • GEF 7 Climate Change Adaptation Results Framework
  • GEF 7 Taxonomy
  • Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework

Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following duties:

−     Based on the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program documents funded by AfDB, develop the GEF7 PIF, full-sized project, including annexes, specifically, annex B (GEF 7 Core Indicator Worksheet) and annex C (Project Taxonomy Worksheet) and 1 61st  GEF Council meeting to take place on 7 – 9th December 2021 further integrate comments from GEF secretariat, and AfDB representatives to deliver a final GEF7 PIF.

  • Develop the related Project Document, and further integrate comments from AfDB representatives to deliver a final project document.
  • Ensure the GEF7 project contributes to integrated International Waters (IW) and Chemicals and Waste (CW) focal areas; the SDGs targets, the AfDB’s High Fives and fully integrate the objective of Eswatini Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
  • Consult with as many stakeholders in the country as necessary to deliver a final document that captures the country aspirations and is owned by the country.
  1. AfDB Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office (RDGS) invites Individual Consultants or Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants or Consulting Firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake thisAssignment (documents, reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.) with a financial proposition not exceeding USD40 000(Forty Thousand United States Dollars).
  1. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a shortlist, and the selection procedure shall conform with the Bank’s procedure for the acquisition of consulting services funded by the Administrative or Capital expenditure. 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.
  1. The services will be home-based, with travel if needed (to first be approved by AfDB). The duration of services is for 60 working days spread over a six months period starting from June 2021. The tentative staring date is 06th of June 2021 and to terminate at 6th of December 2021. Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: from 08:00 to 17:00 hours, Pretoria local time.
  1. Expressions of interest must be received by e-mail at the address below no later than Friday, the 23rd of May 2021 at 4 p.m. Pretoria local time and specifically mention: “Short Term Individual Local Consultant/or Local Consulting Firm_Design of GEF PIF for Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program” For the attention of: Ms. MUSUMALI MWILA MUSOLE

African Development Bank/Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office (RDGS).

339 Witch-Hazel Avenue Highveld Ext. 78 Centurion, South Africa Tel: +27 12 003 6900.

E-mail: [email protected] with a copy to [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SHORTLIST

  1. A shortlist of three to six individual consultants or consulting firms will be established at the end of the request of expressions of interest. The individual consultants or consulting firms on the shortlist will be judged on the following criteria based on their updated resumes.
–   Level of education in general 20%
–   Educational level in relation to the assignment 20%
– Years of experience in general 20%
– Experience relevant to the assignment 40%
2

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Short-Term   Local    Consultant̶/Local    Consultancy   Firm

Design  of  a  GEF  PIF  for  Mkhondvo  Ngwavuma  Water

Augmentation Program

  1. INTRODUCTION

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is since 2007 one of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) implementing agencies and has access to the GEF Trust Fund, the Lead Developing Countries Fund (LDCF), and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF).

GEF resources are mainly grants that seek to generate global environmental benefits (GEBs) and to cover the additional cost for adaptation to climate change. These grants complement the African Development Fund (ADF) and African Development Bank (ADB) resources across sectors, in particular in the areas of agriculture and natural resources management, sustainable energy, transport, and water resources management.

In 2019, the AfDB secured a total of $54 million in GEF funding, the highest amount since 2013 (during GEF-5). Going forward, the Bank will continue working with Regional Members Countries (RMCs) to mobilize more additional resources from the GEF to support RMCs in building their adaptive capacities and resilience to climate change, generate more environmental benefit in RMCs, and address global environmental concerns.

  1. RATIONALE

The African Development Bank Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office (RDGS) wishes to recruit one (1) individual Short Term Local Consultant or Consultancy Firm to develop a Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Proposal for Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program for GEF submission in September 2021.

The agricultural sector in Eswatini is dominated by subsistence farming with low productivity, highly exposed to frequent droughts, and lack adequate infrastructure such as irrigation schemes. The poor performance of the country’s agricultural sector is threatening the livelihoods and limiting smallholder farmers’ access to the regional markets. To improve the performance of the resilience of the agriculture sector, reduce poverty, and enhance national climate change resilience, the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini has put in place a National Water Resources Management Master Plan. The plan has identified some key investments in integrated water resources management and infrastructure development to support agricultural transformation and water sector governance. This includes the construction of the Mpakeni Dam on the Ngwavuma River and the Mahamba Gorge Dam on the Mkhondvo River to improve the irrigated land areas. In a related development, the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program aims to divert water from the Mokhondvo River (a tributary of Assegaai River) into the Mahosha River (a tributary of Ngwavuma River) to improve the low river flow of the latter especially in the dry season and support the development of irrigation schemes. The program is designed to be implemented in three (3) phases with associated components:

  • Phase I: Construction of a dam at the Mahamba Gorge on the Mokhondvo River for the diversion of water into the Ngwavuma River,
  • Phase I: Construction of diversion works and transfer canal or pipeline for water conveyance between the two rivers, and irrigation works covering about 10, 000 ha.
  • Phase II: Construction of a dam on the Ngwavuma River at Mpakeni, and
  • Three distribution canals downstream of the proposed Mpakeni Dam to irrigate a further 20 000 ha in the Mconcwane/Maloma, Matsanjeni and surrounding area, and the Nsoko and Lavumisa areas.

The Bank provided a MIC TAF Grant to support tailed feasibility studies, detailed design studies, and impact assessment which are yet to be completed.

However, additional resources are needed for co-financing and to integrated climate change; land degradation; biodiversity and transboundary water management issues as these will provide an additional outcome to the project in improving the livelihoods adaptive capacities and enhance the environmental benefit of the project as well as improve cross border cooperation in water management. The integrated options to improve water governance in Eswatini is likely to impact South Africa or Mozambique as water sharing countries (the 3 countries have joint water commission (JWC)). Therefore, assessing option to enhance water governance among the 3 countries enhance the project effectiveness. Moreover, integrating opportunities for waste management and promoting circular economy will likely enhance the project’s environmental benefit for communities in the project area and downstream. For these latter two reasons the planned actions fit well with the International Waters (IW) and Chemicals & Waste (CW) focal areas of GEF7.

  1. SCOPE

Under the overall supervision of the Principal Climate Change and Green Growth Officer, the project Task Team Leader in Water Development and Sanitation Department (AHWS), and the AfDB-GEF Coordinator, the Local Individual Consultant or Local Consultancy Firm to work remotely and will prepare all GEF PIF required documents for Mkhondvo Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program.

Objective of the consultancy

A consultant will be contracted to assist the RDGS and the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini in the consultative formulation of a GEF project. This will entail the development and submission to the GEF Secretariat for funding, under the International Waters (IW) Focal Area, a GEF Project Identification Form (PIF) including all mandatory and required annexes.

Major Duties and responsibilities will include the following among others:

  • Engage with the project Task Manager and the Principal Climate Change, Green Growth Officer, and AfDB-GEF team in developing the project GEF PIF documents focusing on land degradation, international waters, biodiversity, and climate change adaptation;
  • Collect all documentations on the project including documents available at AfDB project task team available on the Mkhondvo Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program;
  • Prepare Project Identification Forms (PIFs); GEF datasheet; Concept note; Project information Document (for disclosure); Environmental and Social Framework; Core indicators GEF; Taxonomy GEF; and GEF full-size project document for GEF financing.
  • Review the GEF 7 Replenishment Programming Directions to ensure full compliance of the PIF with GEF programming requirements.
  • Under-take stakeholder consultation for review and validation of the prepared draft documents.
  • Participate in relevant meetings of the Mkhondvo Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Program which could provide guidance in the development of the PIF.
  • Communicate with the relevant authorities and stakeholders in Eswatini, Mozambique and South Africa including but not limited to water management agencies, international relations, GEF political and operational Focal points as well development partners and GEF agencies operating in the three countries.
  • Revise the PIF and associated documentation in accordance with comments of the GEF Secretariat.
  1. CONSULTANT PROFILE

The individual consultant or the consulting firm should have at least 10 years of cumulative experience in designing GEF proposals. The lead experts should have extensive experience and

  • should possess a Master’s degree in Agriculture, integrated water management, Civil engineering, Environmental Sciences, or Environmental Management or equivalent in similar disciplines.
  • Broad knowledge of Eswatini context, including climate change adaptation, with specific experience in project design in the Southern Africa setting;
  • A broad knowledge of transboundary water management in Southern Africa and specifically knowledge of the transboundary cooperation between the three SADC states of Eswatini, Mozambique and South Africa.
  • Strong computer skills and ability to use standard technology packages software (word, excel, outlook, power-point);
  • Full understanding of the principles of the GEF strategic priorities and project design;
  • Proven planning and organizational skills.
  • Excellent oral and writing skills in English or French and good working knowledge of the other;
  • Proven ability to interact competently with technical and administrative staff.
  1. EXPECTED OUTPUTS

1-   Project Concept Note

2-   GEF information datasheet

3-   Project information Document (for disclosure)

4-   GEF 7 Core indicators

5-   GEF 7 Climate Change Adaptation Results Framework

6-     GEF 7 Taxonomy

7-   Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework

Formats and outlines for AfDB reporting will be agreed upon at inception; deliverables for submission to GEF Secretariat will adhere to prevailing GEF guidelines.

  1. SCHEDULE

The services of the individual local consultant or local consulting firm will be required for 60 working days spread over a six months period starting from June 2021. The tentative staring date is 06th of June 2021 and to terminate at 6th of December 2021.The individual local consultant or local firm will undertake the assignment remotely and missions to project region to be approved by AfDB. It will carry out all the necessary services to the satisfaction of the AfDB Southern Africa Regional Development and BusinessDelivery Office (RDGS), under the terms of reference.

  1. REPORTING AND SUPERVISION

The consultant will report to the Principal Climate Change and Green Growth Officer (PECG2), the program Team Leader in Water Development and Sanitation Department (AHWS), and the AfDB-GEF Coordinator or any other officer designated by the Bank.

  1. LANGUAGE

The language of this assignment will be English which is the official language in The Kingdom of Eswatini.