Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. By linking local individuals and communities with new ideas and technology, Winrock is increasing long-term productivity, equity, and responsible resource management to benefit the poor and disadvantaged of the world.
The Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (LEAF) Program: The goal of the five-year, USAID-funded LEAF program is to achieve meaningful and sustained reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the forestry/land use sector in Asia. LEAF activities focus on four components: replicate and scale-up innovation through regional platforms and partnerships; establish policy and market incentives for greenhouse gas reductions; build and institutionalize technical capacity for economic valuation of forest ecosystem services and monitoring changes in forest carbon stocks; and demonstrate innovation in sustainable land management through REDD+ pilot projects. The project is undertaking activities in six core countries: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea. Replication of best practices and sharing of lessons learned will target stakeholders in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
The LEAF program has a mandate to strengthen the capacity of regional, national and subnational institutions on a range of technical and policy issues related to payment for environmental services (PES) and REDD+. These institutional strengthening efforts are intended to help promote activities, interventions and programs that: assist in the measurement, monitoring, reporting, verification and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; promote carbon capture and sequestration measures; and help countries meet responsibilities under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – all with the goal of strengthened institutions that can continue to implement relevant projects long after LEAF’s support has ended. Organizations targeted under this effort include national and sub-national REDD+ Task Forces and Working Groups, ministries and government agencies, universities and research centers, civil society and non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations.
LEAF is tasked with improving the organizational capacity of a number of institutions across all six of LEAF’s focal countries. This is defined in terms of how well an organization “functions, carries out its mandate, prepares and implements plans and strategies, retains expertise, provides services, achieves goals, enhance gender equity and women’s empowerment and is able to sustain its operations over the long-term”. The LEAF country teams have already identified a number of institutions and organisations that are key partners in the implementation of the LEAF program. The developed capacity of these organisations during the life of the LEAF program will ultimately determine the sustainability of LEAF’s outcomes and impacts.
Consultancy Purpose and Context:
The primary objectives of this consultancy are to work with an international consultant to: i) identify strategic opportunities to build the capacity of identified LEAF institutions in LEAF’s six focal countries (Vietnam has been prioritized for this consultancy), ii) develop a collaborative capacity building plan also incorporating gender-specific needs and required support for each of the identified LEAF institutions, and iii) schedule training and non-training activities for the LEAF Program to support which will lead to the strengthening of the identified institutions. These three assessment and planning tasks constitute Phase 1 of a long-term institutional capacity building process. A second phase will monitor the progress of the Phase 1 work plan implementation, and provide guidance on adjustments needed for the remainder of the life of project.
Currently, LEAF has a series of institutional capacity baseline surveys (self-administered institutional needs assessments) to be evaluated and discussed with each institution to identify the technical and gender-specific needs of each organization and determine how, or if, the LEAF program might address the identified needs. Support from the national consultants will be critical, particularly given the consideration of language issues at sub-national levels. The hired institutional strengthening consultancy team in collaboration with LEAF will design a consistent framework for evaluating these institutions and facilitating collaborative institutional strengthening work plans with the targeted institutions across the six countries.
The international consultant will design and adapt the capacity assessment methodology with the assistance of the national consultant and provide guidance and feedback during the process including oversee the compilation and quality of the final plans.
The national consultant will be responsible for facilitating and documenting the capacity assessment process in country at a number of institutions identified by LEAF and the International Consultant. It is anticipated that for familiarizing the national consultant with the methodology the international consultant will work alongside the national consultant to support the process in at least two institutions. This will provide an opportunity to demonstrate the methodology and how to use the format for the capacity building plan. It is expected that the national consultant will be responsible for the production of a good quality first draft plan for each institution and that the plan will be logically linked to the outcome and analysis of the participatory process. Such links should be evident in each plan.
The LEAF Country teams will play an important role in providing introductions, making connections and supporting the logistical arrangements for this consultancy. A close and collaborative link between the international and national consultants and the LEAF country teams will be essential for the success of this consultancy.
Level of Effort:
This consultancy will consist of 30 days with considerable overlap with the international consultant. It is assumed that at least 3-4 days will be required to facilitate and write up each institutional assessment and that approximately 6 assessments will be needed for Vietnam1. Another 12 days have been allocated for preparation, literature review and travel.
Consultancy Timing:
Starting immediately with a final product by the end of July 2013 (six months).
Consultancy Tasks:
- Produce a clear plan of work (for themselves as a national consultant) including key milestones and deadlines for submission of documentation and agreement with International Consultant and LEAF team.
- Gather and synthesize background information from national level documentation2, institutional profile materials and baseline questionnaire on targeted national and sub-national institutions. This should - include details of existing capacity building (also from gender equity point of view) initiatives at specific institutions by LEAF and others.
- Contact relevant institutions, clarify objectives of assessment and establish focus group sessions with relevant members (such as executive committee, program managers, gender focal persons, - - -Monitoring and evaluation persons) in selected institutions.
- Facilitate Participatory Capacity Assessment using institutional focus groups and interviews3 to identify capacity gaps and their relative priority4 with institutions selected.
- Formulate a focused and logical capacity development plan (including activities, timing) based on outputs of focus group discussions and using format provided in English language. Guidance will also be provided by the International Consultant.
- Provide feedback to International Consultant on request on methodology, capacity bottlenecks and other relevant issues that need clarification.
- Assist in providing advice to the LEAF Regional Team and LEAF Country teams with International Consultant on strategic areas of capacity development for support by LEAF and others.
Deliverables:
- A program of work including key milestones to be agreed with International consultant within two weeks after initial engagement of national consultant.
- A short background report (2 pages) on each institution to be assessed focusing on justification for selection and relevance of official mandate to LEAF program goals and its mission towards gender equity and women’s empowerment (using format provided).
- A detailed documentation of participatory analysis from focus groups including a capacity matrix for each institution with relative scores and justifications provided by stakeholders during - - interviews/focus group discussion and analysis of institutional bottlenecks as perceived by stakeholders.
- A draft work plan (including specific activities and timing) for each targeted institution with some recommendations and justifications for what LEAF could potentially support, including 3 gender-specific activities that would lead to enhanced gender equity and women’s empowerment of those organizations.
Qualifications and experience required:
- The national consultant should have some experience of working in the Natural Resource Management/Climate Change sector and be familiar with the relevant institutions at national and sub-national level. Awareness of key issues and stakeholder dynamics relating to PES and REDD+ in country is preferred. Experience of organizational development and/or institutional strengthening programs and familiarity with social and gender issues is essential.
- In addition to the above other essential skills required include:
- Proven experience and skills in conducting capacity or training needs assessment and /or use of participatory tools for organizational assessment processes.
- Demonstrated experience in facilitating participatory processes in groups of 15-20 people.
- Fluent spoken and written English including competence in writing focused logical reports in English is essential.
- Experience in working, analyzing and evaluating in multi-lingual teams and with electronic and web based communication tools is preferred.
Applications:
To apply, please send your CV to [email protected] and reference “Institutional Capacity Building Consultant.” Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Final closing date for this announcement is March 8th, but early applications are encouraged.
Winrock would like to graciously thank all applicants for their interest but only candidates who meet all requisite criteria and are short listed will be contacted.