Background

The Ministry of Land and Rural Resettlement (MLRR) has developed project: Support to the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement 2014 to 2016 Action Plan. The main objective of the project is to assist the MLRR accelerate the rehabilitation of the land sector as a prerequisite for recovery and development of agriculture and other land based economic sectors.  The project is supported with resources from the UNDP and European Union from 2014 to 2016. The UNDP and EU are fully committed to support the critical elements of this project.  The main objective of the project is to capacitate the MLRR accelerate the rehabilitation of the land sector as a prerequisite for recovery and development of agriculture and other land based economic sectors.  The project will also support the establishment of the Zimbabwe Land Commission (ZLC), which is pivotal on the land in the country. The project will bring together partners to support the MLRR which includes the DSG to deliver on their mandates with regards the land reform. This will be catalytic in addressing the critical areas that will work towards the finalization of the outstanding issues on valuation, compensation, conflict resolution, base mapping and surveying of the resettled areas. The proposed interventions will ensure that MLRR has the capacity to monitor and track the production and productivity on agricultural land anchored on the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIM-ASSET), the MDG commitments and other national performance indicators.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective(s) of the assignment is to review the land tenure systems and policy in Zimbabwe pointing out the various attributes of each system in relation to the land categories that obtain in the country.

 Specific Activities

The following are the key activities that the consultant is expected to undertake:

  • Review the national documents on land policy, land tenure systems and policy, related legislation  and other related documents;
  • Review  and assess the existing tenure systems and policy on all land categories in Zimbabwe including the communal areas, A1 and A2 resettlement models, the old resettlement models, large scale and small scale commercial farms, state lands, conservancies, plantations (forestry, tea, coffee, sugar etc.) and national parks estates;
  • Review the current draft of the 99-year lease Agreements for A2 farms, the A1 permits and especially as they pertain to tenure security, value and collateral usage where needed and applicable;
  • Organise consultation/workshop sessions with the various stakeholders: MLRR, other government ministries, local authorities, all categories of farmers, farmer organisations, targeted financial institutions, hunting safaris and conservancies owners, development partners and targeted private sector groups;
  • Provide detailed international comparisons of land tenure systems and policies;
  • Provide a detailed analysis of all the land tenure systems and policy  including the impacts on rural land productivity and production;
  • Develop land tenure systems and policy recommendations for consideration by the authorities.

Expected Outputs and  Key Deliverables

All deliverables such as reports, plans and other artefacts should be delivered to UNDP for onward transmission to the MLRR for acceptance and/or approval in order to reach the planned milestone and proceed to the next stages.

  • Inception Report: Within one week of signing the contract, the consultant shall present an inception report detailing the Assignment Work Plan. The work plan shall indicate clear timelines, a detailed approach and methodology and identified list of key stakeholders to be consulted, as well as the indicative structure of the final report.

An Interim Report: The report shall be in following parts:

  • Comprising of document reviews, stakeholder views, identification of issues, concerns raised by the stakeholders on land tenure systems and policy;
  • Analysis of international experiences on  land tenure systems and policy that can be considered for the Zimbabwean conditions;
  • Analysis of the  possible options for the land tenure systems and policy  that can input into the land policy to be developed later;
  • A stakeholders workshop to commend on the findings, draft recommendations and validation  of the interim report;
  • Final Draft report incorporating all the comments.

A Final Report that incorporates all the comments from stakeholders, MLRR, UNDP and the workshop participants on the Draft Report

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent knowledge of the UN Reform particularly UN coherence, coordination, accountability and
  • management system;
  • Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Ability to work under pressure and remains calm;
  • Demonstrates strong leadership abilities.

Core Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
  • Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;
  • Excellent communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork and adept in working with people of diverse
  • cultural and social backgrounds;
  • An understanding of and ability to abide by the core values of the United Nations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced university degree in land tenure, land administration, agricultural economics or related fields.

Experience:

  • At least ten (10) years relevant experience in land tenure systems and policies, and land administration;
  • Should have worked on land tenure systems in both Zimbabwe and other countries.

Language:

  • English.

Reporting and Quality Control for the assignment:

  • The consultant(s) will be supervised by the Permanent Secretary of  MLRR;
  • Administrative and strategic support and guidance will be provided by UNDP;
  • Through the Permanent Secretary of MLRR the consultant will ensure that the key stakeholders to the work are regularly consulted and updated on the progress of development of the assignment.

Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail:  procurement.zw@undp.org.

The response will be sent by standard electronic mail and written copies of the response including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry will be sent to all consultants.

Application procedure: