Antecedentes

Rwanda’s “Vision 2020”, the country’s overarching national planning and policy framework to which other Government of Rwanda (GoR) strategies, plans, programmes and policies are anchored, recognizes that unsustainable environment and natural resources (ENR) management  makes it more challenging to achieve development objectives such as poverty reduction. This is because unsustainable ENR use reduces the stream of economic and social benefits they produce, e.g. Soil erosion reduces agricultural productivity and makes it harder to achieve food security and reduce rural poverty levels. Thus, ENR and development issues need to be addressed in a co-ordinated manner. The document states clearly that Rwanda will endeavour to “mainstream the environmental sustainability issues in all development policies, programmes and actions to realise equitable and sustainable development. As part of the road towards realising the Vision 2020, environmental sustainability has been given priority both as a specific a sub-sector and as a crosscutting issue in national medium term strategies like the EDPRS II, as well as other national, sector and sub national planning processes.

The integration of pro-poor ENR sustainability objectives into national planning at all levels serves as a critical input to both sustainability and national poverty reduction initiatives. This is fully recognized by the Government of Rwanda, which through the support of the Poverty and Environment Initiative Program (PEI), led by REMA in close collaboration with MINECOFIN and other ministries has been very active in influencing the sectors to mainstream ENR sustainability and climate change adaptation in sector plans, budgets and policies. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) has been spearheading the exercise through the Sector Strategic Planning guidelines/checklists and the Budget Call Circulars where all budget agencies are required to mainstream environment and climate change.

Subsequently, drawing lessons from the recent initiatives, the process to mainstream ENR and climate change issues into the next generation of the EDPRS and other plans and strategies is underway. However, the main issue at hand is how the national, sector and sub national policies that include ENR and climate change can be designed and implemented to reach and sustainably transform the lives of the poorest people at the community level. This requires that policy objectives are translated into practical, tangible actions on the ground that sectors and sub-national entities like agriculture, local Governments and community actors use to further mainstream ENR sustainability and achieve economic and social development goals. It is against this background that REMA decided on a pilot demonstration of an integrated ENR management program named Rubaya Green Village in Rubaya sector, Gicumbi district.  The main purpose of this initiative was to practically demonstrate how poverty problems related to environment and natural resources management (land use, agriculture, human settlements, health and education) can be addressed through participatory integrated approaches to generate sustainable livelihoods, fight poverty and transform rural economies in an environmentally sustainable manner.  More specifically, it aims to show how investments in environmental sustainability can help achieve development goals such as poverty reduction, food security, social cohesion and the empowerment of women.

To address the above mentioned problems REMA supported this initiative which includes a number of inter-linked components. These mainly include:

  • Provision of water reservoirs to control run-off and ensure that it is productively utilized;
  • Control of soil erosion to reduce the loss of fertile top soil and retain much of the water through terracing.
  • The national “one cow per family” initiative, or Girinka, has become a communal rather than individual project.
  • Common collection centre for waste from the cows and also human waste which is used to generate biogas that is distributed to all the houses for cooking and lighting. The residue is then used as manure in the terraces.
  • Rain water from all the rooftops is collected into 7 underground tanks of 100 cm3 each from where it is piped to different taps in the village (Umudugudu).

Similar demonstration / green village pilots have been established, amongst them a similar model village supported by REMA / PEI in Muyebe, Muhanga Disitrict. There is also a national programme with the aim of establishing 30 Green Villages (in all Districts), and other Green Villages are funded by FONERWA, Red Cross, etc. A “Toolkit on the Development of Smart Green Villages” was also produced by PEI / REMA in 2015, outlining practical steps to establish and maintain these Green Villages.

To ensure effective replication and scale up of the best practices and the lessons learnt from the Rubaya demonstration project and to effectively support the on-going EDPRS II and Green Growth processes, REMA/PEI wants to ascertain the costs and benefits of this pilot demonstration project, as one of the important elements to inform the efforts of scaling up Green Villages in Rwanda.

A consultancy work with similar TORS was undertaken in 2015 by a team of an International and national consultant. Unfortunately, despite many rounds of review, the result was not satisfactory and the consultancy was discontinued after receiving a third draft.

In order to complete this important exercise, using the incomplete Draft of previous consultants, underlying data and earlier comments, REMA and PEI are seeking a new consultant to complete this assignment and submit a quality and relevant product, which can inform the future of the Green village programme.

The main purpose of these TORs is to complete and finalize the assessment of the net economic, social and environment benefits of the Rubaya Green Village demonstration project and secondly to use the results to estimate the benefits of project replication. This will be conducted using already available information (previous consultants’ report and raw data) and newly sourced data to come up with a report consistent with standard and accepted Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) methodologies that will guide the future green village demonstration initiatives and their scaling up.

REMA realises that identification of the net benefits plus effective documentation of lessons and good practices learnt in the Rubaya demonstration project will be critical to effective replication of the project by Local Government but more importantly to mobilise more resources for poverty reduction. This replication could play a key role in achieving a number of EDPRS objectives and MDGs, particularly those relating to poverty reduction, food security, and environmental sustainability and economic and empowerment of women.

Objective

Based on the available material, mainly the unfinished draft report and further primary and secondary data, to identify:

  • The net economic, social and environmental benefits of the Rubaya green village project;
  • The potential net benefits to Rwanda of the replication of the green village project in order to make the case for the Government and development partners to invest in the widespread replication of the project.

This consultancy work will generate the information necessary for REMA and partners to present a strong case for the effective scale up and replication of Rubaya to other provinces, districts and sectors based on the benefits and the best practices and lessons learnt from the project.

Application procedure:

All interested and qualified international individual consultants may also download the Individual Consultant Notice, Terms of Reference documents from UNDP Rwanda website at:

http://www.rw.undp.org/content/rwanda/en/home/operations/procurement/notices/          

Candidates must only apply by sending the following documents to the only email address at: offers.rw@undp.org

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
  • Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
  • Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how he/she will approach and complete the assignment;
  • Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided on by opening: http://www.rw.undp.org/content/dam/rwanda/docs/operations/Procurement/Notices/RW_operations_procurement_Letter.pdf.

Deberes y responsabilidades

  • The Consultant will produce the following reports in close consultation with the PEI programme manager:
  • The net economic, social and environmental benefits of the Rubaya demonstration project and scope for its replication;
  • Policy Brief on benefits of Rubaya Green Village project and its replication / upscaling;

The consultant is to undertake the following tasks in close consultation with the PEI Programme manager:

  • Identify the net economic, social and environmental benefits of the Rubaya demonstration project;
  • Identify the potential net benefits to Rwanda of the widespread replication of the demonstration project.

Competencias

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Ability to establish and maintain good working relations with colleagues in multi-cultural environment;
  • Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Leadership

  • Capacity to engage with a wide audience of diverse background. Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work under pressure.

Technical Skills

  • Good understanding of knowledge management.
  • Experience in institutional coordination and harmonisation;
  • Relevant computer literacy, including socio-economic statistical packages.

Communication

  • Excellent communication skills, reporting with ability to express ideas clearly, concisely and effectively, both orally and in writing.

Teamwork

  • Ability to establish and maintain good working relations with colleagues in multi-cultural environment.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education

  • Master’s degree or preferably PhD in economics, with specialization in or added degrees in development studies, Environment/Natural Resources Management is an advantage.

Experience

  • Minimum 12 years work experience in related fields such as poverty-environment mainstreaming, design and implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategies, project design, monitoring and evaluation, cost-benefit analysis and associated methodologies, and strategic planning;
  • The international Consultant must be familiar with carrying out cost benefit analysis, including NPV, as well as modelling, especially of multiplier effects;
  • Experience in poverty focused data analysis and management of environmental issues;
  • Familiar with participatory rural appraisal techniques;

Language requirement

  • Fluent in English;
  • Knowledge of French an advantage.