Background

The GEF has approved a Project Preparation Grant (PPG) for Benin in order to produce a Request for GEF CEO Approval and a UNDP Project Document (both using the appropriate templates) under the guidance of UNDP-EEG (RCU and Benin CO) and working in close collaboration with key government officials, donors, NGOs, CBOs and the private sector.
 
The project, budgeted for $950,000 in GEF funding and $4,070,000 in co-financing to be mobilized, will conserve globally important biodiversity in Benin by promoting the sustainable use of Benin’s Sacred Forests as a network of community-managed areas incorporated into the national system of protected areas. This process will significantly contribute to the expansion and strengthening of the national PA system. This will be achieved through the following three components: 
 
  • Institutio­nalisation of Sacred Forests as PA categories
  • Piloting participatory community management plans for Sacred Forests
  • Engineering sustainable uses of wild resources
 
The PPG process is to be implemented between October 2009 and June 2010 and will focus on the activities necessary for approving and finalizing the proposed project. The focal points for the project in government and the PPG team of consultants will work in collaboration with existing related initiatives to carry out the following activities:
 
PPG Activity 1: Baseline data collection and information gap analysis:
  • Survey and mapping of sacred forests
  • Sacred forests assessment
  • Sites selection
  • Analysis of baseline initiatives and potential partnerships
  • Sacred forests knowledge repository database
  • Biodiversity monitoring system
  • Baseline for engineering of sustainable use of NTFP
PPG Activity 2:Capacity assessment for management of sacred forests
  • Analysis of existing legal and regulatory framework to determine gaps in Sacred Forests and PAs legislation
  • Assessment of the current institutional framework for sacred forests management
  • Assessment of the capacity of the local committees, villages cooperatives and other stakeholders
  • Assessment of financial requirements for sustainable community management
  •  Use Capacity Development and Financial Sustainability Scorecards to measure CSO capacity
PPG Activity 3 : Stakeholder consultation and engagement
  • PPG inception workshop
  • Detailed stakeholder analysis
  • Identify Stakeholder involvement and capacity building plan
  • Open dialog between stakeholders/ sacred forests communities and visiting populations
  • Recommendations for areas of stakeholder involvement and partnership agreements
  • Agreement on the list of sacred forest that will be retain as project sites
PPG Activity 4: Project costing and M&E planning
  • Contracting of consultants team
  • Costing of project outcomes and outputs including co-financing commitments
  • Adaptive management and replication strategy
  • Define local and national and global environmental benefits
  • Determine most effective project alternatives
  • Identify social institution, economic and financial sustainability
  • Project Development Workshop
  • Prepare a project monitoring and evaluation plan including baseline level indicators and targets

Duties and Responsibilities

Encompassing approximately 4 weeks of work throughout the duration of the PPG, the Forestry NTFP Specialist will complete one mission to Benin complemented by support from home base. The International Specialist will work in collaboration with the Biodiversity Sustainable Use Specialist, the UNDP/GEF Regional Technical Advisor, the UNDP Country Office Environment Focal Point and other PPG consultants.
 
More specifically, the specialist will be responsible for the following tasks:
  • Play a leading role in the design of the TOR for developing the supply-value chain for traditional medicine, NTFP and other relevant products from Sacred Forests (to be put into practice during the MSP implementation) and estimate the market value of products linked to the management of Sacred Forests. This will necessarily include determining trends in demand for traditional medicine, NTFP and other relevant products from Sacred Forests and their consequences for current forest management practices
  • Determine and report on the feasibility of “crop intensification” for some important commercially significant medicinal plants to relieve pressure on unsustainable harvests from Sacred Forests. The Specialist will focus on Garcinia kola to identify ways the plant can be mass produced and achieve reduced bearing times through propagation techniques or more advanced methods such as tissue culture.
  • Assess the potential of other NTFPs (including the fauna products and sub-products if applicable) for inclusion in the sustainable extraction engineered component foreseen for the MSP implementation
  • Work together with the national experts and other members of the PPG team to develop a partnership agreement with specialized research centers in connection with the NTFP sustainable use engineering study.
  • Develop detailed TOR for the research centre to be engaged in the NTFP sustainable use engineering study
  • Assist in levering extra funding for this activity
  • Make recommendations for relevant project activities and their costing

Competencies

  • Ability to work well in a multidisciplinary team
  • Ability to effectively communicate complex, technical information to technical and general audiences
  • Skill in achieving results through persuading, influencing and working with others; 
  • Skill in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently and to resolve conflicts as they arise

Required Skills and Experience

  • Extensive knowledge of Forestry NTFP issues, including legal and policy framework and ecological monitoring methodologies
  • Experience with GEF development projects is a plus
  • Hold an advanced degree in a relevant field for Forestry (with an pharmaceutical or ecological background) and have consistent professional specialization in forestry legal and enforcement issues;
  • Have at least 5 years of proven experience in the mentioned field in Africa or other developing nations; and
  • Demonstrated track record of relevant production in the mentioned area (publications, project proposals, reports).
  • Mastery of oral and written English is a requirement;
  • Working knowledge of French is a plus