Background

Central Africa is home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world. Forest loss is accelerating despite ongoing efforts, as government action alone has not been sufficient to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development.

On this basis, a coalition of willing donors together with Central African partner countries – Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Gabon – have decided to enter into a collaborative partnership to establish the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). The objective of this initiative is to recognize and preserve the value of the forests in the region to mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and contribute to sustainable development. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development.

The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. 

The CAFI Secretariat has the objective of establishing a roster to have a pool of experts who are ready to provide consultancy services to undertake one or several of the following tasks indicated below, for the benefit of all CAFI’s projects]. Upon the establishment of this roster after extensive technical and financial review of all applications, qualified individual consultants will be called upon to be contracted under an Individual Contract valid for 12 months, and deployed to provide specific technical advice and short-term consultancies for deliverables that would require few days of work (mostly home-based).

Duties and Responsibilities

The CAFI Secretariat invites eligible international individual consultants to indicate their Expression of Interest, for the following:

1.   Independent reviews of National Investment Frameworks (NIF)

On the basis of the CAFI Terms of Reference, Executive Board decision on evaluating NIFs and decisions pertaining to the country at stake, the CAFI results framework, and other relevant documents, the consultant will evaluate the admissibility of the National Investment Plan of Republic of Congo, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea or the Central African Republic. In addition, the IC will submit options for measures to be discussed between CAFI and the country presenting a NIF in order to support possible negotiations of a Letter of intent. 

The IC will have to become familiar with the CAFI programming cycle, criteria for investments, terms of reference and other documents provided by the CAFI Secretariat ahead of the beginning of the task.

The CAFI Secretariat may ask for exchanges ahead of the evaluation report, in order to ensure a common understanding of the expectations of the CAFI executive Board.

The IC may be asked to participate in one or several meetings of the CAFI Executive Board, to present the results of their evaluation, their recommendations, and to act as experts for discussions related to the methodology for assessment, results, or technical questions.

2.  Independent reviews of country programmes, reports and strategic documents

The IC will review programmes developed to implement a national investment framework once a Letter of Intent has been agreed.

As agreed in the CAFI TORs, the Secretariat of CAFI will commission assessment reports (double blind process) on the proposed programs submitted by partner countries and implementing agencies by two independent international experts with proven experience and expertise.

Each individual expert selected to review a program should complete his or her review according to the agreed criteria.

The review should:

• Be independent

• Reflect the objectives and investment criteria of CAFI

• Provide knowledge and experience for interested stakeholders, including members and observers of CAFI

The reviewers should:

• Make all efforts to support the development of high quality programs

• work in their personal capacity and perform duties in an objective, neutral and professional manner;

• disclose any potential conflict of interest relating to review activities;

• protect any confidential information provided in the course of the reviews both during and after the term of service

3.  Production of working or research papers on specific topics

The IC may be asked to produce papers and briefing notes, based on country knowledge and literature reviews that summarize existing opportunities, research and research gaps on specific topics linked to drivers affecting the loss of forests in its partner countries. Such topics may include but will not be limited to the following areas:

• The impact of forestry, slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal, industrial agriculture, mining on forest loss

• Forest governance and policy, intersectoral coordination

• The role of land use planning and land tenure in preserving the Central African forests

• The linkages between forests and rainfall in Central Africa

• The links between the Chinese economy and Central Africa (timber, agricultural commodities and mining)

• The linkages between forests, development and economic planning and SDGs’ achievement

• Economic and financial schemes to incentivize zero net deforestation activities and to mobilize private sector investments

4.  Facilitation and presentations at technical events organized by CAFI

The CAFI Secretariat will organize a technical event or meeting, such as the recently held CAFI Forum (Oslo, 29 June 2018), that the international consultant will be asked to support. This support may include:

• Preparation of the agenda and briefing note

• Entering in a dialogue with participating countries to prepare them

• Facilitation and presentation during the event

• Event report

The topics for these events will be decided by the CAFI Executive Board.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies

• Extensive knowledge of evaluation methods

• Strong analytical skills and ability to deliver high quality reports;

• Understanding of REDD+, climate change and the dynamics of sector policies behind drivers of forest loss in Central Africa, land use planning;
• Understanding of central African government systems and policy processes
• Ability to work efficiently and independently under pressure, handle multi-tasking with strong delivery orientation.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications

The prospective experts that will apply for enlisting in this roster should be able to demonstrate the following qualifications.

Academic Background

• Masters in economics, environmental management, development studies or similar, agronomy of forest engineering

General and Specific Experience

• Experience in :

  • development or analysis of national development strategies, low emission development strategies, national REDD+ strategies or action plan

  • theory of change and/or analysis of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation ;

  • analysis of options and policy priorities, results and indicator frameworks; risk analysis sand management;

• At least 7 years of demonstrated experience in at least one of the following areas, with research or application to at least one country of the Central African region context:

  • Land use planning

  • Land tenure

  • Industrial and small-scale agriculture

  • Energy production: Fuelwood, charcoal and alternative sources

  • Forest governance and sustainable forest management

  • Intersectoral coordination and governance

  • Economic and Development planning

• Strong writing skills: Please submit/reference (weblinks) of previous written/published work.

• Full fluency in French and/or English (written and spoken); Chinese (for the Chinese economic relations analysis)

Please click here to apply and read more details about the CAFI Roster of Experts.