Historique

1. Tourism is a priority sector for economic development in Namibia’s Fifth National Development Plan (NDP 5) and has been one of the most successful and fast-growing sectors of the Namibian economy over recent years. Tourism statistical reports have shown sustained year on year increases in tourist arrivals to Namibia since independence with a record 1.557 million visitors having arrived in 2018. It is also a key provider of employment with the National Labour Force Survey of 2016 estimating that 47,840 Namibians were employed in the accommodation and food service sector.

The first Covid-19 positive case was reported in Namibia on 14th March 2020. This resulted in a range of measures to contain the spread of the virus, on the 17th of March 2020 a State of Emergency was declared, followed by an immediate two regions’ lockdowns, travel restrictions and bans, closure of national borders, restrictions on gatherings and movements, and total ban on sale of alcohol. Additional measures included instituting 14-day quarantine measures for people from high risk countries, working from home policy, and closure of selected ports of entry with the exception of essential goods and services. When the country registered its 16 cases, a total countrywide/ national lockdown was declared in April 2020.

The Namibian economy does not operate in isolation to the global and regional trading trends; therefore, it was not immune to the effects of COVID-19. Namibia being a relatively young developing economic activity country, the fallout from COVID-19 could be amplified on the country.   Upon the declaration of the state of emergency and lockdown measures, all the non-essential services were halted.  This included instructing all non-essential organizations, state owned enterprises including NGO/CBO’s, private sector and government ministries to lockdown, limit or operate in isolation for all business operations for an initial period of 21 days. Such measures have had both positive and negative impacts on the vibrant economic sectors of the country.

Firstly, the closure of borders and the complete absence of visitors from abroad since March 2020 has had a major impact on the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the tourism sector such as accommodation facilities (i.e. hotels and lodges), travel agents, airlines, vehicle rental companies, tour operators, hunting operators as well as restaurants and entertainment facilities (including cultural dances/performances and arts & crafts)  targeting tourists.

Secondly, nature-based tourism (NBT) has been negatively affected through restrictions on movements and gatherings and through fewer visitors to National Protected Areas (NPA) and community managed conservation areas, famously known as Communal Conservancies and Community Forests. This has had adverse effects on total value chains associated with these conservation management practices (i.e. multiple land uses) and has highly underscored the importance of tourism for livelihoods and well-being of majority of the local and indigenous communities in Namibia’s rural areas.  Although many of the Namibian people live in rural areas, recent trends indicate that there have been increases in the rural-urban migration to chase better living conditions and improved standards of life. It further highlighted the interdependencies between human, animal and environmental health, biodiversity loss, widening inequality and climate change.

Thirdly, the unprecedented socio-economic impacts of the pandemic on the tourism sector has undoubtedly created a sort of crisis for Namibia considering the cumulative benefits (wildlife, people and economy) of the country’s conservation efforts. Thus, there is a need to understand, measure and quantify the nature of the impacts. Following on the understanding of the impacts, there is an opportunity to rebuild the  tourism sector by rethinking the country’s approach to tourism to ensure that Namibia becomes a more sustainable destination, and for tourism to enrich the lives of all people through a sector which is financially self-sustaining in the longer term. This calls for a development of a time bound and well-defined strategy to rebuild the tourism sector.

The strategy will build on the country’s international tourism revival initiative, with its’ the implementation protocols approved in August 2020. This initiative commenced from 1st September 2020. With Covid-19 likely to continue into the foreseeable future, there is a stronger need to build on this initiative, upscale and broaden its measures over the medium term (i.e. 3-5 years).

Current COVID-19 statistics. Namibia has recorded a cumulative total of 10,526 COVID-19 confirmed cases, and 111 deaths (CFR 1.08%); up to 8,112 cases have recovered, and to date there are 2,301 active cases. There are 436 Health care workers (4.16%) infected with COVID-19 in the country[1].

[1] According to the latest Namibia COVID-19 SITREPs No.186, as of 20th September 2020.

Devoirs et responsabilités

1)    Identify and summarise the pre Covid-19 macro and micro contexts regarding the tourism sector and industry in Namibia;

• The summary must take into consideration the pre-pandemic financial, economic, social, cultural, and governance contexts
•  The summary must identity and highlight the pre Covid-19 tourism and nature-based related policies, strategies and institutional action plans;

2)    Undertake an assessment of the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism sector and industry

•   In terms of loss of revenue, business closure, income and employment, and where relevant, livelihoods of the most vulnerable groups amongst others.
•   This will include an assessment of the impacts on nature-based tourism and enterprises – particularly concerning the National Parks (Protected Areas) and Communal Conservancies.
•   A classification or careful categorization of what was considered (scope of the Assessment) will need to be included to provide the source of the tourism/nature-based value chains being considered in the analysis (inclusion and exclusion).
•   It will also include an assessment of the Government, development partners, and private sector (PS) response measures.

3)    Based on the assessment and findings in 1&2, recommend to the Government of Namibia (and private sector and development partners)socio- economic recovery measures for addressing the sectoral needs to rebuild the tourism sector and industry in a sustainable manner.

•   Identify and prioritize recovery needs, including a projection of three possible/likely future scenarios.
•    Differentiated strategies and options for rebuilding nature-based tourism, notably National Parks, Conservancies and Nature-based Enterprises (Lodges and Joint Ventures). 
•   The recommendations must consider/wight options that take into accounts the issues of local vulnerable groups, and interventions carried out by local communities, particularly women and indigenous groups.
•    Current Covid-19 economic and social relief measures, social protection measures, and their associated benefits or impacts on the tourism sector recovery, if any.
•   The recommendations must also consider the different trades (accommodation& hospitality, travel, tourism operators, arts crafts, cultural performances).

4)    Recommend tourism recovery and rebuilding measures that the tourism industry role players can uptake without government intervention;

5)    Recommend measures, e.g. favourable policies, terms of trade and appropriate legal frameworks that must be introduced and maintained post-COVID 19 to:

•  Rebuild the tourism sector and industry
•   Increase the tourism sector and industry contribution to the national economy
•    Create demand for the tourism nature-based associated value chains
•    Protect rights and benefit entitlements of Communal Conservancies’ beneficiaries esp., in line with Joint ventures operated on communal conservancies; 

6)    Develop a strategy for implementation to rebuild the sector so that it is better placed to withstand future shocks and help achieve necessary transformation towards its longer-term development objectives. Amongst others consider also, the Tourism Revival Strategy and associated Protocols, new destinations, and options for 12-24 months ‘Tourism Teleworking’ packages for regional and international tourists.

7)    In addition to the macro analyses, the Strategy will be informed by a thorough socio-economic impact assessment of the impacts of Covid-19 on the tourism sector, which will also form a key part of this consultancy. The socio-economic impact assessment will be based on the Digital SEIA approach.

8)    The strategy needs to take into account the UN framework five pillars (health first, protecting people, economic response and recovery, macroeconomics and social cohesion), and the entry points of the Green Economy within the four UNDP’s pillars (green economy, digital disruptions, governance and social protection) beyond recovery towards 2030.

9)    It is also expected that the Strategy will be linked to the national development goals and existing sectoral planning frameworks and to tease out the role of tourism in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, the consultants must align this strategy with existing strategies such as the Tourism Growth Strategy and Investment Promotion Plan; and the Strategy on Cultural Tourism which is at an advanced stage. The work will need to be coordinated with the development process of the Tourism Spatial Development Master Plan.

Compétences

• Ability to deliver strategic, high quality documents within tight and set deadlines;
•  Strong planning, coordination and facilitation skills, backed up with excellent presentation and communication; including organising and facilitating interviews, workshops and focus group sessions; and
• Excellent command of written and spoken English is required, for national consultants’ knowledge of local languages is an advantage.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• At Least a Master’s degree in economics or environmental economics, statistics, econometrics, international development or other related fields

Experiences:

• At least 10 years of progressive relevant experiences, preferably in developing countries, in conducting economic analysis, impact assessments of social policy, or economic modelling related to macro-economic analyses, environmental economics, and tourism;
• Evidence of previously developed forward looking tourism strategies with scenario-based analytical work in the recent past;
• Demonstrated experience in developing tourism-related policies and strategies, backed up with experiences in conducting sectoral studies such us nature-based tourism, tourism, or agriculture;
• Strong analytical skills and demonstrated experience in matters relating to economic, social and environmental analyses;  
• Thorough knowledge of regional or Namibia’s national development and sectoral policy frameworks;
• Sound understanding of Namibia’s political, economic, environmental and social conditions

Languages:

·         Fluency in English with excellent written and oral communication skills

Recommended Presentation of Offer;

• Completed Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Personal CV or a P11 Personal History form, 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 approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment (max 1 page).

Financial proposal:

Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (based on the number of working days mentioned ToR.

Note:

• Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows uploading maximum one document.
• Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply;
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.

To view the full Terms of Reference (TOR) and download letter of confirmation of interest and P11 form, please access the UNDP Procurement Notice site on the below link:

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=71053

Application process:

Applicants are requested to submit price offers indicating the total cost of the assignment (including daily fees, per diem and travel costs). All application should be done via the online portal and must not be emailed to the Procurement email address.

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

Applications will be screened against qualifications and competencies specified above through a desk review.