Antecedentes

Mt Elgon landscape presents a variety of ecosystems providing services upon which local population heavily depends. A large portion of the landscape is now degraded, considering current changes in land use due to expansion of agriculture fields and human settlements, largely driven by high population growth especially the higher percentage of women as compared to men yet control of land is in the hands of men. There is also increasing pressure on the land to accommodate a population that is still rising in the Mt Elgon region and the inherent danger is that this increasing pressure for land will impact negatively on land use, such as a) causing trees to be cut for fuel wood before maturing and b) increase encroachment into the upper protected watersheds c) increased land fragmentation d) increased soil erosion. Furthermore, it should be noted that women play a dominant role in land management despite the fact that they have limited control and access to knowledge and capacity building opportunities.

Coupled with the above, the level of adoption of better land use practices has been tremendously low and uncoordinated. The area is characterised by land fragmentation, population pressure, the terrain and the varying needs of the different farmer categories.

There is limited knowledge on how to implement Sustainable Land Management (SLM) sustainable forest management (SFM) and climate change mitigation (CCM). There is also limited access to extension services, limited or no innovation in land use management, and no incentives to improve land use practices. Non-application of sustainable land use practices is driven by limited ‘knowhow’ and technical capabilities to do so. There is a need to demonstrate how this can be done in practice but such demonstration has not been yet available in the Mount Elgon landscape.

The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is implementing the project “Integrated Landscape Management for Ecosystem Resilience and Improved Livelihoods in the Mt. Elgon Region” in the districts of Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa. The overall goal of the project is to empower communities in Mt Elgon to manage their production landscapes in an integrated manner for improved livelihoods and ecosystem resilience.

Objective of assignment:

Overall the assignment is to develop guidelines, strategies and measures for implementing SLM, SFM and CCM in Land use plans in highland agro ecological zones (Case study – Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa Districts). It is expected that the consultant will:

  • Develop a strategy for implementing SLM, SFM and CCM in highland agro ecological zones (Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa Districts);
  • Develop implementation guidelines for SLM, SFM and CCM in highland agro ecological zones (Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa Districts);
  • Provide a framework for strengthening the capacity of District Local Government, Extension Staff and Farmers to undertake monitoring and data management in SLM, SFM and CCM.

The project stakeholders include farmers, Local Leaders, government agencies namely: The 3 DLGs, the 6 LLGs, MWE, MLHUD, Ministry of Trade, UNMA, NARO, NEMA, NFA, UWA, NGOs, CBOs, FBOs and MAAIF the lead implementing agency. These stakeholders are responsible for accomplishing this particular task.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of the services and deliverables:

The geographical scope of this consultancy is Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa districts and at the national level. Field activities shall be done in these three districts and engaging with selected district project focal officers and farmers.  The technical tasks will include:

  • Review of available national and local government instruments including policies, laws, strategies and guidelines relating to land use planning, land management and climate change, forestry and agro forestry and extension delivery. How the relevant policies influence positively the implementation of SLM,SFM and CCM;
  • Review and document available best practices and methods of delivery of SLM, SFM and CCM technologies in relation to Highland AEZ;
  • Identify existing and potential incentives and disincentives for implementation of SLM, SFM and CCM technologies in Highland AEZ of Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa districts;
  • Carry out a gender analysis in relation to implementation of SLM, SFM and CCM in the Districts of Bulambuli, Mbale and Manafwa;
  • Carry out a cost-benefit analysis for the implementation of SFM, SLM and CCM in highland AEZ of the three districts;
  • Identify gaps to scaling up SLM, SFM and CCM in Highland AEZ and needed interventions to address the gaps;
  • Identify and map stakeholders relevant to implementation of SLM, SFM and CCM in Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa districts;
  • Propose a participatory monitoring and evaluation framework for implementation of SLM, SFM and CCM;
  • Prepare guidelines for land users on the integrated implementation of SLM, SFM and CCM within the land use and farm plans;
  • Develop guidelines, strategies and measures for integrated implementation SLM, SFM and CCM on farmland for use by Extension workers.

Deliverables:

  • An inception report explaining the approaches, schedules of the detailed activities and expected time of delivery of the assignment presented and submitted- 3 days;
  • Report of the gender analysis, stakeholder mapping, cost-benefit analysis, gap analysis in methodologies for implementation of SLM, SFM and CCM - 10 days;
  • Monitoring and evaluation framework for District Local Government, Extension Staff and Farmers to undertake monitoring and data management of SLM, SFM and CCM in farm lands - 7 days;
  • Guidelines, strategies and measures for integrated  implementation of SLM,  SFM and CCM on farm land in Mbale, Bulambuli and Manafwa Districts - 10 days.

 

Competencias

The consultant should have:

  • Good communication  skills;
  • Excellent organisational skills;
  • Demonstrated evidence of capacity to produce and present good reports.
  • Knowledge in integrated landscape management

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

  • Master's Degree in Natural Sciences, Forestry, Agriculture, Environmental sciences or other related field. 

Experience:

  • A solid track record in integrated landscape management approaches, with at least seven years of experience.
  • The consultant must have undertaken similar or related assignment in East Africa or Uganda in the last 5 years
  • Demonstrated experience of working with government agencies and communities will be an added advantage

Language:

  • Fluence in written and spoken English.

Evaluation method and criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

  • Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and;
  • Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to this solicitation;
  • Technical Criteria weight; 70%;
  •  Financial Criteria weight; 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points

  • Criteria A Relevance of Education – Max 10 points;
  • Criteria B. Relevance of experience – Max 30 points;
  • Criteria C. Description of approach/methodology to assignment. (if applicable) – Max 30 Points;

Lowest price and technically compliant offer:

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as both:

  • Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
  • Offering the lowest price/cost “responsive/compliant/acceptable” can be defined as fully meeting the TOR provided. 

Submission of Application:

The candidate is required to submit an electronic application directly uploaded on the UNDP jobs website with all the requirements as listed here below. Annexes and further information may be downloaded on http://procurement-notices.undp.org/. (Reference #.36044).

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document to this website - http://jobs.undp.org (Ref no.70963).

  • Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
  • Personal CV, 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.

Technical proposal:

  • Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
  • A methodology, on how they 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 (Annex II);
  • Annexes 1 and II - may be downloaded from the UNDP Procurement Notices Website -http://procurement-notices.undp.org/ - under reference #.36044. For further clarifications, please contact; janet.anyango@undp.org; moses.lutwama@undp.org;

Interested applicants should submit applications through uploading of all their required documentation in one single pdf document on this website only.