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Ghana Western Region Coastal Foundation (WRCF)
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Climate Change (Adaptation and Mitigation) Strategy Consultant
Background to the Project
In 2007, oil and gas was found in commercial quantities off the coast of Ghana’s Western Region and extraction started in 2010. Production is estimated currently at 126,000 barrels per day. This is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Livelihoods, social and economic systems are impacted by the oil, gas and power industry. Expectations are high among residents of the six coastal districts in the Western Region that they will benefit from the new industry. The oil-driven growth has led to rapid increases in cost of living in the frontline communities. The high level of in-migration has meant that while specific jobs have increased, original residents are not securing them. The risks of tension and conflict are increasing, but little action appears to be taken and there is no effective mechanism to raise concerns and provide some practical solutions.
In response to this development, UKAid is supporting the setup of the Western Region Coastal Foundation to organize and support effective dialogue between the oil companies, the communities and government agencies, and to make effective use of corporate social investment funds that private sector companies may have for development. At the same time, the Foundation will pursue social and economic development activities that provide opportunities for households to increase their economic and social capital through market-oriented interventions in selected value chains.
The Foundation is pursuing these objectives through a two-pronged approach; 1) Improving relationships between the oil gas and power, companies and coastal communities through a Dialogue Platform, and; 2) Channelling CSI funding to priority sectors that demonstrate real potential for providing economic opportunities for residents in target communities in the region. The focus is on supporting the development of alternative livelihoods, improved business support services, and facilitating relevant education, and skills development.
Purpose of the Assignment
Global warming is already altering the world's climate. Its impacts are felt in all sectors and regions of society, through changes in temperature and precipitation as well as through changes in the frequency and intensity of climate extremes. Adverse impacts of climate change will negatively affect progress toward development in a number of key areas including agriculture and food security, water resources, coastal zones, public health, climate-related disaster risk management and natural resources management. National planning must take these impacts into account.
Similarly, climate change will constrain the ability of communities to reach their poverty reduction and sustainable development objectives. A number of constraints exist with regards to ensuring resiliency of coastal communities in the context of emerging climate change pressures. In the WRCF, all intervention strategies need to highlight various issues:
- Weak capacities of agencies, local authorities and vulnerable communities to effectively develop coping mechanisms and strategies on adaptation and disaster risk management;
- Lack of tools and systems to enable appropriate planning and implementation of climate change adaptation; and
- General lack of information on technological adaptation and sustainable development options.
A global-scale scenario cannot be reliably applied to the WRCF because of the small size of the territory, the coarse resolution of current models and the great spatial inaccuracy of global models. All previous aspects of climate change in various documents justify the need to assess the situation in the six coastal districts as well as identify the different actions to be taken and develop and adaptation and mitigation Strategy to climate change.
Therefore WRCF wants to develop an adaptation and mitigation strategy and integrate all these strategies in the programming of the Foundation in order to ensure practices are results oriented and consistent with acceptable norms.
The consultant will have to assess the situation in the Six Coastal Districts of the Western Region in relation with the climate change, identify the different actions to be taken and develop and adaptation strategy to climate change; after this he/she will develop a Programme for adaptation to the climate change for WRCF.
Scope of the Work Required
In order to launch this process, the consultant will meet the key stakeholders of the WRCF (Oil, Gas and Power companies, civil society organizations, regional and local government institutions) in the WRCF coverage area to inform and discuss the
objective of this consultancy work. The assignment will entail the following tasks:
- Access the climate change situation in the six coastal districts. The consultants will undertake stock-take of existing information on climate change in the six coastal districts, and develop an executive summary for policy and decision-makers to mobilize high level support. This executive summary should be accompanied by an initial analysis of the causes of the problem (climatic and non-climatic) as well as main barriers impeding adaptation and mitigation measures. Adaptation opportunities and alternatives should also be highlighted as these will constitute the basis on which all interventions will be built. The analysis should be supported by all the necessary data information, where possible.
The assessment leading to the development of the strategy will include the following elements:
- Current climate change vulnerability assessment:
- Characterization of current climate conditions and natural hazards;
- Impact of climate change in the six coastal districts, including impact considerations in National Development Plans and policies;
- Assessing current vulnerability of development objectives to climate change;
- Assessment of current socio-economic conditions and vulnerability (e.g. exposure);
- Pre-identification of critical thresholds;
- Future Climate-Risks Assessment;
- Climate scenarios/projections in mean and variability for the six coastal districts;
- Assessing future climate change risks to the development objective;
- Extrapolations of existing socio-economic trends;
- Expected/potential impacts on the priority sector(s);
- Economic and Financial impacts of climate change;
- Climate Risk Analysis;
- Develop an executive summary for policy and decision-makers.
- Based in the previous findings (in A), the consultant will prepare an adaptation and mitigation strategy on climate change for the six coastal districts. The strategy should consider all the components which need to be in place, like regulatory, technical, legal, capacity development, institutional, among others. It will address the following but not limited to:
- The analysis of the situation in the six coastal districts and the assessment prepared in the previous step.
- Assess the information gap of the existing documentation, like the Ghana National Plan.
- Look at linkages between adaptation and sustainable development at the local level, sectoral level (agriculture, water resource management, coastal zone management and disaster), national level and Regional and district level (planning and coordinated actions may be necessary).
- Access how to mainstream the climate change risks, adaptation and mitigation into WRCF programmes and setting priorities to ensure information about climate-related risk, vulnerability, and options for adaptation are incorporated into the development and implementation of interventions in key sectors, such as agriculture, water, health, disaster risk management and coastal development, as well as into existing national assessments and action plans.
- Define Strategic Partnerships with national bodies, local authorities and civil society.
- Check for complementarities and synergies with similar existing or planned interventions (UN or external) in the country and the region.
- Lessons learnt from related previous interventions should be incorporated.
- Discuss the Adaptation and mitigation Strategy to Climate Change for the six coastal districts with relevant stakeholders and the project staff and agree on the final version.
When preparing the Programme Document, the consultant will consider the following elements, but not limited to:
- Ensure it includes a legal and institutional analysis. This comprises a comprehensive description of the main roles, regulatory issues, policies, actors and planning processes relating to the system targeted by the project.
- Ensure the problem analysis is done logically and is based on the preliminary assessment of the current vulnerability and future climate risks.
- Develop the reasoning of the intervention and describe both baseline and adaptation scenarios.
- Baseline scenario: the purpose of this scenario is to identify what course of action would be taken in the absence of climate change adaptation, and how climate change is likely to affect programme activities.
- Mainstreaming of short-term adaptation strategies into district development frameworks.
- Implementation plan of pilot adaptation and mitigation measures.
- Within that context propose adequate measures to ensure sustainability of the intervention. This requires a brief description of the mechanisms needed to ensure recurring costs are financed, local ownership of ideas will guarantee ongoing involvement, sufficient capacity exists, and other issues that the consultant might consider relevant.
The consultant will submit to the Director of Programmes a report not more than 30 pages long, excluding annexes, consistent with the Terms of Reference and in accordance with the agreed Table of Contents. The consultant will be expected to present the draft report to WRCF Programme staff for review and comments and for validation.
The consultant will finalize the report based on the feedback from the validation meeting.
Anticipated Deliverables
- One meeting with relevant WRCF team to present and discuss document (report).
- Stock-take of the Climate Change situation in the six coastal districts: Current Vulnerability Assessment and Future Climate-Risks Assessment.
- Executive summary on the climate change situation in the six coastal districts.
- An Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy to Climate Change for the six coastal districts.
Required Skills and Experience
- A postgraduate degree in Environmental Management or related fields and/or equivalent work experience
- Proven real experience, at least five years, in Climate Change and financing mechanisms in general and in West Africa in particular
- Policy and institutional knowledge in the Climate Change sector
- Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
- Experience in Programme/Project development
- Experience in international best practices in Climate Change
- Experience in strategies for assisting developing countries
- Solid analytical and conceptual skills and the ability to think creatively
- Good knowledge of local context (culture, politics, and geography) is an asset
- Excellent communication, presentation, report writing and analytical skills;
Terms and Conditions
- Contract modality and duration
The Consultant will be hired under a Short-term Technical Assistance Agreement for a maximum of 25 consultancy days including the inception tasks, desk review preparation of the draft report, validation and completion of report. It is expected that the consultant will carry out the assignment in June 2015 and complete his/her work no later than 25th July 2015.
- Reporting
The consultant will report to the Director of Programmes, but will also take direction from the relevant substantive lead on the WRCF team for each work component.
- Travel and other associated costs
This project is based in Takoradi, therefore the consultant must be willing to spend a minimum of 15 working days during the assignment in the six coastal districts of the Western Region. Any travel required by WRCF for the purpose of data gathering from the Consultant’s base set out as agreed in the contract including travel with associated accommodation will be reimbursed. The Consultant must receive prior approval by WRCF; pre-approved expenses will be reimbursed.
- Payments schedule
The payment for the services will be based on daily rate. It will be paid upon the submission of reports and time-sheets indicating the actual number of days worked and specific activities undertaken as part of this assignment.
- Application procedure
The Consultant is expected to provide the following to Andrew_Akoto@dai.com
- Curriculum Vitae
- Brief methodology clearly describing his/her understanding of the assignment and challenges
- Reference list of relevant work/projects, positions held and contact details of the clients
- Financial offer in US$ expressed as daily rate for the delivery of outputs as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the total cost according to numbers of working days, travel and any other possible costs.
- Evaluation procedure
The cumulative method will be applied in the evaluation of the applications. The contract will be awarded to the candidate achieving the highest cumulative score from the technical and financial parts of the proposal. The technical proposal accounts for 70% of the total score and the financial proposal will account for 30% of the total evaluation score.
- Criteria Weight Max. Points
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in relevant area (social sciences). Master’s degree or PhD/DBA will be considered an asset
- Years of professional experience: Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience
- Record of participation in at least 2 assignments of similar size and degree of complexity
- Methodology
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