Mapping Of Resources (Non-Wood Forest Products (Nwfps) And Minerals Appropriate For Artisanal Mining)
The Secretariat intends to use part of the funds to hire a consultant or a firm of consultants to carry out the mapping of resources (non-wood forest products (nwfps) and minerals appropriate for artisanal mining) for development in the arid and semi arid areas of the IGAD region
Applications are invited from suitably qualified individuals or firms from the ACP region to participate in the bid.
Introduction
Economic integration in the Eastern and Southern Africa-Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) region is driven by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) through a wide array of initiatives which aim at addressing both common issues such as trade, investment and supply-side constraints and sub-regional specificities as well as specific sectors such as renewable energy, bio-diversity and marine resources. COMESA and EAC are both in the process of harmonising trade, investment and macro-economic policies with the ultimate aim of establishing a fully fledged Common Market and a Monetary Union. The two organisations are also engaged, together with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in the Tripartite Process, which aims at establishing a single market encompassing all their twenty-six Member Countries. IGAD is championing the Horn of Africa Initiative, which is an integrated response strategy to promote peace, security and development in the sub-region. IOC is leading on sustainable development programmes, especially aimed at island economies.
Since 2002, the four Regional Organisations have decided to join-up their efforts, through the Inter-Regional Committee (IRCC) in the programming and implementation of regional programmes and projects under the European Development Fund (EDF), with a view to improve coordination in the implementation of regional integration programmes, especially in order to avoid the duplication of activities. The Regional Integration Support Programme (RISP) is one of the key regional economic integration programmes implemented under the 9th EDF following that principle. The purpose of the RISP was to develop the capacity of the ROs and their Member/Partner States in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring of regional integration as well as multilateral and regional trade. The RISP was implemented jointly by COMESA and EAC and contributed significantly in furthering the integration road maps of the two organisations, namely by facilitating the launching of the COMESA Customs Union and the EAC Common Market in 2009.
The 10th EDF RISP Continuation aims at consolidating the achievements made through the 9th EDF while expanding support to all four Regional Organisations in contributing to the economic integration in the ESA-IO region. The RISP continuation focuses directly upon the agreed economic integration agenda of COMESA, IGAD and EAC, by assisting the ROs in fulfilling their mandates of progressing towards FTAs and CUs. Through the IOC, the inclusion of island state specificity in the COMESA agenda will be ensured, while IGAD’s functional cooperation programme in support of the Regional Integration agenda of the ESA region will also be included.
The RISP programme is expected to achieve six results to attain its specific objective:
- RESULT 1: Regional policies and regulations for the implementation of the regional integration mandates and agenda are designed and/or adjusted;
- RESULT 2: Trade development, trade facilitation instruments and strategic, regulatory and technical preparatory works of trade related infrastructure designed and/or adjusted;
- RESULT 3: Regional institutions established and strengthened to
implement and monitor regional policies and regulations, including institutions that service private sector at regional level;
- RESULT 4: Management capacities of the ROs improved to meet international recognised standards of governance;
- RESULT 5: Member/Partner States capacity to address trade related issues and to implement their trade liberalisation and regional integration commitments is enhanced;
- RESULT 6: Capacity of the region to negotiate and implement multilateral trade agreements is enhanced.
As a regional institution, the proposed IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD) will be established under result 3. The mandate of the centre is: “To promote and facilitate sustainable and equitable drylands and livestock development in the IGAD region”, the proposed vision is “To be the premier centre of excellence for promoting drylands and livestock development policies”; the proposed mission is “To compliment efforts of IGAD member states to sustainably generate wealth and act as regional policy institution for livestock and drylands” while the overall objective of the Centre will be to: “Promote and facilitate Regional Policy framework and advocate for people centered and gender responsive sustainable development of drylands and livestock in the IGAD region.
2. Background
The IGAD Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALs) are vast grasslands and scrublands that are known habitats of varied endemic plant species and relatives of many domestic cultivars. These weeds, grasses, herbs, trees and shrubs have provided the pastoralists and other inhabitants of ASALs with honey, feed, fibre, food and medicine since time immemorial. Nevertheless the principle livelihood system for pastoralists remains the livestock keeping which is always at risk due to recurrent climate extremes - droughts and floods. The ASALs have undergone significant transformation over the years mainly due to increasing livestock and human population growth in addition to other phenomena such as desertification and climate change. This has assumed a changing ecological shift leading to loss of habitat and rapid expansion of alien invasive species with some such as opuntia sp.
(Commonly known as prickly pear cactus) Prosopis sp. and others are dominating in the ASALs plant community with devastating effects.
In recent times it has been noted that the ASALs have enormous economic potential and are the home of vital non timber forest products such as dyes, medicines, resins, gums, perfume, honey and other important emerging natural products that are made from indigenous plants and minerals that can be easily mined with simple tools. At international level, the natural products market from such pure and unpolluted sources has risen quite high with bio-enterprises capable of offering new sources of livelihood to the population of the ASALs areas. The increase in demand for NWFPs mirrors that of minerals including gypsum, gemstones and gold that are found in the ASALs.
It has become evidently clear that natural resources in the region will be protected by the community only if the community derives benefits and improves their livelihoods. The value of traditional knowledge, particularly in relation to medicinal plants is also gaining acceptance and is getting more widely recognised. With support from environmental groups, local communities and indigenous peoples are becoming aware of the value of wild and cultivated plants. Communities know that the economic stakes run high if market chains and value addition is effected in the products that grow wildly around them. For example in Kenya, sandalwood (Brachyleana hutchinsii) is being uprooted and smuggled at night. There is a huge demand for its products - the bark, stem and seeds particularly in the Far East. The bark is used to flavour tea, and when mixed together with other herbs, is used as a detox. The stem and seeds produce oils which have a distinctive scent used in manufacturing cosmetics, soaps, candles, medicines and perfume. Although the harvesting of sandalwood is banned, smugglers and traders outside the ASALs have targeted isolated areas rich in this plant species.
Attitudes towards the ASALs are changing, with new understanding about the value of dry lands environment, the way these environments function, and the way the inhabitants of those dry lands have adapted their livelihoods to the constraints and opportunities that the environment presents. In Kenya for example, 80% of the country is arid or semi-arid and contributes 25% of National GDP! Yet the dry lands are home to the country's highest poverty levels, conflict and insecurity. As a result of the new understanding, there is a growing level of innovation for sustainable dry lands development, particularly in consolidation of successful innovations that are scattered through these sparsely populated and poorly connected regions. At sub regional level it is possible to draw lessons from such successful innovations and use them to direct new investments and to help create supportive policy and planning that supports ASALs development.
Promoting sustainable land use in the dry lands therefore requires a regional perspective on the challenges that pastoralists face with greater attention on trans-boundary ecosystem management, markets and service provision. After visiting the three community conservancies, the IGAD Parliamentarians concluded that the potential of the ASALs in the IGAD region is much greater and underutilized than it is realized. To broaden the exploitable resource base for the communities in the ASALs while inculcating values of sustainable use of resources into every day operations the IGAD intends to retain a consultant/firm to “map resources (NWFPs and mineral appropriate for artisanal mining) for development in the Arid and Semi Arid Areas of the IGAD Region”
3. Rationale
About 80 % of the 5.2 million km2 of the IGAD region 1is ASALs and prone to periodic droughts and chronic desertification. Being one of the Vavilov centres2, the subregion is rich in both wild and domestic plant species that have been used as a food for millennia. Like in any other region where the majority of the population derives their livelihood from water and land based occupation, food production and consumption patterns have always depended on the compatibility with the ecological situations of the ecosystems, and recently to the levels of outside influence. Changing ecological situation due to climate change, periodic and persistent drought and/or desertification, has made land incapable of supporting traditional food crops and livestock. The problem is further exacerbated by the introduction of consumption habits both in urban and rural areas where people are increasingly dependent on food that is not grown in their surroundings or in the country. In this respect, urbanization and the food aid programmes have a profound impact in the observed changing consumption patterns of the people of the sub region. Even in the ASALs where there is limited agro-pastoral subsistence, people grow what they do not eat, and eat what they do not grow.
Faced with this contradiction, any normal drought episode quickly escalates into famine, making the sub region one of the most food insecure and vulnerable sub regions in the world. Consequently, the population in the ASALs are subjected to both seasonal food insecurity and perpetual famines while options and potentials to develop and utilize other available food crops and products exist. Although livestock remains the principle source of livelihood in the ASALs, the future lies with a combination of livestock and exploitation of products from ASALs. It is time to shift livelihoods beyond livestock. Investing in mapping minerals that can be mined by artisal miners and sustainably exploitable non-wood forest products including gums, resins and honey, would be good starting points. In identifying
1 The region comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
2 A Vavilov Center or a Center of Diversity is a region of the world first indicated by Dr. Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov to be an original center for the domestication of plants
minerals that can be mined by artisal miners and useful plant crops for ASALs, it is necessary to take cognizance of other plants of economic importance that are threatened by climate change, predatory exploitation and desertification. Such an initiative can be supported by a network of mining, range management and biodiversity research and training institutions in the region that could be used to collect such plant material either in situ or ex situ to form live collections that could be sources of breeding materials. There is also need to undertake feasibility studies and business plans in order to understand the opportunities, the challenges, the associated costs and benefits and definition of business case scenarios appropriate for each ASALs mineral and NWFPs in the IGAD Member states
4. Overall objective
Contribute to wealth and employment opportunities and alternative livelihoods in the IGAD ASALs by exploiting and promoting eco-(bio) enterprises from non timber products and minerals existing in the ASALs.
5. Specific objectives
The following specific objectives will contribute to the diversification of the livelihood systems in the ASALs by creating new opportunities for trade and availability of foods and products from ASALs. These objectives include:
i. Collect, review and summarize existing information on minerals that can be mined by artisal miners and NWFPs including honey, gum Arabic, frankincense, myrrh and opoponax production and quality control in each of the MS. Any threats to sustained productions should be clearly stated with a suggested solution.
ii. Map out the principal minerals that can be mined by artisal miners and NWFPs including honey, gum Arabic, frankincense, myrrh and opoponax production and quality control in each of the MS.
iii. Carry out an inventory of the minerals that can be mined by artisal miners and NWFPs including honey, aromatic resins and gum Arabic resources in the mapped areas in close consultation with identified local organizations taking into consideration resource dynamics and quality (densities, age classes distribution, species composition and associated ecological factors, status of degradation, among others). Indicate species at risk of over exploitation.
iv. Carry out an appraisal of the current production and quality control practices and develop a draft regional quality assurance system for NWFPs and the minerals.
v. On the basis of the above, suggest appropriate management of the resources for sustainable production and enhanced quality control practices.
vi. Develop appropriate training modules to build capacity of producer groups, private sector and user communities to enhance the production and marketing of dryland products.
vii. Suggest appropriate market and product development for the minerals and the various NWFPs through research, value addition and marketing of the minerals and NWFPs.
viii. Suggest how producer groups can be lined to financial and marketing services to promote production and marketing of minerals and NWFPs.
ix. Suggest how to facilitate community / private sector partnership to ensure the sustainable production and marketing of the minerals and NWFPs.
6. Proposed methodology and approach
The consultant will develop the methodology and approach to undertake the assignment while taking into account principles of conflict, environment and gender sensitivity and responsiveness; partnership; subsidiarity and complementarity; and how the recommendations will be aligned to IGAD’s global strategy. The consultant will also take the lead in facilitating the 2-days consultative workshop to receive and validate the report.
Although the exact process will be finalized during the inception period ahead of the validation workshop in consultation with the consultant, the outline for the process is as follows:-
a. General familiarization of Divisions of IGAD, ICPALD and IGAD satellite organs including review of organizational documents and meetings with key staff
b. Develop workshop methodologies and materials in conjunction with ICPALD management.
c. Workshop must be participatory and must be designed to provoke critical review and thinking amongst the participants,
d. Compilation of workshop report
7. Scope of work for the validation meeting
The lead consultant, in consultation with the ICPALD Coordinator, will prepare the workshop programme, facilitate the workshop and produce workshop documentation.
i) Specific tasks are:
a) Design a process for facilitating the workshop to generate agreed outputs
b) Work with the ICPALD Coordinator to develop a workshop program and working document(s)
c) Facilitate the workshop in one of the IGAD member states
d) Document the proceedings and prepare an edited workshop report
e) Produce a report after the workshop - The final report will be submitted in soft and hard copies (6) at most 14 days after the validation workshop
8. Reports and Schedule of Deliveries
a. The lead consultant/firm will prepare and present an inception report 5 days after signing of the contract
b. Draft report
c. Validation workshop meeting report
d. Final report.
The medium of communication for the assignment shall be English. The consultant will produce the documents in both electronic and hard copy formats, as Microsoft Word documents, and submit them to the ICPALD Coordinator. Four hard copies and an electronic version of the final reports, in colour where appropriate, will be submitted at the completion of the assignment. The consultant will produce the workshop report not later than Friday xxx ddd 2012.
9. Expected outputs
The expected outputs from the person awarded the consultancy are:
a. Inception, draft and final reports
b. A regional interactive map of NWFPs and minerals that can be mined by local artisans
c. Draft regional policy framework for the management of the NWFPs, honey and artisal mining – if not available
d. Draft projects (NWFPs, honey and artisal mining) for financing by development partners particularly under the AfDB Regional Drought Preparedness Programme
10. Responsibilities of ICPALD
a) The Coordinator ICPALD will be the contact person for the duration of the assignment. The Coordinator will also provide relevant background documents among IGAD, AUC and AU-IBAR publications.
b) Liaison and assistance in communicating with stakeholders.
c) IGAD shall provide financial compensation for this assignment.
11. Expertise
A lead consultant/firm who will be experienced natural resource management inkling minerals and NWFPs institutions in the ACP region will be hired to lead the process. The consultant will be expected to form a team to deliver on ICPALD’s expectations. The successful bidder will have a minimum of a master’s degree in veterinary science and/or animal health and at least five years of professional experience in delivery of animal health services and programming
at regional level. ICPALD, therefore, invites qualified individual consultants with the required expertise and experience to bid for the consultancy described in these terms of reference.
12.Required skills and competencies:
1. Master’s Degree or equivalent in natural resource management and/or geology or related fields
2. At least 5 years work experience in the natural resource management and/or geology programming and policy development
3. A proven successful track record in mapping of resources at national and regional strategies and policies
4. Proven experience in the /youth sector; particularly at the programming and policy level
5. Experience in conducting and facilitating resource mapping with national, regional and international organizations
6. Strong analytical skills
7. Good inter-personal skills and able to negotiate shared positions
8. Excellent communication skills and fluency in English
9. Strong understanding of development and humanitarian needs and issues of the IGAD region having worked in at least three of the eight IGAD Member states.
10. Have Practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development
11. Build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
12. Demonstrate openness to change and ability to manage complexities
13. Promote knowledge management in ICPALD and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
13. Time span
The contract will take place over sixty five (65) man-days from July to September 2012. The lead consultant will be expected to engage with the ICPALD Coordinator and the process steering group for at least 2 days one week prior to the workshop.
14.Evaluation of Criteria and Weight
The consultant will be evaluated against a combination of technical and financial criteria.
The technical evaluation will include the following:
• Background and Education (CVs of the consultants) - 25%
• Practical previous experience relevant – based on the brief proposal submitted with the application - 30%
• Practical previous experience relevant to working with national, regional and international organizations -15%
• Practical previous experience relevant to working in n the IGAD region -5%
• English language fluency in both oral and written -5%
Financial : 20
15. Procedures for Submission of Expression of Interest
Interested persons should submit their applications in a sealed envelope to contain two other envelops inside one marked technical bid and a second one marked financial bid to the Procurement officer, Administration and Finance, IGAD Secretariat, BP 2653 Djibouti, A copy of the forwarding letter should be emailed to:
igad@igad.int
with a copy to the Coordinator ICPALD, munyua.mucina@igad.int and to IGAD RISPII Coordinator: Yufnalis.okubo@igad.int.
The deadline for submissions is 21stJune, 2012.
Mapping Of Resources (Non-Wood Forest Products (Nwfps) And Minerals Appropriate For Artisanal Mining)
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