WWF Zambia Country Office
WWF Zambia is seeking the services of a national Safeguards Consultant to participate in a project development team for two projects for the Global Environment Facility, and deliver a set of safeguards-related products into the project development process.
1. Background
WWF-US as a Global Environment Facility (GEF) Agency is supporting the Government of Zambia, WWF Zambia and the International Crane Foundation (ICF) to develop two projects for presentation to the GEF for endorsement by the GEF Chief Executive Officer as part of the Eighth Replenishment Cycle (GEF-8). The two projects will be designed in support of Zambian government priorities, and in accordance with WWF and GEF standards, and are as follows:
- The Kafue Flats Climate Resilience and Adaptation Project (or “KaF-Adapt”), to be funded through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF)
- The Kafue Flats Wildlife, Habitat, Health and Livelihoods Project (or “KaF-Wild”), to be funded through the GEF Trust Fund, as a country project under the global Wildlife Conservation for Development (WCD) Integrated Programme.
The Safeguards Consultant will participate, together with other national and international consultants, and staff from WWF-US, WWF-Zambia, the International Crane Foundation (ICF) and the Government of Zambia in a joint Project Development Team (PDT). The PDT will be responsible for the development in parallel of both the KaF-Adapt project and the KaF-Wild project, and will guide the joint project development process based on an approved workplan. The two projects will have complementary objectives and will be designed for implementation in the same geographical area – the Lower Kafue Basin – and over the same five-year period.
2. WWF GEF Safeguards
WWF as a GEF Agency requires that all GEF projects comply with WWF’s Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework, as detailed in the Environment and Social Integrated Policies and Procedures (SIPP). WWF’s Environment and Social Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures include the following standards:
- Standard on Environment and Social Risk Management
- Standard on Protection of Natural Habitats
- Standard on Restriction of Access and Resettlement
- Standard on Indigenous Peoples[1]
- Standard on Grievance Mechanisms
- Standard on Pest Management
- Standard on Cultural Resources
- Standard on Stakeholder Engagement
- Standard on Community Health, Safety and Security
- Guidance Note on Dams and Dam Safety
- Guidance Note on Labour and Working Conditions
- Guidance Note on Gender-Based Violence and Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment
The necessary safeguards assessments and/or mitigation plans for the two complementary projects will be commissioned after an initial Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) Screening, which will be conducted to determine the local socio-cultural, economic and political baselines. The PDT and Safeguards Consultant will assist in completing the screening for both projects, which will result in defining the detailed scope of the necessary safeguards management plans by providing a preliminary description of potential environmental and social impacts to be analysed and specific instruments required by the /standards triggered, for both projects.
3. Objective of Consultancy
The objective of the consultancy is to prepare the necessary safeguards documents to comply with WWF’s Environment and Social Safeguards Framework (ESSF), as detailed in the Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures (SIPP), for both projects.
In line with WWF’s SIPP (2019:40), an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) shall be developed and address the risks and impacts identified in the Environmental and Social Screening required to ensure compliance with the specific safeguard policies included in WWF’s SIPP 2019.
The objective of the ESMF is to propose mitigation measures identified during the screening and due diligence visits to mitigate any potential negative social and environmental impacts triggered by the projects. The ESMF might encompass other mitigation plans such as a Social Inclusion Planning Framework[2], Process Framework, Environment Management Plan or any other specific type of mitigation plan depending on the needs identified in the ESS Screening.
4. Scope of Work
The analysis should make use of existing literature and available statistics and analysis and will involve comprehensive exchange with all relevant stakeholders. The ESMFs for both projects will be prepared after visits to the sites and through consultations with all local communities and other key stakeholders who may potentially be affected by project activities. The ESMF will include guidance for developing site specific management plans once the project design activities have been identified during project implementation.
The scope of work will involve the following actions by the Consultant:
1. Coordinate with the Project Development Team (PDT) for the general planning and development of the Environmental and Social Management Frameworks and the associated documentation necessary for CEO Endorsement Requests to the GEF.
2. Develop a work plan, including interviews or other consultation mechanisms.
3. Hold meetings with WWF Zambia and ICF staff, and government personnel, as relevant.
4. Assist WWF US and WWF Zambia staff in filling in missing information/gaps in the ESS Screening for both projects, in order to finalize the screenings, as needed.
5. Evaluate and identify existing institutional, political, and legal frameworks of relevant sectors to ensure the development of the Environmental and Social Management Framework, potentially including the Social Inclusion Planning Framework[3] and Process Framework (see Task A below).
6. Conduct a thorough review of relevant literature and documents, including, but not limited to: background documents related to environmental and social safeguards including the pre-screenings; the Concept Note of the KaF-Wild project, and draft material for the KaF-Adapt project; current GEF projects and their action plans and policies on environmental and social issues; WWF’s Environmental and Social Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures (SIPP); WWF landscape screenings for the project site (if available); all relevant Government of Zambia policy, legislation and regulation related to safeguards; and any other documentation relevant to Zambia and the Lower Kafue Basin and for the development of the projects.
7. Support on stakeholder engagement and collect safeguards-related data in the project site (see Tasks B and C below):
a. Support the Stakeholder Engagement Consultant to undertake stakeholder mapping and analysis.
b. Participate in consultative meetings with project stakeholders (district government, chefs and head men/women, Community Resource Boards, companies, government agencies)
c. Conduct individual interviews and/or conduct discussions in focus groups with local communities, grassroots organizations, local authorities, scientific research organizations and others, to collect more qualitative and quantitative data that is relevant for safeguards.
8. With all the primary and secondary information obtained, carry out an analysis of the environmental and social risks, identifying the risks, their likelihood and intensity (see Task D below).
9. Identify and recommend environmental and social mitigation activities that are appropriate in the implementation of the projects, and thereby develop the Environmental and Social Management Framework using the provided template for the projects, this might include the elaboration of the Process Framework and the Social Inclusion Planning Framework[4]. This document details the processes that will allow communities to identify and manage the potential negative impacts of project activities (see Task E below).
10. Provide a list of related environmental and social indicators that must be included in the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan.
11. Ensure compliance with WWF and government policies and best practices, from an environmental and social safeguards perspective, are included in the project design, implementation arrangements, and budget, incorporating lessons learned from past projects.
12. Carry out a process of review and validation of the work, to ensure that the Environmental and Social Management Framework meet the needs of various stakeholders and the requirements of WWF and the Government of Zambia.
13. Complete the Environmental and Social Management Framework for the two projects, incorporating all observations and suggestions of the PDT.
5. Key Tasks
In relation to the above scope of work, the Safeguards Consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks:
a) Policy, legal and administrative framework
Analyse the policy, legal and administrative framework within which the projects take place and identify any laws and regulations that pertain to environmental and social matters relevant to the projects. This includes:
- regulations about assessment and management of environmental and social risks;
- policies and regulations related to issues covered by WWF Environment and Social Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures;
- requirements for public consultation and disclosure;
- environmental authorization procedures relevant to the projects; and
- policies and regulations implementing Zanbia’s obligations under international law (e.g. on human rights).
If gaps are identified, it will need to be described how this will be addressed by the projects.
b) Environmental and social baseline
Describe and analyse the environmental and social context in which the projects operate. The main purpose of this step is to provide an understanding of current environmental and social conditions that form the baseline against which project impacts can be predicted and measured during project implementation. While some broad contextual information is necessary, the analysis should focus on the immediate context of the project site and aspects that relate to the identified impacts in order to be relevant to decisions about project design, operation, or mitigation measures. The analysis will cover a range of physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural conditions relevant and/or potentially impacted by the projects.
c) Identification of affected groups
Based on the stakeholder analysis prepared by the Stakeholder Engagement Consultant as well as the Gender Analysis provided by the Gender Consultant and guided by the PDT, stakeholders need to be identified who might be affected by project activities (positively or negatively). The analysis should cover all relevant social groups present in the sites, in particular vulnerable or socially marginalized groupings. It should consider formally organized stakeholder groups such as government organizations, civil society organizations, academia and private sector as well as individuals present in the intervention sites without any formal organization. The identification of affected groups is instrumental for identifying the stakeholders to be consulted during the development of the ESMF. This activity will require coordination with the Stakeholder Engagement Consultant and Gender Consultant to ensure proper identification of stakeholders and project-affected people.
d) Assessment, prediction and significance of environmental and social impacts
The two planned projects are considered to be moderate-risk projects and hence do not require a scoping study. Therefore, the first step is to complete and substantiate the results of the ESS Screening by confirming potential impacts and/or identifying other potential impacts in consultation with relevant stakeholders and key informants. The WWF US GEF Agency Safeguards Coordinator will make a determination of which safeguards management plans are needed for each project, based on this ESS Screening.
Once the list of impacts has been consolidated for each project, predictions need to be made in terms of the impact’s probability and their magnitude. In accordance with the WWF’s Policy on Environment and Social Risk Management, the assessment should pay particular attention to impacts related to the WWF Environment and Social SIPP such as adverse impacts on socially marginalized groupings, cultural heritage, biodiversity or on people’s livelihood through access restrictions or resettlement. However, thematic coverage of the WWF’s Policy on Environment and Social Risk Management also involves other potential social impacts including impacts on women or vulnerable groups, health and safety risks, environmental risk issues not covered by the Standard on Protection of Natural Habitats or risks triggered by the project failing to take climate change effects into consideration.
When analysing the risks, both direct and indirect impacts should be taken into consideration, such as inadvertent knock-on effects or cumulative effects that materialize through interaction with other developments, impacts occurring at the project site or within the project’s wider area of influence and impacts triggered over time. Once the impact issues have been confirmed, they need to be rated on their significance, which is important for prioritizing the mitigation measures. For social impact issues this task should be undertaken in consultations with the respective affected groups. Significance rating should consider the expected likelihood of the potential impact and the impact’s anticipated magnitude. The magnitude is influenced by factors such as sensitivity of receptor, severity of impact, manageability of impact, its duration and reversibility.
The methods and analytical tools for analysing impacts should be commensurate with the type and significance of the impacts. It should allow rigorous assessment of the significant impacts using qualitative and to the extent possible, quantitative methods. Participatory research and assessment tools should be employed wherever sensible to enable participation of affected groups in the assessment of significance of impacts and the development of mitigation measures.
e) Environmental and social management framework (ESMF)
The main output of the ESMF process is a strategy for managing risks and mitigating impacts at the project site for each project. The projects aim to arrive at a suite of interventions for achieving intended climate change adaptation and wildlife conservation for development outcomes, in which adverse environmental and social impacts are avoided; if complete avoidance is not feasible it will need to be ensured that impacts are minimized and/or compensated for in a fair, equitable and agreed way.
6. Stakeholder Consultation
An appropriate level of stakeholder engagement in the ESMF process will ensure that impact scoping for both projects is comprehensives that significance is thoroughly assessed, and that proposed mitigation actions are feasible, culturally appropriate and gender inclusive. Following WWF’s Standard on Stakeholder Engagement, the scale and depth or intensity of engagement in the ESMF process is dependent on the concerns expressed, as well as the magnitude of expected impacts.
Consultation events held with affected people and other stakeholder groups for both projects need to be documented by the Stakeholder Engagement Consultant, supported by the Safeguards and Gender Consultants, providing dates of consultations, registers of participants (including gender) together with a summary of issues raised and how they are or could be addressed in project design. A final stakeholder meeting should be organized towards the end of the fieldwork for gathering views on the draft ESMFs for the two projects.
7. Deliverables
As outlined above, the consultant shall complete the following documents tailored to the identified project-specific risks and impacts in line with the requirements defined in WWF’s SIPP 2019, for each of the two projects (bearing in mind that there will be considerable overlap between the content for the two projects):
1. Completing the Environmental and Social Safeguards Screening as necessary
2. Documentation of Consultations and Consultation Summary
3. Environmental and Social Management Framework following provided template, potentially including based on the Screening:
a. Process Framework
b. Social Inclusion Planning Framework[5]
All deliverables will be in English. Below are further details about the expected content of the deliverables.
Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)
The ESMF for each of the two projects should include the following sections:
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. Project Description
4. Project Area Profiles
- An environmental and social baseline to monitor the effectiveness of climate change adaptation and wildlife conservation for development measures; social baseline to be disaggregated between relevant social groups (e.g. vulnerable or socially marginalized groupings); studies to include demographic profiles, population mapping, poverty assessments, disaggregated socio-economic indicators (e.g. natural resource dependence, social inclusion, etc.))
5. Environmental and Social Policies, Regulations and Guidelines
- An analysis of the legal national framework for addressing social and environment impacts and a gap analysis between the national framework and WWF’s ESSF
6. Institutional Arrangements
7. Anticipated Environmental and Social Impacts and Mitigation Measures
- An assessment of environmental and social risks including risk matrix specifying likelihood and magnitude of each impact issue;
· Identified mitigation measures presented with budget, implementation schedule and organisational responsibilities;
8. Procedures for the Identification and Management of Environmental and Social Impacts
· Development of other safeguard tools as required by the due diligence and screening of the project and the respective safeguards policies triggered;
9. Guidelines for ESMP Development
10. Process Framework (PF) (see section below)
11. Social Inclusion Planning Framework (SIPF)[6] (see section below)
12. Grievance Redress
· Development of a project-level grievance mechanism (including mechnisms for “whistle blowing”);
13. Capacity Building
14. Disclosure
15. Monitoring
- A list of key environmental and social indicators are identified and mainstreamed into the results framework and included in the project M&E plan.
Budget
Process Framework (PF)
It is reasonable to assume that some decisions taken by the Government could restrict access to natural resources and will not fall solely within the authority of the IPLCs and other local communities. Therefore, WWF’s Standard on Restriction of Access and Resettlement has been triggered on a precautionary basis for the two projects and the consultant may need to prepare a Process Framework (PF) in line with the SIPP. Should there be the possibility of access restriction identified in the Environmental and Social Safeguards Screening, a Process Framework will be developed as part of the ESMF.
The purpose of this Process Framework for each project is to ensure participation of Project Affected People (PAP) while recognizing and protecting their interests and ensuring that they do not become worse off because of the project. Specifically, the PF will:
- Describe activities that may involve new or more stringent restrictions on use of natural resources in the project area.
- Establish the mechanism through which the local communities can contribute to the project design, implementation and monitoring.
- Identify the potential negative impacts of the restriction on the surrounding communities.
- Describe the mitigation measures required.
- Describe the grievance procedure or process for resolving disputes to natural resource use restrictions.
- Describe the participatory monitoring arrangements with neighbouring community members.
The intent of the framework is to ensure transparency and equity, in the planning and implementation of activities by the project. This framework would detail the principles and processes for assisting communities to identify and manage any potential negative impacts of the project activities. Since the exact social impacts will only be identified during project implementation, the Process Framework will ensure that mitigation of any negative impacts from project through a participatory process involving the affected stakeholders. It would also ensure that any desired changes by the communities in the ways in which local populations exercise customary tenure rights in the project sites would not be imposed but should emerge from a consultative process.
Social Inclusion Planning Framework (SIPF)[7]
The WWF’s Standard on Indigenous Peoples (IPs) is triggered for these two projects on a precautionary basis[8]. Based on the Environmental and Social Assessment, the consultant may be required to prepare an SIPF. If an SIPF is required, the consultant should prepare one that describes measures/recommendations to strengthen the projects’ IPLC engagement into the final project design.
An SIPF should contain the following elements:
- An introduction to the types of components, subcomponents, and subprojects likely to be proposed for financing under the project;
- A short introduction to the vulnerable/marginalized peoples who might be affected by the project (ethnicity, demographics, socioeconomic situation, etc.);
- The potential positive and adverse effects of the project on the IP;
- A plan to carry out social assessments for such programs/subprojects;
- A framework to ensure Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes with the affected IP’s communities at each stage of the preparation and implementation of the project;
- Institutional arrangements (including capacity building where necessary) for screening project-supported
- Activities, evaluating their effects on IP, preparing IPPs, and addressing any grievances;
- Monitoring and reporting arrangements, including mechanisms and benchmarks appropriate to the project; and
- Disclosure arrangements for IPPs to be prepared under the SIPF.
8. Skills and Experience
The consultant should:
- Be resident in Zambia;
- Have at least five years of experience in safeguards work or related fields such as social and environmental assessments, working with local communities including socially marginalized groupings, socio-economic analysis, or environment and social management plans;
- Hold a university degree in biodiversity conservation, rural development, climate change, water resource management, environmental sciences, natural resource management, anthropology, social science, or another related field;
- Have a proven track record in facilitating participatory processes and engaging local communities;
- Have working experience in contributing to the preparation of an ESMF report concerning environment, climate change or national resources management;
- Be fluent in spoken and written English.
Additionally, it would be advantageous to have:
- Experience in conducting processes for Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC);
- Knowledge of local languages spoken in the project site.
9. Management of Work
The work will be home based, using own laptop and internet connection, with mostly online meetings, and optional travel to meetings in Lusaka at own cost. For consultation missions, ground transport and local accommodation (when required) will be arranged and costs covered by WWF Zambia.
The Safeguards Consultant will report to the Wildlife Programme Lead in WWF Zambia, while the Lead Consultant and the WWF GEF Agency Project Manager will together assess the quality of all deliverables, and will approve deliverables for payment.
Additional technical guidance will be provided by the Project Development Team, including the ESS Lead at the WWF US GEF Agency, who will support on Zambian government policies, and WWF and GEF standards. The Consultant will also coordinate closely with key staff from WWF Zambia, the International Crane Foundation and other partners as required.
The breakdown of deliverables, expected timing, and payment structure is shown below:
Deliverables
Due date
Payment structure
1. Joint work plan for both projects
2. KaF-Adapt Updated Environmental and Social Safeguards Screening
3. KaF-Wild Updated Environmental and Social Safeguards Screening
Anticipated in late May to mid June 2024 20%
4. Draft Environmental and Social Management Framework for KaF-Adapt and KaF-Wild potentially including:
- Process Framework
- Social Inclusion Planning Framework[9] (including FPIC steps and process) 16 August 2024 40%
5. Final Environmental and Social Management Framework for KaF-Adapt and KaF-Wild As above Also including 15-page Executive Summary 4 October 2024 40%
10. Submission Requirements
All candidates interested in conducting this assignment on a consultancy basis should submit, no later than noon (Zambia time) on Wednesday 17 April 2024, a detailed application proposal including:
An up-to-date curriculum vitae detailing the applicant’s experience in relation to the topic of the consultancy
A covering letter, summarizing a) how the applicant’s skills and experience equip them to undertake the consultancy; and b) the applicant’s proposed approach to the work
A financial proposal, in the form of a total figure in USD, to be calculated by multiplying the applicant’s daily rate in USD by the number of days the applicant estimates it will take to deliver on the proposed activities within the proposed timeline (Note: costs of field missions to be covered by WWF)
A sample of a previous safeguards-related assignment completed by the consultant.
All applications should be emailed to [email protected], with the reference “Safeguards Consultancy for WWF Zambia GEF 8 Projects”.