WWF Zambia Country Office
WWF Zambia is seeking the services of a national Stakeholder Engagement Consultant to participate in a project development team for two projects for the Global Environment Facility, and deliver a set of stakeholder engagement-related products to be used in 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 Stakeholder Engagement 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.
The WWF GEF Agency requires all GEF projects to comply with GEF and WWF standards on Stakeholder Engagement, specifically the WWF Standard on Stakeholder Engagement and the associated Procedures for Implementation of the Standard on Stakeholder Engagement.
2. Objectives of Consultancy
To develop a Stakeholder Engagement Plan using a provided template, as well as other stakeholder-related products and elements to be used in the project development process – for both the KaF-Adapt project, and the KaF-Wild project in Zambia.
This involves work in collaboration with the PDT and the Gender and Safeguards Consultants:
- To plan, coordinate, undertake and report on consultations with a wide range of stakeholders during project preparation;
- To develop a stakeholder engagement strategy for project implementation, including roles of key stakeholders, means of engagement, structures, and beneficiary targets.
3. Tasks and Responsibilities
a) Participate in fortnightly joint Project Development Team meetings online (or at WWF Zambia office in Lusaka) for both projects.
b) Working closely with the Gender, Safeguards and Lead Consultants, identify groupings of stakeholders for consultation and engagement on the project design (of both projects), designing a joint consultation strategy and a logistical plan and timeframe including field missions and meetings.
c) Working closely with staff of ICF and WWF Zambia, arrange and facilitate two field missions focused on community consultations – one for initial scooping of challenges and solutions, and one for presenting project activities for feedback – including liaison with stakeholders and arranging of safe travel (and accommodation as required).
d) Accompany and facilitate two field missions in the Lower Kafue Basin project site, visiting a wide range of stakeholders in the seven chiefdoms of the the Kafue Flats Game Management Area (GMA), including a visit to the southern bank of the Kafue River and Nkala GMA with NGO partners to plan specific and limited project activities there.
e) Arrange for participant registers of all meetings to be taken and kept, take brief notes of all meetings and full minutes of key meetings, and preserve any relevant photographic evidence.
f) Work with the Gender and Safeguards Consultants to support involvement of women and any identified socially marginalized groups in the stakeholder consultations as appropriate.
g) Identify capacity building needs for stakeholders and recommend interventions to overcome them.
h) Meet with other stakeholders in Lusaka and online, as required to build up a picture of past and future related initiatives on which the two proposed projects build, / with which the projects will need to achieve synergy and avoid overlap. Identify challenges or barriers to stakeholder engagement that have been experienced. Share notes and insights from these meetings with the Lead Consultant, when s/he is not present.
i) Work with the Lead Consultant and PDT to develop criteria for site / beneficiary selection for specific project activities, undertake site selection and get consensus from partners.
j) Summarize challenges related to climate change and also to wildlife conservation for development, as raised by stakeholders, and lessons leant about past and current efforts to address these, as well ideas for as potential solutions through the two interlinked projects.
k) Conceptualize the role of key stakeholder groupings in participating in project activities and governance structures, with special focus (with Business Consultant) on private sector actors (from local micro enterprises to large multinationals), and on any socially marginalized groupings living in the project site (with Safeguards Consultant).
l) Work with WWF Zambia and ICF staff to provide maps of target communities for particular activities, and with Lead and Gender Consultants on figures for target numbers of project beneficiaries, including disaggregation of beneficiaries in terms of gender (and any other relevant categories related to social inclusion, e.g. youth, disabled).
4. Expected Outputs
A. Stakeholder Engagement Plan for KaF-Adapt and KaF-Wild (25-30 pages plus appendices)
The Stakeholder Engagement Plan Template for WWF GEF projects outlines what should be included in each of the following sections and appendices, covering both projects in each case, and specifying where different approaches are needed:
- Introduction
- Regulations and Requirements
- Project Stakeholders
- Appendix 1: Stakeholder List with Analysis
- Summary of any previous stakeholder engagement activities
- Appendix 2: Systematic Documentation of Stakeholder Consultations
- Table Summarizing Stakeholder Engagement Plan
- Resources and Responsibilities
- Grievance Mechanisms
- Monitoring and Reporting
5. Skills and Experience
The consultant should:
- Be resident in Zambia;
- Hold a university degree in rural development, environmental sciences, natural resource management, anthropology, social science, or another related field;
- Have proven experience in stakeholder consultation and engagement, including with grassroots communities;
- Have previous experience working in Zambia and good comprehension of the local context of the Lower Kafue Basin;
- Provide examples of previous similar work accomplished, submitted with the application;
- Be fluent in spoken and written English.
Additionally, it would be advantageous to have:
- Experience working on Global Environment Facility or similar projects
- Proven experience in community-level work on climate change adaptation, wildlife conservation, sustainable land management, protected areas management, community-based natural resource management, or similar field;
- Knowledge of local languages spoken in the project site.
6. 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 field missions, ground transport and local accommodation (when required) will be arranged and costs covered by WWF Zambia, with the Stakeholder Engagement Consultant playing a key role on coordination and logistics, as well as meeting planning and communication with stakeholders.
The Stakeholder Engagement 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, 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. Inception Report, including detailed work plan
2. Field Mission Report, including key points from stakeholder consultations and site / beneficiary selection criteria for specific project activities
Anticipated in late May to mid June 2024 20%
3. Draft Stakeholder Engagement Plan for KaF-Adapt and KaF-Wild
16 August 2024 40%
4. Final Stakeholder Engagement Plan for KaF-Adapt and KaF-Wild
Including 10-page Executive Summary 4 October 2024 40%
7. 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 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 stakeholder engagement-related assignment completed by the consultant.
All applications should be emailed to [email protected], with the reference “Stakeholder Engagement Consultancy for WWF Zambia GEF 8 Projects”.