Appel d'offre

GEF MedProgramme-Special Climate Change Fund
Project

1 Context and objectives

The Mediterranean Sea Programme: Enhancing Environmental Security (MedProgramme) is a $43 million USD assortment of eight “Child Projects” funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), comprising more than 100 coordinated actions at the regional and national levels over the 2020-2025 period. It aims to kick start the implementation of priority actions to reduce the major transboundary environmental stresses affecting the Mediterranean Sea and its coastal areas, while strengthening climate resilience and water security and improving the health and livelihoods of coastal populations. UNEP/MAP is its executing agency, and partners in execution include UNESCO/IHP, EIB, IUCN Med, GWP Med, WWF Mediterranean and the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centres: Plan Bleu/RAC, PAP/RAC, SCP/RAC and SPA/RAC. Its ten beneficiary countries are Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Montenegro, Tunisia and Turkey.
This consultancy concerns the MedProgramme SCCF (Special Climate Change Fund) Project “Enhancing regional climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Areas”, executed by Plan Bleu/RAC, PAP/RAC and GWP-Med. This project aims to support people and
institutions in their climate change adaptation processes and to facilitate access to climate financing, while catalysing the capacity of coastal managers and decision-makers to foster regional impacts among SCCF’s partner countries.The six beneficiary countries of the SCCF Project are Albania, Algeria, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco and Tunisia.

 

2. SCCF Project -Output 1.3

This consultancy specifically concerns SCCF Project Output 1.3, which aims at training at least 50 technical experts and decision makers from the six SCCF Project countries on climate change adaptation solutions for coastal areas, with a focus on Nature-based solutions and Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). This activity will build on the project partner’s ongoing activities in the MedProgramme CP 2.1 and SCCF projects, that focus on two pilot sites of the CP 2.1/SCCF projects: the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, Morocco and the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. Participants from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lebanon are also eligible to participate in this training.

EbA presents a twofold benefit: to mitigate climate change’s impacts and provide promising adaptation strategies for Mediterranean ecosystems, biodiversity and humans alike. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) form an important part of EbA, and hold great potential to reduce the impacts of extreme events and increase resilience to disasters, while weaving a web of more resilient territories in coastal zones and their hinterlands. Besides boosting water, energy and food security, they can create a ripple effect, improving lives and wellbeing for both women and men. They are also key to regenerating Mediterranean coastal landscapes and seascapes and boosting their resilience to the impacts of climate change.

In early November 2023, Plan Bleu launched a call for nominations for the national Focal Points of the GEF MedProgramme in the project countries. They will be invited to nominate a “core group” of coastal decision-makers, managers and local economic groups from their respective countries to participate in the next steps of the training detailed below. Furthermore, Plan Bleu is currently establishing a list of participants, with the aim to send a Save the Date and Invitations in December 2023.

Core themes of the training include, but are not restricted to:

● What is Ecosystem-based Adaptation? How can it be advanced using NbS?
● How can NbS alleviate climate risks in coastal zones, especially for the most vulnerable?
● How can Nature-based solutions support coastal adaptation and resilience?
● NbS and water;
● Biodiversity conservation and landscape/seascape restoration;
● Ecosystem-based coastal adaptation and Integrated coastal zone management;
● Adaptation finance;
● Economic analysis methods for coastal adaptation solutions (cost-benefit analysis and multi-criteria analysis).

This list of themes will be further refined by the consultant and project team following the consultant’s recruitment, informed by ongoing inputs from the SCCF project partners.

3. Task description

The consultant will be responsible for the overall delivery of Output 1.3, working in close collaboration with the Plan Bleu team and SCCF Project Partners. This will include:

● The consultant will be responsible for preparing the training materials (powerpoint presentations, concept notes, policy briefs, group activities) in English used for the webinar and the workshop, which are further detailed below:

• Late January 2024: a one-day training webinar aimed at Mediterranean coastal decision-makers, coastal managers and local economic groups in English (with simultaneous translation to French), including the core group proposed by the GEF MedProgramme national Focal Points. The webinar will comprise presentations delivered by technical experts and group activities, possibly including moderated, thematic break-out rooms and using online facilitation tools, such as Miro and Mentimeter. This webinar will seek to involve participants who may be unable to travel to the in-person meeting, due to the current instability affecting several of the SCCF Project’s countries.
•  February 2024, date and location TBC: a two-day training workshop held in English in (simultaneous translation to French) for the participants identified. The consultant will be responsible for moderating and facilitating the training, which will comprise thematic interventions by technical experts as well as group activities. As an integral part of the team, the consultant will also assist in preparing this event, coordinating the list of participants, identifying and liaising with technical speakers and will provide logistical support to the Plan Bleu team as required.

● After the final workshop, the consultant will prepare a training manual on NbS for EbA in the Mediterranean region, compiling the training materials, main messages and outcomes of the thematic sessions listed above. In her/his application, the consultant is expected to provide an outline of the training materials in terms of themes, content, training methodology used, and design.

4. Overview of Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for preparing the following deliverables, in close collaboration with the SCCF Project Manager at Plan Bleu. The consultant will be fully briefed on the SCCF project’s status, ongoing activities and publications by the latter upon recruitment, and will receive a list of resources to support her/him throughout the consultancy.

Deliverable	Expected content	Suggested working days	Due Date
1. Online training webinar	Speaker identification and liaising Webinar design and materials, based on a desktop literature review and project partners’ expertise Webinar agenda Coordination, review and integration of speaker presentations Webinar co-moderation (together with the Plan Bleu project manager) Proposal concerning the use of participatory online tools, e.g. Miro, Mentimeter…	6	18 December 2023
2. Trainingmaterials for the in-person training	Training design and materials, based on a desktop literature review, project partners’ expertise and CP 2.1 and SCCF Project results to date Based on the list of proposed themes above, the consultant’s technical proposal is expected to describe how she/he plans to design these training materials in such a way that they can be used to structure the in-person workshop, while forming a stand-alone deliverable that will be published by Plan Bleu	18	19 January 2024
3. Two-day in-person training	Speaker identification Workshop agenda and design, based on the training materials prepared by the consultant Coordination, review and integration of speaker presentations Workshop co-moderation (together with the Plan Bleu project manager)	6	Second half of February 2024, date and location TBD
4.Workshopreport	The consultant will provide Plan Bleu with a synthetic meeting report presenting the results of the activities and the outcomes of the webinar and in-person workshop discussions. The results will compile the training materials in a manner that allows for their use in the future. In her/his application, the consultant is expected to provide an outline of the training materials in terms of themes, content, training methodology used, and design.	5	22 March 2024

• All deliverables will be produced in English. The consultant will use the MedProgramme visual identity or the layout of the reports, which will be provided by Plan Bleu.
• All deliverables are expected to be delivered to Plan Blan in a timely fashion, having been fully proofread, edited and designed by the consultant to a publishable standard. When relevant, they will comprise a complete and proofread bibliography, and apply a single referencing system throughout all reports. This is a precondition for the consultancy deliverables and payments to be validated by the Project Manager.
• All of the workshop reports will contain the workshop agenda and list of participants, prepared by the consultant.

5. Profile requirements

● University degree in the environmental or social sciences – Master’s degree or above;
● Fluency in English;
● Excellent working knowledge of French in both written and oral form preferred;
● Prior relevant professional experience in group facilitation and moderation using participatory methodologies;
● Prior relevant experience in the Mediterranean region;
● Excellent knowledge of climate change adaptation, Nature-based solutions and Ecosystem-based adaptation, preferably with a focus on the Mediterranean region;
● Excellent knowledge of Integrated Coastal Zone Management, adaptation finance and economic analysis methods (cost-benefit and multi-criteria analyses) preferred.

 

6. Contractual and Financial Terms

This consultancy will run from the date of the contract signature by both parties to 31 May 2024. Travel and accommodation costs related to this mission will be covered separately by Plan Bleu and are not included in the contract amount. Funding for these activities is secured through both GEF funding and co-financing from Plan Bleu and other Executing Partners of the MedProgramme SCCF Project.

 

7. How to apply

This consultation can be carried out by an individual consultant or by a team of consultants. The selection of the proposal will be carried out based on the submission of a technical offer, a financial offer, as well as a cover letter and a CV. The evaluation will be based on the best bidder principle, with 75% of the score based on technical criteria and 25% on financial criteria. The final selection of the candidate may require an interview that will take place online. The maximum number of working days listed in the offer should not exceed 35 working days. The tax legislation in force on the date of acceptance of the offer will be applied. Acceptance of the offer by the candidate will imply the acceptance of the conditions and schedules detailed in
these terms of reference by the candidate. A duly issued invoice will be required for payments made following the reception and validation of the consultancy deliverables by Plan Bleu. The payment terms for the invoice will be by bank transfer, 15 days after the invoice reception date. All
invoices and payments will be in USD ($). Applications must be submitted no later than Wednesday 22 November 2023 through the Plan
Bleu website: www.planbleu.org and by e-mail to: [email protected]. For more information about this consultancy, please contact Michael Karner ([email protected]).