Data Standards Consultant for ICGLR Minerals Database At IMPACT Transforming Natural Resource Management

Call for Tender: Data Standards Consultant for ICGLR Minerals Database

Defining and Refining Data-sharing

standards for the ICGLR Minerals database

1. Consultant Location Requirements

The consultant is expected to be preferably located in Bujumbura, Burundi, to ensure close proximity to the ICGLR Secretariat and facilitate direct engagement with key stakeholders.

If the consultant cannot be based in Bujumbura, other locations may be considered, provided they allow for effective communication and coordination with the ICGLR Secretariat and other project partners. The consultant should ensure that they are able to travel to Bujumbura as required for meetings and site visits.

1. Overview

Seeking to hire a consultant to define, refine, review and finalise a distinct set of data definitions and standards to be implemented on the ICGLR Minerals database for which data points need to define member state data sharing protocols. In this first stage of the project, all data standards regarding the ICGLR export certificates and ICGLR summary audit documents for 3TG need to be completed.

1. Context

About IMPACT

IMPACT transforms how natural resources are managed where security and human rights are at risk. We investigate and develop approaches for natural resources management to improve security, development, and equality. An independent non-profit, IMPACT collaborates with local partners for lasting change.

IMPACT is headquartered in Canada with offices in Burundi, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as projects in Mali, and Zimbabwe. Learn more at www.impacttransform.org

Project Specific Information

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) is an inter-governmental organization of the countries in the African Great Lakes Region composed of 12 member states: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. The ICGLR initiative was established as a result of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region (Dec 15th 2006) to combat the persistent problem of the illegal exploitation of natural resources in GLR countries.

The ICGLR’s system for “exploitation, monitoring and verification of natural resources within the Great Lakes Region” is defined in the Regional Certification Mechanism and documented in the RCM Manual. As part of this mechanism, a database is to be implemented and run by the regional level of the ICGLR, consisting of datasets forwarded from Member States, and intending to support regional-level minerals tracking data queries and reports performed by the ICGLR. Also referred to as “the Regional Database”.

Keeping the ICGLR Secretariat and its Regional Database of Minerals Flows fully and promptly updated regarding all ICGLR-relevant mine site inspection, certification data, chain of custody data, and export certification data that is or should be in the possession of the Member State. To ensure this data exists in a compatible format, all data elements and/or fields and structure need to be compatible with the RDBMF, so that data importing/sharing to the RDBMF can be automatic or at least very much expedited.

To this end, the Regional database project needs to develop the final data standards for the initial components of the RDBMF, which are: Mine site identifiers, ICGLR Certificate fields, Commodity descriptors and Audit summary format fields. These are not the full extent of the eventual RDBMF data store but are considered the initial set for full RDBMF proof of concept. The remaining fields of the full RDBMF data store will be the subject of the next phase of this project, once this initial phase proves viable.

To this end, a significant amount of work has already been performed in the first phase of the RDBMF project and can be found in the reference document: “Detailed Requirements Specification for the Regional Database of Mineral Flows (RDBMF), October 2016.”

1. Objective and Scope of Work

For this first iteration of the RDBMF (Mine site identifiers, ICGLR Certificates, Commodity descriptors and Audit summaries), the RCM datasets concerned with these components will require to be finalized. Note that export lots are covered in the ICGLR certificate dataset, as part of the CoC, and exporters themselves are the CoC actors receiving the ICGLR certificates, and so are covered in this dataset. Similar are Mine site identifiers. While at this stage full mine site data is not included, the mine site identifiers will be required to enable a consistent identification of these sites across all the member states.

RCM datasets concerned with the CoC, including lots, CoC actors, CoC nodes, lot-to-lot associations (for example, a combination of lots), node-to-node links (links in the CoC), CoC actors, that is miners, traders, transporters, processors, exporters, etc. are not included in this iteration of the data standards and be the subject of the next phase of this project, once this initial phase proves viable..

In preparation for this consultancy, the ICGLR will obtain input, through a questionnaire and other applicable data collection tools, from member states on the final data set for phase 1 as well as the results from any possible existing standardization efforts, to ensure alignment of the results. The questions can be found in Appendix 1.

1. Deliverables

Deliverable 1:

• Review all relevant documentation of the RDBMF in detail and identify those elements relevant to this consultancy. Documents listed in Appendix 2.

Deliverable 2:

• Submit a monthly progress report.
• Address any inquiries raised by the Project Manager.

Deliverable 3:

• Define the detailed required data fields of the Regional Database, as the first component of the final regional database for the ICGLR. This includes:
  • Unified Mine site identifiers
  • Standard ICGLR Certificate fields
  • Unified Commodity descriptors
  • Summary Audit fields
• Validate the completeness of the required data fields by the members of the Technical Working Group.

Deliverable 4:

• Produce a final report with the final standardized data taxonomy for all fields identified under Deliverable 3.
• Validate the completeness of this report by the project team members working on the technical implementation of the RDBMF.

1. Timeline

Activities

Period

Responsible

Approval of ToR for the Data Standards Consultancy

29th August 2024

ICGLR and TC

Due date for Consultancy Proposal

31st September 2024

Consultant

Work completion and submission of Consultant Report

31st October 2024

Consultant

1. Profile Required

The consultant will require a strong background in information management, data architecture and analysis and computer sciences. Knowledge of PostgreSQL (the codebase of the current version of the RDBMF) will be a great asset. Fluency in written and spoken English a requirement, with written and spoken French being highly desirable.