RfP For The Evaluation Of “Management Of Competing Water Uses And Associated Ecosystems In Pungwe, Buzi And Save Basins” Project At International Union for Conservation of Nature

Request for Proposals (RfP)

For The Independent Terminal Evaluation Of The GEF Funded “Management Of Competing Water Uses And Associated Ecosystems In Pungwe, Buzi And Save Basins” Project

Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA)

RfP Reference: IUCN-2024-11-Px-n

Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.

1. REQUIREMENTS

   1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.

2. CONTACT DETAILS

   1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your Proposal.

IUCN Contact : Geoffrey Munene, Procurement Assistant, geoffrey.munene@iucn.org

1. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE

   1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will publish this on our website and contact you directly if you have indicated your interest in this procurement (see Section 3.2).

DATE

ACTIVITY

13/11/2024

Publication of the Request for Proposals

20/11/2024

Deadline for expressions of interest

22/11/2024

Deadline for submission of questions

27/11/2024

Planned publication of responses to questions

10/12/2024

Deadline for submission of Proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)

16/12/2024

Clarification of Proposals

19/12/2024

Interviews / site visits / presentations

17/1/2025

Planned date for contract award

25/1/2025

Expected contract start date

1. Please email the IUCN contact to express your interest in submitting a Proposal by the deadline stated above. This will help IUCN to keep you updated regarding the procurement.

2. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL

   1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:

• Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)

• Pre-Qualification Information (see Section 4.3 below)

• Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)

• Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)

Proposals must be prepared in English.

1. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be [RfP Reference – bidder name]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organization on whose behalf you are submitting the Proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your Proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if the attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.

   IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.

   1. Pre-Qualification Criteria

   IUCN will use the following Pre-Qualification Criteria to determine whether you have the capacity to provide the required goods and/or services to IUCN. Please provide the necessary information in a single, separate document.

Pre-Qualification Criteria

1

3 relevant references of clients similar to IUCN / similar work

2

Confirm that you have all the necessary legal registrations to perform the work

3

State your annual turnover for each of the past 3 years

4

How many employees does your organization have who are qualified for this work?

5

Confirm that your organization has the following qualifications (e.g. ISO certification)

6

Confirm that your organization meets the following Donor’s Eligibility Criteria (e.g. the EC’s nationality rule)?

7

Confirm that your organization has formal policies and/or procedures for the following (e.g. procurement, health & safety, code of conduct, sustainability, accounting)?

1. Technical Proposal

   The Technical Proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).

   Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion.

   Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval.

   IUCN will evaluate Technical Proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:

   Description

   Information to provide

   Relative weight

   1

   Relevant thematic and geographic experience

   Applicants should describe relevant experience and expertise of the selected team/individual against the thematic fields described in this ToR as well as previous experience in conducting similar terminal evaluation in the region and particularly Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

   30%

   2

   Qualifications of the team/individual

   Applicants should describe relevant past experiences and main competencies to demonstrate how they meet the technical requirements.

   30%

   3

   Methodology and approach to delivery

   Proposal shows a clear understanding of the objectives of the assignment and a viable and sound plan to deliver the identified deliverables on time and on budget. Applicants should include an initial work plan.

   40%

   Total

   100%

2. Financial Proposal

   1. The Financial Proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.

      1. Prices include all costs

      2. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes

      3. Currency of proposed rates and prices

      4. Breakdown of rates and prices

      Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, taxes (except VAT, see below), fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. It is your responsibility to determine whether such taxes apply to your organization and to include them in your Financial Proposal.

      Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.

      All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in USD.

      For information only, the price needs to be broken down as follows:

Description

Quantity

Unit Price

Total Price

1

2

3

4

5

6

TOTAL

1. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.

   1. Your Proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.

   2. Withdrawals and Changes

   You may freely withdraw or change your Proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.

2. EVALUATION of PROPOSALS

   1. Completeness

   2. Pre-Qualification Criteria

   3. Technical Evaluation

      1. Scoring Method

   IUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further.

   Only Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.

Your Proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.

1. Minimum Quality Thresholds

Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.

1. Technical Score

Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your Proposal’s overall technical score.

1. Financial Evaluation and Financial Scores

   The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your Financial Proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest Financial Proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.3.2) by the total price of your Financial Proposal.

   Thus, for example, if your Financial Proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest Financial Proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%

   1. Total Score

   Your Proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.

   The relative weights will be:

   Technical: 70%

   Financial: 30%

   Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.

   Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose Proposal achieves the highest total score.

2. Explanation of procurement procedure

   1. IUCN is using the Open Procedure for this procurement. This means that the contracting opportunity is published on IUCN’s website and open to all interested parties to take part, subject to the conditions in Section 7 below.

   2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.

   3. All Proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late Proposals will not be considered. All Proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of three or more evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate Proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose Proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.

   4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring Proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of Proposals takes.

3. Conditions for participation in this procurement

   1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a Proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.

      1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant Proposal.

      2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed Proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.

      3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your Proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.

   2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:

• Free of conflicts of interest
• Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
• In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
• Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection
• Not bankrupt or being wound up
• Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct
• Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organization, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.

  1. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).

  2. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your Proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.

  3. Each bidder shall submit only one Proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a Proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one Proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the Proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.

  4. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:

• It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
• Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
• Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.

1. Confidentiality and data protection

   1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your Proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.

   2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your Proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your Proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your Proposal.

2. Complaints procedure

If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact procurement@iucn.org. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).

1. Contract

The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.

1. About IUCN

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organizations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organizations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organizations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples’ organizations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

www.iucn.org

https://twitter.com/IUCN/

1. ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference

Attachment 2 Declaration of Undertaking (select 2a for companies or 2b for self-employed as applicable to you)

Attachment 3 Contract Template

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Position: Consultancy to conduct an independent terminal evaluation for the project: Management of competing water uses and associated ecosystems in the Pungwe, Buzi and Save basins

Financing Agency: Global Environment Facility (GEF)

GEF-Implementing Agency: International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Executing Agency: Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA)

Location: Pretoria

Project Period: 48 months

Estimated level of effort: 50 working days spread over 3 months (25/01/2025 to 24/04/2025)

1. INTRODUCTION

The Global Environment Fund (GEF) funded project “Management of competing water uses and associated ecosystems in the Pungwe, Buzi and Save basins,” project targets the conservation and sustainable use of the transboundary water basins resources, including risk mitigation components within 3 river basins shared bilaterally by Mozambique and Zimbabwe: Pungwe, Buzi and Save river basins. The project is facilitating the ability of the two riparian countries (Mozambique and Zimbabwe) to strengthen transboundary cooperation and management of water resources and associated ecosystems for improved water security, climate change resilience and sustainable livelihoods in the shared Pungwe-Buzi-Save basins. The project is being implemented by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and executed by the Global Water Partnership (GWP), with strategic orientation of the project being provided by the Joint Water Commission, the bilateral institution for cooperation on water issues between Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Project activities are coordinated at the bi-national level by a Project Management Unit (PMU), composed of a Project Coordinator, a Communications Specialist, an M & E Specialist and a Finance Officer. The Project Management Unit (PMU) is hosted by ARA-Centro in Beira (the National Executing Agency for Mozambique). The project seeks to promote holistic approaches to the water-food-energy nexus, with specific interest on connected ecosystems. It has a double focus of developing capacities for managing water resources and to design participatory and community–based strategies.

The project is now set to close down its 4-year program of work by 30 December 2024. As required by GEF, each project must undertake an independent terminal evaluation. These Terms of Reference (TORs) define the objectives, key questions and outputs for a mid-term review of the BUPUSA project.

In accordance with GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full-sized GEF-financed projects are required to undergo an end of term review/evaluation at the end of the project period. This Terms of Reference (ToR) sets out the expectations for the project end-term review. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an independent external view of the progress of the project against the planned output and deliverables, and to provide feedback and recommendations to the basin riparians and key stakeholders.

The end-term review is expected to assess the achievement of project results against what was expected, and draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from this project, and aid in the overall enhancement of implementation of environmental water management in the BUPUSA landscape. The end-term review is also expected to ensure accountability and transparency, and also assess the extent of project accomplishments.

1. BACKGROUND ON THE GEF BUZI, PUNGWE AND SAVE (BUPUSA) PROJECT

The GEF-funded project “Management of competing water uses and associated ecosystems in Pungwe, Buzi and Save basins” is being implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and executed by GWP-SA together with the Government of Mozambique (GoM) and Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ). It targets the conservation and sustainable use of the transboundary water resources, including the risk mitigation components within the Buzi, Pungwe and Save river basins shared bilaterally by Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The 3 basins are located along the Beira corridor, an important economic corridor that links Beira harbour to the hinterland, with associated impacts on the environment (pollution from mining activities, intensive agriculture, deforestation, saline water intrusion etc.). Populations in the basins have become highly vulnerable to climate hazards (i.e., floods, droughts, cyclones) whose occurrence is likely to increase with climate change aggravation.

The increasing development of upstream water uses is now raising the issue of equitable water allocation and the accompanying dimension of environmental flows that have particular importance in a transboundary context. These resource aspects are of the highest importance for the communities that derive their livelihood from ecosystem services, in a context of endemic poverty and low resilience to climate change impacts. The project seeks to promote holistic approaches to the water-food-energy nexus, with a specific interest in connected ecosystems. It has a double focus of developing capacities for managing water resources and designing participatory and community–based strategies.

The project’s main objective is to strengthen the management of transboundary water resources and connected ecosystems for sustained ecological benefits and improved resilience for riparian communities. This contributes to GEF’s Strategic Objective 1 which seeks to conserve, sustainably use, and manage biodiversity, ecosystems and natural resources globally, taking into account the anticipated impacts of climate change – and is consistent with the focal area strategy for international waters (IW), as it will contribute to the conservation of the 3 basins’ aquatic ecosystems and wetlands through the sustainable management of transboundary water basins.

The need for developing transboundary cooperation for water resources management has been materializing for years through several initiatives, including the signing of the Pungwe and Buzi transboundary agreements (the Save agreement is under preparation, and the wish to establish a bilateral tri-basin river basin organization. In each component, the project will contribute to supporting transboundary cooperation for water resources management, either with the development of joint initiatives (joint hydrological monitoring campaigns), common tools development (TDA/SAP), adoption of guidelines for eflows implementation), bilateral capacity building or through experience sharing (on community-based early warning systems for instance):

• Component 1 will contribute to strengthening water-related risk management through the reinforcement of monitoring systems, the development of real-time operational tools, and the empowerment of communities in their flood and droughts mitigation autonomy.
• Component 2 will focus on enhancing ecosystem services through quantitative water management, including operationalisation of environmental flows (assessment and legal framework establishment), and through water quality improvement.
• Component 3: National inter-ministry committees and technical advisory teams would contribute to the development of a regional Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and subsequently to the preparation of a Strategic Action Plan.

The benefits of collaboration on transboundary basins and adoption by cooperating states of a Transboundary Water Resource Management approach will contribute to strengthening community resilience to droughts, mitigation of these risks, improving water allocation, and addressing environmental issues. Results and impacts will include increased transboundary water cooperation including a coordinated approach for drought risks management and mainstreaming of these risks in the decision-making process, strengthened capacities for transboundary water resources management linking appropriate scales of intervention, increased communities’ autonomy and ownership in water-related risk management, reduced vulnerability of the local communities to droughts.

OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The objectives of the end-term review report are to:

• Assess progress toward achievement of expected project outputs and outcome
• Assess the issues and challenges project ran into during its design phase as well as during implementation and assess extent of their influence in project’s deliverable and sustainability of project results
• Document lessons to contribute in sustainability of outputs and generated benefits from this project and aid in the overall enhancement of ABS implementation in BUPUSA
• Make concrete recommendations to help consolidate and support sustainability of the project results
• Provide recommendation on way forward for the implementation of ABS in BUPUSA outlining follow up activities

PROCESS

1. Desk based review of project documents, including preparing an updated table of project achievement against the planned activities, achievement on capacity building activities and any relevant output reports (done before the review), the project document, contracts and related agreements.

• Project Identification Form (PIF)
• Annual workplans and budgets including revisions and amendments during the project period
• Workplans
• Progress Reports
• Technical reports
• Project supervision report
• Mid-term review report and its recommendations

1. Consultations with stakeholders including key partners and personnel (such as PSC)
2. Final project end-term review workshop in Beira involving all implementing partners. The workshop will focus on project achievement, outputs and impact pathway. The workshop will involve presentations of activities, interim results and any issues under each of the three components, discussion of the project team’s reflections, and identify preliminary recommendations;
3. Field visit to project districts to gain understanding of the implementation of project field pilot activities, and district stakeholders
4. Preparation of a draft end-term review report

The review will be based on credible evidence-based information that are useful and reliable. The review process will be impartial and inclusive. The review process will be transparent and will also be based on different sources of credible information such as documents prepared during the preparation phase (i.e. PIF, the Project Document, implementation guideline, project reports including Annual Project Review/PIRs, decisions of project steering committees, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based review). The review process will ensure meaningful participation of all parties involved, focal execution unit, GEF operational focal point, relevant thematic agencies, IUCN country office and other key stakeholders.

The review is expected to ensure ethical measures during the process in information collection and analysis as well as while providing recommendations.

This end-term review is initiated by IUCN as the Implementing Agency. The process of end-term review must be independent, thus will be conducted by independent experts.

KEY FOCUS AREAS

The project end-term review will assess the GEF BUPUSA Project in line with the OECD DAC Evaluation criteria, as elaborated below.

Relevance

1. To what extent had the project contributed to the strategic policies and programs?
2. What is the way forward?

• Assess the contribution of the project towards the achievement of national objectives and contribution to the implementation of effective water cooperation and inclusive environmental water management in the BUPUSA tri-basin
• Analyse whether the project’s approach addressed the needs and demands of the key stakeholders.
• Assess the relevance of the tools / instruments / inputs applied by the project for enabling policy environment for implementation of equitable water use in BPUSA.

Effectiveness

1. What worked well and not worked well as expected?
2. Were the activities implemented in accordance with the project plans? If not, why?
3. What outputs were achieved? Assess the project so far with particular reference to qualitative and quantitative achievements of outputs and targets as defined in the project documents and work-plans and with reference to the project baseline. To what extent did the output delivery under each component contributes to the objectives?
   1. Component 1. Policy Rules and Regulation
      1. Component 2. Capacity Needs and Training
      2. Component 3. Education, Communication and Awareness
4. How effective were the approaches and structures in delivering the desired outputs? Do the collaborative organizations work together effectively? Assess the effectiveness of the co-funding arrangements.

Efficiency

1. Were the available technical and financial resources adequate to fulfill the project plans? Assess whether the project utilized project funding as per the agreed work plan to achieve the projected targets and used the right procedures.
2. Were there been any unforeseen problems? How well were they dealt with?
3. Was there an effective process, built into the management structure for self-monitoring and assessment, reporting and reflection?

• Analyse the role of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) and whether this forum was optimally being used for decision making.
• Assess the timeline and quality of the reporting followed by the project
• Assess the qualitative and quantitative aspects of management and other inputs (such as equipment, technical assistance and budgetary inputs) provided by the project vis-à-vis achievement of outputs and targets.
• Identify factors and constraints that affected project implementation including policy related, technical, managerial, organizational, institutional and socio-economic issues in addition to other external factors unforeseen during the project design.

Sustainability and Impact

1. Was the approach used likely to ensure a continued benefit after the project?
2. Were all key stakeholders sufficiently and effectively involved? Were their expectations met and are they satisfied with their level of participation?
3. Was the approach inclusive and gender responsive?
4. Were alternative or additional measures needed and, if so, what was required to ensure continued sustainability and a positive impact?

• Assess preliminary indications of the degree to which the project results are likely to be sustainable beyond the project’s lifetime and provide recommendations for strengthening sustainability.
• Assess the sustainability of the project interventions in terms of its effect on policy, capacities and awareness.

Network /linkages

• Evaluate the level, degree and representation by the stakeholders, (government and civil societies, indigenous groups and local communities, academic and research institutions etc.) in the execution of the project
• Assess the alignment of the project with the other projects and identifying linkages and opportunities for achievement of objectives/targets;

Lessons learnt/Conclusions

• Identify significant lessons and conclusions which could be drawn from the project in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and networking.

1. APPROACH, TIMELINE AND DELIVERABLES

The terminal evaluation is expected to take place between 25/01/2025 and 24/04/2025. It will adhere to the GEF/GCF Project Monitoring and Supervision Requirements and Guidance as well as IUCN Monitoring and Evaluation Policy.

The review will adopt a consultative approach, seeking and sharing opinions with stakeholders at different stages throughout the terminal evaluation process. Different sources will be used to verify information, and evidence will be validated through triangulation.

Information and insights will be derived mainly from three key sources:

• Review of existing documents – both at project and program levels, including Project Implementation Reports (PIRs), BUPUSA project reports, information and data collected through BUPUSA MEL system and other relevant knowledge products developed by partners;
• Key informants’ interviews – including interview with GWPSA Management and PMU; implementing agency (IUCN) representative/s and GEF BUPUSA project manager; the Project Steering Committee (PSC) members; Project Focal Points nominated by the two countries; co-finance partners; representatives of the basin institutions (ARA-Centro and ARA-Sul in Mozambique, and ZINWA Save and Runde in Zimbabwe); research institutions, civil society organizations, community representatives and other relevant stakeholders across the three basins in the 2 supported countries (an indicative list of contacts of key stakeholders will be provided during the inception phase);
• Technical assessment and field visits – this will entail visit and assessment of installed hydrometry equipment for flood forecasting and early warning systems, pilot projects for mitigating drought risk vulnerability; and
• Additional information needed could be collected through a combination of methodologies including (but not limited to) group discussions, online surveys and other data collection tools.

As part of the terminal evaluation inception phase, the consulting team will then be expected to develop an Inception Report that will include a methodological note based on the suggested terminal evaluation questions above and suggesting additional questions or modifications to tailor the terminal evaluation to the GEF BUPUSA Project needs. The methodological note will include a review matrix presenting how each review question will be addressed, the data sources and the data collection methods and tools that will be used to gather additional data needed for the terminal evaluation and a set of criteria to rate the strength of the evidence collected. Adequately addressing each key review question will be the basis for IUCN to sign off on the completeness of the review report.

The link between review questions, data collection, analysis, findings and conclusions must be clearly made and set out in a transparent manner in the presentation of the review findings. Conclusion and recommendations should be underpinned by a strong set of evidence. The review team should ensure that the sample of project stakeholders consulted equitably represent the various possible perspectives, including in terms of gender balance.

The selected consultant/firm will be accountable for producing the following evaluation deliverables:

• D1. Inception report with methodological note and a review matrix;
• D2. Draft review report (25 pages max);
• D3. Final review report (25 pages max) with all supporting materials as annexure.
• D4. A two-page summary and five success stories of key findings, lessons, recommendations and messages from the TE report, that can be disseminated to the wider public for general information on the project’s results and performance.
• D5. A PPT presentation for a face-to-face or hybrid workshop targeted to PSC and key stakeholders in which the key finding and recommendations from the terminal evaluation will be presented.

Schedule

Outputs and deliverables

Proposed schedule and deadlines

Roles and responsibilities

Inception report

Preliminary findings presentation

Draft report

Final report

[Add rows as needed]

PROPOSED REPORT OUTLINE

A template for the report will be provided by IUCN and the report will include (but not limited to) the following:

• Title page including project identification details
• Executive Summary (including at a minimum the methodology, findings and recommendations)
• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
• A short introduction to project/program – context and description
• Purpose of the Evaluation, Evaluation Issues and Questions
• Methodology (including approach to data analysis)
• Findings – organized according to the key evaluation questions
• Conclusions and lessons learned
• Recommendations – actionable recommendations clearly linked to findings and lessons
• Annexes
• It is expected that the TE team will participate in knowledge-sharing events, such as stakeholder debriefings, as needed.

1. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants can be a team or individual consultants led by an international consultant who will be supported by two local consultants (one in each country). Interested applicants for the position are required to have the following qualifications and experiences:

• At least 10 years’ experience in conducting external evaluations with mixed methods evaluation skills
• Experience in collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data.
• Experience in conducting or participating in similar review processes conducted by international and inter-governmental institutions;
• Expertise in results assessment, monitoring and evaluation of programs and projects.
• Demonstrate strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e. credible evaluation and its report that can be used.
• Minimum qualification master’s degree in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), project management, international development, water resources management, climate change, environmental protection, social development, sociology, gender, or related area.
• Understand water resources management and governance, climate change, development (SDGs), gender and related issues.
• Familiarity with GWPSA, IUCN, GEF or related projects and experience in the region.
• Experience in evaluation GEF-funded projects and familiarity with GEF evaluation policy.
• Experience working within multi-stakeholder platforms and supporting change processes.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills and very good organizational and task management skills demonstrated teamwork skills and the ability to work independently.
• Demonstrated ability in project management, including workplan development, tracking, budgeting, and reporting.
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English.

DECLARATION OF UNDERTAKING

concerning

The Independent Terminal Evaluation of The GEF Funded “Management of Competing Water Uses and Associated Ecosystems in Pungwe, Buzi, and Save Basins” Project

I, the undersigned, hereby confirm that I am an authorized representative of the following organization:

Registered Name of Organization (the “Organization”): _______________________

Registered Address (incl. country): _______________________________________

Year of Registration: __________________________________________________

I hereby authorize IUCN to store and use the information included in the attached Proposal for the purpose of evaluating Proposals and selecting the Proposal IUCN deems the most favourable. I acknowledge that IUCN is required to retain the Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when reasonably requested.

Where the Proposal includes Personal Data as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I confirm that the Organization has been authorized by each Data Subject to share this data with IUCN for the purposes stated above.

I further confirm that the following statements are correct:

1. The Organization is duly registered under all applicable laws.
2. The Organization is fully compliant with all its tax and social security obligations.
3. The Organization and its staff and representatives are free of any real or perceived conflicts of interest with regard to IUCN and its Mission.
4. The Organization agrees to declare to IUCN any real or perceived emerging conflicts of interest it or any of its staff and representatives may have concerning IUCN. The Organization acknowledges that IUCN may terminate any contracts with the Organization that would, in IUCN’s sole discretion, be negatively affected by such conflicts of interest.
5. None of the Organization’s staff has ever been convicted of grave professional misconduct or any other offense concerning their professional conduct.
6. Neither the Organization nor any of its staff and representatives have ever been convicted of fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism, or involvement in a criminal organization.
7. The Organization acknowledges that engagement by itself or any of its staff in fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism, or involvement in a criminal organization will entitle IUCN to terminate any and all contracts with the Organization with immediate effect.
8. The Organization is a going concern and is not bankrupt or being wound up, is not having its affairs administered by the courts, has not suspended business activities, is not the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.
9. The Organization complies with all applicable environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection.
10. The Organization is not included in the UN Security Council Sanctions List, EU Sanctions Map, US Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List, or the World Bank listing of ineligible firms and individuals. The Organization agrees that it will not provide direct or indirect support to firms and individuals included in these lists.
11. The Organization has not been, is not, and will not be involved or implicated in any violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or injustice or abuse of human rights related to other groups or individuals, including forced evictions, violation of fundamental rights of workers as defined by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, child labour, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

______________________________________________________

< Name and position of authorized representative of the Proposer >