Consultant to support the process of DRC Country transition

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS:

Recruitment of a short-term Consultant to support the process of DRC Country transition

1. SUMMARY OF PROCUREMENT

World Resources Institute (WRI) seeks to award a fixed-price contract for a consultant, who will play a supportive role in the development of WRI DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) Country Strategy. The consultant will provide both facilitation and content development support to a core team. During facilitation, the consultant is expected to set the foundations for a neutral, safe space to work together, where team members can trust the process and provide valuable input to the strategy document.

This document is expected to align with the plans and goals of the Democratic Republic of Congo and consider the work of other partners and stakeholders working in a similar space. The strategy will need to also align with WRI Global and Africa strategies. As WRI has been operating in DRC since 2006, the strategy will also highlight the existing portfolio and strategically build on WRI’s existing work in the country. The consultant will work with a small core team of internal and external participants to identify the nexus between DRC country and WRI’s strategy and support in setting achievable goals and objectives for WRI DRC’s country program for the period.

About the World Resources Institute

WRI is a trusted partner for change. Using research-based approaches, we work globally and in focus countries to meet their development goals while protecting and restore naturing; and to stabilize the climate and build resilient communities. We aim to fundamentally transform the way the world produces and uses food and energy and design cities to create a better future for all. Founded in 1982, WRI has nearly 1,800 staff around the world, with country offices in Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States and regional offices in Africa and Europe.

WRI’s recently launched 2023-2027 Strategic Plan | Getting the Transition Right for People, Nature & Climate which significantly shifts not only the impact that WRI aims to achieve but also demands increased collaboration across our distributed global network to deliver this impact. The strategy includes a focus on fostering a “OneWRI culture” due to the shift in the way that the organization needs to work together as well as the unprecedented growth over the past 5-6 years.

A major shift in this new strategy is the commitment to fully support country-led transitions. The approach is to form multi-year partnerships with national governments, businesses, NGOs and others to support countries in their transitions, including in economic planning and finance across multiple sectors. We provide decision-makers with the data, research and evidence-based approaches needed to transform the way their nations produce and consume food, manage natural resources, generate energy and design cities. And we share lessons learned more broadly to help scale solutions worldwide and shape economy-wide shifts.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of WRI’s focus countries. Making the transition right entails identifying and characterizing the relevant set of interventions at the nexus between governmental priorities, WRI’s offers in the Country and globally, and efforts by other actors in the country.

1. SCOPE OF WORK AND OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES:

The scope of work for the consultant will require rigorous understanding of the policy and institutional context of DRC and WRI’s values where the consultant will develop guiding principles for the Country Program and Engagement Strategy (CPES). The consultant will also facilitate the consultation workshop with WRI DRC staff and WRI Africa pillar leads and programme coordinators to map out existing WRI DRC activities as well as relevant internal and external stakeholders to support in country strategy.

Furthermore, the consultant will work on the following areas:

1. Development of the Draft Strategy Document: the consultant will work with WRI DRC team and pillar leads to develop a country a country strategy. The consultant will ensure that the strategy document aligns with:

2. DRC Country Policies and Strategies: the consultant will analyze existing policies and strategies for green, resilient and inclusive and identify overlaps with WRI’s goals and plans.

3. WRI Institutional Agenda: the consultant will analyze challenges and opportunities for green, resilient and inclusive transformation building on WRI Global strategy as well as WRI Africa’s strategic framework and flagship programs with focus on how WRI can play a catalytic role in DRC.

4. Key partners’ priorities: the consultant will map efforts led by prominent players in the field of nature, climate and people, to identify and characterize gaps and opportunities for synergies.

5. Facilitation of Internal and External Stakeholder Meetings: the consultant will facilitate a series of key consultation meetings with internal and external stakeholders, together with the core team, to collect feedback on the proposed strategy, focus areas and engagement approach. The consultant will incorporate this feedback and if needed organize follow-up meetings to ensure all relevant projects and partners are included in the strategy.

6. Documentation: the consultant will provide practical recommendations and actionable pathways for program prioritization and coherence, harmonized engagement and strategic partnerships and how WRI will contribute to advancing a green, resilient and inclusive transformation in DRC. The consultant will also present the findings and recommendations in a stakeholder workshop.
7. Fundraising: the consultant will identify funding opportunities for advancing WRI’s ambitions in the DRC and propose a robust approach for seizing those opportunities. The consultant will also prepare at least two short concept notes aligned with the CPES.

Deliverables and Timeline:

The duration of the service is 20 weeks between starting in July 2024 (start and end dates to be confirmed). WRI’s core team will provide support on all the deliverables and the consultant will have access Global and Africa Strategies as well as other internal relevant documents, policies, strategies, etc

Deliverables

Deadline

Inception report: revised workplan, strong framework and methodology

Week 5

Two (2) Internal Consultation workshops with relevant WRI Global and Regional teams and meeting minutes from the workshops.

Notes from a thorough desk review/mapping of government's, partners' and WRI's priorities and expertise in DRC, internal meetings and workshops with WRI-DRC team and WRI-Africa, and extensive consultation of key actors in the environment-development sector in the DRC.

Week 10

Fundraising plan for the CPES, based on proper and rigorous identification of funding opportunities, and development of two sample concept notes.

First Draft CPES and summary slide deck

Week 13

Updated CPES based on a thoughtful internal validation process

Week 17

Final report

Week 20

1. BUDGET :

Contract value shall be decided in negotiation between WRI and the Consultant based on quote provided in the Consultant’s proposal but should ideally not exceed $25,000 USD.

The Consultant should be responsible for payment of all taxes, as applicable.

1. GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION:

Requirements (preferred – the ideal candidate will offer a selection of these competencies)

• Experience in designing and facilitation of strategy developing processes using a variety of approaches and tools with an emphasis on employing a collaborative thinking approach.
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder, multi-sector groups forging collaboration, and collective agreement across differences of opinion and perspectives.
• Adequate experience in gathering, analysis, interpretation and application of national and local relevant information and/or data on political, social, economic, technological, legal and cultural contexts for the purpose of strategy development process.
• An excellent collaborative work style, with an openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback.
• Experience in working in the space of environment and development work in particular system-based approaches to addressing global issues including food, land use, water, cities climate, and energy (preferred).
• Experience in developing strategies for global non-governmental organization (preferred)
• A track record with ways to promote diversity and inclusion in dialogue.
• An excellent ability to plan/ manage, organize, implement and report on work.
• Demonstrated experience in virtual facilitation and use of virtual tools.
• The ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.

• Outstanding communication and advocacy skills.

• Excellent presentation, report writing and facilitation skills.

• Demonstrated integrity and ethical standards.
• Fluency in both French and English.

Proposal content :

Prospective consultant should submit:

• A statement of interest describing the proposed individual competencies and how it meets the above requirements (1-2 pages);
• Curriculum Vitae (CV);
• Examples of and references for similar previous work;
• An outline of the proposed methods of working and illustrative workplan (5-7 pages);

• A proposed budget with a breakdown of costs sufficient to assess reasonableness and compliance with our funder requirements. Please also include a competitive payment schedule associating amounts with work milestones.

  Expression of Interest, Deadline for Questions, and Proposal :

All expressions of interest and questions about this Request for Proposal (RfP) must be received via email to the contact below by 5 PM, 20 June 2024 (CAT time). Answers to the questions will be shared with all parties who have asked questions or otherwise expressed interest.

Teodyl Nkuintchua

Congo Basin Strategy and Engagement Lead

[email protected]

Isère Ormille Mafodui Fosso

Senior Regional Finance & Operations Manager

[email protected]

1. EVALUATION AND SELECTION :

Evaluation Criteria :

The following elements will be the primary considerations in evaluating all proposals submitted in response to this RFP:

• Completion of all required elements;
• The extent to which the consultant’s proposal fulfills WRI’s stated requirements as set out in the RfP;
• Experience with similar projects;
• Overall cost of the consultant’s proposal;
• Debarment and sanctions – WRI will not consider proposals from consultants that are presently debarred by the U.S. government or named on any restricted parties lists;
• Sustainability-WRI values sustainability and all other factors being equal, will favor a proposal to more sustainably perform the work.

The bidder offering the best overall value will be selected. For this procurement, price and non-price aspects are considered to be of approximately equal importance.

Selection Process :

No proposal development costs shall be charged to WRI / all expenses are to be borne by the bidders. WRI may award the bidder offering best value without discussions. However, WRI reserves the right to seek bidder clarifications and to negotiate with those bidders deemed to be within a competitive range.

WRI may, at its discretion and without explanation to the prospective consultants, choose to discontinue this RFP without obligation to such prospective consultants or make multiple awards under this RFP. Contracts will not be awarded to consultants debarred by the US government or named on restricted parties lists.

Offers will be rejected & contracts cancelled if any illegal or corrupt practices take place in connection with the award.