Greater Virunga Landscape Strategy Development Consultancy

Nov 26, 2019 | World Wildlife Fund

The World Wildlife Fund network aims to develop several large-scale landscapes in Africa.  One of these is the Greater Virunga Landscape.  On behalf of the Greater Virunga Landscape (GVL) working group, they are advertising a very exciting consultancy opportunity to help support strategy development for the GVL. This will be contracted from WWF-UK but overseen by the GVL working group, which includes representation from the relevant countries as well as WWF-International. 

Introduction

The Greater Virunga Landscape (GVL) is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. It is an interconnected set of protected areas that contains more terrestrial vertebrate species and more endemic and threatened vertebrate species than any other site in Africa. The landscape’s diverse mosaic of ancient tropical forests, ice-capped mountains, active volcanoes, savannah, swamps and wetlands provide habitats for important populations of African elephant, buffalo, okapi and the largest concentration of hippo globally. It is also the only place on Earth where 20 primate species coexist, including the entirety of the world’s remaining mountain gorilla population. It contains three World Heritage Sites, one Ramsar Site, and one Man and Biosphere Reserve. The GVL also has immense socio-economic value. A large and growing human population depend on the GVL’s rich natural capital, which also contributes significantly to sustainable national and regional economic growth. Forest products are a key income source, supplemented by income from smallscale agriculture and fisheries and increasingly tourism. The GVL’s forested and mountainous nature makes it a transboundary water tower for the entire region, providing millions of people with fresh water for drinking and farming as well as being the highest and most permanent source of the River Nile. Lake George and Lake Edward within GVL are two of Africa’s most productive lakes and form important fisheries as well as being home to very high levels of endemic fish species.

Given its high biodiversity value, the GVL is one of WWF’s five priority landscapes in Africa. WWF has been working in the GVL region since 1992 and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP; a coalition of WWF and Fauna and Flora International) has been operating in the region since 1979. Building on: (1) WWF’s existing countryfocused activities; (2) IGCP’s experience of transboundary and coalition working; and (3) the political commitment already demonstrated through the Greater Virunga Transboundary Coalition (GVTC), WWF is now making an overt commitment to facilitate bottom-up development of a transboundary landscape GVL initiative that will embrace integrated landscape level approaches and learning so that it adds value to the existing breadth of work that is happening. In doing so, we will ensure that the GVL initiative brings about transformational change and is not just a ‘new wrapper’ for, often siloed, business as usual.

There is a strong commitment to designing and implementing the aforementioned GVL strategy through a coalition approach. This means that the conservation vision and required actions within the landscape will be collaboratively developed rather than internally developed and presented to coalition partners. To enable this, substantial investment in engagement with partners outside of WWF and IGCP is expected. Engaging affected rights-holders will be a critical aspect of the strategic development process and WWF and IGCP’s existing strong relationships with these groups will be important in enabling this. WWF has recently strengthened its social safeguards practices by introducing its Environmental and Social Safeguard Framework (ESSF) which will need to be validated with other coalition partners and a jointly agreed version incorporated into defining and designing the GVL strategy.

At the same time, there is a need to build momentum about / buy-in to the GVL initiative within the wider WWF network and this requires some indication of strategic direction. With this in mind and to initiate thinking, in March 2019 a one-day WWF / IGCP internal GVL workshop (‘visioning workshop’) was held. Whilst this workshop was framed around initial strategy development steps, it was intended as the start of a conversation which participants acknowledged would require a much greater and more inclusive effort to complete. Following the one-day workshop, a GVL working group was established between a subset of the workshop participants. This working group has written these terms of reference and is driving the full strategy development process.

Purpose of consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide long-term capacity to support the development of a coalition-owned and locally-owned GVL strategy that embraces people-centred, transboundary landscape, and sustainable approaches. The specific objectives of this consultancy (carried out in close collaboration with the GVL working group) are:

1. To undertake anthropological analysis (culture, history, gender dynamics, governance structures. etc.) of priority areas within the GVL.
2. To clarify what coalition, landscape and people-centred approaches means in practical terms for the GVL initiative, and how this influences strategy development processes, particularly in the light of agreed social safeguards.
3. To design and support implementation of a process to ensure that in the defined areas of intervention (provisionally defined by the GVL working group in advance) the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is respected throughout the GVL strategy development process.
4. To map: (a) stakeholders and rights-holders (local people, government officials, (I)NGOs, CSOs, research institutions, etc.); (b) current / past interventions in the GVL; and (c) how the rights of different groups of people may be affected by the planned intervention, and use this information to define levels of/approaches to engagement in this strategy development process.
5. To facilitate workshops to define a transboundary, stakeholder and coalition-owned GVL strategy
6. To identify necessary research/feasibility studies and pilots, that can be fundraised for as appropriate
7. To document (to an agreed template) the resulting GVL strategy and, as necessary, revisit this with stakeholders following the result of the research/feasibility studies and pilots.
8. To make recommendations for the remit of a future WWF GVL coordinator position

Methodology

Contracting arrangements will be with WWF-UK but the appointed consultant will be guided by the GVL working group (which includes representatives from the relevant WWF country offices) and supported operationally by identified focal points in each of the three countries (Uganda, Rwanda, DRC). See the responsibility assignment matrix (RACI) in Annex 1 for further information.

It is anticipated that objectives 1, 2 and 4 will be achieved through a combination of desk-based analysis of existing documentation and key informant interviews with WWF / IGCP staff and key external stakeholders. Objective 3 will initially require the consultant to adapt existing FPIC guidance and build the capacity of coalition representatives in the same, and then to provide ongoing support for implementation throughout the strategy development process. With this information, the consultant will work with the GVL working group to refine and implement a methodology to enable a transboundary, stakeholder and coalition-owned strategy development process (objective 5). This will include determining the most efficient and effective means by which to ensure both the integration of thematic areas and embracement of transboundary working. In all cases, it is expected that this phase will involve substantial consultation with WWF / IGCP staff and key external stakeholders. Whilst stakeholder and coalition owned, the process is expected to follow the strategy development steps outlined in the WWF Programme Standards. These, and current progress against them, are outlined in the table below:

Expected deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from the consultant:

1. An inception report detailing the consultant’s understanding of the ToRs with the anticipated approach summarised in a budgeted action plan
2. Documented anthropological analysis of priority areas within the GVL
3. Documented explanation of what coalition, landscape and people-centred approaches means in practical terms for the GVL initiative, and how this influences strategy development processes
4. Documented process and capacity building / ongoing support to ensure respect for the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) throughout the GVL strategy development process
5. Documented stakeholder / rights-holder analysis (including power map) and engagement plan
6. Draft methodology to enable a transboundary, stakeholder and coalition-owned strategy development process (to be agreed by the GVL working group before implementation)
7. Facilitation of a transboundary, stakeholder and coalition-owned strategy development process
8. Documented recommendations and additional research/feasibility studies and pilots
9. Documented GVL strategy (covering all strategy steps defined above)
10. Documented recommendations for a future WWF GVL coordinator position, any other key positions identified, and associated governance mechanisms.

The format of the strategy document is expected to be no more than 30 pages excluding any annexes using an agreed format.

Timeframe

Given the scale of this work and the high level of engagement with partners, it is anticipated that the consultant will provide long-term, albeit not full-time, support over several months. WWF seeks to engage this consultant as soon as possible, ideally with an inception meeting in region in late February 2020.

Required skills

To be considered for this consultancy, individuals / teams are required to demonstrate through their application that they meet the following criteria:

• As a minimum, a Masters degree in a relevant field
• Significant and demonstrable experience in successful strategy development processes, preferably using Open Standards based approaches
• Experience with applying Safeguarding or Human Rights Based Approaches meeting international standards (GEF or UNDP etc.)
• Exemplar facilitation skills, including experience with a wide range of stakeholders
• Previous experience of landscape (ideally transboundary) planning approaches
• Fluency in English and French (required).
• Fluency in Kiswahili (an advantage).
• Familiarity with and knowledge of the region (an advantage).

Application arrangements

Those wishing to be considered for this consultancy should submit: a technical proposal, demonstrating understanding and interpretation of the Terms of Reference and providing an indication of the travel that is anticipated in order to execute this consultancy; evidence of past relevant experience, including any testimonials from such work; and financial proposal by email to Cath Lawson (clawson@wwf.org.uk) by 3rd January 2020.

Annex 1 - RACI matrix R = Responsible, A = Accountable, C = Consulted, I = Informed