Somalia: Consultancy Services for Capacity Building for Decentralized Natural Resource Management in Somaliland and Puntland

Consultancy Services for Capacity Building for Decentralized Natural Resource Management in Somaliland and Puntland

1.Background

The UN Joint Programme on Local Governance and Decentralised Service Delivery is a 5 year Programme of ILO, UNCDF, UNDP, UN-HABITAT and UNICEF. The Programme is aligned to the programming frameworks of the Somali Reconstruction and Development Programme 2008-12, the UN Transition Plan 2008-9, New Deal Compact and ILO Decent Work Country Programme. One of the key outcomes of the RDP is to achieve decentralised service delivery in Somaliland/Somalia. The outcome of the UNTP is that local governance contributes to peace and equitable priority service delivery in selected locations. The Decent Work Agenda is a result-oriented framework aimed at the attainment of full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and youth

Natural resources are the foundations for development of Somalia underpinning livelihoods, food security, trade and employment. However, policy and legislation with respect to natural resources/environment is weak and outdated. Lack of effective governance structures and capacity made the efforts to combat illegal and unsustainable resource exploitation a difficult task. The effects of climate change, increased population pressures, land degradation and urbanization imposed further pressures on the management of natural resources. Natural resources depletion is exacerbated by conflict and in turn feeds into the cycle of insecurity and violence as clans and communities clash over access to the diminishing natural resource base of pasture, water and forest resources. This applies to areas populated by traditional mobile pastoralists and those with settled agro-pastoral communities and spills over into the urban setting. Within urban areas, commodities coming from the rural pastoral and agro-pastoral areas form a very significant input into the local economy. Conflict and environmental degradation, with their negative effects on each other, contribute to further poverty and, faced with the limited prospects for livelihood diversification, pushes people out of the rural pastoral and agro-pastoral economies and into the urban areas in search of employment or food aid.

To address issues underpinning the NRM sector, Somaliland and Puntland governments, through ILO JPLG, developed a programme to support decentralized natural resources management. This aims to achieve as wide coverage as resources and conditions allow with a comprehensive approach to rendering local governments as credible and professional service providers, increasing public investment in basic services, and strengthening civic awareness and participation in local decision-making and development. The approach pursued comprises: (i) supporting policy and legal frameworks for decentralised NRM enabling local governments, communities and other local actors (ii) institutionalising local governance systems and processes, vertical and horizontal inter-government linkages (iii) development and implementation of service delivery models (SDM) as basis for experimenting the practicality of delivering NRM services and goods through local governments. The NRM interventions attach emphasis on local governance and good governance, employment through natural resources, principles of conflict resolution, transparency, accountability, and participation and engagement of women and youth throughout.

ILO responsibilities in Joint Programme relates to promoting employment-led local economic development with specific focus on:

1. Supporting the development of policy, legal and institutional frameworks and capacity and local government for decentralised public and environmental works investment and service delivery;
2. Building local government capacity to develop and enabling environment for local economic development where the potential of local resources are recognised and optimised.
3. Developing and integrating local resource based employment-intensive approaches in the local public expenditure management processes. For example, from the participatory planning process to project design, procurement and implementation processes for public/environmental works and service delivery as well as the operation and management of these assets.

2.Objectives of the project

Building on the work already done in establishing decentralized NRM arrangement both at the centre and local, NRM Planning framework, development of training tools and implementation of service delivery models, the objective of this assignment are mutually reinforcing and aims at

F identifying the capacity needs of NRM institutions (natural resources management working group and ministries, regional and district authorities, communities/villages and community-based organizations) in relation to decentralized NRM management

F propose capacity development measures/programme to address the identified skills and knowledge gaps and initiate revising existing modules for decentralized NRM Management guideline

F Facilitate dialogues with NRMWG and draft decentralized strategy for natural resources management for Somaliland and Puntland taking stock from the implementation of SDM models in pilot districts.

F Undertake ToT training to NRMWG ministries, service providers, training institutes and district social affairs department on decentralized guideline, tools and strategy

3.Target group

Ministry of Environment, NRM Working Group comprising the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Fisheries, Minister of Water, JPLG target Districts in Somaliland and Puntland– Councils and Social Affairs departments, village councils, academia and the private sector.

4.Outputs, Activities and Deliverables

Output 1: Capacity needs for NRM institutions to implement decentralized strategy and key devolved functions assessed and priority areas for capacity development identified- Somaliland and Puntland.

Activities

1. Undertake capacity needs assessment for NRM institutions involved in the implementation of decentralized functions identifying existing capacities, structures, and competencies, based on agreed methodology.
2. develop a capacity development plan/programme deliberately focusing on mobilizing functional existing capacities and creating new capacities to implement devolved functions informed by the strategic roll-out of the implementation of decentralized strategy

Deliverables

1. Inception report including work plan
2. Draft decentralized NRM capacity needs assessment methodology including presentations for JPLG team and NRMWG
3. Final report on capacity needs assessment report.
4. Capacity development plan for the roll-out of devolved functions/strategy.

Output 2: NRM sector decentralization strategy drafted and validated through consultative process involving NRMWG, districts, community-based organizations, development partners and academia- Somaliland and Puntland

Activities

1. Facilitate inclusive participatory four dialogue workshops (two in each region) for the drafting NRM sector decentralization strategy improving the interactions and reasoning process used in generating consensus for key issues to be prioritized for decentralization.
2. Validate the sector decentralization strategy and its implementation plan

Deliverables

1. dialogue workshop reports
2. draft NRM sector decentralization strategy
3. validation workshop report and
4. Final sector decentralization strategy.

Output 3: decentralized NRM guidelines and tools further developed into participant’s guide, facilitator’s guide, and ToT guide as per the feedback from SDM implementation, sector strategy and capacity gaps identified.

Activities

1. Based on the draft modules, harmonise and review decentralized NRM guideline for service delivery models and planning frameworks with the implementation of key functions devolved incorporating modules addressing the capacity gaps identified whilst bringing uniformity in the contents, process and tools throughout.
2. Develop participant, facilitator, ToT’s guides and others tools from the NRM guideline for service delivery
3. Organize 5-days ToT training, in each region, to technical staff/trainers from NRMWG, service providers, districts social affairs department, academia after revising the package. The main objectives of TOT is to develop common understanding among the participants (who will be future facilitator of the module in the district level) on the contents stated in training manuals, clarify the methodology and activities used in training manual and to receive feedbacks from the participants to make manual more applicable and users friendly.

5.Methodology

The institution/technical experts are expected to conduct capacity assessment needs for institutions with decentralized NRM-related mandates, develop capability development plan, NRM sector strategy and improve/revise existing modules for NRM to be trained for central, local and service provider institutions. The capacity assessment will start with reviewing the available related national and local frameworks, strategies, programme documents, work plans, manuals and reports. This will follow with activities such as a series of meetings with key actors at national, regional and local levels. In this regard, field visits to the districts will be undertaken. As much as possible, the capacity needs assessment will follow a participatory approach. The development of sector decentralization strategy and learning materials should be based on the priorities and needs of stakeholders. Once draft assessments, capacity development plan, strategy and learning materials are developed, they should be shared with all the key relevant stakeholders for their comments, views, suggestions and recommendations. Accordingly, the reports will be presented to the NRMWG and local governance inter-ministerial committee for approval.

6.Management of the Assignment

The Institution/NRM Team leader shall report to the ILO Economic Development Technical Adviser who will be the overall technical responsible person for the assignment, copying ILO Chief Technical Adviser. During the assignment execution, the team leader will maintain regular contacts with target group of the assignment and liaise on issues of concern throughout all phases of the assignment to ensure smooth implementation of the assignment. The Team leader will closely work with decentralized Technical Advisers in the Ministries of Environment, both Somaliland and Puntland, in coordinating local issues with them.

7.Deliverables and Timelines

The Team Leader should prepare and submit the following deliverables;

1. Inception Report on the methodology, detailed work plan and activity schedule reflecting the interpretation of the ToR within one (1) week after the signature of service agreement. In this stage, the Team Leader has to submit all necessary logistics needed during the execution of the assignment.
2. Mid Term Report Covering the delivery of Output One (1) and Two (2) and Draft Reports of Output 3
3. Final report covering the delivery of output three (3), follow up activities of output 1 & 2 and handover of all guidelines, materials, datasets, reports and presentations.

8.Consultancy Recruitment, Team Composition and Required Competencies.

High calibre professionals with experience in local governance, decentralized management, strategy development, and facilitation skills for trainings will be recruited. The sector decentralization strategy and development of learning materials requires senior professional.

The Team Leader is expected to be an international consultant with at least ten years of demonstrated experience in managing decentralized natural resources management with extensive experience in assessments and evaluations of NRM interventions, three to five years’ experience in providing high quality technical and advisory support to the governments at federal and local levels in development policy, strategy and programme development

9.Administrative and Logistics Support

The technical experts will be recruited under third part contract terms and conditions and will undertake their assigned tasks and responsibilities under the direct supervision of ILO Somalia Economic Development Technical Adviser in collaboration with NRMWG and stakeholders at regional and local level. ILO will provide logistic and administration support to the experts in terms of accommodation and local and international transport

Payments to technical experts: technical experts shall receive their respective consultancy fees upon certification of completed tasks satisfactorily.

1.Duration of the Assignment

The assignment will start on 10^th December 2015. The duration of the assignment is negotiable.

2.Costing

The consultancy service agreement will be fixed price (lump-sum) whereby the institution/technical team are expected to cost for the assignment as follows:

i) Professional fees for the duration of the assignment period with expert(s) input commensurate with the assignment tasks and deliverables

ii) Reimbursable costs (Per Diems for field missions, travel costs- land fees, custom duties and air ticket fees from-and-to duty stations of the expert)

iii) ILO and Ministries of environment will facilitate all in-country costs and expenditures

All applications should be sent to: hrsomalia@ilo.org with the subject "Consultancy Services for Capacity Building for Decentralized Natural Resource Management in Somaliland & Puntland" by 1700 hrs on Wednesday 18th November, 2015