La Banque Africaine de Développement recrute un consultant pour l’élaboration d’une stratégie à long terme, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP

BANQUE AFRICAINE DE DEVELOPPEMENT

Date: 23^rd September 2021

Avenue Joseph Anoma

01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01

Côte d’Ivoire

INVITATION TO SUBMIT EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) FOR THE SELECTION OF AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTING FIRM TO FACILITATE THE CONSULTATION ACTIVITIES FOR THE BANK’S NEW LONG-TERM STRATEGY

EXPRESSON OF INTERST (EOI)

1. The African Development Bank hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: “Facilitating the consultation activities for the African Development Bank Group’s new long-term strategy (2023-2032)” ;

2. The services to be delivered are covered in the Terms of Reference (TORs) herein attached ;

3. Interested Consulting Firms should provide information on their qualifications and experience, demonstrating their ability to provide the services in both French and English (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.) ;

4. The eligibility criteria and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedures for the Use of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that responding to this EOI does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank ;

5. Additional requirements: Adherence to the Bank’s Code of Ethics and Core Values¹ are necessary requirements for this assignment. The Bank will severe its relationship with the Consulting Firm, without any encumbrances, if there is any deviation from those standards ;

6. The estimated duration of services is 3 months and the estimated starting date is 18^th October 2021 ;

7. Expressions of interest must be received electronically at the address below no later than 4^th October 2021 at 17:00hrs Abidjan time ;

8. For the attention of :

• Thierry Kangoye, Principal Strategy and Policy Officer (SNSP): kangoye@afdb.org

• Hajer Majoul, Team Assistant (SNSP): majoul@afdb.org
• The Bank has five Core Values: Excellence; Team Spirit; Integrity; Professionalism; and Transparency.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

DEVELOPMENT OF A LONG-TERM STRATEGY FOR THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP

1. OBJECTIVE :

The African Development Bank Group wishes to engage the services of a Consulting Firm to assist in the consultation activities in support of the preparation of a new long-term, corporate strategy that will set the course for Bank’s efforts to respond effectively to Africa’s changing needs. The new strategy will replace the current Ten-Year Strategy, 2013-2022.

2. ABOUT THE BANK :

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank Group (“The Bank” or “AfDB”) is the premier pan-African development institution promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 82 member states, including 54 from Africa (Regional Member Countries – RMCs) and 28 Non-Regional Member Countries. The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group comprises three entities: The African Development Bank (the Bank or ADB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). The Bank’s development agenda is mobilizing resources to deliver financial and technical support for transformative programs and projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive growth and sustainable development of its RMCs.

3. BANK GROUP STRATEGY :

The Bank’s long-term strategic framework is articulated in its Ten-Year Strategy (2013-2022) with the twin objectives of achieving inclusive growth and transitioning to green growth through five operational priority areas, namely, infrastructure development, regional economic integration, private sector development, governance and accountability, and skills and technology. In 2015, the Bank charted a new way forward for Africa by refining its focus through certain key areas to accelerate the delivery of the TYS. These are known as the High Fives, namely: Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa, referred to as the High 5s. The High5s have taken hold on the continent to become fundamental levers to accelerating Africa’s development. According to the UNDP, achieving the High5s will lead to the achievement of 90% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2063 of the African Union.

Over the last 5-years, the High 5s have been successfully implemented with speed and rigor to deliver impressive results. The Bank doubled its lending to the ADB countries and increased 17-fold the value of its loans to ADF countries. Similarly, it increased private sector lending from 40% (from $1.5 billion) in 2015 to $ 2.1 billion in 2019, with the highest level of $ 2.5 billion achieved in 2016. For instance, about 18 million people now have access to electricity on the continent, about 141 million people have access to improved agricultural technologies for food security and over 15 million people can now access finance from private investments. In so doing, the Bank has driven significant development impacts on the ground, including job creation, and building resilient and sustainable economies in Africa.

To deliver on the bold aspirations of the High 5s, the Bank sought and obtained an unprecedented General Capital Increase (GCI-VII) of $115 billion (representing 125% increase) and an African Development Fund (ADF-15) replenishment of $7.6 billion in 2019 (up 32% from the previous cycle).

As the current TYS comes to an end in December 2022, the Bank is strengthening its institutional mechanisms to scale up the High 5s, enhance coherence and build synergies in the implementation of its flagship initiatives under the High 5s, as well as the implementation of policy commitments made as part of its General Capital Increase and the African Development Fund (ADF) replenishments. The expiration of the strategy also comes at a critical time for Africa when the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to erode the development gains of the last decade.

4. PRESIDENT’S VISION :

The President of the Bank has outlined his vision over the next few years to build a stronger institution; strengthen its human capacity; enhance its effectiveness; accelerating the quality of its impact; and strengthen its financial sustainability. The vision also touches on assisting RMCs to address the impact of exogenous and endogenous shocks, such as COVID-19. In this regard, the Bank anticipates balancing development objectives with financial sustainability in both the lending and non-lending programs, with integrated tailored options against the effects of future shocks.

With increasing calls on the Bank to do more in light of the widespread impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bank would like to develop a successor corporate strategy to deliver even greater results on the High 5s so that RMCs can build back boldly, but smartly, with greater emphasis on the quality of growth. Since the pandemic has exposed the Africa’s vulnerabilities, it is important for the new strategy to provide guidance and set the direction on how the Bank could deepen its engagement in the areas of health, agriculture, climate change and the environment, while building on its comparative advantage in infrastructure to finance quality economic physical and health infrastructure.

With COVID-19 presenting new challenges and opportunities, it is imperative for the successor strategy to also reflect on how to accelerate industrialization by building manufacturing capacity and industrial value chains; paying attention to regional industrial value chains and strengthening financial markets for the expansion of intra-regional trade and competitiveness, as well as boosting the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. Furthermore, the Bank intends to reposition itself for enhanced policy dialogue with RMCs, especially on advancing green growth and addressing youth unemployment. These will be done in partnerships with other development partners, private sector and civil society, inter-alia, which the upcoming strategy should reflect.

In light of the strategic context outlined above and to operationalize its priorities, the Bank introduced a new Development and Business Delivery Model (DBDM) to spur innovation and enhance responsiveness to its clients in 2016. At the heart of the DBDM is the quest to make the Bank nimbler and more efficient. The successor TYS will therefore take cognizance of the recent developments both internally and externally. Significant external developments include the adoption of AU Vision 2063 and the SDGs, the outcomes of the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 of the UN and the Addis Ababa Action Plan and other commitments relating to the Financing for Development agenda.

5. THE NEED FOR CONSULTATIONS :

Consulting stakeholders is an important instrument for the Bank and is used to collect information for evidence-based policymaking and programming. The views of all the critical stakeholders, their practical experience and data will help deliver higher quality and more credible policy initiatives, evaluations and fitness checks. It also ensures greater transparency and legitimacy of the strategy development process and contributes to a more successful implementation. As part of the design of the TYS, the Bank is currently preparing a consultation plan. Among other things, the plan seeks to ensure an effective and efficient consultation approach. It is expected that the evidence collected from the consultations will complement evidence from other sources.

6. THE REQUIRED SERVICES :

The consulting firm is expected to support the team developing the Bank’s new strategy in implementing the TYS Consultation Plan by ensuring that all the relevant evidence is taken into account including data on the costs, benefits and societal and development impacts of the New Strategy. In particular, the firm will help organize, conduct and report on consultations with both internal and external stakeholders (including but not limited to Bank’s Board of Governors, Bank’s executive directors, Bank’s senior management, Bank’s internal clusters of experts, national governments, private sector actors, multilateral and bilateral development institutions, other development-oriented institutions, civil society organizations and academic and applied research institutions). The consulting will also importantly help ensure proper communication around the consultations as well as an effective participation of the target groups. The consulting firm will adhere to a consultation plan that will be prepared by the recruiting department and that will clarify the approach, the form of the consultations, the targeted groups and the guiding questions. The firm may also be required to provide inputs or recommend adjustments to the plan as they see fit. The approach paper of the new Ten-Year strategy, which has been already been developed by a Bank-wide Interdepartmental Working Group (IDWG), will also serve as a key background material for the consultations.

The specific task of the assignment, will thus include but limited to the following :

• Review and provide feedback on the consultation plan developed by the TYS task team. Particular attention will be on the scope and objectives of the consultations ;
• Verification and mapping of key stakeholders identified in the consultation plan ;
• Determine the consultation methods and tools and ensure accessibility by all stakeholders especially in terms of language regime and disabilities ;
• Communication of the consultation plan to ensure transparency and accountability of the consultation process ;
• Coordinate all relevant stakeholders and facilitate the different consultations ;
• Moderate focus group discussions during the different consultations ;
• Collection, collation and presentation of the consultation evidence in form of reports and engagements with the TYS task team and Senior Management ;
• Development of a theory of change for the TYS based on the outcome of the consultations.

7. EXPECTED DELIVERABLES :

The expected deliverables of the consultancy will include the following: (i) a comprehensive summary (in a form of a report) of the feedback and issues raised during the consultations along with draft responses on how those will be reflected in the new strategy, (ii) a detailed communication plan around the consultations,(iii) background materials and tools including but not limited to a dedicated online consultation platform providing space for stakeholders to contribute their inputs, and short information notes to be shared with them prior to meetings and (iv) a theory of change on the new TYS.

8. EVALUATION PROCESS :

The prospective Firm’s expression of interest will be evaluated based on the following criteria and weights :

Only firms who will score more than 70% will be short-listed and will be contacted for the next stage of the recruitment process.

9. TEAM COMPOSITION :

The consultancy team working on this assignment will include at a minimum :

• A Team Leader – A senior executive or manager at the firm ;
• 3 core team members with expertise in the following ;
• Strategy/Policy analyst – with at least 10 years of experience in all or many of the TYS/High5 priority areas, encompassing public and private sectors ;
• Policy/business analyst with experience in project management and change management ;
• Communication specialist and event planner – with at least 10 years of experience.

10. QUALIFICATION OF CONSULTANTS TEAM MEMBERS :

Firms that express interest in this assignment must have :

• Diverse and extensive experience on African development issues ;
• Experience working with Multilateral Development Banks and international organizations ;
• Excellent understanding of the working of multilateral development banks ;
• Excellent drafting skills, experience in high level consultations with multicultural teams ;
• Experience in strategic thinking and coordinating dialogue events for international organizations with a diverse group of stakeholders ;
• The Consultant’s team will be comprised of individuals with minimum of a Master’s Degree in international economic development, finance, business administration, communication or any other relevant qualifications related to the tasks to be performed under this assignment ;
• Capacity to work in English or French. Working knowledge of the other language will be an advantage.

11. TIME SCHEDULE FOR DELIVERABLES AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS :

The timeframe for this assignment is 3-months with key timelines as shown below :

The consulting firm shall report to the Director, SNSP. Day-to-day management of the consultancy shall be assured by a person designated by the Director. Reports and all correspondence will be sent to :

• Thierry Kangoye,       Principal       Strategy        and        Policy       Officer        (SNSP) : t.kangoye@afdb.org
• Hajer Majoul, Team Assistant (SNSP) : majoul@afdb.org

11. LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT :

The service will be rendered at both the Bank’s Headquarters and/or in of the regions covered by the consultations . Senior Management, however, reserves the right to change the location of the assignment, as necessary. In the interim, however, the assignment will be rendered virtually due to the COVID-19 context. Once the Bank resumes work from office, the consultants will be expected to travel to Abidjan and/or to any targeted location, as and when required by Management.

12. REMUNERATION :

The payment will be done according to the qualifications. The remuneration will be commensurate   with   the   African   Development   Bank’s   Rules   and  Procedures    for Recruitment and Remuneration of Consultants.

The consulting firm will have to obtain personal health insurance cover by their own cost. The coverage should include all medical expenses, including those resulting from illness or injury incurred during the duration of the assignment. Proof of insurance coverage will have to be provided to the Bank before the start of the assignment

13. SPECIFICATIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF EOI :

All EOI must be submitted in Electronic format to the email address above no later than 4^th October 2021 at 17:00hrs Abidjan time.