REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR CONSULTING FIRMS

PREPARATION AND DISSEMINATION OF A KNOWLEDGE PRODUCT ON NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE FUNDS AND GREEN BANKS IN AFRICA.

1. The African Development Bank (AfDB) hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the preparation and dissemination of a Knowledge Product on National Climate Change Funds and Green Banks in Africa.

1. Through the Climate and Green Growth Department (PECG), AfDB seeks to invite expressions of interest from firms with expertise in mobilizing finance to support low carbon climate resilient development.

1. The services to be covered under the terms of the assignment include, but are not limited, to the following: The consultant will assist in raising finance for the implementation of IP/SPCRs by (i) raising awareness about National Climate Change Funds and Green Banks via a comprehensive knowledge product; (ii) disseminating this knowledge through a workshop and presentations at international events; and (iii) assisting the Bank in accessing funds to capitalize climate finance institutions in selected countries.

1. PECG invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible firms or associations of firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience while demonstrating their ability to successfully provide the services (documentation, references for similar services, experience in similar assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.).

1. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedures shall be in conformity with the Presidential Directive No 02/2012 Concerning the Procedures for Acquisition of Consulting Services funded by the Administrative or Capital Expenditure Budget of the Bank Group and its Implementation Manual which are available for consultation on AfDB’s website at afdb.org. Please note that interest expressed by a Consulting Firm does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include tat firm in the shortlist.

1. The assignment is expected to last for a period of 12 months and the estimated starting date is August 2019. In case of need, Interested Consulting firms may obtain additional information by contacting the email addresses below during the Bank’s working days, from 09:00 to 17:00 hours.

1. Expressions of interest must be delivered via email to the addresses below no later than June 17, 2019 at 17:00 Abidjan local time and specifically mention “Preparation and ,Dissemination of a Knowledge Product on National Climate Change Funds and Green Banks in Africa”.

For the Attention of:    Phillips Gareth, Division Manager, PECG.1

Phillips Gareth Division Manager, PECG.1 African Development Bank. 

Annex :

TERMS OF REFRENCE

Preparation and dissemination of a Knowledge Product on National Climate Change

Funds and Green Banks in Africa

1. BACKGROUND

The African Development Bank (AfDB or the “Bank”) is a leading development institution on the continent, focused on promoting economic development and poverty reduction. It engages with the full range and complexity of development challenges in Africa. The Bank has integrated operations, lending directly from the public and private sectors through a variety of instruments.

The Climate Change and Green Growth Department assists Country Programs / Departments to manage the Bank Group’s energy operations in Regional Member Countries (RMCs). Climate change and environmental issues are addressed by incorporating them into the Bank Group supported operations and giving them the visibility required. PECG includes one division is responsible for climate finance PECG.1. Through PECG.1, the PECG department will identify, design and implement environment and climate change adaptation and mitigation programs and projects. These will either be stand-alone or as components of other Bank Group support operations, in particular infrastructure.

The AfDB Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Coordination Unit, housed at PECG.1, coordinates all work related to the CIFs. The CIFs are a pair of funds to help developing countries pilot low-emissions and climate-resilient development. The two funds under the CIFs are:

• The Clean Technology Fund (CTF). The CTF promotes scaled-up financing for demonstration, deployment and transfer of low-carbon technologies with significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings. The AfDB is channeling CTF financing to Africa’s Energy and Transport sector by focusing on renewables energies and energy efficiency projects and/or programs.

• The Strategic Climate Fund (SCF). The SCF serves as an overarching framework to support three targeted programs with dedicated funding to pilot new approaches with potential for scaled-up, transformational action aimed at a specific climate change challenge or sectoral response. The SCF finances three programs, namely, the Forest Investment Program (FIP), the Pilot Program on Climate Resilience (PPCR) and the Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program in Low Income Countries (SREP).

1. The SREP is aims at demonstrating the social, economic, and environmental viability of low carbon development pathways in the energy sector. It seeks to create new economic opportunities and increase energy access through the production and use of renewable energy;

1. The FIP aims to support developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation by providing scaled-up financing for readiness reforms and public and private investments. It will finance programmatic efforts to address the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation and to overcome barriers that have hindered past efforts to do so;

1. The PPCR objective is to pilot and demonstrate ways to integrate climate risk and resilience into core development planning, while complementing other ongoing activities.

The African Development Bank Group’s (AfDB) Second Climate Change Action Plan (2016-2020) is built around four pillars – adaptation; mitigation; climate finance and the creation of enabling environments.

This Consultancy request is a part of a CIF knowledge product activity funded by the CIF country programming budgets to assist the implementation IPs and SPCRs. It will assist in raising finance for the implementation of IP/SPCRs by:

• Raising awareness about National Climate Change Funds and Green Banks via a comprehensive knowledge product;
• Disseminating this knowledge through a workshop and presentations at international events; and
• Assisting the Bank in accessing funds to capitalize climate finance institutions in selected countries.

National Climate Change Funds (NCCF) and Green Banks (GB) can potentially play an important role in mobilizing finance to support low carbon climate resilient development. By creating a climate finance institution, and capitalizing it, Governments can leverage domestic / local currency finance into programmatic activities. With initial capital from, for example a tax or fee, the NCCF or GB can draw on national funds from diaspora, national financial institutions, private investors, savers and sovereign wealth funds as well as international sources such as foundations, philanthropies and impact investors, amongst others. These funds can be further leveraged by international climate funds such as the GCF. However, very few African countries have National Climate Change Funds (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mali being some examples) and generally there is a low level of awareness of how such funds can be created and capitalized.

1. CIF COUNTRY PROGRAMMING BUDGET

At the joint meeting of the CTF and SCF Trust Fund Committees in May 2012, an expanded approach to country programming was adopted to support the CIF programmatic approach and led to the development and implementation of thematic support to activities in the areas of monitoring and evaluation, stakeholder engagement, gender, and knowledge management. Consistent with the original design, proposed activities were to support and enhance the effectiveness of the programmatic approach before and after approval of investment plans.

The multi-year country programming budget supports the MDBs, in collaboration with the countries through their focal points, to carry out five broad categories of activities to support the CIF programmatic approach: (i) IP/SPCR preparation mission support; (ii) Stakeholder Review;

Monitoring and Reporting; (iv) Country and Regional Knowledge; and (v) Gender Mainstreaming, as summarized in Figure 1 below.

This project addresses actions under the Country and Regional Knowledge heading.

1. DUTIES AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The Consulting Company will work with the Bank and participating SCF countries to undertake the following activities:

• On commencement of the engagement, the Consultant will prepare an inception report to describe the plans for the implementation of the engagement. This will be used by the Bank Task Manager to manage the project.
• The consultant will consult broadly with stakeholders and will identify [six] SCF / African countries to visit in order to learn from existing NCCF / GB initiatives and meet with stakeholders to identify the barriers and opportunities for the creation of NCCF / GB institutions.
• The Consultant will prepare and submit for review, a draft Knowledge Product, including a comprehensive review of existing institutions and initiatives (globally), opportunities and challenges associated with the creation of NCCF and GB and recommendations on how to create and capitalize such institutions in varying contexts (e.g. large and small countries). Following review by the Bank, the consultant will finalize the Knowledge Product for publication.
• The consultant will work with the Bank to convene and deliver a [three day] South South Knowledge Exchange Workshop for interested stakeholders to present the findings of the Knowledge Product and help to kick-start the process of creating NCCF and GB institutions.
• The consultant will participate in the presentation of the Knowledge Product at (at least) one international climate event (e.g. CoP 25 or the Green Bank Design Summit 2020) and one African climate event (e.g. Climate Chance 2019 or Africa Climate Week 2020).
• The consultant will assist the Bank in sourcing funds to capitalize NCCF and GB in selected African countries.
• The consultant will prepare monthly and final reports on progress, with outputs annexed to the reports.

The Consultant will report to the project Task Manager and the Manager PECG1.

1. FURTHER GUIDANCE

The knowledge product will draw on experience with Green Banks formation and operation and National Climate Change Funds in a range of developed and developing countries to show-case strengths and weaknesses of the approach. It will explain the institutional infrastructure necessary, and the processes and procedures required to design, form, capitalize and launch Green Banks and/or to establish an NCCF, including fiscal, legal and regulatory structure. It will propose a range of options for more and less developed low-income countries and also small and large low-income countries. It will describe the nature of a suitable institution as a candidate for creating a GB or NCCF. It will provide examples of how existing GBs or NCCF have raised and leveraged finance both in Africa and elsewhere.

1. SELECTION CRITERIA

The Bank will make its selection based on the technical quality of proposals, by an evaluation of the competence and experience of the firms, their proposed methodology and the profile, qualifications and relevant experience of Key Personnel and staff proposed for the project.

The Consultant will propose a project team that shall include, among them, not less than three identified Key Personnel to address the work program described above and shall provide detailed curriculum vitae (CV) of the identified Key Personnel.

The key personnel will comprise one (1) lead person with expertise in each of the following areas:

• Green Bank design and formation experience
• Green Bank capitalization experience with international donors and a focus on the GCF
• Blended Finance / Structured finance experience;

It is envisaged that each key personnel member of the project team shall meet the following minimum criteria:

• A minimum of 7 years of relevant subject matter expertise;
• Extensive knowledge and proven experience involving Green Bank formation and complex financial instruments / transactions; and
• Broad experience operating in Africa or other emerging markets.

In addition, the project team will have internationally recognized transactional experience, comprising the following spheres of expertise:

• Relevant experience in Green Bank design and formation, corporate, project /infrastructure finance, legal practice, structured finance, or any other field relevant to the Assignment;
• Climate sector corporate finance and analytics.

All members of the project team, at all levels of seniority, should be clearly identified with their qualifications and relevant experience specified. If the proposed project team comprises individuals (or specialized entities) that are not regular full-time employees of the Consulting Firm, these individuals and their institutional affiliation should be clearly identified.

An Evaluation Committee appointed by the Bank will select the successful Consultant applying the evaluation criteria and point system in the tables just below. Each proposal will be ranked according to an attributed technical score.

The points given to the evaluation of sub-criteria for qualifications of key experts are:

Evaluation shall be primarily based on the technical proposals. Consequently, financial proposals should be submitted separately.

Within a minimum of 3 weeks of the proposal submission date, the Bank shall notify the successful Consultant that submitted the top ranked proposal to negotiate a Contract. The aim is to reach agreement on all points and initial a draft contract by the conclusion of negotiations. If negotiations fail, the Bank shall invite the entity that received the second highest technical score to Contract negotiations.

The Bank requires that Consultants hired under Bank-financed contracts observe the highest standard of ethics during the selection and execution of Bank-financed contracts; any action taken to influence the selection process or contract execution for unfair advantage will be considered improper and shall lead to automatic elimination from the process.

1. CONTRACT DURATION

The contract with the selected Company will commence at the completion of the selection, upon its signing and last for a period not exceeding twelve months, by which time all deliverables shall have been submitted and approved. The duty station will be the Consultants Offices and will involve travel to participating countries to work on GCF applications and presentation of the Knowledge Product at one international event, for example CoP 25.