The African Development Bank hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Agriculture, biodiversity, land degradation and fragility in Africa High 5 specific study: Agriculture

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

TRANSITION STATES COORDINATION OFFICE

Immeuble du Centre de commerce International d’Abidjan (CCIA)

Avenue Jean-Paul II

01 BP 1387, Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

 

1. The African Development Bank hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Agriculture, biodiversity, land degradation and fragility in Africa High 5 specific study: Agriculture
2. The services to be provided under the Assignment include: In recent years, the concept of fragility has gained prominence as an approach that deepens the understanding of the challenges faced by many low income, conflict and post-conflict countries in their efforts to attain sustainable and equitable economic development. Extensive research shows that cyclical state and social fragility, conflicts and violence are among the main challenges to development.

Billions of people live on farmland that is deteriorating and producing less food, and this situation could force hundreds of millions of people to migrate over the next three decades. Climate change and worsening land quality could see crop yields halve in some regions by 2050, and larger tracts of degraded land means that conflict over resources is more likely. Decreasing land productivity also makes societies more vulnerable to social instability – particularly in dryland areas, where years with extremely low rainfall have been associated with an increase of up to 45 percent in violent conflict. Analyses show that as degraded land becomes less productive – through deforestation, overgrazing, flash floods or drought – people, many of them poor farmers, are forced to migrate to cities or abroad. And when arid, semi-dry or dryland areas degrade further, deserts spread – which means lower crop yields. In just over three decades from now, an estimated 4 billion people will live in drylands. By then it is likely that land degradation, together with the closely related problems of climate change, will have forced 50-700 million people to migrate.

The Sahel countries—Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad—face many of the above mentioned challenges combined with chronic insecurity and rising extremism. In this context, a sector specific study is commissioned in order to provide an understanding of the complex connectivity between agricultural development activities and economic, social, political and environmental causes, drivers, dynamics and manifestations of fragility in the G5 Sahel countries. The expected impact is multifold: (i) provide an general deeper understanding of the interaction between agricultural activities and fragility/conflict in the five identified countries (relevant for all development actors in the region, including the AfDB), (ii) provide specific understanding of the Bank approach to agricultural activities and how it related to fragility/conflict (relevant for the AfDB), (iii) provide recommendations on how to ensure stronger fragility sensitive approach to agricultural activities in the G5 Sahel countries (relevant for all development actors, including the AfDB).

Objectives with the proposed study :

• Africa specific study on how agriculture, land degradation, access to water, drought is impacting fragility and resilience and visa versa in Africa ;
• Sector specific study on how the African Government agricultural policies and implementation impact this thematic in the G5 countries ;
• Study on how AfDB is currently addressing this thematic via its agricultural strategy ;
• Policy recommendations from a fragility perspective.

Develop training material for agricultural sector specialists to ensure that their design and implementation of agriculture strategies and projects are fragility sensitive the duration of the mission will be 16 weeks. The team shall consist of a senior researcher, a research assistant and a trainng specialist.

3. The TRANSITION STATES COORDINATION OFFICE (RDTS) invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible Consulting Firms or associations of Consulting Firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable Assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.).
4. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy Framework for projects financed by the Bank Group, October 2015 Edition, available on the Bank Website at http://www.afdb.org. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consulting Firm does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include it in the shortlist.
5. The estimated duration of services is 16 weeks and the estimated starting date is End of November 2018.
6. Interested Consulting Firms may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: from 08 :00 to 17 :00 hours
7. Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than November 12, 2018  at  15:00  local  time  and  specifically  mentioning.

Agriculture, biodiversity, land degradation and fragility in Africa High 5 specific study : Agriculture

For the attention of : Mr. SANOGO ALI

African Development Bank

Transition States Coordination Office

Immeuble du Centre de commerce International d’Abidjan (CCIA)

Avenue Jean-Paul II

Abidjan

01 BP 1387, Abidjan 01

Côte d’Ivoire

E-mail: a.l.sanogo@afdb.org or t.sorensen@afdb.org