REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Climate Change and Green Growth Department

Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF)

E-mail : l.brown@afdb.org Telephone: +225 2026 4258

The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Programme officer to support the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF).

The services to be provided under the Assignment are described in the below terms of reference.

The Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF), hosted in the Climate Change and Green Growth Department, invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide a brief (not more than four pages) CV describing their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment. The CV must include full name, date of birth, nationality, language proficiency, education and employment history, and the names of 2 referees.

The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedures shall be in conformity with the Bank’s procedures for the Selection of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.

The estimated duration of services is 1 year and the estimated starting date is late January 2019.

Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at brown@afdb.org during the Bank’s working hours.

Expressions of interest should be submitted by email to the address below with the subject line “EOI for ACCF programme officer” no later than midnight GMT on 7 January 2019.

Establishment of a shortlist: A shortlist of three to six individual consultants will be established at the end the request of expressions of interest. The consultants will be judged on the following criteria on the basis of their CV to form the shortlist :

• Qualifications compared to the field of mission 25%
• Experience relevant to the assignment 45%
• Language proficiency 15%
• Quality of CV presentation 15%

Terms of Reference for Programme Officer, Africa Climate Change Fund

Introduction and objectives :

The African Development Bank (AfDB) wishes to recruit a consultant under the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) to support project and programme appraisal and implementation, portfolio management, communications and administrative activities.

The ACCF was created in April 2014 as a bilateral fund with an initial contribution of €4,725 million from Germany to support African countries in their transition towards a climate-resilient and low-carbon development path. In March 2017, it was converted into a Multi-donor Trust Fund (MDTF) following new funding commitments from Italy (EUR4.7 million) and Flanders (EUR2 million). The ACCF is hosted and managed by PECG1 and it is implemented in collaboration with other departments of the Bank. It provides small grants (USD250,000 – USD1 million) to African governments, research institutions, regional institutions and NGOs, as well as Bank departments, to support regional member countries to scale up their access to climate finance and advance low-carbon, climate resilient development.

The ACCF has eight approved projects in its current portfolio which are in various stages of implementation and approximately 20 projects that are in the pipeline following a recent call for proposals. The shortlisted proposals are undergoing a technical and fiduciary appraisal, after which they will be submitted to the ACCF Technical Committee or Oversight Committee (depending on the proposal amount) for approval. Approved projects will be executed with the support of Bank task managers and the ACCF Secretariat. In the case of projects for which there is no Bank task manager, the ACCF secretariat will supervise the execution of the project.

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the ACCF Coordinator and the management of the Climate Finance Division (PECG1), Climate Change and Green Growth Department, the Consultant will assist in the following areas :

Project Management :

• Lead¹ in and support task managers in advancing ACCF projects through the project cycle, particularly in areas of procurement, developing and executing work plans, ¹ For projects for which the Secretariat is the task manager legal processing, disbursement, and reporting in collaboration with relevant Bank departments ;
• Provide guidance to project executing entities to ensure the technical quality and relevance of project activities and support them to understand and carry out effective monitoring and reporting of project execution (through bi-annual reports and project completion reports) in line with the ACCF results management framework ;
• Serve as primary point of liaison between the ACCF Secretariat, task managers, and project executing entities and provide support to executing entities on project execution (in particular on technical, operational, procurement, disbursement, and results management issues) to advance projects under implementation ;
• Undertake inception and supervision missions when necessary to engage with project executing entities, in collaboration with relevant Bank staff, to provide guidance, address any bottlenecks and advance project implementation ;
• Liaise with internal (e.g. other departments and trust funds) and external stakeholders (e.g. other agencies supporting related projects) to ensure effective coordination of ACCF projects with other ongoing related activities in the relevant countries and regions and to explore opportunities for collaboration ;
• Maintain updated files and documents for all projects.

Outreach and communications :

• Support the organisation and execution of occasional outreach or lesson-sharing workshops and events ;
• Support the organisation and execution of occasional training activities for actual or prospective executing entities of ACCF projects ;
• Engage with other Bank-hosted funds to share experiences and learn from them ;
• Support the preparation of ACCF’s annual report, bi-annual newsletter and periodic updates and briefs ;
• Support the development of annual work plans and budgets ;
• Carry-out research and prepare briefs as required by ACCF Coordinator ;
• Strengthen the ACCF web-presence (AfDB website, external website, external donor data platform, blog, etc.) ;
• Prepare ACCF communications materials, including brochures and press releases ;
• Support the ACCF Secretariat to strengthen its thought leadership and communication around climate change adaptation and climate finance issues, including through developing short research articles, blogs, and profiles to share lessons from ACCF projects and activities.

Other :

 Other related tasks to advance the objectives of the ACCF as requested by the ACCF Coordinator.

Qualifications and Experience

The qualifications required for this assignment are the following :

• Master degree in economics, finance, international relations, climate change or related field
• 5-8 years of relevant work experience including in project management in the context of climate change adaptation, climate finance, and/or capacity building ;
• Good knowledge of global climate finance instruments, in particular the Green Climate Fund, and capacity building for sustainable development in an African context, including understanding of African countries’ climate finance needs and priorities ;
• Experience of working with development finance institutions; experience or knowledge of the processes, procedures and project management systems of the African Development Bank would be an advantage ;
• Experience in working with climate funds and institutions, and/or Bank trust funds would be an advantage ;
• Strong organisational and time management skills and attention to detail, ability to work independently, pro-actively and with little supervision ;
• Experience in communications including newsletters, annual reports, blogs, web articles etc. ;
• Ability to communicate effectively and diplomatically with a range of actors including external executing agencies, senior government officials, partner organisations, donors and others ;
• Good team skills, professional judgment, diplomacy, presentation and maturity ;
• Proficiency in MS Office applications, particularly excel and access; knowledge of the Bank’s SAP software would be an advantage ;

• Professional proficiency and demonstrated writing ability in English and French is required. Knowledge of Portuguese would be an advantage.

Deliverables and reporting

It is expected that the Consultant will contribute to the realization of ACCF’s overall objectives and work program for 2019. Specific outputs to be produced during the course of the assignment include :

• An Inception Report eight weeks after assumption of duty, outlining the agreed upon work program and operational recommendations ;
• Evidence of the smooth and timely execution and disbursement for 2 projects already in the pipeline and an additional 5-10 projects to be approved in 2019 ;
• Develop 2018 annual report and 2019 newsletters and other communications materials ;
• Occasional portfolio status reports, press releases, and back-to-office reports ;
• Contributions to the ACCF’s annual work programme for 2019 as requested by the ACCF Coordinator ;
• A Completion Report at the end of the assignment outlining all deliverables achieved and further work necessary ;
• Any other report/assignment required by the ACCF Secretariat.

The contract will be subject to a three month probationary period, at the end of which the consultant’s performance will be assessed. At mid-term of the contract period, and at the conclusion of the assignment, the Consultant’s outputs will be evaluated based on the following criteria :

1. Professional competence ;
2. Organizational and communication skills ;
3. Reliability ;
4. Timely delivery of results ;
5. Quality of work produced.

The consultant will report to the ACCF coordinator, who is under the overall supervision of the Manager, Climate Finance Division.

Duration, timeline and remuneration :

The assignment will commence at completion of the selection process and upon contract signing. The contract with the selected Consultant will last for a period of 12 months, with the possibility of further renewal, based on satisfactory performance, budget availability and relevant rules. The duty station will be the AfDB Headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Remuneration will be competitive and based on the qualifications and experience of the selected consultant, in line with the Bank’s guidelines on consultant remuneration. A precise work program will be agreed upon with the ACCF Coordinator on commencement of the assignment. Written outputs will be in English or French as required. The consultant’s work will be mostly desk –based, but in some cases field missions may be required.

Confidentiality :

Any information provided by AfDB, project proponents or executing entities, or by any other source concerning any AfDB project or activity or the bidding and appointment of the Consultant will be considered confidential and proprietary in nature, and should not (except as required by law) be disclosed by the Consultant to any third party.