The African Forest Forum, in its 2023 annual plan of work, aims to develop a Partnership Policy that will increase its partnership portfolio at national, regional, and global levels; involve more actors; leverage additional resources for its work, and hence sustain the institution. In view of this, AFF is recruiting a regional expert to undertake the development of the policy.
Purpose of the work
This consultancy aims at developing, in collaboration with the AFF Secretariat, a Partnership Policy that will guide the institution in leveraging required expertise and financial resources for its sustainability and strengthened delivery of its mandate.
Specific tasks
The specific tasks for the assignment include:
- Carry out an evaluation of the AFF current way of partnering.
- Collate and review Partnership Policies of organisations (with similar mode/way of working as AFF) in Africa and other regions of the world.
- Develop an annotated outline of the AFF Partnership Policy; to be validated by the AFF Secretariat prior to development of the policy itself.
- Develop a draft AFF Partnership Policy to guide the institution in better developing and managing its partnerships. This could include (but not limited to):
- A clear structure (typology/nomenclature) and hierarchy of partnership and related agreements (types and contents)
- Approaches and procedures for identifying partners and developing partnership with adequate stakeholders at various levels.
- Approaches to forge closer working linkages with relevant national institutions in the host country and in other African countries.
- Approaches to seek a closer and operational relationship with regional and sub-regional intergovernmental institutions (African Union Commission, RECs).
- Approaches to seek a closer and operational relationship with the international institutions relevant to the work of AFF, including the donor community.
- Approaches to best engage collaborations with the (heterogeneous) private sector in Africa and beyond.
- An approach to due diligence prior to signing of agreements.
- An approach to internal and external management and monitoring of agreements.
- Present the draft Partnership Policy to the AFF Secretariat staff and other resource persons and collect inputs / amendments to help revise the draft Policy.
- Finalise the Partnership Policy
Duration
The tasks in these ToRs are for a one month’s workload spread over 3 months.
Expected deliverables
The selected expert is expected to produce the following deliverables:
- A report on the evaluation of the AFF current way of partnering.
- A draft AFF Partnership Policy.
- A final AFF Partnership Policy.
Minimum qualifications and skills
This consultancy is meant for experts demonstrating the following education and skills.
- Have, at least, an MSc degree in business administration, international development, international affairs, social sciences, economics, natural resources management, or any other related fields;
- Have, at least, ten years of proven experience in developing and/or managing partnership of organisations working in diverse fields including natural resources management, forestry, and climate change;
- Have proven knowledge, understanding of the structure and mechanisms of financial institutions including global, regional, and sub-regional multilateral development banks, climate finance institutions, international cooperation agencies, and bilateral donors.
- Have strong research and analytical skills.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
How to apply
Each application should contain the following:
- Cover letter stating how you meet the above qualifications and experience requirements.
- Curriculum vitae.
- A technical proposal of a maximum of 3 pages detailing how you intend to undertake the tasks, and also listing your previous involvement in similar assignments. Contacts of reference persons for each previous similar assignment should be provided. Providing proof of previous similar assignments (contract, certificate of service, etc.) would be an asset.
The expert shall work from his / her location but in close consultation with relevant staff at the AFF Secretariat.
All these should be submitted as email with attachment, indicating in the subject line: “Consultancy no 1- 5.8.4.4. Expert to develop a Partnership Policy for the African Forest Forum”. The mail should be addressed to: Dr Doris Mutta (d.mutta@cifor-icraf.org), with copy to Dr Djibril S. Dayamba (d.dayamba@cifor-icraf.org), Dr Daud Kachamba (d.kachamba@cifor-icraf.org) and exec.sec@afforum.org.
For more information, download the Terms of Reference or visit https://afforum.org/
Application deadline is 30th November 2023.
