Diagnostic and Strategic Analysis to Strengthen Weather, Climate and Hydrological Systems — Regional Climate Resilience Program for Eastern and Sou…

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION)

Name of Project: Regional Climate Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa 2 Project (RCRP2).

Project ID: P181308

Assignment Title: Conduct a Diagnostic and Strategic Analysis of Hydromet Selected Countries and Regional Institutions, with recommendations to strengthen Weather, Climate and Hydrological systems for Improved Multi-Hazard Early Warning Services

Reference No. ET-AUC-506713-CS-QCBS

• Background

The African Union Commission (AUC) is implementing the Regional Climate Resilience Program (RCRP) for Eastern and Southern Africa which is a World Bank funded program where a regional multi-phase Series of Projects (SOP) are implemented to respond to the increasing frequency, intensity, and impact of climate shocks on people, livelihoods, infrastructure, and ecosystems. The Regional Climate Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa 2 Project (RCRP2) includes Malawi (RCRP2-MW) and the African Union (RCRP2-AU) and scales up the Regional Climate Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa (RCRP-1) in Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Sudan, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO). Malawi's inclusion will prioritize the management of the transboundary Shire River Basin, which is significant for the region, particularly for Malawi and Mozambique. It will also enhance coordination between Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, and Mozambique in improving early warning systems and sharing information, as these countries are often affected by the same tropical cyclones. The participation of the AU will support the coordination among all five countries and three regional organizations involved in RCRP-1 and RCRP-2; advance the objective of knowledge sharing, coordination, and promote a harmonized approach to addressing climate change in a gender equitable and inclusive manner. The AU's involvement will scale up the support provided by SADC and ENTRO, facilitate knowledge exchanges and address gender gaps in resilience. Furthermore, the AU's participation will allow other member states to benefit from the studies, trainings, and secondment programs conducted under the project. This could potentially encourage more countries to adopt a coordinated approach to managing the effects of climate change, both within future phases of the project and beyond, for a broader impact at the regional level. Successive SOPs will either expand the geographical coverage or scale up investments in RCRP countries. The overall objective of RCRP2-AU is to strengthen resilience of communities to water-related disasters in Africa which is structured around the following components:

• Risk Management and Climate Financing​.

• Infrastructure Investments and Sustainable Asset Management for Climate Resilience​.

• Adaptive Climate Services for Resilient Communities​.

• Project Management​.

• Contingent Emergency Response Component.

The project's five components integrate regional and national dimensions, promoting policy harmonization, knowledge generation, capacity development, and coordination across RCRP countries.

The AUC Africa Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Early Action (AMHEWAS) Programme is specifically implementing Sub-component 1.4 of the project document which include: (i) the development of regional hydromet diagnostic and roadmap for data collection and transmission to support the operationalization of the AMHEWAS Program; (ii) a comprehensive study on raising climate finance in member countries, (iii) trainings for decision makers and technical experts on various thematic topics including hydromet, disasters risk management, and climate finance, and (iv) expanding the Africa Union’s (AU) secondment program by bringing hydrologists, meteorologists, and disaster management experts to improve collaboration on water resources and disaster risk management.

.

• Overall objective of the Consultancy

The overall objective of this assignment is to conduct a diagnostic study using the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) methodology and regional standards, as well as assessments carried out by development partners (including the World Bank), to establish the capacity of meteorological, hydrological and climate services in selected Member States and regional centers (RCRP plus), and provide technical assistance for a capacity building initiative informed by the study, to strengthen data/ICT, policy and institutional capacities of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States that contribute to overall Multi-Hazard Early Warning.

• Shortlisting Criteria

African Union Commission now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the aforementioned consultancy services. Interested Consultancy Firms should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the aforementioned consultancy services. Interested firms are invited to submit their expressions of interest in accordance with the following shortlisting criteria. Please ensure that your submission shall address only the below specified shortlisting criteria.