Consultancy Services to develop Groundwater Policy, Legal and Institutional enabling environment roadmaps and implementation of PLI quickwin interventions in selected SADC Member States at Regional level.

Request for Expression of Interest

For

Consultancy Services for Development of Groundwater Policy, Legal & Institutional (PLI) Enabling Environment Roadmaps and Implementation of PLI Quick-win interventions in Selected SADC Member States and at SADC Regional Level

• Background

After successful completion of the Sustainable Groundwater Management in SADC Member States Phase 1 project, the SADC-GMI is now implementing phase 2 of the same project, under the strategic guidance of the SADC Secretariat. The 4-year phase 2 project is financed by the Multi Donor Trust Fund Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA), in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), through the World Bank, and comprises of the following key components:

Component 1: Capacity building for sustainable groundwater management

Component 2: Knowledge development, dissemination, and advocacy

Component 3: Building resilient livelihoods, and inclusive groundwater management

Under sub-component B2, of Phase 1, SADC-GMI facilitated a Gap Analysis study for the policy, legal and institutional frameworks for groundwater management through desktop studies and visiting the Member States, culminating in a regional and country specific perspective status report. Using the output from the Gap Analysis study, a dedicated advocacy programme was implemented to encourage SADC Member States to address gaps as identified. The gap analysis and advocacy tasks was used to identify at least one Member State that will be assisted through Technical Assistance as a pilot in the development of a roadmap for addressing the identified gaps in the policy, legal and institutional framework which should be addressed to provide an enabling environment for effective groundwater management. This tasks also envisages finding alignment with the Revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses of 2000 and river basin agreements across the region.

In pursuance of the focus area of the need to create an enabling environment for sustainable groundwater development and management, from May 2018 to October 2019, SADC-GMI implemented the project entitled “Policy, Legal and Institutional Development for Groundwater Management in the SADC Member States, (GMI-PLI)” which sought to;

• identify and analyse gaps in the PLI framework at a national and regional level;
• develop an action plan to address the identified gaps and national and regional level;
• develop guidelines/tools/standards to address some of the challenges identified in the gap analyses;
• develop a groundwater roadmap for two (2) pilot Member States to address some of the gaps identified for the Member States. The deliverables from this said project are as follows:

• 16 National Gap Analysis & Action Plan Reports produced for all the SADC Member States which can be accessed on the SADC-GMI website (National Gap Analysis Reports - SADC Groundwater Management Institute (sadc-gmi.org)).
• Analysis of the PLI instruments and environment leading to the production of the SADC Regional Gap Analysis Report also obtainable from the SADC-GMI website (GMIPL_Regional-Gap-Analysis_Final_English-1.pdf (sadc-gmi.org).
• The elaboration of PLI roadmaps was subsequently piloted in Eswatini and Tanzania
• Production of Guidance Documents to support the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable groundwater development and management. The following Guidance Documents are accessible on the SADC-GMI website (…• PLI Development for GW Management - Background & Objectives (Z-fold.cdr (sadc-gmi.org))
• Development of a Groundwater PLI Roadmap (GMIPLI_GL_Roadmap-Guideline_Final.pdf (sadc-gmi.org))
• Operation & Management of Groundwater Schemes (GMIPLI_GL_OperationMaintenance_Final.pdf (sadc-gmi.org))
• Building Groundwater Resilience (GMIPLI_GL_Building-GW-Resilience_Final.pdf (sadc-gmi.org))
• Framework for Institutionalizing GW Management (GMIPLI_Institutional-Guideline_FINAL.pdf (sadc-gmi.org))

The PLI project did 2 PLI Roadmaps in 2 of the 16 SADC Member States, thereby leaving 14 SADC Member States without Roadmaps.

During the formulation of the phase 2 project, it was acknowledged that the remaining SADC Member States also require PLI roadmaps. Component 1.1 of phase 2 project therefore made provision for the development of the PLI roadmaps.

• Objective of the Assignment

The key objective of this assignment is to roll-out the creation of an enabling policy, legal and institutional environment for effective groundwater management in SADC through the development of PLI Roadmaps, identification of quick-win PLI interventions from the PLI roadmaps and piloting the implementation of some PLI quick-win actions in the SADC Member States and at SADC regional level.

• Specific Tasks and Activities

To achieve the objectives of this assignment, the successful Consulting Firm will undertake the following core tasks:

• Study the documents generated through the PLI project since its inception in 2018
• Produce an inception including an updated Concept approach describing how:• PLI Roadmaps will be prioritized and implemented in the 9 SADC Member States that do not yet have PLI Roadmaps;
• How Quick-win PLI interventions will be identified from the PLI Roadmaps already developed and those that will be developed during the course of this assignment; and
• Approach for implementing prioritized Quick-win PLI interventions at national and regional level

• In consultation with SADC-GMI, National Focal Persons, National Focal Groups (where available) and other national stakeholders, implement the agreed actions prioritized in the Inception Report
• Design and implement a participatory and transparent tool for identification of the 5 pilot Member State for this assignment;
• In consultation with SADC-GMI, and SADC Secretariat Water Division, engage Member States virtually and physically to identify and implement Quick-win PLI interventions emanating from the Regional PLI Roadmap
• Capture lessons learnt from implementation of the assignment in the different countries and facilitate knowledge sharing through events (workshops, conferences, steering committee meetings, etc) and publication/dissemination platforms
• Produce milestone reports on implementation of the entire project as agreed.
• In liaison with SADC-GMI, schedule, organise and document regular progress review meetings for the project.
• In consultation with SADC-GMI, identify key advocacy issues and support the design and implementation of advocacy activities for realignment of PLI environments for effective groundwater management. The consultant will be responsible for everything else under this task except the logistics and costs for participants attending the advocacy workshops at regional level which will be handled directly by SADC-GMI.
• Where required, assist SADC-GMI to acquire services for the translation of the products into French, Portuguese or Swahili as necessary

• Eligibility The ideal Consultant should be a registered firm with proven experience in the international water sector and a track record of more than 8 years strengthening national and regional policies, laws and institutions to enhance groundwater governance and management in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the SADC region. Firms demonstrating a proven track record of successfully completing at least 3 similar projects, of which 1 should have been in the SADC region are preferred. Specific experience undertaking PLI consultancy work in the SADC Member States is required. In the case of a partnership for purposes of this assignment, relevant experience from the Key Experts will be aggregated to the firm’s experience.

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• Schedule and Duration of Assignment

This is a once-off assignment without any obligation for follow-up work and it is intended to be implemented in the period from contract signature (estimated 1 April 2023) for 60 weeks (estimated to 30 June 2024) with an estimated aggregate level of effort of 400 person-days for key experts only.

The Consultant shall include in their submission a proposal for the deployment of the key experts and any non-key experts and support staff deemed necessary to timely deliver the objectives of the assignment.

• Liaison and Logistics On a day-to-day basis, the consultant will liaise with the SADC-GMI through the Senior Groundwater Specialist and be ultimately accountable to the Executive Director of SADC-GMI.

• Expression of Interest Submission Requirements

Interested consultancy firms are requested to submit an expression of interest, and the expression of interest should include the following:

a) Valid Business License

b) Registration Certificate of TIN and VAT

c) Company Certificate Registration/Incorporation

d) Evidence showing that the firm is a legal entity (certificate of registration)

e) Experience of working in a similar geographical region (SADC region)

f) Availability of Professional Key Staff with Suitable Qualifications in the field of

assignment

g) Evidence of at least 3 similar projects previously successfully completed, of which one was in the SADC region

h) Evidence showing the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm in the field of assignment

i) Brief description (not more than 3 pages) of the proposed Methodology of carrying out the scope of the work

j) The EOI submission should not exceed 30 pages.

Further information can be obtained at the e-mail address listed below during office hours i.e., 08:00 am-5:00pm, Monday – Friday, [email protected]

• Submission of Expression of Interest (EOI)

Bidders must submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) by e-mail to [email protected] by 12:00 noon (RSA Time) on or before 28 February 2023.

The email heading shall be marked “Consultancy Services for Development of Groundwater Policy, Legal & Institutional (PLI) Enabling Environment Roadmaps and Implementation of PLI Quick-win interventions in Selected SADC Member