Call for Expressions of Interest (EoI) for Cooperation Partners for Agreement of Cooperation
Supporting African Cities Develop Climate Action Plans for Mitigation and Adaptation
Date first published: 13th July 2017
Deadline for submissions of EoIs: 11 August 2017
- Background
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. Cities are on the front-line of climate change. On the one hand, cities are responsible for roughly 70 per cent of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions; on the other hand cities are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. The New Urban Agenda adopted at Habitat III highlights the role of cities in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The New Urban Agenda commits to promote urban climate action, including climate change adaptation and mitigation. It `commits to support cities to build resilience and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG).
UN-Habitat carries out several projects to support climate change adaptation and mitigation in urban areas. The Climate Change Planning Unit (CCPU) of UN-Habitat’s Urban Planning and Design Branch (UPDB) leads many of the Agency’s climate activities assisting cities to undertake climate action, as well as normative engagement (e.g., with UNFCCC processes). This includes efforts to improve policies, plans and designs for more compact, socially inclusive, better integrated and connected cities that foster sustainable urban development and are resilient to climate change.
UN-Habitat’s Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) under CCPU seeks to enhance the preparedness and mitigation activities of cities in developing countries. CCCI supports city activities in countries such as Ecuador, Philippines, Mozambique, Uganda, Indonesia, Namibia, Burkina Faso and others. In climate action planning, CCCI has generally followed one of two planning methodologies: (i) Participatory Climate Change Assessments, and (ii) Developing Local Climate Change Plans. These form part of a suite of tools to support city leaders and practitioners in addressing the impact of climate change (adaptation) and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation). Another such tool is the Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning, developed with partner organisations; it proposes 8 globally applicable principles that can serve as a common benchmark for cities as they undertake climate action planning.
Funded by the European Commission, UN-Habitat and Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) implemented the “Promoting Low Emission Urban Development Strategies in Emerging Economy Countries (Urban-LEDS)” project to enhance the transition to low emission urban development in emerging economy countries. It offered selected local governments in Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa a comprehensive methodological framework (ICLEI’s GreenClimateCities methodology) to integrate low-carbon strategies into all sectors of urban planning and development.
- Project Introduction
With the support from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UN-Habitat is implementing a global project “Developing and Financing City Climate Action Plans”, with some activities planned in Africa. One of the objectives of this project is to help cities in Least Developed Countries that have signed up to the Compact of Mayors to comply with the Compact. The Compact of Mayors cities (as of 21 June 2016) include twenty five cities from Least Developed Countries (twenty cities in Africa and five cities in Asia and the Pacific). Of these, Moroni, Comoros and Nacala, Mozambique were selected for this assistance at present.
The Compact of Mayors was launched at the 2014 Climate Summit. To comply with the Compact, a city must follow each of following stages: (1) commit to reduce GHG emissions and address climate change risks; (2) inventory and report their greenhouse gas emissions from stationary energy, inboundary travel, and waste and report on current and future climate hazards; (3) set reduction targets and assess vulnerabilities; and (4) develop a climate change mitigation and adaptation plan. Thus, under the Compact of Mayors there is an “adaptation” stream and “mitigation” stream (see Figure 1). Cities receive “badges” for each stage of the Compact they complete. Each stage of the process is to be reported on the Compact of Mayors reporting platforms CDP and/or Carbonn as well to the Compact of Mayors support team in order to obtain a “badge”.
In December 2015, during the Climate Summit for Local Leaders at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris (COP21), it was announced that the Compact of Mayors and the European Union’s Covenant of Mayors would formally partner to form the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. UN-Habitat is a member of the Founders Council for the Global Covenant. The merger recognized that cities that have committed to the Compact of Mayors could still follow the Compact of Mayors requirements for compliance, to the end of 2018, before the requirements for compliance with the Global Covenant of Mayors would come into effect.
Figure 1: Compact of Mayors requirements for compliance (see link for further details)..
Both Moroni and Nacala have committed to the Compact of Mayors; they have reaffirmed their commitment to comply with the Compact of Mayors through official letters to UN-Habitat, while also requesting the support of UN-Habitat in this endeavour. Already UN-Habitat has undertaken site visits to both cities and established focal points within each local government to partner with in this endeavour.
In April 2017 the CCPU contracted Pegasys Institute to support both Moroni and Nacala develop greenhouse gas emissions inventories (refer to Figure 2). This activity is well under way and is expected to be completed by September 2017. Thus far the preliminary emissions inventory has been completed following a visit to each city, and meeting with and data collection from relevant stakeholders. At present (July 2017) the preliminary inventory is being refined, with a workshop planned in each city to share the results and collect feedback and identify missing or incorrect data.
CCPU is also reaching agreement with the Agency’s Regional Office for Africa (ROAf) to conduct the adaptation portion of the Compact of Mayor’s compliance in Moroni, Comoros. This includes (i) a hazard report, (ii) a vulnerability assessment, and (iii) a climate change adaptation plan (refer to Figure 2).
- Scope of Agreement of Cooperation
UN-Habitat invites Expressions of Interest from academic or research institutions, Not-for-Profit Organizations, Governmental and Inter-Governmental organizations for an Agreement of Cooperation (AoC). Individual consultants are encouraged to team up with such organizations that intend to apply. The EoI will cover the following task:
- To support Moroni, Comoros and Nacala, Mozambique fully comply with their remaining commitments under the Compact of Mayors (see Figure 2), as evidenced by their obtaining “badges” for each stage.
Figure 2: Compact of Mayors requirements for compliance with current status in Moroni and Nacala, identifying actors involved and remaining activities that are deliverable under this EoI.
More specifically, the partner’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Support Nacala, Moroni, or BOTH complete the remaining activities necessary for compliance to the Compact of Mayors, as indicated by receipt of badges for individual steps. The remaining activities (per Figure 2) are [For further details on minimum requirements for badging, see chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https:/data.bloomberglp.com/mayors/sites/14/2015/04/Compact-of-Mayors_Definition-of-compliance.pdf]:
Moroni
- Mitigation
(i) Target setting
Cities must register a city-wide target to reduce local GHG reductions based on a baseline GHG emissions inventory. Targets may be in any of the following formats: Base year reduction targets; fixed-level reduction targets; baseline scenario reduction targets; and intensity targets. Contractors must be ready to communicate the benefits and dis-benefits of all options and support the city with setting local GHG emissions reduction targets in the appropriate format.
(ii) Climate change action plan for mitigation
The climate action plan must show how the city will deliver on its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To be compliant, the climate action plan must include the following minimum requirements:
- Political commitment
- Vision describing city’s overall ambition and clear objectives
- Context
- Baseline GHG emissions
- Business-as-usual GHG emissions forecast
- GHG emissions reduction target(s)
- Implementation plan
- Monitoring plan
Nacala
- Mitigation
(i) Target setting
See Moroni
(ii) Climate change action plan for mitigation
See Moroni
- Adaptation
(i) Hazard report
The cities must report on both the current and future climate hazards that they face. The CDP and Carbonn reporting platforms include questions that allow cities to nominate the current and future hazard they face using the terminology of the C40 City Climate Hazard Taxonomy.
(ii) Vulnerability/risk assessment
A climate change vulnerability assessment is a qualitative and/or quantitative assessment of the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity. To be compliant a city climate change risk and/or vulnerability assessment must consider both current and future climate conditions.
(iii) Climate change adaptation action plan
The plan must outline the intended alterations to the city’s systems in response to actual or anticipated climate change. It should cover the services and departments directly managed by the city government and may also consider the actions required by other stakeholders. The aim of such a plan is to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities from expected climate change and its effects. To be compliant, the plan must outline the following minimum requirements:
- Political commitment
- Vision describing city’s overall ambition and clear objectives
- Context
- Hazard report
- Vulnerability assessment
- Actions to reduce the harm or exploit the benefits of expected climate change
- Cross-departmental engagement
- Mechanism for review
- Support Nacala, Moroni or BOTH report outputs to the Compact of Mayors through local authority focal points in a manner that ensures the city receives a badge.
UN-Habitat’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:
- Lead overall implementation of the Project, including global coordination, quality control, communication with the Project donor, and presentation of the final outputs.
- Advise contractor on Compact compliance requirements, and provide technical backstopping and introductions (e.g., to Compact support team), to support the implementation in Nacala and Moroni.
- Review key draft reports and deliverables, and provide technical inputs and suggestions that support potential improvement.
- As and when requested, provide initial orientation to local service providers, consultants and project partners undertaking specific assignments.
Implementation arrangement in Moroni and Nacala:
Moroni: A local consultant has been contracted to support ROAf with the implementation of the Adaptation portion of this Compact of Mayors. He will support the implementation of the mitigation portion by facilitating meetings with relevant stakeholders and providing logistical support for visits to Moroni. However the local authority focal point is responsive and dedicated.
Nacala: ROAf has a consultant stationed in Nampula (1-2 hours’ drive to Nacala) who will provide limited logistical support. The local authority focal point in Nacala speaks English, is responsive and dedicated, and is already engaged with the Compact of Mayors.
The EoI should be presented in English. It should contain, but not be limited to the following:
- Preference and ability to implement this project in either Moroni, Comoros; Nacala, Mozambique; or BOTH.
- General institutional and technical information of the applicant
- Overall experience of the organization in the area of supporting cities in drafting Climate Action Plans for both mitigation and adaptation, setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets based on a greenhouse gas inventory and institutional capacity, and conducting risk and vulnerability assessments. Experience in doing climate action planning in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa is greatly preferred and highly desirable
- The past experience of the applicant to implement similar projects while building institutional capacity and engaging stakeholders
- Resumes of the proposed key personnel that will be assigned to work on the programme
- A short conceptual proposal on how the organization plans to engage with the two cities to meet their requirements for compliance including nature of work, elements of work plan and timeline, an indicative and preliminary budget, any challenges, obstacles and solutions. Indicate whether you would plan to generally follow one or both of the CCPU planning methodologies mentioned above, or some other planning process. Also indicate how you plan to build local capacity and engage local stakeholders while developing plans. Organizational knowledge of the Compact of Mayors and requirements for compliance are preferred and desirable
- Any support/contribution of the submitting organisation for the project in both – cash and in kind (contribution in terms of staff time, office space and equipment and other support in cash and in-kind should be expressed in monetary terms), if applicable (optional)
- The ability to work in English and the national language of Comoros (French), Mozambique (Portuguese) or BOTH
Note: the following supporting documents are essential for clearing and approving Agreements of Cooperation. It is not necessary to provide the following documents at this Call for EOI stage, but please confirm that you can provide them in a timely manner (within 10 business days following request).
- Certified true copy of original Certificate of Registration/Incorporation or Charter in cases of educational institutions
- Certified true copy of original Audited Account Statement for the last two years
- Annual reports of the last two years
- Certified true copy of proof of non-Profit
- Copy of the Constitution or by-laws
- Indicative Budget
The proposed budget should not exceed market rates for similar work in Sub-Saharan Africa. The proposed budget will form the basis for the negotiation of the final budget which will form part of the Agreement of Cooperation. The budget must reflect the project cities, Moroni, Comoros; Nacala, Mozambique; or BOTH. Present budget in US dollars.
UN-Habitat will contribute financial resources towards this Agreement of Cooperation. UN-Habitat may hire one consultant to assist the partner with the above tasks. The financial resources UN-Habitat will contribute towards this Agreement of Cooperation will reduce accordingly if such consultant is hired.
- Overall Timeframe
The work outlined in this EOI is scheduled to commence by September 2017 and completed within sixteen months, that is, the end of 2018.
- Main Outputs
- GHG emissions reduction target x2
- Climate action plan for mitigation x2
- Hazard report x1
- Vulnerability assessment x1
- Climate adaptation plan x1
- Compact of Mayors badges x7
- Contact Information and Application Deadline
Expression of Interest must be delivered in electronic format no later than 11 August 2017 to the e-mail addresses given below:
elizabeth.okongo@unhabitat.org
- Other
Please note that this EoI notice does not constitute a solicitation. UN-Habitat reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement at any time in the Expressions of Interest/or solicitation process. UN-Habitat also reserves the right to solicit one entity to implement this project in BOTH Moroni, Comoros and Nacala, Mozambique or select two entities best suited to implement this project in EITHER city.
Submitting a reply to an EoI does not guarantee that a Cooperation Partner will be considered for receipt of the solicitation when issued and only Cooperation Partners who are deemed qualified by UN-Habitat upon completion of evaluation of submission, will receive the final solicitation document. Consultants can propose together, or join a submittal by an NGO, e.g. under section 3.