Influencing Policies for Climate Adaptive Livelihoods of Ethnic Minorities- IPCALEM Project

Terms of Reference (ToR) for hiring Consultant

To develop Policy Brief considering climate change vulnerabilities of Plainland Adibashis and Access to Finance

Introduction

HEKS/EPER is working in Bangladesh since 1971 to help to reconstruct and providing aids to the war-torn country.  Decades after decades working in this country this organization has been noticed that some marginalized groups are still remaining far behind from the ray and supports of mainstream development. Particularly, they are remaining abandoned from the voice of equal rights for ethnic minorities living in the plain lands Adibashi and groups discriminated based on work and descent (Dalit). In developing and establishing institutional mechanisms and strategies promoting the rights of Dalit and Adibashi, HEKS/EPER is committed to work with the relevant institutions and power hubs who are influential in adopting policies and strategies on all level. Negative impacts of climate is also hindering the upliftment of these marginalized communities. Being excluded from mainstream communities and services like access to finance, they are more prone to be affected.

HEKS/EPER believes that the development of a national strategy for these marginalized plainland Adibashi communities and establishment of institutional mechanisms would help in building a better world for them.

HEKS/EPER aims to achieve its goal through a holistic approach involving Law and policy makers and civil society actors. HEKS/EPER also wants to work with other influentials within the society in favour of the adaptation rights of plainland Adibahsi through active engagement of parties who have been working for their betterment. To achieve the goal, project is being implemented by HEKS/EPER entitled as “Influencing Policies for Climate Adaptive Livelihoods of Ethnic Minorities (IPCALEM)” with funding from UNDP Bangladesh.

The overall goal of the endeavour is to identify the areas of policy intervention in establishing the rights of plainland ethnic minorities in the context of climate change adaptation, create awareness among stakeholders and sensitize the Law and Policy makers for adopting Adibashi friendly climate policy establishment.

HEKS/EPER seeks an individual consultant who develop a policy brief, which will cover the climate vulnerabilities of plainland Adibashis in the north-western part of Bangladesh. The policy brief will focus on existing policies and their gaps, scope for Adibashis’ adaptation options, access to finance etc. the policy brief would identify some recommendations to ensure better adaptation options and more easy access to formal finance sector for the plainland Adibashis.

It is hoped that through this consultancy support, effective sensitization could be done and will create enabling environment for promoting adaptation rights and access to finance of Adibashi communities and activism as well as proactive responses of the duty bearers and policy makers. 

Geographic intervention area and its target group

The project is being implemented in two districts, one is Naogaon and the other is Khulna. It is also working to influence policies through various types of intervention ranging community consultation to high level lobby meeting. Therefore, it will cover relevant regions of country.

The plainland Adibashi groups living in Naogaon and Khulna e.g. Oraon, Kol, Malpahari, Pahari, Turi, Mahato, Pahan and Munda; are the main target groups of the project.

Specific Objectives of the Assignment

• Analyse existing policies and frameworks in favour of the plainland Adibashis to combat with climate change and address policy gaps. [(Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP), Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP), Coastal Zone Policy, National Agriculture Policy, National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)]
• Identify scopes to access to land and access to finance for plainland adibashis
• Develop specific recommendations

Expected Deliverables / Responsibilities of Consultant

• One policy brief document (on adaptive livelihood options for plainland Adibashis; both Bangla and English version

Time frame

This consultancy shall be operational upon signing and will have an initial duration of 30 (Thirty) days.  All activities conducted before this date within the vision of the joint collaboration will be deemed to fall under this MoA.  The working schedule is noted in the table below:

Time Schedule to Carry Out the Assignment/Task

Competencies Required

• Post-graduate degree in Environment, Disaster Management, Development Studies, Sociology, Anthropology and/or a related Social Sciences subject – for individual or lead consultant of the Farm;
• Experiences of working with plainland Adibashis
• Over 05(five) years of experience in the field of climate change adaptation and advocacy
• Strong skills in preparing logical, coherent and consistent documents in Bangla and English;
• Influencing communication with national and local level government bodies.

Selection Criteria of Consultant farm 

Submission check list

• Organisation profile
• Full proposal with:
• Brief Literature review
• Methodology (technical analysis of proposed participatory tools)
• CV of the Lead Consultant and Profile of the Team Members (in case of farm) with prior experiences and academic qualification 
• Financial proposal
• Technical proposal: time frame and work plan
• Other (TIN Certificate or if any relevant additional document is available).

General conditions

• The Consultant/farm will complete the Activity and Report as per agreement date;
• The Consultant/farm will be responsible to mobilize relevant logistics;
• The payments will be made in two equally divided instalments. The final payment will be made after sending the final deliverable and Final report;
• Tax & VAT will be deducted as per government rule.

How to apply

Interested agencies/consultant farms are requested to submit proposal and documents in a sealed envelope on or before 5:00 PM, 14th November 2018 to:

Shekhar Chakraborty,
HEKS/EPER
House # 28, 2nd Floor, Road # 11,
Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka-1209.

The Envelop must be marked with the title of the assignment. Complete applications should also be submitted electronically to:  shekhar.chakraborty@heks-eper.org