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Terms of Reference for a Consultant

Submitted by Website Officer on 14 June 2012 - 12:21pm
Organization: 
EA SusWatch
Deadline: 
20 June 2012

Terms of Reference for a Consultant to assess progress and level of implementation of the East African Community Climate Change Policy (EACCCP) commitments related mitigating effects of GHGs and for adaptation to climate change in the LVB

Background

The EA SusWatch Network is a network of NGOs from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania spearheaded by Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development (UCSD), Sustainable Environmental Development Watch Network (SusWatch Kenya), and Tanzania Coalition for Sustainable Development (TCSD). EA SusWatch Regional Secretariat is hosted by UCSD in Kampala, Uganda.

The Vision of EA SusWatch is: A world where sustainable development principles drive social and economic development processes.

The Mission of EA SusWatch is to catalyze and mobilize civil society in Eastern Africa to exert accountability from governments and international development institutions to achieve a socially and environmentally sustainable world.

The mandate of EA SusWatch is "monitoring and advocating for the effective implementation of national and regional obligations to International agreements and other arrangements for sustainable development in Eastern Africa".

EA SusWatch is currently implementing the LVEMP II Civil Society Watch Project that seeks to lobby and advocate for realization of results-based performance from the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP II) and implementation of the East African Climate Change Policy (EACCP).

In relation to the EACCP, EA SusWatch would like to assess progress and level of implementation of the East African Climate Change Policy (EACCP) commitments related to mitigating the effects of GHGs and for adaptation to climate change  in three key sectors of water supply and sanitation, agriculture and food security, rural energy supply) in the LVB. Each of these themes will be handled annually (rural energy supply - 2012; water supply and sanitation - 2013; agriculture and food security - 2014)

The UN recognizes that Sustainable energy provides new opportunities for growth during the economic downturn, enables businesses to grow, generate jobs, and create new markets. In addition, millions of more children can study after dark, countries can grow more resilient competitive economies and can leapfrog the limits of the energy systems of the past and build the clean energy economies of the future. When approaching "energy" for rural areas many people think of this in terms of provision of electricity or "bringing in the power grid".

But energy covers a number of different forms, for example, direct light, heating, cooling, shaft power as well as electricity, and for a huge number of different tasks (cooking, lighting, water pumping, refrigeration and communications) and end-users (domestic, businesses, basic social services, transportation etc.).

Because energy is just the "ability to work", demand for energy is a "derived demand"; people do not want energy in itself but the "energy services" provided. This wide range of services is made possible by different fuels and technology and can have a major impact in facilitating livelihoods, improving health and education in rural areas of developing countries and helping to reduce poverty.

Furthermore, the UN will this year host the UN Summit of Sustainable Development (Rio + 20 Summit) that seeks among other things to promote a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication that should have wide implications for rural energy supply in developing countries

Since 2012 has been declared the International Year for Sustainable Energy, EA SusWatch would like to commemorate it by contributing evidence / arguing for a case for more investments in innovative rural energy solutions in the poor communities within the LVB (and East Africa in general).

Until recently, there has been a tendency to separate energy access from climate change issues- both mitigation and adaptation (Francis X. Johnson, 2009). In terms of scientific research about the causes of climate change, traditional biomass was not considered as an important contributor. In the domain of specific energy-climate projects, even where some mitigation benefits were identified, the costs of energy access interventions were generally considered high and the likelihood of success and/or sustainability were often thought to be low. In the international policy and donor communities, energy access and climate change have traditionally involved rather different actors and often at rather different levels.

This artificial separation is now changing in a number of ways.

  • First, data and analysis on traditional energy use and its impacts have been improving. With traditional biomass estimated to account for almost 10% of global energy use, the impacts are more significant and widespread than realized (WEO, 2008).
  • Second, the complex phenomenon of black carbon has been analyzed in more detail and shows that incomplete combustion of traditional biomass and the carbonaceous aerosols they produce may be giving rise to a much higher level of radioactive forcing than previously estimated and therefore posing a much greater relative set of GHG impacts (Gustafsson et al 2009).
  • Third, and perhaps most significantly, energy access and adaptation at the policy level appear to be much more amenable to exploiting synergies than mitigation and adaptation, which tend to involve very different institutions and actors (Klein et al, 2003). The increasing body of policy analysis and the greater political emphasis on adaptation has brought to the fore local and subnational institutions that could help to facilitate synergies in designing policies and programmes to jointly address energy access and adaptive capacity. Due to the fact that both adaptation and energy access have strong local and sub-regional characteristics, there are many synergies yet to be exploited. Regions that could face more flooding or lower rainfall could build improved energy access policies into the same institutions that will improve preparations for changing climatic conditions and use these policies to strengthen the region's overall energy security.

In this sense, the energy access issue also naturally extends beyond household energy use to the issue of energy for transport, since improved mobility contributes to adaptive capacity. The

availability of locally-produced biofuels such as ethanol suggests an option that can create a

decentralised source of energy for household and transportation uses, thereby contributing to

local energy security as well as making contributions to mitigation and adaptation.

Hence EA SusWatch would like to engage a Consultant to assess East African Partner States' progress in implementing the East African Climate Change Policy commitment related to mitigating the effects of GHGs and for adaptation to climate change in relation to rural energy supply that supports human development over the long term, in all its social, economic, and environmental dimensions in the poor communities within the LVB so as to influence prioritization, better investments and policy actions by the relevant actors at the International, regional and national levels. 

Objectives/Tasks

The objectives/tasks of this assignment are to:

  • Review literature on effects of climate change on rural energy supply situation amongst the poor communities of the LVB in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania
  • Establish the policy provisions in the EACCP that relate to address the climate change effects in East Africa and assess the extent to which they have addressed the rural energy supply challenges of the LVB in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania since they were adopted in 2010
  • Highlight successes and challenges that are hindering the effective implementation of EACCP provisions in relation to rural energy supply.
  • Provide recommendations and available options on how poor communities in the LVB in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania can be supported to cope with the adverse effects of climate change on rural energy supply at the local national and regional levels in the short, medium and long-term.

Methodology

The consultant shall have the support of the EA SusWatch Network's Regional Coordinator. The assignment shall be performed largely through review of existing literature including: the EACCP, UNFCCC National Communications, NAPAs, National (Kenya) Climate change response strategies, EAC development plans related to rural energy supply and relevant documents. Selected interviews and discussions could also be conducted with key informants like LVBC, National Climate Change Focal Point ministries, key CSOs, and selected communities.

This draft report shall be reviewed by a team and feedback given to the consultant who will do a revised final report.

Outputs / Deliverables

The expected outputs/deliverables from this assignment are;

  • A draft comprehensive report on the effects of climate change on the rural energy supply situation on the livelihood conditions of the poor communities of the LVB in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania that explores how far the EACCP provisions have gone to address this.
  • Specific, clear and time bound recommendations (for the attention of the relevant actors and processes) on how poor communities in the LVB in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania can be supported to cope with the adverse effects of climate change on rural energy supply at local, national and regional levels.
  • A final Consultancy report (25 - 30 pages) in soft and hard copies to be submitted to UCSD who will in turn submit to other SusWatch's' National Focal Points.

Timeframe

The assignment shall take not more than 20 working days from the date of engagement. The date of engagement shall be the date of the Consultant's receipt of a signed contract from UCSD.

Terms of Payment

The consultant will be paid 40% upon signing of a Contract Agreement and the remaining 60% upon approval by UCSD, of satisfactory product: The report on the effects of climate change on the rural energy supply situation amongst the poor communities of the LVB in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania that explores how far the EACCP provisions have gone to address this.

Specifications of the Consultant

The Consultant shall possess relevant expertise and experience in the field of climate change rural / decentralized energy systems and rural development in East Africa. 

Interested consultants are required to prepare a capability statement explaining how they will conduct the study, expected fees as well as the proposed duration (work plan) of the study.

Please send this to the attention of the Regional Coordinator (c/o UCSD): rkimbowa@ugandacoalition.or.ug by June 21 2012

Reporting arrangements

The Consultant shall report to the Regional Coordinator - EA SusWatch Network at UCSD (Kampala)

Suggested references

Annex 1:         Possible broad questions for the assessment

  What are the rural energy supply / energy-related provisions in the EACCCP?

  • What is the current status at the national and regional level to implement these provisions in the Lake Victoria Basin?
  • How could Target 1 of the energy access strategy for the EAC[1] be implemented to complement the EACCCP provisions?
  • What are the successful case studies / potential technologies that could be replicated to scale up rural energy supply for communities adapt to the impacts of climate change?
  • Are there unsuccessful cases from which we can learn from?
  • How far are the EAC and Partner State budgets been able to provide resources for implementing the EACCCP (since April 2011)?
  • What are the main drawbacks to implement the EACCP provisions in relation to rural energy supply in the LVB?
  • What could be done to accelerate implementation of the EACCCP provisions in relation to rural energy supply in the LVB at the regional, national and local levels?
  • What strategic role could ‘open source' ICT tools and innovation play to secure the effective implementation of the EACCCP provisions in relation to rural energy supply for economic transformation, job creation, and achievement of social goals such as social justice and poverty reduction in an systematic, integrated and meaningful way?

[1] Traditional biomass use to be cut by 50% by switching to modern cooking practices and so bringing indoor pollution to safe levels, and to increase the sustainability of biomass-derived fuel production.

 

How to Apply: 

Interested consultants are required to prepare a capability statement explaining how they will conduct the study, expected fees as well as the proposed duration (work plan) of the study.

Please send this to the attention of the Regional Coordinator (c/o UCSD): rkimbowa@ugandacoalition.or.ug by June 21 2012