Call For Applications At Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests and biodiversity, take action on climate, promote rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance, we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why

To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How

Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

For more information, please visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/about.  

Job Description

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Business Development Consultant for Rainforest Alliance

• Department: Africa
• Location: Western North Region, Ghana
• Commitment: (35 days)
• Desired start date and duration: March 1, 2022 – April 5, 2022
• Under the direction of Senior Associate, MEL

CONSULTANCY SUMMARY

Overview 

In 2020 Rainforest Alliance, Olam Ghana Limited, Sefwi Wiawso Municipal Assembly, and Sefwi Wiawso Landscape Management Board (LMB) began implementing a project funded by the Swiss Economic and Development Cooperation (SECO) through the ISEAL Innovation fund.

The project, dubbed “Tech4Communities: Hybrid Community-based Monitoring System (HCMS)” seeks to create a hybrid monitoring and evaluation program that combines remote and on-the-ground data gathering tools for data management and reporting at a landscape level.

By employing a blended approach of GPS enabled data collection apps and satellite imagery, combined with traditional community resource maps and other user-friendly tools, the Hybrid Community-based Monitoring System (HCMS) will have the rigor to support communities to monitor forest and landscape performance in a way that is science-driven, credible, user-friendly and guarantees the integrity of data.

This project is designed to leverage information and communications technology and empower communities to own the M&E process while reducing human error to the barest minimum. It will invest in the capacity development of a local team of LMB members, including youth and women, who can effectively perform M&E tasks, and end-users who can ensure the sustainability of the project.

However, it has been documented that community monitoring is successful where there is sustained funding. Against this backdrop, the project seeks to engage a consultant to develop a business and financial model for supporting the income generation and sustainability of the HCMS

Main Objectives

The consultant tasks are as follows: 

• Analyze the financing needs of the HCM system within the Sui River Forest Corridor Landscapes Initiative and its LMB and propose business and finance options on how the LMB  could generate revenue using the  HCM system;
• Map and identify key stakeholders and private sector actors who will be interested in using the HCMS
• Provide an assessment on the value of the HCMS  to identified stakeholders and private sector companies ;
• Prepare five-year term cashflow statements for liquidity and profitability with detailed financial and operational assumptions and should include potential revenue sources. It is expected that the cashflow be subjected to a sensitivity analysis;
• Define financial model and performance indicators of the Hybrid Community-based Monitoring System (HCMS);
• Assess the extent to which private sector value and will adopt the HCM system and replicate in other landscapes;

Deliverables

The key deliverables will be

• A fieldwork plan prior to commencing the assignment.
• Stakeholder and Private sector engagement reports.
• A business and financial proposal for the HCMS for identifying investment needs, business opportunities for scale-up, and benefit-sharing reflective of the scope of work detailed above.

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by The Rainforest Alliance. Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.
• The Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.
• RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.
• All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The combined Scoring method will be used. The qualifications and methodology will be given a 70% weight and the price offer will be weighted 30%.

The qualifications and methodology will be weighted as follows:

• Proposed methodology for the completion of services: 35%
• Qualifications and experience of key personnel: 35%

Required Skills or Experience