ETHIOPIA: GCF ACCREDITATION CONSULTANT
INTRODUCTION TO GGGI
The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page.
The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries realize their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) ambitions towards low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways. The fund provides its support through various thematic categories or windows. GCF’s Readiness Program is a crucial element of the Fund’s approach to ensuring country ownership and facilitating increased flows of climate finance. Developing countries can access Readiness resources to support capacity building, strategic frameworks formulation, knowledge sharing, the development of project and program pipelines. GGGI with the support from the GCF is delivering readiness projects to enhance the climate coordination capacity of the Nationally Designated Authority (NDA) of the country which is the Ministry of Planning and Development (MoPD).
Recently Ethiopia received new readiness support from the Fund on the Establishment of Essential Mechanism, Country Program and Concept Notes Development, and Pre-Accreditation and Post-Accreditation support. GGGI as a delivery partner for the new readiness project is working on accreditation of one private entity (Development Bank of Ethiopia) to the GCF. Accredited Entities are responsible for developing and submitting funding proposals, which meet GCF policies, standards, and safeguards.
National and international entities can apply for accreditation under the (i) Direct Access Entity (for subnational, national, and regional entities) or (ii) International Access Entities (for international entities, including UN agencies, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions and regional institutions). As it is mentioned above, the Development Bank of Ethiopia has been nominated by the Nationally Designated Authority (NDA) as one of the potential partners for accreditation. Therfore, the core objective of this ToR is to hire a consultant that can support the accreditation process of the DBE by the GCF.
OBJECTIVES / PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The purpose of this assignment is to enable the nominated entity to meet/fulfill GCF’s accreditation standards and requirements through several capacity-building workshops on basic fiduciary standards, specialized services, gender and environmental and social safeguard standards (ESS). And the already accredited entity (MoF) in addition to get capacity building in terms of fulfilling all procedures and requirements of the GCF, it should also be strengthened through project management and delivery, pipeline development, provision of evidence-based climate rationale, and capacity to appraise and monitor, evaluate and develop/strengthen/improve the existing concept notes into high-quality proposals for funding to the GCF, as well as implement projects on the ground.
SCOPE OF SERVICE
The Accreditation Consultant with the approval of the NDA and under the supervision of the GCF Readiness Project Manager shall undertake the following:
- Assess and prioritize GCF accreditation-related key gaps of the selected institutions and preparation of report.
- Capacity building support provided for the Direct Access Entities (DAEs) over the accreditation process and document lessons learned.
- Support the preparation of Institutional documents and ensure safeguards and other institutional readiness considerations.
- Provide technical assistance to both the Ethiopia Direct Access Entity and nominated Direct Access Entity to further strengthen the capacity, systems, mechanisms, guidelines, and manuals.
| Output/Reporting Requirements/Deliverables: The outputs shall be delivered in a phased manner as indicated below. | Phase | Deliverable | Scope of Deliverable | Timeline (weeks after contracting date) | Payment | | 1 | Inception Report with methodology plan, stakeholder mapping, work plan vs timetable, | Following the task kick-off meeting this shall include: A detailed work plan for the execution of the assignment, with a clear methodology to be followed and relevant delivery timelines for the accomplishment of the tasks of the assignment. | Week 1&2 (10 days) | 5% | | 2 | Conduct an in-depth GCF accreditation-related key gaps of the selected institutions and prepare a high-level Assessment Report with Forward Looking Interventions | A high-level assessment report: - Key administrative and financial capacities (General management and administration; Financial management and accounting; Internal and external auditing; Control frameworks as well as Procurement)
- Transparency and accountability-related matters (Disclosure of conflicts of interest; Code of ethics; Prevention of or handling of financial mismanagement and other forms of malpractice; Investigations; Anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing status and others)
- Project management experience (Project preparation and appraisal (from the concept stage to the full funding proposal); Project oversight and control; Monitoring and evaluation; Project-at-risk systems and associated project risk management
- Grant award and/or funding allocation mechanisms (Grant award procedures; Transparent allocation of financial resources; Public access to information on beneficiaries and results; Good standing about multilateral funding (e.g. through recognized public expenditure reviews)
- On-lending and/or blending (Appropriate registration and/or licensing by a financial oversight body or regulator in the country and/or internationally, as applicable; Track record, Creditworthiness; Due diligence policies, processes, and procedures; and so forth
- Assessment and management of environmental and social risks and impacts
- Gender Related Matters and its Management and Applications
- Assess on other topics as outlined in the GCF accreditation procedure
| Week 3,4,5 &6 (20 days) | 15% | | 3 | Capacity-building support provided for the direct access entities (DAEs) over the accreditation process and document lessons learned. | - A capacity-building activity with an action plan for nominated DAE targeting the GCF accreditation requirements.
- Develop training material (Training Module) for accreditation knowledge-building and sensitization sessions.
- Conduct the capacity-building training on the overview of the GCF, including its history, mandate, structure, investment criteria and recent activities in Ethiopia, followed by an overview of the Fund’s accreditation requirements, including strict Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS), fiduciary standards, GCF major policies and other topics
- Conduct post- evaluation capacity building survey and deliver a report on participating DAEs focal people knowledge to understand the impact of the sessions held.
| Week 7,8,9, & 10 (20 days) | 40% | | 4 | Prepare Institutional documents, safeguards and support other institutional readiness considerations | - Develop a tailor-made operational Framework/Manual that ensures safeguards and other institutional readiness considerations such as (GCF Accreditation Policies and Strategies that include but not limited to: Clear guidance on the various types of partnerships that can be built with GCF; Clarifying the obligations and responsibilities of AEs; GCF’s Legal and formal arrangements with Accredited Entities; Monitoring and accountability framework for Accredited Entities; Business model framework (access modalities – Accreditation); The policy on fees for accreditation of the Fund; Initial monitoring and accountability framework for Accredited Entities; Environmental and Social Policy; Information Disclosure Policy; Gender policy; Policy on the Protection of Whistleblowers and Witnesses; Policy on prohibited practices and other related concerns[1]
- Prepare a concept plan to organize a workshop to train AE (including the nominated AE) focal people the contents of the operational framework/manual
| Week 11,12 & 13 (15 Days) | 60% | | 5 | Provide technical assistance to both the DAE and the nominated DAE to further strengthen the capacity, systems, mechanisms,guidelines, and manuals. | - A report of conducting an on-job training for the focal staffs of the DAEs (MoF and nominated entities) on GCF’s fiduciary criteria; specialized fiduciary criteria; environmental and social safeguards (ESS); and gender requirements and considerations and other institutional arrangements
- A report of capacities, institutional arrangements and mechanisms developed by both DAE and the potential DAE to enhance their capacities and align with the accreditation process and requirements.
- Prepare a Stakeholder Map and Engagement Plans for the DAEs and develop stakeholder engagement plans, specifically related to climate change, for the accreditation process and project development and implementation.
- Prepare a concept plan to organize a workshop on feasible/bankable project proposal development, effective project management skills and other pertinent skills gaps identified during the gap assessment stage
| Week 14 and 15 (10 Days) | 80% | | 6 | Provide technical support after accreditation request submission to the GCF | - Provide Technical Support in incorporating feedback from the GCF,
- Document and share after submission learnings
| | 100% | The Consultant shall make the above submissions under the direct supervision of the Project Lead – GCF Readiness Support Project. The Consultant will provide weekly updates on progress of the assignment. |
QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE / EXPERTISE
1) Education:
An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in finance, climate change, sustainable development, Business Administration, development economics, statistics, engineering, environmental science, international development, law and policy, or other disciplines related to sustainable, development, environmental management, or green growth.
2) Experience:
- At least 5+ years’ experience in supporting organizational change and process management
- At least 5+ years of experience working on the preparation/ development of bankable projects (preferably in climate change-related aspects).
- Demonstrated experience in the design and development of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, specifically oriented towards obtaining (international) donor funding.
- Experience supporting national, regional or international / financing institutions with building capacity to apply international best practice standards to increase access to finance for sustainable development and/or climate change (such as GCF accreditation, ISO Certification, etc.);
- A good understanding of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and GCF investment criteria is highly desirable.
- An extensive knowledge on climate investment landscape in Ethiopia.
- Previous experience in conducting institutional gap analysis is an advantage.
Child protection – GGGI is committed to child protection, irrespective of whether any specific area of work involves direct contact with children. GGGI’s Child Protection Policy is written in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.