Consultancy on Agriculture and Climate Change Tender, United Kingdom - 29980200

Procurement Summary

Country : United Kingdom

Summary : Consultancy on Agriculture and Climate Change

Deadline : 01 Feb 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 29980200

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : CENTRE FOR AGRICULTURE AND BIOSCIENCES INTERNATIONAL
Nosworthy Way Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 8DE Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508
United Kingdom
Email :l.heeb@cabi.org
URL :https://www.cabi.org/

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Consultancy on Agriculture and Climate Change.

TERMS OF REFERENCE for short term consultancy

Support for the development of a corporate strategy on ‘Agriculture and Climate Change-

CABI

CABI is an international not-for-profit organization that improves people-s lives by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. Established in 1910 as an intergovernmental organization by a United Nations-level agreement, CABI is owned by 49 member countries that have an equal role in the organisation-s governance, policies and strategic direction. They thus guide and influence our core areas of work, which include International Development and Publishing. We have over 500 staff worldwide based in 12 centres in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

International Development projects and research

CABI is internationally known for its expertise in providing information and improving access to agricultural and scientific knowledge. CABI addresses issues of global concern such as food security, food safety and environmental safeguarding, through international development, research and communication. We do this by helping farmers grow more and lose less of what they produce, combating threats to agriculture and the environment from pests and diseases, protecting biodiversity from invasive species, and improving access to agricultural and environmental scientific knowledge. Our Digital Development and Development Communication work focuses on translating scientific evidence into action. In addition to working within our areas of core technical expertise, we often employ these approaches in adjacent sectors by partnering with relevant experts.

Publishing

CABI is also a major producer of key scientific publications, including CAB Abstracts - the world-leading abstracting and indexing database covering applied life sciences. We also publish multimedia compendia, books, eBooks and full text electronic resources aiming to further science and its application to real life. CABI invests its publishing surpluses directly into development projects, helping to improve livelihoods worldwide. When appropriate, some of the outputs from donor-funded projects can generate commercial projects, such as e-learning courses, that contribute to the sustainability and impact of the originating work.

Purpose

This short-term consultancy will provide CABI with information, analysis, evidence and options to develop and put into action a corporate strategy on ‘Agriculture and Climate Change-. In particular, it will also inform CABI-s digital development strategy, as this is an area in which CABI foresees many new potential business opportunities. With the development and implementation of these strategies, CABI aims to position itself as a major player in the global arena of climate change adaptation (and mitigation) - implementing projects and programmes across multiple countries to support enhanced climate resilience of farming communities and their surrounding landscapes together with national stakeholders.

Background and context

Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change has been identified by CABI and its member countries as one of the main areas of development for CABI. In response, CABI has already undertaken several initiatives such as i) joining the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA), for which a practice brief on Climate-Smart Pest Management was developed; ii) developing a CABI strategy on ‘Agriculture and Climate Change (2018/19); iii) developing a CABI Position Statement on Agriculture and Climate Change; iv) integrating components of CABI-s flagship programme (Plantwise) into on-going climate-smart initiatives, and (v) embedding climate change adaptation into CABI-s Medium Term Strategy (2017-2019) and CABI-s Science Strategy. CABI has also published two working papers (‘Climate Change and Invasive Alien Species- and ‘Climate Change and Agricultural Commodities-) and has contributed to the initiative for coffee and climate. Furthermore, CABI continues to be a major scientific publisher of books related to agriculture and climate change through CABI-s Climate Change Series.

CABI envisions a world in which the agricultural sector is able to supply sufficient, safe and nutritious food, and is embedded in a healthy and climate resilient landscape with clean water and air, healthy soils and functional ecosystem services. For this vision to become reality, CABI recognises that farmers need access to information on locally-adapted best management approaches, as well as climate-friendly technologies. CABI also recognises the importance of strengthening national institutions (e.g. extension, research, education), as a means of increasing resilience of farming communities and landscapes, as well as the need to promote an appropriate enabling environment (e.g. policies/incentives, financial services, human/social capital). CABI also understands that more research is required for improved understanding and forecasting of climate change impact on pest and pest management strategies, as well as for the development of context-specific adaptation and mitigation approaches. Through its current work in development cooperation, research and scientific publishing, CABI is already making significant contributions towards making its vision a reality. However, going forward, CABI recognises the need to invest in building the internal coordination, leadership and resources required to strengthen its ‘One-CABI- climate change agenda and make significant contributions to national (i.e. member-country) and global agendas. In order to become an important player in the climate change arena, CABI is striving to grow its core expertise in climate change adaptation (and mitigation) and bring itself into a position to be able to access large-scale climate change-dedicated funding mechanisms, such as the Adaptation Fund (AF) and/or the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

CABI acknowledges two key global trends, namely, the outcomes of COP23 & 24 which pave the road for more consolidated climate action in the agricultural arena, as well as the increased interest and commitment of bi- and multilateral donors to increase ODA allocations for climate-relevant initiatives. Both developments open up exciting opportunities for CABI to apply its expertise in the areas of knowledge creation, knowledge management and knowledge dissemination to support the transition of agricultural systems to become more resilient to climate change. CABI sees a particular opportunity to build upon our existing expertise in the development of data driven ICT decision support tools for multiple stakeholders (e.g. extension workers, policymakers).

A thorough evaluation is therefore needed in order to inform the development of a corporate strategy on agriculture and climate change that will ultimately define CABI-s key target niche in this area, identify new business opportunities for the organisation and prioritise any necessary organisational investments, restructuring activities and programme development opportunities that will facilitate CABI in realising its desired goals. While it is anticipated that this target niche will lie within CABI-s core strength area of plant health management, it is also expected that the evaluation will suggest opportunities in related fields relevant to climate change adaptation and mitigation (e.g. water and soil management, crop nutrition, plant breeding, livestock).

Objectives

The consultant will be responsible for delivering the following objectives, subdivided into 3 different areas:

Business Development

· Assess future challenges within the global arena of climate adaptation (and mitigation) and define those of strategic relevance to CABI based on its mission, values, and capabilities

· Analyse the broad areas of interest of the major bi- and multi-lateral donors in the area of climate adaptation (and mitigation)

· Assess and identify promising private sector financial mechanisms through which CABI could secure projects

· Assess what type of organisations are successful in securing public/private funding and make a comparison of their strengths and weaknesses versus CABI

· Propose required capability acquisition and/or potential strategic partnerships in the donor-funded and corporate space for CABI to become competitive

Strategic

· Analyse which technical areas/themes of CABI overlap with areas of interest and intervention of the global climate change development community, and propose how CABI might leverage on this to tap into dedicated climate change funding and funding mechanisms

· Define CABI-s USPs that will enable it to become a major contributor to global action on climate change adaptation (and mitigation)

· Propose the most promising potential target niches and potential business opportunities for CABI

· Define how CABI-s position in this field and proposed contributions would both differ from and complement those of other major organisations working in the same area

· Propose how climate adaptation (and mitigation) could be embedded and better reflected in CABI-s themes and main global programmes (Plantwise and Action on Invasives)

· Specifically evaluate the opportunity for CABI to develop data driven ICT decision-support tools

· Evaluate what areas outside CABI-s core strength offer the best return on investment if CABI wants to invest in building the organisational capacity in other topics relevant to climate change (e.g. water and soil management, crop nutrition, plant breeding, livestock)

CABI Governance

· Assess how CABI could support its member countries with the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions and/or other national/intern

Documents

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