Development of a Tourism Strategy and SOPs Tender, Congo - 88984175

Procurement Summary

Country : Congo

Summary : Development of a Tourism Strategy and SOPs

Deadline : 20 Oct 2023

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 88984175

Document Ref. No. :

Financier : United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Purchaser Ownership : Public

Tender Value : Refer Document

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Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Development of a Tourism Strategy and SOPs.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. We envision a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. WCS-s goal is to conserve the world-s largest wild places in 14 priority regions, home to more than 50% of the world-s biodiversity. For 30 years, WCS Congo has been the Congolese government-s principal conservation partner. It supports the Ministry of Forestry Economy (MEF) in the management of wildlife and habitats in several national parks, reserves, and protected area buffer zones. In these sites, WCS develops and implements actions for effective wildlife protection, community-based natural resource management, ecological monitoring, scientific research, and environmental education. Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) covers more than 4, 000 square kilometers of intact contiguous tropical forest in the northern Republic of the Congo (ROC). The forest is part of the Trinational Sangha forest landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area is a stronghold for important populations of large mammals, including forest elephants, western lowland gorillas, and chimpanzees. Established in 1993, NNNP and its buffer zone have benefited from almost 30 years of collaborative management between the Congolese government and WCS to emerge as one of the most successful protected areas for wildlife conservation in Central Africa. In October 2014, WCS signed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with MEF for the long-term management and financing of the Park, creating the Nouabalé-Ndoki Foundation and delegating management authority of the Park to WCS until 2038. In partnership with the ROC Government, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Congo Conservation Company (CCC), WCS has been implementing a program to develop tourism in NNNP since 2020. The development of wildlife-based tourism holds the promise of new investment, job creation, and green economic growth that is directly linked to the conservation of the Park-s biodiversity. Wildlife-based tourism should be a core strategy of the Congolese Government-s transition towards a greener economy, and the Park-s journey towards sustainable financing and self[1]reliance. Due to the Park-s unique flora and fauna, wildlife-based tourism will be a central component of securing its long-term future. Scope of Work The main objective of this consultancy will be to support WCS in professionalizing two aspects of its tourism development activities: through the production of a formal Tourism Strategy for Nouabalé[1]Ndoki National Park, and the creation of a set of Standard Operating Procedures for its tourism work.

1. Production of a Tourism Strategy for Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park

A starting point for the Park-s Tourism Strategy is well presented by the objectives and content of the USAID-funding tourism program - and the Park Management Unit has a clear and well-informed vision of how the development of tourism should progress. There is also a draft Tourism Strategy document, as well as national-level strategy frameworks. There remains, however, a need to pull these different strands of thinking together and produce a definitive Park Tourism Strategy document. This document should capture the existing strategy while exploring new, alternative approaches that will be pursued by the Park over the coming ten years. Objectives: • Produce a ten-year Tourism Strategy for NNNP that considers ongoing and new initiatives. Activities and Deliverables: • Undertake desk research, including a review of a sample of tourism strategies from other Congolese / African protected areas, as well as a background review of documents to understand current and historical projects and policies concerning tourism in and around NNNP. This should include national-level tourism strategies, as well as various Park-level tourism documents, in particularly the NNNP 2023-2034 Management Plan. • Meet with WCS Congo staff, including the Congo Country Director and Technical Director, at the WCS Congo offices in Brazzaville and relevant members of the NNNP Park Management Unit at the Park headquarters in Bomassa. • Meet with national stakeholders including government ministries and agencies, domestic and international tourism operators, and other tourism stakeholders to solicit their views on wildlife[1]based tourism in Congo. • Combining the findings from the meetings and the desk research, conduct an analysis to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the development of tourism in NNNP. Where appropriate, this analysis could include components of a stakeholder analysis and gap analysis. • Draft a Tourism Strategy document that combines the analysis conducted with prior strategic work conducted by WCS, as well as introducing new thinking and approaches where appropriate. The document should identify a headline objective for the development of tourism to the Park, as well as a number of ‘strategic pillars- containing targeted outcomes that would achieve the objective. • The Tourism Strategy should include indicators and data collection methods that will enable the monitoring and evaluation of the Strategy. • The Tourism Strategy should include a communications and marketing plan for the Park as a tourism destination. • The Tourism Strategy should include a Staffing Plan and an Infrastructure Plan for the achievement of its objectives.

2. Tourism & Hospitality Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Objectives:

• To create SOPs for tourism and hospitality operations with a clear focus on practical implementation. Activities and Deliverables: • Review and analysis of current SOPs, training materials, checklists, guidelines, and tools. • Using current documents as a starting point, write new SOPs to fill gaps and adapt existing SOPs to cover all areas of tourism and hospitality operations. • Create checklists and other operational tools as necessary, to enable monitoring of SOP implementation.

Project Duration: The project duration will be defined by the applicant but is not to exceed three months.

Proposed Project Timing: Quarter 4, 2023.

Required Expertise and Qualifications • Experience in wildlife-based tourism sector in Africa. • Experience in Central Africa and particularly the Republic of the Congo will be an advantage. • Experience of producing strategic and operational documents for protected areas, with an emphasis on tourism and sustainable financing. • Experience of developing training materials. • Excellent communication skills in French and English are required.

Proposals

A technical proposal should demonstrate the applicant-s expertise and ability to achieve the scope of work. The proposal should provide a methodology and technical approach, present an implementation schedule and timeline, provide CVs of key personnel, and include three professional references. Applicants should present a financial proposal (in US Dollars), that includes daily fee rates and costs of transport to Congo. WCS will cover in-country transportation and accommodation expenses. The applicant must demonstrate they have appropriate medical and evacuation insurance.

Interested candidates should submit an application to the email: wcscongobrazza@wcs.org with copy to skarjalainen@wcs.org by 20 October 2023

Documents

 Tender Notice