Firm for Agricultural Policy Analysis to Support Climate-resilient Policy Actions in Punjab Province (Pakistan)

Section I: Introduction and Background

About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders. Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees. For details, please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/.

About Climate Adaptation and Resilience for South Asia project

The "Climate Adaptation and Resilience for South Asia" or CARE for South Asia project is a five-year (2020-2025), regional project supported by the World Bank, and implemented by Asia Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES). The project is supporting the region in building resilience to climate change by improving the availability of regional data and knowledge, developing guidelines, tools and capacities, and promoting climate-resilient decisions, policies and investments across key sectors. The development objective is to contribute to an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments in select sectors and countries in South Asia. Key stakeholders include governments and technical agencies at the regional and national level. With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC will be implementing a five years’ project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE).

Background

Agriculture is the backbone of the economy of Pakistan, contributing approximately 25% to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employ approximately 42% of the labour force in Pakistan (World Bank). The area under agriculture is approximately 47% of the total land area of Pakistan (World Bank). Punjab in Pakistan is the most productive agricultural province and contributes the largest share in the national agricultural production. Agriculture in Pakistan is highly affected by short-term climate variability and longer-term climate change. Changes in precipitation and an increase in temperatures will bring considerable challenges to agriculture and a decrease in the production of key crops such as wheat and rice in Pakistan, where vulnerability to climate change is already high. Pakistan is ranked fifth among the top ten most climate change vulnerable countries in the world in the Global Climate Risk (Germanwatch, 2020).

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) summary for the South Asia region, warming trends including increasing annual mean temperature at the country scale have been observed across most of the countries in South Asia (IPCC, 2014). The impacts of climate change on agriculture in South Asia will vary, with many countries experiencing a decline in trends in crop production (IPCC, 2014). Therefore, adaptation measures are required to sustain agricultural productivity, to reduce vulnerability, and to enhance the resilience of the agricultural system to climate change in Pakistan. In this context, the services of a consulting firm will be required to conduct a situation analysis of agriculture sector to strengthen climate-resilient policy actions in Punjab Province (Pakistan) under CARE for South Asia project and will require working closely with the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (MOPDSI), the Ministry of Climate Change (MOCC), the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), and The Department of Agriculture (DOA), Government of Punjab in Pakistan.

Section II. Objective and Scope of the Services

Objective

The main objective of the consultancy services is to conduct a situation analysis of agriculture sector to strengthen climate-resilient policy actions in Punjab Province (Pakistan).

Scope of Work

The scope of work is as follows:

• Detailed consultations with the Project Implementation Unit (PIU), Agriculture Sector team CARE for South Asia Project and RIMES team in Pakistan to understand all the key activities, deliverables and timeline.
• Presentation of the work plan, deliverables and timeline to the Planning Commission Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (MoPDSI) together with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), and the Department of Agriculture, Government of Punjab. Review existing policies (agriculture, water and climate change), plans (NAP, NAPA, LAPA), NDC, guidelines, act/law, international treaties, frameworks, strategies and regulatory framework on the agriculture sector (crops , livestock and fisheries) at the federal and provincial level.
• Conduct stakeholder consultations by organizing implementation workshops at the national and provincial level in coordination with the Planning Commission to present the details of activities and expected deliverables.
• Analysis of data and information and literature review for assessing of the suitable climate-smart agriculture, water management practices and production practices for wheat, sugarcane, cotton, rice, oilseeds, dairy, meat and fisheries along with Best Management Production (BMP) system for each crop concerning climate change:
  • Consultations (KII and FGDs) in Punjab with provincial level subject experts to identify the smart practices for wheat, sugarcane, cotton, rice, oilseeds, dairy and meat in Punjab.
  • Assessment of the suitable climate-smart practices for wheat, sugarcane, cotton, rice, oilseeds, dairy and meat in Punjab.
• Conduct a survey followed by an assessment to identify issues and options for making small-scale farming sustainable at the Punjab provincial level.
  • Reviews literature and policies to understand small scale farming in Punjab.
  • Conduct experts’ interviews to identify issues related to small scale farming in Punjab.
• Review of existing crops reporting, storage, distribution and trading system including market survey and analysis of existing and new strategies:
  • Institutional review (Public and Private) on existing crop reporting, storage and trading system.
  • Focus Group Discussions (Agriculture extension officials, markets, farmers, middleman, private mills etc.).
• Development of Climate Smart Green Plan for the Punjab province including policies and best practices for the green economy.
  • Review of existing green plan initiatives, policies and best practices.
  • Review of existing climate-smart agriculture and water management practices.
  • Assess the cost to government to implement the identified climate and water-smart initiatives to strengthen climate resilience of the agriculture sector and linking the existing initiatives and newly developed smart practices.
• Conduct stakeholder consultations and validation workshops at the national and provincial level to present key activities, deliverables.
• Technical and operational management of activities vis-à-vis the work plan, monitoring of deliverables, including monthly progress reporting, quarterly progress reports, engagement and liaising with MoPDSI, MNFSR, and the Department of Agriculture, Government of Punjab to implement proposed activities under the project.

Section III. Deliverables

The consulting firm will be required to submit the following deliverables as a result of the implementation of activities as outlined in these terms of reference:

• Initial scoping report elaborating on the methodologies for key activities, tools and plans for the consultancy.
• Prepare an outline of each report and get it approved by the Planning Commission MoPSDI before preparing the details of each report.
• Four consultations with key stakeholders in relation to the activities mentioned above.
• Four reports of consultations with key stakeholders summarizing key findings.
• A detailed review report on the existing policies, plans, guidelines, act/law, international treaties, frameworks, strategies and regulatory framework on agriculture crops at the federal and provincial level and identify gaps in existing policies, frameworks and strategies.
• A detailed report on existing policies/ plans and actions for climatically- smart and competitive agriculture systems, for crops including; wheat, sugarcane, cotton, rice, oilseeds, and livestock (dairy and meat) along with Best Management Production (BMP) system for each crop concerning climate change.
• A detailed report on issues and options related to small-scale farming in Punjab province.
• A detailed report on policy actions for climate-smart competitive agriculture.
• A detailed report on policy/strategy for efficient, transparent and accurate crops reporting, storage, distribution and trading system.
• A detailed report on detailed Climate-Smart Green Plan.
• Reports on meetings, KII and FGDs with various stakeholders.
• Detailed final closure report covering the results and achievements including knowledge products prepared, analysis, findings, lessons learnt, and conclusion and recommendations.
• Monthly and quarterly progress reports on the progress of activities and monitoring of deliverables.

Section IV. Selection, and Others

Selection Criteria

Successful Proposer:

• Should be either institutions or companies with proven experience in climate-smart agriculture, livestock, irrigation and water management, training and capacity building, policy and guideline development, agri-business development and management, programs and advisory services related to agriculture, climate-smart agriculture/ climate-adaptive sustainable agriculture in Pakistan.
• Should have proven experience of working with federal and provincial government agencies, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN or international agencies in Pakistan.
• Should have proven experience of undertaking assignment of similar nature in Pakistan..
• Should have good understanding of agriculture sector and climate change issues in Pakistan.
• Should have proven ability for data collection, data collation, and analysis for relevant activities.
• Should have following essential technical expertise/human resources to complete activities and tasks and deliver quality outputs on time, however, these are indicative and the firms are encouraged to propose additional inputs and a bill of quantity required to complete the assignment within the schedule and proposed maximum budget.

Technical and Financial Proposal

The proposal must be organized to follow the requirements of this ToRs. Each Bidder must respond to every stated request or requirement and indicate that the Bidder confirms acceptance of and understands ADPC’s stated Requirements. The Bidder should identify any substantive assumption made in preparing its proposal.

Checklist: Submission of Technical Evaluation Documents

• Organization’s profile.
• Proposed methodology and activity Plan.
• Members of the team and their responsibilities. Please attach CVs of the team members, highlighting experience in areas required for this work. Each CVs should be signed by the owner stating that the person is willing and available to carry out the task in the proposed time.
• Experience in carrying out similar studies. Please include previous relevant project reports and outputs.
• 3 reference letters from previous clients evidencing the firm’s capability in technical selection criteria

Checklist: Submission of Financial Evaluation Documents

• Remuneration costs (Human Resources).
• Reimbursable costs (Travel, Workshops, Meetings, KII, FGD, Communication, Printing).
• Maximum budget available for this assignment is USD 100,000/-. However, the budget will be finalized in line with the final list of activities and the review of the proposed methodology.

Selection Method

The firm will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s procurement process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations. Consulting Firm will be selected based on Consultant Qualification Selection (CQS).

Reporting Relationships

• The firm will report to Project Director, CARE for South Asia Project, Bangkok (Thailand) and work in close coordination with Country Project Lead, CARE for South Asia project Islamabad (Pakistan).
• The firm will provide regular updates to and seek advice and guidance from the Food Security & Climate Change Section Ministry of Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives.