Capacity building firm for climate change adaptation

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A. About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

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.

ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation.

For details, please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

B. Background

Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress by the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, equal to 2.6 per cent of its GDP.

To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift towards policies and institutions that enable climate resilient investments. Investing in more resilient infrastructure is both profitable and urgent as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households, private sector and large ongoing investments in infrastructure assets will have long-lasting repercussions as poor maintenance, and natural disasters result in a vulnerable stock.

With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC has been implementing a five-year project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE). The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming of resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans and investments.

The Project Development Objective of CARE for South Asia is “To contribute to an enabling environment for climate-resilient policies and investments in select sectors and countries in South Asia”. 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 project will promote the transformation of policies and institutional capacities for climate-resilient development in agriculture, transport, integrated water resources management, policy & planning, and finance in South Asia. Considering key results from the Global Climate Risk Index 2019, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are IDA countries which rank higher than others in the region. The project intervention will be carried out in three select countries including Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. ADPC will facilitate high-level dialogues, develop climate-resilient guidelines in the priority sectors, and promote innovation and adoption of disruptive technology at national and regional levels. Anchored in building on the governments’ plans, the project will facilitate national institutions to meet commitments under the various global frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The capacity building firm will support ADPC with the conception, preparation, delivery, evaluation and translation of training modules for integrated water resource management and climate-smart agriculture. The purpose of these trainings is to build institutional capacity within the central and local authorities in charge in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. The primary target audience is the expert and managers from public institutions and private companies. The firm will be responsible for outputs and activities such as: rapid training need assessment, workshops, training module development, support ADPC in training delivery and presentations, training material, handbooks and manuals, communication material and information packs, etc.

C. Statement of Intent

The overall objective of the assignment is to build the institutional capacity of public and private sector stakeholders and Community-based organizations (CBOs) in water and agriculture sectors in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. The overall implementation will be carried tentatively from August 2023 to July 2024.

The assignment will include a) rapid training need assessment with stakeholders to identify specific trainings based on the capacity needs assessment carried out by ADPC in the water and agriculture sector in the three project countries, b) development of training modules for water and agriculture sector and Training of Trainers modules, c) pilot testing of the modules with government stakeholders in collaboration with ADPC, d) Delivery of the training package (training module, lecture presentations, group exercise or individual exercise material, list of reference documents with their links for download) and e) Support ADPC in training delivery to water and agriculture sector government counterparts in the project countries, and other relevant stakeholders, including CBOs. The deliverable should be convertible to digital content and it should be possible to seamlessly upload the digital content on ADPC’s EdX or similar platform.

D. Duties and Responsibilities

The Capacity Building Firm will work closely with the Climate Resilience Department and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) and the technical specialists of ADPC to provide the following services:

1. Preliminary Assessment: Training Session Identification

Before initiating any training and capacity-building work, it is important to examine existing gaps in the capacity of the target groups. The CARE for South Asia project has already conducted a capacity needs assessment for the project countries and produced a Capacity Need Assessment (CNA) report. The firm will do additional rapid training need assessment if required by building on the existing CNA report to identify the specific training sessions required with relevant stakeholders (list of stakeholders will be shared to the selected firm). The purpose of the rapid training needs assessment is to identify specific training topics for policy makers, target group involved in project design, implementation and monitoring. The training needs will be assessed on the current capacity of target training recipients on the relevant subject matter in water and agriculture sector (including livestock in Bangladesh). The training need assessment will identify:

• Effectiveness of climate change trainings conducted to date, to identify best practices and lessons learned.
• Areas of training needed for different water and agriculture stakeholders and target groups (entry and mid-level government functionaries, mid-level officials of private sector, CBOs, progressive farmers in the farming community /Farmers association).
• Type of training required for different water and agriculture stakeholders and target groups (entry and mid-level government functionaries, mid-level officials of private sector, CBOs, progressive farmers in the farming community / Farmers association). Tools and methods appropriate for different water and agriculture stakeholders and target groups (entry and mid-level government functionaries, mid-level officials of private sector, CBOs, progressive farmers in the farming community / Farmers association).

1.1 Potential Targets of the training

• The agriculture sector (including livestock in Bangladesh) training and demonstration for the farming communities / farmers association will be carried out in the following areas in the project countries

1. Bangladesh – Satkhira and Kishoregonj District
2. Nepal – Madhesh province
3. Pakistan – Punjab province

The water sector training for the CBOs will be carried out in the following areas in the project countries

Bangladesh – Members of Water Management Associations

Nepal – Members of National Federation of Irrigation Water Users’ Association

Pakistan – Sindh and Balochistan province

• The identified CSA demonstrations in agriculture sector in the above-mentioned geographies will be specifically for farmers / farmers association.
• The trainings in water sector in the above-mentioned geographies will be specifically for CBOs and water user’s association.

2. Development of Training Modules for water (integrated water resources management) and agriculture (climate-smart agriculture) sector

In order to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive training /capacity-building program, it is important to develop and design detailed training package consisting of training module (both introductory and in-depth training), lecture presentations including referenced notes explaining the slides, group exercise or individual exercise materials, list of reference and training of trainers modules, covering all relevant aspects of the CARE for South Asia project, ensuring that the materials are tailored to the needs of government, private sector, CBOs, and farming community in water and agriculture sector and creating a pool of master trainers both at government and community level. The training modules are required to be developed based on peer-reviewed publication in the subject area of the training, latest technical reports and standards on IWRM and CSA / CSL published by the World Bank, ADB, CGIAR and regional/national organizations of repute. Case studies already practiced or successfully piloted in similar geographies are required to be included in the training modules. Some identified case study location can be considered for South-South learning exchange visits as part of the training. The following trainings will be carried out under this component:

Water Sector

The areas of training identified in the water sector include but not limited to are:

1. Building Resilience of Water Sector to Climate Change: Strategies and Tools for Water Resource Management (Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan). The subject areas under this training will include
   • Understanding the science of climate change (including climate models and their uncertainties) and its impacts on water resources;
   • Developing climate-resilient water management strategies for water Resource Planning;
   • Climate Resilient design of Smart Irrigation systems;
   • Using tools and models to support Water Accounting and water allocation;
   • Specifically, for Bangladesh, Adaptive Delta Management will be included to support M&E in Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100;
   • Climate Resilient design in Irrigation and Hydropower sector;
   • Evaluating climate resilient design of water infrastructure;
   • Criteria for site selection of check dams, including hydrological and geological factors, social and environmental considerations including using; and tools and technologies (e.g. GIS and remote sensing)
   • O&M of traditional water infrastructure (e.g. Karez in Pakistan).
2. Integrated Water Resources Management for Climate Resilience (Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. The broad subject area under this training will include

• Climate Science and Water;
• Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Climate Resilience;
• Promoting public participation in climate adaptation planning for water resources;
• Water Governance and Policy for Climate -proofing Water Sector;
• Strengthening Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management; ,
• Gender and inclusion in integrated water resources management for climate-resilient water resources planning; and
• South-South learning Exchange on building Climate-Resilient Water Infrastructure.

Training to be conducted exclusively in Pakistan on

1. Drought Risk Management in Sindh and Balochistan. The broad subject area under this training will include Understanding Drought Risk, Drought Monitoring, Early Warning & Forecasting, Drought Preparedness and response (Focus on Water Resources and Agriculture) and Drought Mitigation and Anticipatory Action

Agriculture Sector

The broad areas of training identified in the agriculture sector include but not limited to are:

1. Future climate projection and risk assessment and building resilience in agriculture and livestock sector for government stakeholders in Bangladesh, and agriculture sector in Nepal and Pakistan.
2. Assessing climate impact in agriculture and practicing CSAs /CSLs in agriculture and livestock Sectors for extension officers in Bangladesh and CSAs in Nepal and Pakistan
3. Strengthening of local agriculture extension officers to disseminate locally available/ piloted CSA technologies to farmers
4. Assessing climate impact in agriculture and practicing CSAs / CSLs in agriculture and livestock sectors for CBOs
5. Strengthening of CBOs and farmers on selection and implementation of locally piloted / customized climate-smart Agriculture technologies and practices through participatory approach
6. Policy analysis, and formation of climate-inclusive policies, plans and accessing investments in agriculture sector for government stakeholders in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan

3. Capacity-Building and Training of Trainers

Institutional capacity building of government stakeholders and CBOs in water sector and government stakeholders, CBOs and farmers in agriculture sector can improve the adoption of water management measures, water resources development and management, CSA practices to enhance productivity in the agriculture sector. The following activities will be performed under this component:

• Pilot testing of the developed modules with identified government stakeholders, CBOs and farmers in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan from the water and agriculture (including livestock sector in Bangladesh and Nepal).
• Identification of trainees from water and agriculture sector for each category (policy makers, planners, extension officials, CBOs and farmers).
• Development of the training plan (no. of days of training, no. of participants, no. of expected pool of master trainers to be created). ADPC will be assisting the firm during the preparation of the training plan especially the no of participants from each sector based on the targets set in the M7E framework of the project.
• Support ADPC in delivery of at least 2 cohorts of trainings of around 5 days each in each country in each sector (water and agriculture including livestock) as per the training plan. At least 1 training in each country and each sector will include field visit / exchange visit as part of south-south learning exchange which will have an additional 2 to 5 days of engagement.

5. Post Training Assessment

The firm is also required to carry out a comprehensive post training assessment of the training content, trainees and master trainers who attended the trainings carried out in water and agriculture sector and deliver an analytical report on the outcome of the training implementation. The objective of the post training assessment is to understand how well the stakeholders received the training program and should provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of the training conducted under CARE for South Asia project. The assessment should also provide an insight into integration of the training modules into the annual training programs of the sectoral ministries / departments in the project countries. The post-training assessment should be carried out at the end of each cohort of training and include a questionnaire-based survey on a digital platform (e.g. survey monkey/ MS Forms or similar) and quantitative and qualitative analysis should be carried out. The questionnaire should include general assessment questionnaire (e.g. objectives of the training activities, complexity level, training time, network-expansion and similar), Effectiveness and relevance, content design and similar. The post questionnaire will be prepared by the firm in discussion with ADPC.

6. Quality Assurance of Training modules

• All the training modules will have to meet the standards of the CARE for South Asia Project’s evaluation criteria which will be shared with the selected firm by ADPC. The modules will be evaluated by ADPC based on the shared criteria before acceptance.

The developed training modules need to be pilot tested to ensure quality and accepted by CARE for South Asia project team before delivery of the training by ADPC. Necessary support is required to be provided during the trainings. All trainings will be carried out in project countries.

E. Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consulting firm will submit the following deliverables adhering to the Terms of Reference

Contract Duration

The contract duration will be for 12 months. It is important to note that the firm will be expected to produce a few priority deliverables in the shortest possible time.

Selection Method

The firm will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s procurement process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.

The Consulting Firm will be selected on Consultant’s Qualification-based Selection (CQS) method.

How to apply

Interested Firms can submit the Expression of Interest to:

Procurement.care@adpc.net to the attention of Dr. Saswata Sanyal, Project Manager.