Vacancy: Terms of Reference: Climate Risk and Vulnerability (CRV) Study

Company Profile

SNV is a not-for-profit international development organisation that applies practical know-how to make a lasting difference in the lives of people living in poverty. We use our extensive and long-term in-country presence to apply and adapt our top-notch expertise in agriculture, energy, and WASH to local contexts. SNV has an annual turnover of €130 million, over 1,250 staff in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We are proud to be a not-for-profit organisation that uses project financing to implement our mission. This requires us to work efficiently and to invest in operational excellence.

For more information on SNV, visit our website: www.snv.org

Job Description

Terms of Reference.

Climate Risk and Vulnerability (CRV) Study.

Background

Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC (GGB PLC) is one of the largest breweries in Ghana using locally produced and imported grains to produce beverages for the domestic market.

GGB PLC requires large quantities of sorghum each year – over 200,000MT to meet their beverage production needs. To improve efficiencies and contribute more fully to the local economy, GGB PLC has decided to focus on local sourcing wherever possible to replace imported grains with locally produced sorghum for the brewing of its beverages.

To achieve this aim, GGB PLC has entered a partnership with SNV in Ghana to work with stakeholders along the value chain to support (additional) 12,800 smallholder farmers and 900 commercial farmers to increase the volumes and quality of sorghum produced for sale to GGB PLC through the project “Partnership for Sustainable Sorghum Sourcing in Ghana (SSS).

The project is set to be implemented in districts with high potential for sorghum cultivation in the five northern regions of Ghana.

GGB PLC is the off-taker - offering a reliable market for sorghum by guaranteeing to buy all the sorghum that farmers will produce if it is of the right quality and meets the standards for their production of beverages.

SNV is the lead implementing partner and is responsible for overall facilitation and co-ordination of the activities and results of all other implementing partners. Through these partnerships, SNV will support 30 aggregators with over 12,800 smallholder out-grower farmers and 900 commercial farmers, to produce and deliver 72,375 MT of quality sorghum to GGB PLC over a 5-year project period of 2023 to 2028.

Rationale and Objectives for Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment

Vulnerability Assessment has been recognized worldwide as a critical step in adaptation planning and implementation. Current climate change adaptation measures are usually done by assessing vulnerability. It is one of the most important tools to measure the stability of a particular ecosystem and the vulnerability of human communities and is essential in planning and implementation of the Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA) projects. EbA is gaining power as an approach that makes valuable contribution to and fills significant gaps in broader climate change adaptation strategies. EbA approaches help in reducing ecosystem vulnerability, impacts of climate change on biodiversity and increases the capacity of the ecosystem for resilience.

Vulnerability of any system depends on the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Exposure is the nature and degree of a system, or a community being exposed to the natural hazards. Sensitivity is the degree of system or community being affected either directly or indirectly and adversely or beneficially by the climate, and adaptive capacity is the ability or strength of a system or a community to moderate and to deal with the potential climate change impacts based on wise and effective use of available livelihood resources.

To obtain reliable information on ecosystem and communities, it is very important to involve local community members, field expert and other stakeholders so that quick and practical adaptation actions can be developed to deal with emerging climatic vulnerabilities. Participatory vulnerability assessment (PVA) helps in understanding vulnerability, its root causes and most vulnerable groups and agrees on activities by, with and to people to reduce their vulnerability with the support of scientific information and technologies.

The main objective is to conduct a climate risk and vulnerability assessment in the project catchment area involving key project stakeholders and beneficiary farmers to inform strategies to adapt to climate risks as they relate to and for integrating into the project’s objectives.

Specific objectives include:

1. To identify the current and future vulnerability caused by the impact of climate change on the local communities and the ecosystems.


2. To identify the major drivers of vulnerability on the local communities and ecosystems


3. To identify the major ecosystems and ecosystem services of project area that could help the local community adapt to the impacts of climate change and to prioritize them as per the intervention requirements.


4. To record and document indigenous knowledge of Project communities regarding climate change in terms of past and recent climatic shifts and social-ecological dimensions and


5. To recommend the appropriate ecosystem-based adaptation options to address the identified impacts of climate change on the local people and ecosystems of project communities.

Specific Terms of Reference

These terms of reference seek to guide potential/aspiring consultants to submit technical proposals detailing their understanding of the problem and the expected results, their profiles including relevant past experiences, current capacity to deliver on the desired results, and their strategy for achieving the expected results. The proposal is also expected to detail the level of effort and costs of the activities the consultant plan to carry out activities to achieve the results.

Scope of Work

Under the guidance of the SSS Project team, the Consultant will deliver the tasks below:

Scoping

Identify, collect, and compile relevant documents, data, and information (historical and updated), stakeholders, describe the hazards, vulnerabilities and resulting risks to be assessed. These include:

• A description of clear climate-related risks to be addressed in the climate risk and vulnerability assessment.


• Provide details of the assessment methodology to be used in the climate risk and vulnerability assessment.


• Provide an indicative timeframe, costs, and resources to carry out the assessment.

Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment

1. Describe the existing conditions.

• Main hazards and their impacts currently experienced (e.g., heavy rainfall, flooding, drought, storm surges, destruction to infrastructure, etc.)


• Vulnerability context in which hazards are translated in to impacts i.e., which populations, areas, groups, systems, or sectors are most affected by climate hazards, and what are the drivers (e.g., social, economic, geographic, policy, etc.) of their vulnerability?


• The level(s) of adaptive capacity in the relevant populations, groups, systems, sectors, and institutions. What options are there for effective responses to manage and reduce existing risks, and what are the constraints that prevent action to reduce risk being taken.

      b. Examine how conditions might evolve in the future.

• The potential future evolution of climate hazards (both sudden-onset and slow-onset). The characterization of future climate hazards may be based on data from global and regional climate models, down- scaling studies, and/or impact models (e.g., of water resources, crop yields, coastal systems, ecosystems, etc.). Alternatively, this characterization may employ expert judgment, past analogues (e.g., of extreme events/conditions), statistical techniques (e.g., to examine the impacts of changing means and variability of the occurrence of extremes using historical data as a baseline)


• The potential future evolution of vulnerability, based on reasonable assumptions about how the drivers of vulnerability may change in conjunction with changing economic, demographic, environmental and other conditions.


• The potential future evolution of adaptive capacity, based on changes in access to resources and opportunities, and in constraints on adaptation actions.

Document key findings and present recommendations

• Document (summary of) intervention approaches and lessons learnt from previous local and other relevant initiatives to address climate risks and vulnerabilities among smallholder farmers, including the place of Diageo’s sustainable agriculture guidelines and sustainable agriculture strategy that subscribes to reducing negative environmental impacts, and ensuring sustainable agricultural practices.


• Identify and analyze climate risk and vulnerability factors affecting farming systems in the project area, and farmers’ current coping strategies, using appropriate participatory approaches.


• Based on findings and lessons, develop intervention strategies for promoting the mainstreaming of climate-change considerations into the planning at each farmer aggregate/cooperative level to ensure coherent cost-effective adaptation strategies, and identify options for better adaption measures.


• Document climate related infrastructure i.e., Meteorological facilities and their functioning states that is used in predicting weather events.

Deliverables

The key deliverables include.

1. Inception Report detailing the following:

• A comprehensive description of the understanding of the ToR and indicating any major inconsistency or deficiency in the ToR and proposed amendments.


• Literature on approaches, lessons, final study methodology,


• A complete work plan for the assessment exercise.


• Field questionnaires/survey tools.


• Draft template containing the Table of Contents for the Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Report.


• Results of the scoping stage (above)

1. A draft Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Report documenting findings and recommendations as outlined in the scope including facilitating a session to discuss the contents of the draft report with SSS Project team and selected project stakeholders and implementing partners. This includes a presentation in a meeting to discuss and provide feedback verbally in the meeting and in writing based on the draft narrative report.


2. Final Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Report: This report shall be submitted within 10 working days of receiving comments on a draft report. The final report should respond in detail to the key focus areas described above. It should include all relevant data and information, and recommendations to inform the development of project adaptation plans.

Duration

The assignment should be executed between February and April 2024.  

Authority and Responsibility

The SSS Project Team.

• Coordinate with the Partners to ensure all the relevant information and documentation are available to the consultant.


• Create linkages with field staff, implementing partners and other stakeholders to ensure effective accomplishment of consultancy.


• Review report and provide feedback to the consultant to ensure consistency with the SSS Project and implementation objective.


• Arrange key informant interviews and focus group discussions as deemed necessary.


• Provide necessary orientation and training to the consultant.


• Review and approve field approaches to be used by the consultant.


• Review the draft report and provide feedback to the consultant.


• Provide the necessary government clearance in event that the consultant is required to visits field locations.

Required Skills or Experience

Qualifying Criteria

The consultant (Team or Individual) must have adequate capacity, and relevant experience in climate change impact, livelihoods, Regenerative agriculture/CSA/CA.

The Study Team must meet the following more specific criteria:

• Team Lead must have a master’s degree in one or more of the following: Environmental studies, Natural Resource Management, Agronomy/Agribusiness/Economics, etc.


• Submit a copy of the lead consultant(s) CV.


• Demonstrate knowledge and experience in extension and agricultural technology promotion.


• Have past knowledge of the sorghum value chain in Ghana and awareness of how these intersect with climate issues (desirable, but not essential).


• Have fair knowledge of safeguarding, risk, and vulnerability assessment.

Desirable Competencies

• Strong work ethic and ability to carry out duties at a high professional standard.


• Strong technical, analytical, and numerical skills.


• Strong organization and time-management skills


• Ability to deliver high-quality outputs on time and within budget.


• Ability to build trusting relationships with smallholder farmers and producer groups.


• Computer skills, including internet, email, spreadsheet, and word processing software,


• Strong writing and communication skills