TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

INVITATION FOR STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP: Technical Support for Mt. Kenya Landscape Management Board (LMB) on Integrated Landscape Finance under Rainforest Alliance MSuLLI Program

FINANCE

Lead Organization:                Rainforest Alliance

Partnership Coordinator:      Team Manager, MSuLLi Program                              

Location:                            Kenya

Period of partnership:           January 20th, 2025, to March 31st, 2026

1.       About the Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international nonprofit organization working at the intersection of trade, agriculture, and forestry to make responsible trade the new normal. RA is building an alliance to protect forests, improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities, promote their human rights, and help them mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. To advance our mission, we focus on amplifying our impact on the ground through systemic transformation: change across the entire supply chain, change in the relationship between people and nature, and change within our own organization. We achieve this transformation by working in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders to create a stronger Alliance. Together, we amplify the voices of farmers and forest communities, improve livelihoods, protect biodiversity, and help people adapt to climate change in bold and effective ways.

Within our 2030 vision , we have 3 main strategic pillars:

1. Transforming agriculture and forestry to net positive: We partner with farmers and communities to promote regenerative methods that give more than they take

2. Thriving Landscapes – Transforming landscapes at scale with an alliance of local-to-global stakeholders who share the same vision

3. Impact Data – Empowering stakeholders with impact data: We are building one integrated data system for all our programs to drive continuous improvement from individual farms to surrounding landscapes.

   
   

   We embrace transparency because we believe that the best way to build trust across our alliance is through openness about our tactics, our impact, and partners on the ground. Find out more about our work at Rainforest Alliance.

 2.       About the program

The RA is implementing a six-year Mount Kenya Sustainable Landscape and Livelihoods (MSuLLi) Program aimed at promoting sustainable landscape management, improving livelihoods, and conserving critical ecosystems. The program targets 50,000 smallholder tea and coffee farmers and 1,000 forest-dependent communities in Embu and Kirinyaga counties, with plans to scale to other counties around Mt. Kenya. Through the establishment of Landscape Management Board (LMB[1]), RA facilitates inclusive governance by engaging smallholders, community groups, and public-private stakeholders to collaboratively develop and implement Sustainable Landscape Development and Management Plans (SLDMPs). The program promotes climate-smart agriculture and diversified, gender- and youth-inclusive livelihoods to enhance the resilience of communities against climate change and market shocks. Effort is focused on landscape restoration, with a strong emphasis on rehabilitating degraded forests and riparian ecosystems, ensuring that natural resources are conserved and restored for future generations.

A key pillar of the Program is landscape financing, and RA together with the LMB would like to engage an institution/firm/organization through a memorandum of understanding on need basis to support this critical component. The institution/firm/organization will work closely with the LMB to operationalize the Sustainable Landscape Development and Management Plan (SLDMP) aimed at securing long-term financial resources. This will involve analyzing previously mapped business ideas on viability, identifying additional viable business ideas, assisting viable business ideas to move from proof of concept to commercialization, linking developed business ideas to market and or to finance. The institution/firm/organization will also assist the LMB on grant and fund management. Learn more about the MSuLLi program.

The overall objective of this request is to establish a partnership with an experienced institution/organization /firm that will offer mentorship and coaching support to the LMB to develop investable projects and incubate early and growth stage business cases towards commercialization. In addition, mentor the LMB on fund raising and fund management.

3.       Focus areas for this partnership:

Focus Area 1: Mentorship and coaching support to the LMB to develop investable projects

Focus Area 2: Support the LMB to effectively mobilize Integrated Landscape Finance (ILF) into Mt. Kenya landscape

Focus Area 3: Offer transaction advisory support.

Specifically, collaboratively with RA, the selected entity will offer the following support to the LMB:

• Support the LMB to analyze business ideas and incubate at least five (5) viable business cases as presented by the LMB.

• Connect financiers/investors with at least the five (5) developed investable business cases.

• Assess and recommend at least one fund facility suitable for the ILF in the Mt Kenya landscape.

• Generate a database of potential funders, investors, lenders to the facility with their profiles and link to investment cases.

• Offer technical advisory services to LMB in identifying, managing and closing at least three (3) investment deals.

• Support the LMB in fundraising processes including financial literacy, pipeline generation, investor readiness support, investor engagement and post-investment business technical support.

4.       Deliverables

 5.       Implementation Arrangements

Project Management Unit shall organize for all necessary meetings and workshop in accordance with the approved workplan.

6.       Institution/Firm/Organization expertise

• Enterprise Support Services

  o   Investor Readiness Support

  o   Business Development Services Support

  o   Organizational Capacity Assessment

  o   Grant Management

  
  

• Investments and financing

  o    Investment advice and asset management

  o   Provide tailored financing solutions

  
  

• Provide tailored financing solutions Training and Capacity Building

  o   Training for institutions

  o   Customized training for entrepreneurs

  o   Customized mentorship for entrepreneurs

  
  

• Experience

  o   10 years of experience in providing similar services

  o   Track record of securing green investments

 7.       Anticipated partnership duration   

The partnership period will run from January 20th, 2025, to March 31st, 2026.

8.       Documents Submission:

Expression of interest should be submitted through this platform in one single PDF document which shall include: 

a)       Technical proposal

b)      CVs of team that will be involved

c)       At least three references on previous engagements

d)      Economic proposal.   

We shall be accepting and reviewing proposals on a rolling basis effective from the time the publication goes out until January 3rd, 2025.

Interested parties with specific competencies even if not all are still eligible to apply. In such a case, kindly specify the areas or expertise you interested in offering.

[1] LMB in this context refers to the landscape management board at the respective counties i.e., Embu and Kirinyaga and the trust level i.e., apex board for the two counties.