CONSULTANCY OPPORTUNITY: Landscape Finance Consultancy for the Mt. Kenya Sustainable Landscape and Livelihoods (MSuLLi) Program

Reporting to:                               Team Manager                                         

Location:                                       Kenya

Period of consultancy:             October 30th, 2024, to December 31st, 2024

1.       About the Rainforest Alliance

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 approach, we are giving special attention to three strategic focuses i.e., Net positive - Transforming agriculture and forestry to net positive: We partner with farmers and communities to promote regenerative methods that give more than they take, Thriving Landscapes – Transforming landscapes at scale with an alliance of local-to-global stakeholders who share the same vision & 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. Together, we can achieve our vision of a world where people and nature thrive in harmony. 

2.       About the program 

Rainforest Alliance (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 Boards (LMBs), 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. Efforts are also 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 MSuLLi Program is landscape financing, and RA is engaging a consultant to support this critical component. The consultant will work closely with the LMB to develop a comprehensive Landscape Finance Strategy aimed at securing long-term financial resources. This will involve identifying investment opportunities, creating innovative financial instruments, and establishing mechanisms to attract funding from development banks and private sector investors. The consultant will also facilitate the operationalization of blended finance models, ensuring sustainable public-private-civic financing agreements that support both the governance and implementation of landscape interventions. The key outcome is a robust finance strategy that ensures continued support for LMB operations and long-term landscape restoration, and management efforts aligned with the SLDMPs 

3.       Objectives:

Objective 1: Develop a sustainable landscape investment portfolio.

3.1.1         Develop investment portfolio.

• Review SLDMP, diversification business cases on resilience and restoration.

• Identify pipeline of investment opportunities with identified feedback loops on the landscape, recognized by public and private sectors, with proper financial instruments to attract landscape investments.

• Define investment for each priority pipeline of investment opportunities.

• Categorize these investment opportunities based on financing short term, medium term, and long-term outcomes with potential financing source.

Objective 2: Develop resource mobilization strategy.

3.2.1         Baselining the current and emerging landscape sustainable management financial mechanisms

• Assess the financial mechanism that includes, but not limited to the following aspects:

  • Map finance mechanisms adapted to management by landscape partnerships in the Mt Kenya region and beyond,

  • Recommend a financial mechanism (facility) suitable for the landscape management governance and operationalization of the landscape investments and articulate the value proposition of the facility in the Mt Kenya.

  • Identify potential funders, investors, lenders to the facility and analyze the conditions that would need to be in place to attract them.

  • Support the LMB to network with other possible partners to improve their fundraising capabilities.

3.2.2         Design and operationalize the mobilization strategy.

• Project the funding needs for the next 5 years i.e., sizing the total amount of funding required for all the priority investment opportunities.

• Assist the Landscape Management Board (LMB) to set up an appropriate fund mobilization instruments like the Green Bond, Loan Grant Facility, Carbon Finance, or any relevant blended financial tools.

• Develop resource mobilization strategy model for the LMB.

Objective 3: Operationalize the resource mobilization strategy.

3.3.1         Development of mobilization committee

·       Design the governance structure of the mobilization committee.

• Draft terms of reference for the mobilization committee.

4.       Deliverables

The Consultant has the overall responsibility for the assignment. He/she will coordinate, oversee, and consolidate the works and inputs of the consultancy based on the individual deliverables including:

1.       Investment portfolio

2.       Resource mobilization strategy

5.       Implementation Arrangements

Project Management Unit shall arrange for the consultant all necessary meetings and workshop in accordance with the TOR. RA program office in coordination with the PMU shall arrange planning for the mission including hotel reservation and transportation during the mission. The Rainforest Alliance staff involved in the Program will provide the following administrative and logistical support to the Consultant:

• Full cooperation regarding staff availability for the discussion of project implementation and progress

• Unrestricted access to all documents, outputs and other project deliverables as required and as available

• Review and provide comments to the draft and final reports. 

6.       Consultant Qualifications Required

7.       Submission of Proposals

Based on this ToR, Rainforest Alliance invites qualified consultancy companies/groups of individuals

consultants to submit the following:

1.       Letter of Interest (Expression of Interest)

2.       Technical Proposal (5 pages max):

• Expression of understanding of the ToR.

• An approach and broad outline of methodology to be applied.

• A detailed schedule of activities and deliverables.

• Team composition (profiles and CVs no longer than three pages per team member)

• Proof of required competencies (relevant references)

3.       Financial Proposal:

• Consultancy fee (USD)

• Logistical arrangements

8.       Consultant Selection Criteria

Selection of the consultant is based on the following criteria:

1.   Technical Proposal 70%

• Understanding the ToR 10%

• Innovation and value add 20%

• Evidence on fund raising 40% 

1. Financial proposal 30%

 9.       Anticipated Maximum Level of Effort by the Consultant: 

Twenty-five (25) net working days spread from October 2024 – December 2024 (i.e., does not include the days required by RA to review and validate deliverables)

10.       Documents Submission:

Proposals should be submitted to dwario@ra.org  and cc jmuyula@ra.org with the subject line Sustainable Landscape Finance Strategy Consultant. We shall be accepting and reviewing proposals on a rolling basis effective from the time the publication goes out. The work is expected to commence from 30th October 2024.