Public hearings, stakeholder consultations supporting “Review and analysis of current forestry-related legislation, institutional and administrative structure”

Terms of Reference (TORs)
for
Local consultant (firm/NGO)

Introduction

The Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) II Program focuses on improving forest governance in seven countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine) that are included in the European Union’s (EU) European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) East region. The Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) grant is sought to finance complementary measures in Georgia and Armenia and supplement resources available from the EU-funded FLEG II Program.

The overall objective of the Program is to promote sustainable forest governance, management, and protection of forests in the participating Program countries, ensuring the contribution of the region's forests to climate change adaptation and mitigation, to ecosystems and biodiversity protection, and to sustainable livelihoods and income sources for local populations and national economies.

The three specific Program objectives are:

1. implementation of the 2005 St. Petersburg FLEG Ministerial Declaration and ensuring continuation of the process launched in 2005 (regional level),
2. formulation and implementation of sustainable forest sector policies, including legal and administrative reforms for sustainable forest management and protection (national level), and
3. demonstration of best sustainable forest management practices in targeted areas for further replication (sub-national level).

The Program is under implementation since November 2013 until December 2016, and is undertaking the following tasks:

• Support for the development of policy and legislation
• Capacity building and training
• Forest inventory support
• Forestry case studies
• Pilot activities for sustainable forest management
• Public awareness and dissemination of results

Country Context

Armenia’s forest policy strategy was developed by the respective Ministries of the Republic of Armenia and approved by the Government on September 30, 2004 (for 15 years, until 2019), covering climate change, rural development, landscape and gender issues. A recent legislative development in the forestry sector was the adoption of a regulation, according to which the forest communities will be able to receive up to 8m3 of fuel-wood (from fallen wood) per household per year free of charge. A number of environmental NGOs are actively discussing the issue of restructuring the “Hayantar” (Armforest), forestry sector authority, which has the status of the State non-commercial organization (SNCO), with limited executive power but a wide range of responsibilities.

The Country Work plan (CWP) for Armenia builds on the following five directions:

• Support for the development of forest Policy and legislation
• Pilot activities for sustainable forest management
• Forest Case Studies
• Capacity Building and Training
• Public awareness and dissemination of results

3. Objective

3.1 The World Bank is one of the implementing organizations (IOs) of the ENPI FLEG II program. These TORs are for consultancy services to be provided under a contract signed between the World Bank Yerevan Office (hereinafter the Client), and a Consulting Firm (the Consultant).

3.2 For activities which have environmental and social impact consultation will not be a single conversation, but a series of opportunities to create understanding about the developments among those it will likely affect or interest, and to learn how these external parties view the process. Stakeholder concerns and feedback can be a valuable source that can improve the whole process and the outcomes.

3.3 Current activity aims at proving full scale public awareness campaign by means of public hearings and stakeholder consultations, to support the upcoming review of current forestry-related legislation. Since any recommendations brought up in the process of reviewing the existing forestry and related legislation might impact the general population and forest adjacent communities in particular, the consultations providing details and explanation about ongoing processes are crucial. The consultations with the main stakeholders shall provide transparency of the whole process and also serve as a pool for collecting opinions and ideas from the first hand forest users.

4. Scope of the Assignment

4.1 Within the course of the assignment, the Consultant shall:

• Identify the main stakeholders both State institutions and community members;
• Raise awareness of concerned stakeholders about the planned/ongoing review of the legislative base;
• Develop a calendar of events, including but not limited to public forums, working sessions, dialogue with Government agencies concerned;
• Develop communications materials to support the cause, in the form of a) information portal, or a page in social media; b) newsletters; c) flyers;
• Collect and analyze feedback from stakeholders in order to share it with the Legal Team;
• Organize round table discussions; and
• Organize a workshop for the presentation of recommendations developed by the Legal team.

4.2 The Consultant team shall closely communicate with the respective stakeholders (such as: the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Nature Protection, “Hayantar” SNCO, State Forest Monitoring Center, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Environmental NGOs, development partners actively involved in the forestry sector, etc.) as well as the Legal Team, responsible for the review of the current forestry-related legislation, institutional and administrative structure..

4.3 The ENPI FLEG II Program Coordination Team, as well as the Forestry department at the MOA and “Hayantar” will assist the Consultant, wherever possible, in arranging meetings, requesting support documents etc.

5. Outputs

5.1 The outputs of the assignment include:

Detailed work-plan and a calendar of events with detailed breakdown of suggested activities and respective audience for World Bank approval (two weeks after start of the assignment).

In close collaboration with the Legal Team, and based on their workflow carry out the planned awareness raising and consultation events, providing due feedback both to the Legal Team and the World Bank in the form of event report-back reports.

The stakeholder consultations shall cover all the marzes of Armenia, and forest adjacent communities in particular (at least 10 meetings). Forest-dependent communities which are covered in the forest dependency survey and the roadshows, carried out under the FLEG activities shall be referred to as the main audience. Dialogues with the Government agencies shall be organized with all relevant State institutions.

Information materials to raise public awareness: flyers, leaflets

Launching a web page, or providing a separate space on the existing web page of the organization to provide update and advertise the process.

All outputs will be provided to the World Bank team for comments before finalization.

6. Timing and reporting

6.1 The overall duration of the assignment is 60 days within five calendar months, with the following breakdown suggested:

Inception report on identification of key stakeholders and planning of the events, with supporting outputs – two weeks after initiation of the assignment (phase I).

Progress report – submitted after completion of each set of public hearings and stakeholder consultations, first one being presented not later than two months after initiation of assignment (phase II).

Final report on work performed, after completion of the workshop for presentation of recommendations prepared by the Legal team (phase III).

6.2 The Inception, Progress and Final Reports shall be submitted in both Armenian and English languages. All the remaining outputs shall be submitted in Armenian, with a brief summary in English language.

6.3 The Consultant shall report to Arusyak Alaverdyan, Sr. Agriculture Specialist, at [email protected]

7. Qualifications

7.1 The Consultant team shall be represented by following specialists:

Communications/Public relations specialist with 1) a higher University degree in Public relations, journalism or related discipline; 2) at least 5 years awareness raising campaign, promoting activities, information campaigning: 3) familiarity with the Forestry/Environmental sector of Armenia; 4) experience in mobilizing stakeholders; 5) previous experience of working with international organizations; 6) previous experience in organizing public awareness raising and or consultation/information campaigns is strongly desirable; 7) proficiency in Armenian and computer literacy; 8) working knowledge of English is an asset.

Forestry/Natural resources Specialist with the following skills and experience: 1) higher education in forestry or related field; 2) at least 5 years of extensive work experience; 3) familiarity with the forestry and/or related environmental legislation and policy; 4) proficiency in Armenian; 5) previous experience with international organizations is an asset; 6) computer literacy; 7) working knowledge of English is desired.

Administrative assistant with the following skills and experience: 1) university degree in public relations, communications, linguistics or related discipline; 2) at least 3 years of relevant work experience performing duties of administrative assistant; 3) previous experience of participating in awareness raising campaigns, organization of round table discussions, dialogues, stakeholder consultations is an asset; 4) previous experience in working with international organizations is desired; 5) good organizational skills; 6) proficiency in Armenian and computer literacy; 6) working knowledge of English is an asset.

Communication/Public relations specialist shall be the Team Leader, who will be in charge of overall coordination of the Team, quality control and engaging with the World Bank team. The team as a whole – though not necessarily each team member – needs to be proficient in Armenian, English and Russian languages.

Further information can be obtained and Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below by May 12, 2016.

Arusyak Alaverdyan
Sr. Agriculture Specialist
[email protected]