Consultancy summary

The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) is a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of land in Africa under restoration by 2030. AFR100 contributes to the Bonn Challenge and other continental and global environmental targets. The last decade built the important momentum on Forest and Landscape Restoration including in Africa. Flexible frameworks were developed for countries to rapidly assess their restoration potential and locate specific areas of opportunity at the national and sub-national levels.

In Niger, the World Resources Institute (WRI) aims to re-imagine forest and landscape restoration (FLR) in Illela, Tahoua to advance equitable, just, and resilient rural livelihoods as well as accelerate local action towards achieving the 2030 goals through addressing structural barriers to scaling up of FLR. To help address these critical equity and social inclusion dimensions of FLR, WRI is seeking a national consultant (s) to undertake action research to identify barriers to and opportunities for equitable and inclusive Forests and Landscape Restoration (FLR), and to support the team in applying the findings of the analysis to the design of a project. A key focus it to identify and map out different issues of (in)equity and the specific groups will face those (in)equity issues related to FLR, as well as find opportunities to co-desi will face those (in)equity issues related to FLR, as well as find opportunities to co-design ways of addressing inequities through collaboration with the local and national level stakeholders.

Context and scope of work

Niger has committed to bring 3.2 million hectares of land into restoration under The Bonn Challenge and the AFR100 Initiative. Following these pledges, The Government of Niger focused efforts on building enabling conditions for large scale restoration with support from various national and international actors and projects. Lessons from Niger’s restoration experience shows that FLR has the potential of creating large scale benefits; but we must also note that the produced results tend to impact different sets of community members differently.

Existing global and pan-African evidence suggest the need to factor equity as a key building block of restoration. These studies indicate that land use management such as FLR negatively and disproportionately affects women1, Indigenous groups, small farmers. On-ground evidence from other projects in Africa also depict this pattern of FLR interventions increasingly reinforcing marginalization and in-equity, but very little is known from our study area. This study aims to bridge this gap in Niger from gender & intersectional perspective and intends to map out the conditions that structure and influence inequities in restoration. It also aims to identify major gender gaps that are contextually relevant in Niger and identify opportunities and recommendations.

The scope of work:

• The action research will focus on – women (type of women can be intersectional) as the targeted marginalized group
• The unit of analysis with be set at (a) farm level, and (b) at the nexus of farm & market & institutional interface
• This consultancy will help generate knowledge products based on evidence through systematic review, focus group discussions, and interviews with actors at the landscape level. Specific sample questions to be addressed in the result of this consultancy include:
• What are present levels of women’s engagement in restoration in terms of access, benefits, and decision-making (land use management at farm level; market level and at institutional level)? Do these differ to those of men?
• How are decisions made on restoration, and how do gender norms & institutional structures influence access, benefits, and decision-making at both levels?
• How do women (and the currently left out or less engaged group) want to engage and benefit from restoration? What are their priority aspirations? Are their aspirations of engagement feasible and doable within the current context of restoration policy and practice?
• What/where are the entry-points to make changes to support women access, benefits, and decision-making in FLR.

Activities

The consultant will be tasked to conduct the following activities:

Activity 1: Review of methodologies and relevant literature to develop an assessment protocol (including the research methodology and data collection tools) to examine if the existing patterns of engagement, costs/benefits, decision-making of women, within the restoration sector, are equitable or not? What factors condition, structure and influence it?

• Activity 1.1. Research existing assessment protocols/methodologies and propose a plan to apply those protocols to the restoration distributional impact context.
• Activity 1.2. Based on the conducted research and literature review propose a comprehensive protocol for assessing the distributional impact of landscape restoration in Illela
• Activity 1.3. Validate the proposed protocol with WRI and the partners at Eaux et Forets

Key output expected:

1) A document of 2 pages maximum explaining the proposed framework.

2) A summary document of 5 pages explaining the existing literature on the current situation of gender & social inequity in restoration in Africa, with specific focus in Niger.

Activity 2: Carry out field data collection and desktop research, using the approved methodology by WRI, to identify barriers & opportunities for addressing inequities in landscape restoration in Illela, Tahoua.

• Activity 2.1. Outline key steps for data collection and analysis.

• Activity 2.2. Develop a list of institutions and groups to be consulted during the restoration distributional impact assessment. WRI will provide the consultant with a list of partners and contacts and will liaise the connections between them and the consultant. At the very minimum, this list should include diverse groups of women playing different roles- women farmers (including widowed/single women), women entrepreneurs, women policy makers, women technical experts who are engaged in restoration work at different levels. In addition, identify a list of people who need to be consulted such as community members and leaders, women’s organizations working in FLR topics, and other FLR actors from government agencies and development organization working in the region/ or on similar topics

• Activity 2.3. Design the data collection

• Including consultation sessions in gender- inclusive ways, being mindful of timing needs, safe spaces, and women-only focus group discussions.
• Ensuring that the data collection and analysis process is iterative for reflection and sharing with relevant stakeholders.
• Share the preliminary patterns and findings of the research with the women’s group and other related stakeholders for validation.

Key output expected:

1. A document with the detailed plan for data collection & analysis.

Activity 3: Analyze collected information and formulate recommendations. The report should include existing patterns of engagement, costs/benefits, decision-making of women, within the restoration sector; the existing factors that structure and influence the sectors; and activities will make positive changes to reduce those inequities.

Key output expected:

1. Interim report (3 pages max) of the preliminary patterns and findings of the collected and analyzed data.
2. A final research report (15 pages max) reviewed and approved by WRI team.

Activity 4: Attend a restoration workshop to present and share the findings of the study with wider stakeholders engaged in landscape restoration.

Key output expected:

1. A power point (maximum 20 slides and associated talking points) summarizing the findings.

Activity 5: Develop a policy brief based on the findings and summarizing key issues/recommendations.

Key output expected:

1. Prepare a policy brief (4 pages max) to summarize key issues & recommendations to policy actors at landscape level.

Deliverables:
The consultant will be expected to produce the following deliverables (in French). Please note that all produced products will follow at least 1-2 iteration of review by WRI before being accepted at as completed deliverable. Each review process by WRI should be expected to take between 7-10 days.

Timeline and fund

This assignment must be undertaken within a period of 150 days from the time of signing the contract, for a total amount not exceeding USD 19000.

Competencies of the expert(s)/consultant(s)

WRI will accept individual submission and group submissions of maximum 3 consultants. All interested candidates should have the following competencies at a minimum:

• The lead consultant must have over 10 years of experience in social science research with a focus in Equity and social inclusion.
• Excellent skills and working experience in environment, natural resources, or restoration.
• Must have an advanced degree in any of the following fields: Social sciences, Community development, Gender equality and development or any other related field.
• Experience in development research, gender analysis and community development are an added advantage.

• Should be able to share evidence of similar or related work done previously.
• Fluency in Hausa and French is required. Basic understanding of English is also required.

How to Apply

WRI invites interested applicants to submit their application materials (see below), by April 28th, 2023, to Mme. Mahamoudou Salima at [email protected].

1. Current CV (PDF format in English or French) demonstrating their capabilities in undertaking the assignment,
2. 1 page cover letter sharing evidence of similar or related work done previously.
3. Financial proposal (PDF format in English or French) providing details of the cost’s breakdowns.