- BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE PROJECT and assignment
Over the last twenty years, IW:LEARN has grown from an informal network of a few projects and agency staff focused on IW projects to a community of individuals from a few hundred public and private sector organizations, including local, national, and international government and non-government organizations. The new IW:LEARN project (provisionally called IW:LEARN 5) will continue supporting the core mandate of the GEF International Waters Focal Area to support transboundary cooperation in shared marine and freshwater ecosystems and assist the project portfolio in achieving long term benefits. The project’s proposed activities will help the portfolio to implement regionally endorsed SAP priorities, mainstream gender considerations, and stimulate private sector investment. IW:LEARN’s outcome will contribute in particular to two of the three GEF7 IW objectives: (1) Strengthening Blue Economy opportunities, (2) Improve management in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and (3) Enhance water security in freshwater ecosystems. The proposed project will also assist the IW portfolio with contributing to the preparation of the 8th GEF Replenishment.
The proposed project includes five interrelated and mutually supportive components: 1) Provide targeted knowledge sharing and results showcasing across projects and development partners (through face-to-face dialogue and training) to advance transboundary water management in all IW focal area ecosystems 2) Support the communication and replication of portfolio results and experiences 3) Deliver inter- and intra-regional coordination and knowledge management across focal areas in Small Island Developing States to improve portfolio performance 4) Deliver support to surface freshwater, groundwater and large marine ecosystem subsets in support of portfolio strategic priorities 5) Mobilize public and private partnership to enhance long-term sustainability of project interventions.
Specifically, the project will retain focus on its core objective, towards a more impactful GEF portfolio: facilitating replication of good practice across GEF International Waters projects, as well as projects across all focal areas in Small Island Developing States, working in collaboration with development partners, supporting the delivery of trainings, information management, providing programmatic guidance and facilitating partnership building. It will leverage outcomes across the focal area, between focal areas especially in SIDS, and in focal area projects from source-to-sea which help the portfolio improve its performance, build partnerships, replicate its success, improve coordination and ultimately improve the management of transboundary ecosystems. The project will seek to increase visibility and impacts of GEF interventions and move towards robust integrated management in a source to sea continuum, sharing of portfolio planning and management tools, best practices and solutions; enhancing networking and data sharing; continuing commitment to capacity building and expanding the partnership with the private sector.
The objective of the GEF Project Preparation Grant (PPG) is to develop the project concept into a full project GEF IW:LEARN 5: Supporting Portfolio Coordination Within and Beyond the International Waters Focal Area, particularly in Small Island Developing States, Through Knowledge Sharing, Information Management, Partnership Building and Programmatic Guidance Services.
This ToR is aimed at the recruitment of a Consultant to lead in the preparation of the GEF IW:LEARN5 Project Document (ProDoc) and other associated documents necessary for the submission to GEF for CEO Endorsement, as well as leading the overall GEF IW:LEARN5 PPG Development Team.
Please see the “To Apply” link for more details.
