Local recruitment: National consultant for the mission to develop the pipeline of concept notes for the water sector investment program in Ghana

Continental Water Investment Programme (AIP)

African Union Multi-Country GCF Readiness Project for Accelerating Climate Resilient Water Investments in Africa (AU AIP Multicountry GCF Readiness Project)

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A NATIONAL CONSULTANT FOR THE MISSION TO DEVELOP THE PIPELINE OF CONCEPT NOTES FOR THE WATER SECTOR INVESTMENT PROGRAM IN GHANA

1.             Background of the Continental Africa Water Investment Program (AIP)

On 6 September 2023, African Heads of State and Governments committed to support the implementation of the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) as part of the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change. Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change, and it is expected to significantly impact water, with an increase in extreme events, including droughts, floods, water scarcity, and waterborne diseases. Despite this marked vulnerability, many African countries have limited capacity to access climate finance for strategic water investments. Access to climate finance for water security in Africa is critical to achieving the objectives of the African Union (AU) Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032), which recognizes the need to strengthen climate-resilient water systems under Focus Area 2: Adopting Pathways Towards Transformative Climate Resilient Development.

The Continental Africa Water Investment Program (AIP) supports the implementation of the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy. The Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government adopted it as part of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa—Priority Action Plan 2 (PIDA-PAP 2) to address the growing need for investment in water, which is greatly exacerbated by climate change. The AIP comprises five pillars that aim to contribute towards narrowing the investment gap in water across Africa, namely:

• Mobilise high-level political commitment and leadership on water investments – The AU-AIP High-Level International Panel on Water Investments in Africa was created in 2022, bringing together the present and former African heads of State and global leaders. In 2023, the Panel supported the AU in the development and launch of the Africa Rising Investment Tide and the Action Plan for Water Investment in Africa Reports, which offer Concrete courses of action to help countries mobilize at least USD 30 billion annually by 2030 for the implementation of the AIP;
• The AIP-PIDA Water Investment Scorecard – The AIP-PIDA Water Investment Scorecard aims to improve the accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of water financing and investments. This tool allows countries to establish baselines, track progress, identify bottlenecks, and take action toward meeting Africa’s water investment needs. The AUDA-NEPAD adopted it in February 2022 and has been developed and tested in 10 countries in 2023 before its deployment at the level of AU Member States;
• Water investment programs at regional and national levels – AIP supports AU Member States to develop national water investment programs to close the water investment gap. Many African countries are extremely vulnerable to climate variability, reflected in weak institutional capacity, inadequate water infrastructure, and insufficient data processing and communication systems to ensure effective water management. National water investment programs aim to address these gaps, thereby bridging the investment gap for water security;
• International Blended Investment Facility AIP – The AIP will assess the need for a blended International Investment Facility, targeted at assisting countries in mobilizing Official Development Assistance (ODA) and grant financing. This will help to de-risk priority water investments through various innovative financial instruments and sources including sovereign wealth funds, guarantees, trade finance, institutional investors, private equity funds, foundations, value-based impact investing, and funding climatic conditions; and
• Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls in Water Investment – The Transformative Climate-resilient Development for Gender-responsive Water Program (AIP WACDEP-G) aims to develop tools to assist governments in addressing systemic inequalities in decision-making, planning, and implementation of water investment actions. It promotes a transformative approach to institutions, social structures, and relations. The AIP WACDEP-G was piloted in five African countries between 2020 and 2024, and plans are underway to scale it up to other African countries.

2.             Project Context

Ghana is one of the fifteen (15) countries participating in the Programme, “Support to the Readiness of the African Union Commission’s Multi-Country Programme”. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) funds the project, amounting to Six Million One Hundred and Sixty-Four Thousand Fifty-Three (6,164,053) US Dollars. The African Union Commission (AUC) is implementing the Programme through the Global Water Partnership (GWP) in Southern Africa (GWP-SA) and the GWP Africa Coordination Unit (CU-GWP Africa).

The overall objective of the project is to enhance the capacities of countries to plan climate-resilient water investments and prepare projects to undertake climate actions through:

• Strengthening countries’ capacity for climate finance programming and direct access to GCF resources, with a focus on water-related climate actions;
• Improving strategic frameworks for planning climate-resilient water investments by developing water investment programs;
• Developing national project pipelines through the development of concept notes;
• Establishing a continental knowledge and investment platform to facilitate learning and investment in water security in Africa.

Through the AU AIP Multi-country GCF Readiness Project, the Global Water Partnership and its regional partners aim to enhance the readiness of African countries to access climate finance for water and environmental investments.

3.             Justification

Developing a robust pipeline of bankable and climate-resilient projects in the water and related sectors, such as sanitation, and water-energy-food systems, is increasingly essential, recognising the growing climate variability, population pressures, and development challenges. Pipeline project development provides a systematic approach to identify, design, prepare, and prioritise projects consistent with national policies, meet technical and environmental standards, and be investment-ready for implementation. Within the context of water infrastructure and services, pipeline development plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between strategic planning and on-the-ground impact. It ensures technically sound, environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive, and financially viable projects. Developing a robust pipeline that aligns with align with national priorities, including SDG 6 and climate adaptation goals, and respond to increasing water stress, aging infrastructure, and service delivery gaps, is key to attracting the needed investments. A successful pipeline development is rooted in preliminary considerations such as undertaking pre-feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement processes, and assessment of risks assessments, thereby enhancing project bankability.

It is worth noting that in July 2025, Ghana secured a GCF-funded facility to implement nature-based solutions, amounting to approximately $ 70 million United States Dollars. As a result, this pipeline process must ensure that water-related investments are grounded in clear needs assessments, technical feasibility, and long-term sustainability, avoid duplication, but build complementarity with planned and ongoing initiatives. At the same time, it will respond proactively to climate-induced emerging risks such as floods, drought and water scarcity. This will enhance the actions of the government, development partners, and private sector actors in planning and allocating resources efficiently. This pipeline development will facilitate access to climate finance, among other funding mechanisms, which often demands rigorous project preparation arrangements, social and environmental safeguards and demonstration of co-benefits.

As part of the implementation of the AU AIP Multicountry GCF Readiness project, it is planned to support the water sector agencies to develop two (2) concept notes of project ideas targeted at boosting resilience in Ghana. To this end, pre-concept notes have been prepared, targeting GCF financing. The two projects are titled

• Improving climate resilience and livelihoods through enhanced citizen science and indigenous knowledge in the Volta Basin in Ghana; and
• Resilient Waters, Empowered Communities: Strengthening Integrated Water and Renewable Energy Systems through District-Level Climate Governance in Ghana.

From the above, the GWP African Coordination Unit requests the services of a National Consultant to conduct the “Mission to develop concept notes of investment projects in Ghana to be submitted to the Green Climate Fund”.

This terms of reference provides an overview of the context, objectives and expected results, the methodology and modalities for carrying out the mission.

4.             Mission objectives

The objective of this mission is to contribute to mobilising financial resources for resilient investments in the water and related sectors through concept notes targeted at GCF funding in Ghana.

The specific objectives of the mission are as follows:

• Develop and have validated, by the NDA and the partners, the two (02) concept notes integrating gender and indigenous knowledge perspectives and in line with the requirements of the Green Climate Fund (GCF);
• Conduct pre-feasibility studies, including an assessment of gender equity and social inclusion, in water and related sector investments to accompany the submission of the two (02) concept notes to the GCF;
• Facilitate the identification of appropriate Accredited Entities (AEs) to support the submission and further development of funding requests, assisting the NDA and GWP to engage these entities.

5.             Expected results of the mission

The expected results of the mission are the following:

• Two (2) validated concept notes of investment projects in the water and related sectors in Ghana, focused on climate change resilience, integrating gender perspectives and in line with the requirements of the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
• Pre-feasibility studies report, including early assessment of gender equality and social inclusion;
• Identified Accredited Entities (AEs) to support the submission and further development of the identified projects.

6.             Scope of Work

The tasks to be undertaken are as follows:

• Facilitate national stakeholder engagement and consultations – The national consultant will play a key role in mobilising, coordinating and facilitating stakeholder interactions in the water and related sectors in Ghana. Knowledge of the local context, actors and dynamics will be essential to ensure effective and inclusive participation. This will contribute to creating a shared understanding of the objectives and activities envisioned by the projects.
• Engender technical expertise and the local context – The national consultant will bring technical skills and experience to bear in the elaboration and development of the concept notes, underpinned by a data-driven approach through preliminary gender analysis, collecting and analysing information and drafting the concept notes and analysis report, assisted by GWP.
• Mainstream Gender – The national consultant will demonstrate capacity for the conduct of a preliminary gender analysis in the water and related sectors development and management context, identifying gaps while ensuring its alignment with the requirements of the GCF.
• Identify appropriate Accredited Entities – With the knowledge of the GCF financing landscape in Ghana, the consultant will identify suitable Accredited Entities to support the development and submission of projects to GCF.
• Facilitate the launching and validation workshops for the concept note – The national consultant will assist with planning, organizing and facilitation at the launching of concept notes preparation in Ghana, and the validation of the same, ensuring the participation of national actors. It is expected that comments and feedback from stakeholders at the workshops will be incorporated into the design and final delivery of the concept notes and gender analysis.

7.             Expected deliverables

• Deliverable 1: An inception report that provides a detailed approach to carry out the assignment, work plan and implementation timelines, making proposals for the reporting outline.
• Deliverable 2: Two validated concept notes including the gender analysis and the environmental and social safeguard assessment, considering the GCF requirements.
• Deliverable 3: Report on the identification of potentially suitable Accredited Entities (AEs) to support the development and submission of the identified projects.

8.             Methodological approach to the conduct of the mission

The national consultant shall propose tools and approaches relevant for the mission, including but not limited to the aspects as follows:

• Desk Review & Analysis
• Reviewing national policies, sector strategies, vulnerability assessments, and past project reports.
• Alignment with funder investment criteria and country priorities.

• Problem Definition, Gap Identification and Consolidation
• Analysing climate-related risks, development gaps, and water and related sectors challenges.
• Using evidence-based justification (e.g., baseline data, scientific studies, etc.).

• Stakeholder Consultations
• Engaging regularly with the NDA and the water sector actors, government agencies, local actors, and beneficiary communities.
• Integrating perspectives on stakeholder needs, priorities, and local knowledge.

• Project Scoping
• Identifying feasible interventions, technologies, or services.
• Conducting economic analysis of the interventions
• Assessing indicative budget, risks, and implementation modalities.

• Climate Rationale
• Demonstrating the additionality of climate finance.
• Integrating vulnerability assessments and climate scenarios.

• Institutional and Implementation Mapping
• Defining the roles of executing and implementing entities.
• Assessing the capacities, partnerships, and delivery mechanisms.

• Gender and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming
• Conducting preliminary gender analysis.
• Outlining actions to address gender equity and inclusion.

• Sustainability and Scalability Analysis
• Exploring options on how results can be sustained post-project.
• Identifying potential for replication of project gains.

9.             Duration, Deliverables and Payment Schedule

The assignment shall not exceed Forty (40) man-days spread over Ninety (90) days period.

The deliverables are organised to guide payments of the consultancy fee as presented in Table 1 below. Details of payment terms shall reflect in the service contract with the consultant, as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 Deliverables of the Concept Notes Development

10.         Qualifications and desired experience

To conduct the mission, a national Consultant is needed with the following profile:

• Hold an advanced university degree (Master’s or PhD) in development planning, economics, finance, environmental management, water resources, climate change, or related field;
• Have at least 10 years of experience in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development, adaptation or resilience to climate change projects;
• Have led the development of concept notes for climate change adaptation or resilience projects submitted to the GCF, the Adaptation Fund, the GEF or other donors;
• Have a proven track record of facilitating inclusive stakeholder consultation processes;
• Have a good understanding of gender and social inclusion, and integration into climate projects;
• Have strong skills in working with international and development organisations, CSOs, or the private sector;
• Good knowledge of Ghana’s socio-economic and political contexts.
• Ability to work independently and with minimal supervision, engaging effectively with various actors such as communities, regulatory bodies, private sector actors, and government stakeholders.
• Possesses compelling research and analytical skills;
• Have a good command of written and spoken English.

11.         Submission of Application 

Interested applicants with the required qualifications and experience should submit:

– A complete technical offer compliant with these terms of reference.

– A complete financial offer, compliant with these terms of reference and secured with a password.

– Annexes 1, 2,3 duly filled and signed

– A WORD/PDF document containing the password for the financial offer.

Proposals must include, among other things, the following documents:

1. For the Technical Offer:

– A dated and signed submission letter, stating the consultant’s immediate availability, addressed to the Executive Secretary of GWP-SA (Annex 1).

– Understanding and observations on the terms of reference.

– The detailed methodology envisioned for the mission, describing the proposed steps, methods, and tools for producing each expected deliverable.

– A detailed work plan of activities to be carried out for each deliverable. The consultant shall include the planning and organizing of the workshops 1) to launch the concept note development process and 2) to validate the same after completion in the financial proposal. However, the cost of these workshops will be borne by GWP. Every other proposed stakeholder meetings will be borne by the consultant and should be costed and included in the proposal.

– A detailed Curriculum Vitae supported by relevant experience, necessary proof, and diplomas of the Consultant.

– A list of similar missions (with client references, certificates of good completion) of the Consultant.

– A duly completed sworn statement by the Consultant (Annex 3).

2. For the Financial Offer:

– The dated and signed submission letter indicating the offer amount in figures and words (Annex 2)

– A detailed budget related to fees and expenses, broken down by man/day and per unit, according to the budget presentation format.

Applications should be addressed to the Operations Manager

GWPSA NPC

Ground Floor, Block A

Hatfield Gardens

333 Grosvenor Street Hatfield, Pretoria

Note on Withholding tax: GWPSA NPC Ltd (the company) shall, in terms of section 58 of the Botswana Income Tax Act CAP 52:01 (Act) deduct a withholding tax at the default rate of 15% as per the applicable Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) for any other country. The tax so deducted shall be remitted to the Botswana Unified Revenue Service, and the company shall issue the payee/contractor with BURS’ tax certificates, which may, depending on the tax laws of the country of residency of the contractor, be used to claim foreign tax credits.

Applications shall be sent before/on Monday deadline date, 6 October 2025, to:

• GWP SA Procurement Email address: gwpsaprocurement@gwp.org
• Clarification questions should also to be sent to above email address

Please use the following subject to your application: “GCF Concept Note Development_Ghana – GCF Readiness”

12.0 Selection Criteria and Eligibility

The tenders shall be evaluated in two stages. The first stage will involve the evaluation of the technical offer. The second stage will evaluate the financial proposal. The technical proposal contributes 70% of the total and final evaluation score whilst the financial proposal carries 30% of the weighted score. The Proposals that score 75% or more will proceed to the financial evaluation stage. Table 2 provides a summary of how the technical proposal will be evaluated and scored.

Technical Offers

The evaluation and comparison of technical offers will be conducted separately and independently of any financial considerations. They will be scored out of 100 points based on the criteria mentioned in the table below.

To be eligible, the bidder’s technical offer must obtain a minimum score of 70 out of 100.

Financial Offers

The financial evaluation will only concern the offers of bidders pre-qualified after the technical evaluation.

The scores for financial offers (Nf) will be calculated as follows:

Nf=100×Fm/F

Where:

• Nf: Financial score of the bidder.
• Fm: Lowest financial proposal among the technically selected offers.
• F: Financial proposal of the bidder.

Final Evaluation

Offers will be ranked based on their overall score (NG) according to the following formula:

NG=[Nt×(70%)]+[Nf×(30%)]

Where:

• NG: Overall score.
• Nt: Technical score.
• Nf: Financial score.

The Consultant will be selected based on the offer with the highest overall score (NG)

Table 2 Summary of scoring of the technical proposal

13.0 Instructions to Bidder

GWPSA will evaluate the proposals received against each other based on the criteria stated above.

GWPSA reserves the right to negotiate any aspect of your proposal before conclusion of a Contract for the Assignment. GWPSA furthermore reserves the right to reject all proposals submitted without giving any reason. GWPSA may discontinue or suspend without responsibility or liability to any Bidder including (without limitation) any liability for any costs or expenditure incurred by, or inconvenience caused to, any Bidder. The proposal shall be prepared in the English language. The financial proposal should be expressed in US Dollar and payment for the Services will be made in the same currency.

ANNEX 1 : SWORN DECLARATION TEMPLATE

I, undersigned (name and surname) : …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Nationality: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

In my quality as : ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Corporate name (if applicable) : ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Address : …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Registered under the n° ………………………………………………………………………………….

On (date)………………………………….VAT Registration number:  …..…………………………..

1. Declare on my word of honour :

– never having been in judicial liquidation and never having been the subject of any legal proceedings for any reason whatsoever,

– that I commit to not resorting, by myself or through an intermediary, to practices that could be classified as embezzlement, fraud, or corruption in the various procedures for awarding, managing, and executing this mission,

– that I commit, in the event that my offer is accepted, to comply with the procedures in force at GWP-SA and the obligation of confidentiality and professional secrecy for all facts and/or information that I may come to know.

2. Certify the accuracy of the information contained in this sworn declaration and in the documents provided in my offer;
3. Certify that I have no family ties with any person receiving any remuneration from the GWP-SA or GWP-AO;
4. Acknowledge having been informed that any inaccuracies or errors and any failure that may be noted in the content of my offer as well as non-compliance with the participation conditions are grounds for rejection of my submission.

Done in …………………., on this………day of ……………2025

Signature of the consultant

ANNEX 2: FINANCIAL PROPOSAL SUMMARY SHEET

The total amount of our offer is (USD:                                                                                            

_______________________________________________________________________

We confirm that the rates in this offer are fixed over a period of at least 90 days and will not be revised in any way under no circumstances.

Authorised by :

Signature

ANNEX 3 : BUDGET PRESENTATION FRAMEWORK ($)

Done in …………………., on this………day of ……………2025

(Name, Surname, Signature)