Local recruitment: National Consultant for the development of climate technology innovation scaling-up action plan in Tunisia

Terms of Reference

National Consultant for the development of climate technology innovation scaling-up action plan in Tunisia

1.      Context of the Continental Africa Investment Programme (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.      Context of the AU AIP Multicountry GCF Readiness Support Programme

Tunisia is one of the fifteen (15) countries participating in the first phase of the Programme “Readiness Support for the Africa Union Multi-Country Program to Accelerate Water and Climate Resilience Investments through the Africa Water Investment Programme (AU-AIP Multicounty GCF Readiness Project (AU AIP Multi-country GCF Readiness 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 is implementing the Programme through the Global Water Partnership (GWP) in Southern Africa (GWP-SA) as a Delivery Partner.

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the capacities of participating 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.

3.      Justification 

Tunisia is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, water scarcity, and extreme weather events threatening its ecosystems, and economic sectors such as tourism, agriculture, and urban infrastructure, etc. These challenges are exacerbated by socio-economic vulnerabilities and require urgent adaptation and mitigation efforts. To respond effectively, the country must mobilize significant additional investment, including climate finance, and enhance institutional capacities to plan and implement climate-resilient development strategies. In this context, the Caisse de Dépôt et de Consignation (CDC) Tunisia, as a public financial institution, plays a critical role in channeling investments toward sustainable development and climate action. CDC has embarked on the process of becoming a GCF accredited entity. CDC accreditation provides strategic opportunity to de-risk private investment and scale-up innovative climate-resilient and low-carbon initiatives. One of CDC’s strategic pillars aims to support the revival and growth of innovative, competitive businesses that generate sustainable employment. This includes promoting access to financing for startups and innovative enterprises that create jobs, reduce regional and social disparities, and demonstrate strong development potential and/or international reach. Strengthening CDC’s capacities will be essential to ensuring its readiness to develop, mobilise finance, and implement impactful climate adaptation and mitigation projects.

As part of the AU AIP Multi-country GCF Readiness Programme, CDC will be supported in developing strategic documents to position itself as a key national actor in climate finance mobilization and implementation and to enhance its readiness for the accreditation to GCF.

To this end, a national consultant is sought to support the development of an action plan for scaling up adaptation and mitigation climate technology innovation.

4.      Objective of the assignment 

The overall objective of the assignment is to provide strategic and technical support to CDC by delivering key strategic documents that will guide its role in climate finance mobilization and project development and implementation, in alignment with the national priorities.

More specifically, the assignment aims to scale up climate technology innovation and adoption in Tunisia through the preparation of an Action Plan to promote innovation.

5.      Tasks – Requested services

The scope of work shall include but not be limited to the following:

• undertake a literature review of climate technology needs in priority sectors targeted by the NDC and other commitments made by the country,
• undertake an assessment of the current climate technology ecosystem and the enabling environment for innovation, adoption, and scale-up. This includes the policy and regulatory framework, the technological landscape (types of climate technologies currently developed, deployed, or imported, innovation level (R&D vs. deployment vs. commercialization), ), involved stakeholders, market dynamics and demand, capacity and skills, financial instruments and incentives, networking platforms, etc.
• Assess how prevailing regulatory frameworks can facilitate the development and scaling of emerging technologies aimed at addressing climate change.

• identify challenges and barriers (policy, economic, financial, governance, market, implementation, access to data, etc.) to technology innovation, adoption, and scale-up,
• Conduct stakeholder consultation to determine support needs and actionable solutions to overcome the identified challenges,

• Map potential funding sources (GCF, EU Green Deal, AfDB, etc.) to support climate technology adoption and highlight the opportunities for CDC to engage with these funding sources,
• Develop an Action Plan for CDC Tunisia to play as an Equity Investor a catalytic role in climate technology scale-up. The Action Plan should define a prioritized set of interventions that CDC Tunisia can implement across short, medium, and long-term horizons with measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), clear responsibilities and implementation timelines.
• Organise a validation workshop of the Action Plan.

Deliverables :

• Climate Technology Ecosystem Assessment Report,
• Action Plan for climate technology scaling-up,
• Validation workshop report.

6.      Deliverables and Milestones

The Consultant is expected to provide the following deliverables, which are directly related to the tasks outlined in detail above, based on the below timeline (expressed in months after the contract is signed).

7.      Reporting

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of / and communicate directly with the National Technical Coordinator.

Services will be rendered and will be considered completed upon approval of the deliverables by the Programme Officer at the Coordination Unit of GWP SA and the Executive Secretary of GWP-Med.

8.      Payment modalities

Payment Schedule:

Completion and delivery of deliverables 1- : 15 % of total contract amount

Completion and delivery of deliverables 2-3 and 4 : 85% of total contract amount

Each payment will be issued after the quality assessment and approval of each deliverable by the Contracting Authority. Then, the awarded consultant will issue the respective invoices.

9.      Contract price and duration.

The maximum fee for this assignment is 9,000 USD. This amount includes all other costs, including travels, income taxes and any other amount payable or cost that may be required for the completion of the work/service, including VAT.

The overall duration of the contract will be for a maximum of 4 months after the contract signature. Payments will be made upon acceptance and verification of the related deliverables, as laid out in section “Payment modalities”.

Note on Withholding Tax: GWPSA NPC Ltd (the company) must, in accordance with Section 58 of the Botswana Income Tax Act CAP 52:01 (the Act), deduct 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 must be remitted to the Botswana Unified Revenue Service, and the company must issue BURS tax certificates to the recipient/contractor, which may, depending on the tax laws of the contractor’s country of residence, be used to claim foreign tax credits.

10.  Qualification and Experience

The required qualifications are presented below. The titles, details of the projects and description of the role of the expert that sufficiently demonstrate compliance with the required criteria should be clearly specified.

• A minimum of a Master’s degree (MSc or equivalent) in climate policy, environmental science, finance, engineering or innovation management, climate technology, international development, or a related field
• At least 10 years of experience in the field of climate change, technology innovation, technology transfer, climate investment or public policies development,
• A proven track record of developing strategic documents to catalyse and scale-up technology innovation, deploy adaptation or low-carbon solutions or promote climate technology transfer
• A proven track record of developing projects in designing policy, regulatory, institutional and financial frameworks to promote large-scale private investment flows in innovative technologies, climate solutions, circular or green economy,
• A proven track record of projects in supporting technology start-ups development and growth,
• Having collaboration with public financial institutions with similar institutional mandates and functions as CDC,
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in French
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is desired.

11.  Evaluation process

Selection will take place in two stages:

Technical Evaluation: Technical proposals will be evaluated independently of financial offers, based on a total of 100 points according to the table below “Technical bid scoring scale”.

To be eligible, the technical proposal must score at least 70 out of 100 points.

Financial Evaluation: Only the financial offers of technically prequalified consultants will be evaluated.

Financial scores (Nf) will be calculated as: Nf = 100 x Fm / F, where:

Nf: Financial score of the bidder

Fm: Lowest financial offer among the technically qualified bids

F: Financial offer of the bidder

Final Evaluation: Proposals will be ranked based on the overall score (NG) using the formula:

NG = [Nt x 70%] + [Nf x 30%], where:

NG: Overall score

Nt: Technical score

Nf: Financial score

The selected consultant will be the one with the highest overall score.

12.  Table: Technical bid scoring scale

13.  Monitoring and Progress Controls

Ms. Sondos Njoumi et Ms. Sarra Touzi will be providing oversight and guidance from the side of the Project Team.

14.  Place of Performance

Homebased in Tunisia.

15.  Terms and Conditions

• Language

Draft and final deliverables can be prepared in French or English. However, it is mandatory to have an English version of the final deliverables. The Consultant shall take into account the costs related to translation, if any, in their proposal.

• Data and information

The Consultant is responsible to collect all information and data necessary for the completion of this assignment. Missing information (from any side) would not be considered as eligible reason for not completing the tasks. GWP-Med and CDC can assist in communicating with relevant institutions and stakeholders to verify the availability of needed data or information.

• Submission of data, reports and other material produced

All primary data, reports, and other documentation produced during this assignment shall be made available to GWP SA and to the relevant institutions in electronic format. All data acquired, and products developed during the assignment will be in the ownership of the Project and cannot be used by the Consultant and its team without prior written permission.

• Cooperation requirements

The Consultant is expected to work closely with GWP-Med and GWP SA, CDC and the NDA.

• Review and quality assurance

A thorough evaluation of the Consultant’s work conducted during the course of the assignment implementation, as well as a comprehensive review of the deliverables, may be conducted by an independent external expert or team of experts. The Consultant is expected to thoroughly consider and incorporate any relevant observations or recommendations provided by the reviewer(s) into the final versions of the deliverables.

16.  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.

17.  Submission of Proposals

Interested consultants with the required qualifications and experience are invited to submit a comprehensive technical and financial proposal compliance with these Terms of Reference.

Proposals must include, at a minimum, the following documents:

1. Technical Proposal:

• A dated and signed sworn declaration addressed to the Executive Secretary of GWP-SA (Annex 1).
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae, including relevant experience, supporting documents, and academic qualifications.

1. Financial Proposal:

• The dated and signed financial submission letter addressed to the Executive Secretary of GWP-SA and 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 (Annex 3).

Submission Deadline: Your proposal must be submitted by January 22^nd 2026 at 5:00 PM (Tunis time) exclusively by email to the following addresses : gwpsaprocurement@gwp.org ; with copy to sondos.njoumi@gwpmed.org and sarra.touzi@gwpsaf.org;

Please use the following subject to your application: “AU AIP – Innovation Scaling -up – Tunisia”.

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 GWPSA or GWP-Med;
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 …….……………2026

Signature of the consultant

ANNEX 2: FINANCIAL OFFER SUBMISSION FORM

Consultant Name: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Address: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Tel/ e-mail address:  ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

VAT or Tax registration No : ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

The total amount of our offer is (USD) including VAT and any other Tax or Fee that should apply for any reason :

In figures : ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

In words : ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Note on Withholding Tax: GWPSA NPC Ltd (the company) must, in accordance with Section 58 of the Botswana Income Tax Act CAP 52:01 (the Act), deduct 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 must be remitted to the Botswana Unified Revenue Service, and the company must issue BURS tax certificates to the recipient/contractor, which may, depending on the tax laws of the contractor’s country of residence, be used to claim foreign tax credits.

I 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.

I confirm that I have examined, and accept in full and in its entirety, the content of this quotation document (including subsequent Clarification Notes issued by the Contracting Authority). We hereby accept the contents thereto in their entirety, without reservation or restriction. We also understand that any disagreement, contradiction, alteration, deviation or omission shall lead to my offer not being considered any further. I offer to provide, in accordance with the terms of the tender document and the conditions and time limits laid down, without reservation or restriction, the requirements of this Call For Offers.

Date :

Signature :

ANNEX 3: BUDGET PRESENTATION FRAMEWORK

Done in…………………, on……… 2026

(Name, Surname, Signature)

…………………………………………….