Request for Proposals – Development of Forest Landscape Restoration Embedded District Development Plans for Ntcheu, Karonga, Mangochi, Balaka, and Dowa

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TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION EMBEDED DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR NTCHEU, KARONGA, MANGOCHI, BALAKA, AND DOWA.

Introduction

Lower agricultural productivity, limited energy sources, declined water quality and availability, revenue loss and impacts from land degradation and deforestation in Malawi, affect a large part of the population. In a country where food security and poverty alleviation are persistent issues, and where it is estimated that one of three households have inadequate food to maintain an active and healthy life’, the government is adopting forest landscape restoration approach (FLR) to build resilient communities. Malawi is a small, land-locked country in Sub-Saharan Africa that is home to over 18.6 million people?

With approximately 94, 000 square kilometers of land area, Malawi is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, with an average land holding of less than one hectare per household Malawi’s Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2019 is 0.4834. This puts the country in the low human development category positioning it at 174 out of 189 countries and territories. Malawi’s 2019 HDI of 0.483 is below the average of 0.513 for countries in the low human development group and
below the average of 0.547 for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Agriculture remains the foundation of the Malawian economy. It accounts for approximately 30% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employs 65% of the Malawian workforce, and generates over 80% of national export earnings’. The economy is divided between smallholder and the estate sub-sectors, with more than 70 percent of agricultural GDP coming from smallholders’. Conversion of land from forest to agricultural use has been widely documented, particularly on customary lands. With a population growth rate of approximately 2.9%?, increasing land pressure continues to drive land degradation, deforestation, and forest degradation in Malawi.

In addition to agriculture, Malawians rely heavily on forest resources for livelihoods and as a source of energy especially for cooking. A national study indicates that Malawians 80.5% use charcoal, firewood and biomass, 10% use liquid fuels, biofuels and LPG, 7.2% use electricity and 2.3% use Coal®. Agricultural expansion and use of fuel wood as part of agricultural processing for tobacco and tea are also driving deforestation, land degradation and forest degradation in Malawi.

As an agriculture-based economy, over the years Malawi has allocated considerable resources to increase the production and productivity of crops, livestock, and fisheries. Despite these efforts, production of the main crops, livestock, and fisheries has not increased significantly and is not growing sufficiently to match growing domestic demand and available export opportunities? Each year, Malawi loses an estimated 29 metric tons of soil per hectare, which has high impact on productivity of croplands. Between 2001-2009, land degradation cost Malawi 6.8 percent of GDP (estimated $244 million)’. The Forest Landscape Restoration Opportunity Assessment for Malawi report also mentions that poor farming practices that caused cropland degradation resulted in a loss of $5.7 million per year.

Forest cover loss, combined with poor extensive agricultural practices are resulting in soil erosion and siltation, limiting hydroelectric power generation and increasing costs to consumers. Longer dry seasons and dried-up water supplies are affecting the water sector with the damages estimated to be at US$11.8 million”. All these challenges further are exacerbated by climate change induced disasters. While poverty, population growth and density, and limited alternatives to fuel wood and charcoal use are all indirect drivers of land degradation, deforestation and degradation in Malawi, many of these are also directly or indirectly linked to the weaknesses in governance that have undermined the enabling environment for sustainable land and forest management. Specific governance issues include: weak institutional and technical capacity, lack of coordination among relevant sectors, overlapping and sometimes contradicting policies, low enforcement capacity, poor engagement of communities and the public in decision-making, lack of monitoring and integrated planning, unclear and insecure land and resource tenure systems, and broad issues of corruption and lack of transparency and accountability in the forest and other relevant sectors.

The Forest Landscape Restoration Opportunities Assessment report indicates that nearly 7.7 million hectares, which is 80 percent of the total land area of Malawi, has an opportunity for restoration and makes recommendation on restoration interventions, their specific objectives and targeted contributions to national sustainable development goals, and estimated opportunity area”. It is on this basis that the Government of Malawi (GoM) is expecting large-scale forest landscape restoration to create significant social, economic, and environmental benefits. Thus, FLR in Malawi is seen as a mechanism for promoting sustainable livelihoods, conservation of forests and biodiversity, and protecting and enhancing ecosystem services.

There is therefore a need to ensure that district development plans take into consideration the status of land and forests and coordinate the efforts from various sectors and partners to achieve targets for sustainable development. The Government of Malawi in its effort to promote participatory poverty reduction processes approved and is implementing a decentralized development planning system at the district level. The Local Government Act 1998 stipulates that all District Assemblies shall have District Development Plans. The process of producing a DDP succeeds the production of a Socio-Economic Profile and a District Development Planning Framework. The inputs into the DDP are the envisaged projects developed from the people’s needs through the District Development Planning System – DDPS. The DDPS is characterized by its four principles: bottom up, participatory, district focused, and people centered. It is within the same framework of the DDPS and its basic principles that the DDPs will be developed.

Objective of the Consultancy

The objectives of the assignment are to:

1. Review the current district development planning guidelines to incorporate natural resources management as a foundation for sustainable district development.
2. Support the review of District Development Plans for Ntcheu, Karonga, Mangochi, Balaka, and Dowa.

Scope of Work

The following will be the scope of the study to deliver on the above:

Assessment of the current district development planning guidelines to incorporate natural resources management as a foundation for sustainable local development.

• The assessment of the existing guidelines could include but is not limited to:
  1. Direction to sectors, NGOs and other relevant partners present in the district responsible for developing strategic sectoral plans that will encourage prioritization of project target areas for multiple benefits and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
  2. Determination of how the land and forest degradation mapping results will be considered within the DDP development process.
  3. Develop of a practical and replicable methodology for reviewing DDPs with due consideration to land and forest restoration opportunities in Malawi including identification of stakeholder roles and responsibilities in the development and implementation of the DDPs.
  4. Identification of key performance indicators.
• Support the review of District Development Plans for Ntcheu, Karonga, Mangochi, Balaka, and Dowa with reference to the following:
  1. The Malawi Agenda 2063 and MIP 1 priorities
  2. Up to date district socioeconomic profile.
  3. Land use challenges, drivers of natural resources degradation, livelihoods and environmental sustainability.
  4. Opportunities for land and forest restoration in the district.
  5. Promoting gender and social inclusion.
  6. Financing mechanisms for development proposed projects.
  7. Participatory monitoring processes.

Deliverables

The main deliverable from the assignment will be a report detailing:

Payment Schedule

The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant.

Assignment description

• Consultation with stakeholders to promote ownership and utilization of plans developed; and,
• Presentation and discussion of preliminary and final guidelines and plans to District stakeholders, Ministry of Local government, Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change, IUCN, their partners and other key stakeholders.
  Duration of the Task

The duration for this work will be 65 working days commencing from the date of signature of the contract and the tasks will be completed by October 30th, 2024.

Reporting

The Consultant shall be supervised and report to the Director of Planning in the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change through the Director of Forestry, and IUCN ESARO. The consultant is expected to collaborate with the Programme Officer in Malawi for additional guidance and management of the consultancy agreement.

Qualifications

1. Experience in the development of DDPs.
2. Language: very good language skills in English and report writing

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