RFP for OKACOM Mid-Term Evaluation

Request for Proposals

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission was established in September 15, 1994 by the Governments of Angola, Botswana and Namibia. The objective of the Commission is to act as the technical advisor to the Contracting Parties on matters relating to the conservation, development and utilization of water resources of common interest in the Okavango River basin. This entails promoting coordinated and sustainable water resources management of the basin, while addressing the legitimate social and economic needs of riparian States.

To ensure effective fulfillment of its functions, OKACOM is driven by an internal organizational structure consisting of:

i. The Commission – the principal organ of OKACOM, responsible for defining and guiding the development policy and general supervision of the activities of OKACOM.

ii. The Okavango Basin Steering Committee (OBSC) – is the technical advisory body to the Commission. It provides technical leadership to permanent or temporary subsidiary committees known as task forces that are established according to the nature and specificity of the matter.

iii. The Secretariat – responsible for providing administrative, financial and general secretariat services to OKACOM.

Aimed at strengthening the Secretariat’s delivery capacity within the realms of its mandate, a Three Year Plan for the Consolidation and Operation of the Secretariat was initiated in 2007.

In order to assist the OKACOM and its Secretariat towards improved institutional and organizational performance, a midterm review of the Secretariat is planned for the current year. On the basis of the followingTerms of Reference, interested firms or consulting companies are requested to submit their expression of interest together with a technical and financial proposal.

Submissions should be made to the OKACOM Secretariat no later than September 20^th 2010 to the following address:

Att: Dr. Ebenizário Chonguiça (Executive Secretary)

Email address: ebenc@okacom.org or

OKACOM Secretariat, P O Box 35, Maun, Botswana, Tel: +267 680 0023, Fax: +267 680 0024.

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The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Agreement

Terms of Reference for the Mid-Term Review of the Three Year Plan for the Consolidation and Operation of the OKACOM Secretariat

1. Background

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission was established in September 15, 1994 by the Governments of Angola, Botswana and Namibia. The objective of the Commission is to act as the technical advisor to the Contracting Parties on matters relating to the conservation, development and utilization of water resources of common interest in the Okavango River basin. This entails promoting coordinated and sustainable water resources management of the basin, while addressing the legitimate social and economic needs of riparian States.

The Commission’s mandate emerges from the shared vision of the three States that envisages anticipating and reducing unintended, unacceptable and often unnecessary impacts to the resources of the Okavango basin system. The vision is supported by operational principles of:

· Equitable allocation

· Sustainable utilization

· Sound environmental management and

· Sharing of benefits

The Commission’s mandate requires it to investigate the pre-requisites and set up conditions to:

· Determine the long term safe yield of water available from the river;

· Estimate reasonable demand scenarios from consumers

· Prepare criteria for conservation, equitable allocation and sustainable utilization of water

· Undertake investigations related to water infrastructure

· Formulate recommended pollution prevention measures

· Develop measures for the alleviation of short term difficulties, such as temporary droughts and floods

· Generate visible impacts on poverty alleviation for the riparian communities, emanating from applied basin resources management options

To ensure effective fulfillment of its functions, OKACOM is driven by an internal organizational structure consisting of:

i. The Commission – the principal organ of OKACOM, responsible for defining and guiding the development policy and general supervision of the activities of OKACOM.

ii. The Okavango Basin Steering Committee (OBSC) – is the technical advisory body to the Commission. It provides technical leadership to permanent or temporary subsidiary committees known as task forces that are established according to the nature and specificity of the matter.

iii. The Secretariat – responsible for providing administrative, financial and general secretariat services to OKACOM.

2. Context and rationale for the Mid-Term Review

Recognizing the need to strengthen its organizational and institutional framework, OKACOM developed and approved its organizational structure in April 2007. Aimed at supporting the institutional strengthening of OKACOM, an agreement to support the consolidation and operations of OKACOM Secretariat was signed between Sida and OKACOM. This institutional support process is guided by the three year plan for the period 2007-2010 to consolidate the Secretariat’s operations. The three year programme framework in terms of its development objectives, immediate objectives and expected results are defined as follows:

Development objectives: OKACOM and member countries supported in integrated management of the Okavango River Basin through the implementation of the 1994 Agreement.

Immediate objectives

The immediate objectives, expressed as desired outcomes, are:

1) OKACOM decisions are well informed, based on a well prepared analysis of alternatives and relative costs and benefits and are implemented in a timely and effective manner.

2) Information relevant to the sustainable, equitable and effective management of the Okavango River Basin is defined, all relevant actors are aware of the sources and these sources continue to match the present and future needs (information strategy).

3) Participation of stakeholders in the integrated governance of the Okavango River Basin increased by enhancing communication and by improving the capacity of OKACOM and its stakeholders to promote communication and participation in the management of the ORB.

Further details of the three year plan in terms of outputs, activities and overall strategy are provided in the programme document (annex 1).

As OKACOM progresses with its institutional strengthening as a river basin organization, it is imperative to have the process guided by regular evaluations of organizational performance, using criteria that include assessment of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. The outcomes of such regular evaluations should be used to provide feedback about the required recalibration of institutional structures and functions for improved organizational performance in the delivery of OKACOM mandate. Regular evaluations of organizational performance, therefore, are an integral part of the organizational culture that OKACOM intends to develop and consolidate as a corporate institution of the 21^st century.

3. Purpose and objectives of the Mid-Term Review

The purpose of the mid-term review is to provide and objective assessment of progress with the implementation of the three year plan for the consolidation and operations of the Secretariat in relation to its defined development objectives, immediate objectives and expected outputs as defined in the programme document. The review process should be framed under the terms of the agreement between Sweden and OKACOM on support to the OKACOM Secretariat (2007-2010). The review should take into consideration new institutional development and operations pathways brought about by approval of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and Strategic Action Plan (SAP).

4. Issues to be addressed

The key issues to be covered with the midterm review should include:

· Compliance with the objectives and targets set out in the agreed programme document on the implementation of the three year plan to assess how effectively and efficiently resources are used and outputs delivered within planned frames and organizational set up. The monitoring process should be done at:

• Output and activity levels
• Financial performance, internal working procedures and operational documents
• Programme planning and management procedures
• Reporting and Outcome.

· Assessment of the three year plan in terms of its relevance, impacts and sustainability. Propose recommendations for changes in the targets/outcomes for the programme. This assessment process should include:

• Assessment of perceptions within the OKACOM constituency with respect to the relevance, impacts and sustainability of the three year plan so far;
• Capturing and documenting lessons learnt to improve relevance, impact and sustainability of the three year plan.

· Effectiveness of the existing enabling environment for the functionality of the Secretariat in relation to other OKACOM organs and basin constituency, including:

• Secretariat office infrastructure
• Human resources (e.g. capacity; performance; skills mix)
• Administrative and financial management systems
• Communication and information systems
• Linkages with other OKACOM internal organs
• Linkages with basin programmes/projects and constituency/stakeholders
• Linkages with national sector institutions
• Linkages with regional/international institutions (SADC; ANBO; INBO; AMCOW)
• International Cooperating Partners
• Funding mechanisms (e.g. national contributions; ICP; financial sustainability).

· Assessment of and present recommendations on the key findings.

5. Tasks to be performed

The key tasks to be performed include:

• Assessment of existing and planned products in relation to defined targets, covering both the start-up and implementation phases while providing an indication of observed impacts over the period under review
• Identification of opportunities for improving performance in the implementation of the plan and advance recommendations to guide required redirection and adjustments as might be imposed by observed conditions on the ground
• Evaluation of organizational performance of the OKACOM Secretariat over the period while assessing functional interactions of the internal organs of OKACOM as defined by the organizational structure
• Assessment of programmatic linkages with critical projects, stakeholders at a basin scale, national and regional levels should, including involvement with key International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) within the water sector and Sida in particular
• Assessment of the adequacy of current OKACOM institutional and organizational infrastructural capacity to support new programmatic challenges framed by the SAP.
• These tasks will be performed through the following activities.

5.1 Review of background information

The mid-term review should start with the review of relevant background documentation related to OKACOM institutional development and programme implementation. Some of the key documents to be considered include but are not necessarily limited to:

• Annual work plans and budgets for the programme period under review
• Progress reports (annual and semi-annual) narrative and financial reports
• The three year plan for the consolidation and operation of the OKACOM Secretariat
• Guidelines and procedures for the establishment of the OKACOM Secretariat
• OKACOM Agreement
• Organizational Structure for the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission
• Agreement regarding the hosting of OKACOM Secretariat
• Agreement between Sweden and OKACOM on support to the OKACOM Secretariat
• OKACOM Governance Documents (Policy and Operations Manual; Finance and Administrative Manual; Procurement Manual)
• Any other relevant documents as deemed necessary

5.2 Interviewing key stakeholders

The mid-term review should have a consultative process across critical involved parties. In this respect critical stakeholders across the three riparian states should be interviewed. In addition to Commissioners, OBSC members, staff of the Secretariat and project managers, this should include government agencies, Sida, civil society organizations, NGOs, research institutions and private sector.

Regional bodies such as SADC, GWP and ICPs supporting the water sector in SADC region should also be part of the interview list including existing similar river basin organizations (e.g. ORASECOM, LIMCOM, ZAMCOM). Other relevant stakeholder may also be included as deemed necessary.

5.3 Analysis and reporting

The review team will compile their findings, analyze them and produce a preliminary report (in English and Portuguese) in ten copies to be submitted to OKACOM Secretariat to be sent to OBSC and Sida for input and comments. The consultants will subsequently incorporate the inputs and comments provided and compile a draft final report for submission to OKACOM and Sida. The final report incorporating the final comments shall be approved by Sida and OKACOM and adopted by OKACOM.

6. Outputs

6.1 The outputs of the midterm review exercise will include:

· Preliminary report

· Draft final report

· Final report.

Preliminary and draft final reports will be submitted to the Secretariat in Microsoft Word format and the final report will be submitted in both hard copy and electronic formats, with ten hard copies (English and Portuguese) delivered to the Secretariat.

6.2. The report structure should consider the following components:

· Introduction and purpose of the mid-term review

· Review approach

· Finding of the review

· Assessment of progress toward three year plan goals, objectives and outputs

· Financial performance

· Relevance, impact and sustainability of the three year plan (challenges and opportunities)

· Assessment of enabling environment (implementation arrangements; national regional)

· Conclusions and recommendations.

The consultants shall, upon signature of the contract, develop and submit for approval the timeline and milestones for completion of the work including a specification of number of weeks for visits and interviews and timing for report compilation. The final report should be delivered three months after the signing of a contract.