| Overview : The quote should be submitted to: bpps.procurement@undp.org The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has corporate responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogue initiatives, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. The Cluster on Sustainable Development focuses on integrating UNDP’s economic, social and environment work into a coherent sustainable development policy and programming framework. It seeks to provide an integrated package of services covering all strands of sustainable development, including on integrated development planning and inclusive and sustainable growth, sustainable livelihoods and economic recovery in post crisis situations and natural capital and the environment. It is largely because of the stewardship of indigenous peoples that many tropical rainforests are still standing around the world. Indigenous peoples and local communities have official legal rights to at least 513 million hectares of forests, which is about one-eighth of the world’s total forest area. Most of these forests – 478 million hectares – are in low- or middle-income countries where pressures to exploit forests are high. Studies show that when indigenous forests rights are legally recognized and protected by governments, deforestation rates and carbon dioxide emissions are significantly lower. Yet research also suggests that indigenous people and local communities lack legal rights to almost three quarters of their traditional lands. The world's faith communities, indigenous peoples and spiritual leaders may, by joining forces, have the potential to turn the tide on tropical deforestation. Together, they can leverage moral and spiritual authority, convey messages about the value of the rainforest as a unique part of creation, reach out to local people, civil society actors and authorities at all levels, and mobilize broad support for rainforest protection. Spiritual leaders and faith communities of the world have a great deal to offer in coming together to inspire action in defense of rainforests. This project seeks to bring the spiritual resources, moral authority and unparalleled influence of faith communities to bear in a unified way on rainforest protection. Since its launch in 2007, the Government of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) has cooperated with international partners, governments in forest and donor countries and a broad range of non-governmental organizations to reduce tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Seeing the need to bring the religious, spiritual and ethical dimension more strongly into this work, NICFI and Rainforest Foundation Norway are working with a coalition of partners on an interfaith alliance to protect the world’s tropical rainforests. In cooperation with the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Religions for Peace, the REIL Network, and the World Council of Churches, and with implementation support by the United Nations Development Programme, the initiative is being designed to mobilize leaders from all religions, faiths and spiritual traditions – including indigenous peoples and forest communities – to forge a united action plan to protect, restore and sustainably manage tropical rainforests across the planet. The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative will be launched in Oslo on 19 June 2017, followed by a two-day roundtable to develop the initiative's concrete goals, action plans and milestones. This process is expected to lead to a global interfaith rainforest summit to be convened in Brazil in the second half of 2018. Scope: The consultant will be responsible for top-level strategy for the development and delivery of the inaugural meeting of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, including leadership in the design of a full-day high-level segment and a series of roundtable working group sessions that will define a program of work and action agenda for the initiative. The consultant reports to the Senior Advisor on Forests and Climate and works closely with the staff of the Biodiversity Global Program and the Global Forest Initiative. Deliverables: - Provide high-level strategic guidance on the design of a high-level segment and two-day work planning meeting for the inaugural gathering of an interfaith alliance for the protection of rainforests that will include the participation of 40-50 religious, spiritual and faith leaders from around the world.
- Develop meeting objectives, proposed outcomes, working group session topics, speaker selection and the overall structure of the meeting.
- Provide lead facilitation for the meeting, guiding plenary discussions, convening breakout groups and leading report back sessions, where needed.
- Ensure continuity and logical flow between all three days of the meeting, creating space for broad participation by meeting participants and designing outcome-oriented working groups sessions that move the concept from dialogue to action.
- Advise on key messages, speaking points and content development for the overall meeting and the broader communications strategy for the initiative.
- Identify, appoint and brief working groups chairs, lead discussants and rapporteurs on designated working group topics, ensuring consultations in advance of the meeting and regular check-ins while the meeting is in progress.
- Provide strategic guidance on the make-up of working groups, such that participants are contributing the best of their expertise and their most relevant perspective on faith, geography, national context, etc.
- Develop feedback loops for the meeting to ensure information is captured, reported back on and informs the development of strategic planning documents.
- Participate in a post-meeting debrief on June 22, 2017.
- Provide high-level guidance on a functional strategic plan to move forward.
- Provide summary of meeting outcomes to inform the next phase of the initiative.
The selected consultant or agency will appoint a senior representative to spend a minimum of five (5) days in Oslo, Norway, inclusive of meeting preparation, meeting facilitation and post-meeting debrief and strategic plan development. Given the global work to be undertaken during this assignment, the agency is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for consultations taking into consideration different time zones. |
