AfDB produces draft terms of reference for management of Congo Basin Forest Fund

The Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF) is a multi donor fund set up to take early action to protect the forests in the Congo Basin region. The Fund invites proposals for transformative and innovative initiatives from the governments, civil society and private sector of the Congo Basin to slow the rate of deforestation, through developing the capacity of the people and institutions in the countries of the Congo basin to manage their forest. This includes helping local communities find livelihoods that are consistent with forest conservation and developing new approaches which will bring genuine change and ensure future sustainable forest management.

The Fund is run by a Governing Council and managed and disbursed by a secretariat based at the African Development Bank (AfDB). For operational reasons, projects under a threshold value of €2.5 million will be managed under contract between the AfDB and a Fund Management Agent (FMA). The FMA will manage €34 million over three years to be disbursed to CBFF projects under a threshold value of €2.5 million and above a value of €80,000.

The FMA will be responsible for the technical appraisal, monitoring, outreach and all day to day administration of the CBFF grants under this threshold value of €2,500,000. This will involve:

• Providing sensitisation seminars to prospective applicants and training in project cycle management for grantees

• Providing advice and guidance to grant holders on preparing project proposals and meeting implementation requirements
• Undertaking professional (technical and financial) appraisal of all Concept Notes
• Undertaking professional (technical and financial) appraisal of all Proposals (including budgets and logframes)
• Providing funding recommendations to the AfDB-based Secretariat, which will in turn forward recommendations to the CBFF Governing Council (GC)
• Providing constructive feedback to unsuccessful applicants
• Preparing and agreeing detailed project budgets for all successful applicants
• Administering grant agreements
• Checking, authorising and issuing payment of grants
• Developing a monitoring and evaluation system that captures progress and change against individual project objectives as well as the overall CBFF objectives
• Receiving six monthly progress reports and giving feedback and advice to grant holders
• Reviewing all project annual reports, evaluation reports and programme completion reports
• Submitting to the CBFF Secretariat an annual progress report on the work of the FMA
• Maintaining a comprehensive database and financial records of all grants and applications
• Preparing and submitting updates on projects to the CBFF Secretariat for uploading on the CBFF website

The Fund Management Agent should have:

• An institutional network based in the region and with an extensive network within the Congo Basin countries
• An experienced core team with an appropriate skill mix in project cycle management and in relevant technical areas to the CBFF and its intended beneficiaries
• Experience of managing similar competitive grant funding schemes during the last three years
• A good understanding and demonstrated experience of performance assessment methodologies and practices
• Independent external audited accounts for the last three years

All applications for funding support will be through the CBFF and in response to the bi-annual calls for proposals issued by the CBFF. The CBFF will forward to the FMA for assessment, all concept notes for projects whose total value falls below threshold of €2,500,000.

Projects supported by the FMA must therefore meet the same criteria and eligibility requirements as those set out by the CBFF.

The contract period will not exceed 36 months in the first instance, with a probationary period of 6 months. The FMA will be expected to take up the following tasks in early April 2009.

Depending on the geographical coverage and proposed services detailed in technical and financial proposals originating from prospective bidders, the Bank reserves the right to select more than one FMA for the CBFF.