Attachment_J.1_WCIS_Final SOO.pdf

Attachment_J.1

Statement of Objectives (SOO) SCALING UP INVESTMENT in WEATHER and

CLIMATE INFORMATION SERVICES in SENEGAL ACTIVITY (WCIS 2 Activity)1

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of the WCIS 2 Activity is to enhance resilience, productivity, and nutritional outcomes in fishing and agriculture systems (i.e., farming, livestock, pastoralism), and expand the use of products and services in the face of increased climate uncertainty and weather hazards through scaling up investment in the weather and climate information services (WCIS) value chain.

II. SCOPE

Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) involve the collection, translation, transfer, and use of climate and weather data that can be used in decision making, climate smart policy, and planning across different sectors. There is a large and growing need and interest in more accurate, downscaled (more localized), timely, and tailored WCIS, as well as early warning systems for flood control and drought forecasts, to facilitate strategic farming to government-level decision-making in Senegal.

The development hypothesis for this activity is that if populations’ knowledge of the uses and benefits of WCIS is improved, and if public-private partnerships are developed to produce downscaled, tailored, timely, accurate, predictive weather and climate information, and if Senegalese private sector companies have access to capital, financial resources, and the necessary market linkages to invest in and disseminate WCIS, then Senegalese users will have access to improved weather and climate information at a competitive cost to base decision making and investment, ultimately leading to improved resilience, productivity, and nutrition outcomes.

III. CONTRACT LENGTH AND PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance will be five years. The activity will align with USAID/Senegal’s geographic priorities and the GoS geographic priorities for USAID. It will be driven mainly by demand and expressed needs in and outside these geographic areas. Focus areas include the Feed the Future (FtF) Zone of Influence, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) target areas, and alignment with activities implemented under the Economic Growth, Health, Democracy, Rights and Governance, and Education portfolios.

1 In this SOO, the term “WCIS 2 Activity” refers to the “Scaling up Investment in Weather and Climate Services in Senegal Activity”.

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

IV. BACKGROUND

General Background and Country Context

Senegal's precarious semi-arid Sahelian and coastal environment and strong dependence on rain-fed agriculture, pastoralism, livestock, and fisheries are important factors when considering climate change adaptation challenges. Together, these sectors account for 17% of the GDP and employ 70% of the country's workforce. Most of Senegal's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions also come from the agriculture sector, primarily driven by savanna burning and enteric fermentation (i.e., animal digestion) from livestock, as well as from energy production and use. Climate and weather changes in Senegal are characterized by the following:

● Current and projected increasingly high and extreme temperatures;

● Erratic and extreme rainfall levels, including delayed onset and dry spells during the rainy season and floods from heavy rainfall events;

● Increasing frequency and intensity of other weather events;

● Rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation.

Climate change impacts affect productivity, economic growth, and the well-being of citizens. More than 900,000 households in Senegal earn their livelihoods from farming, which is highly dependent on rainfed crops (80% of cultivated areas), with some irrigated areas in the northern, southern, and central parts of the country. Climate and weather parameters also impact the nutritional value of crops, from seed choice to planting to post-harvest storage and processing. Beyond the farming sector, there are also 50,000 households in Senegal earning their livelihood from pastoralism. Pastoralists face significant risks with their livestock, resulting from decreased fodder and water availability, bushfires, locust invasion, and increased pests and diseases. There are also approximately 108,000 fisherfolks operating 27,000 registered artisanal fishing pirogues. Artisanal fisherfolks are highly vulnerable to weather events, shifts in the seasonality of fishing activities, and warming sea waters. Heat stress, malaria, and respiratory diseases caused by short-lived climate pollutants and air pollution are also likely to increase morbidity and mortality. The potential outcomes will depend on preparedness levels, existing systems' strength, and socio-economic status.

Emerging innovations for adaptability to climate change and variability, such as WCIS, provide an opportunity to bolster community resilience and food security. In Senegal, the National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology (Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie, or ANACIM) is the premiere public institution with the mandate to provide different sectors with climate analyses and weather forecasts at climate time scale and weather time scales, and in the form of actionable WCIS.

As envisaged in the National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS), ANACIM's mandate extends to hydro-meteorological services, early warning systems for flood control, and drought forecasts. ANACIM initially performed its mandate by providing high-resolution, highly targeted, diversified, and spatially granular WCIS free-of-charge to the public and private sectors; however, a decree issued in July 2019 allowed ANACIM to move away from the free delivery of WCIS. As a result, private sector actors have stepped in, charging end users a pay-for-service fee in exchange for the delivery of WCIS, while free delivery channels still exist. The decree also authorizes ANACIM to serve those willing to pay (WTP) for on-demand, more sophisticated, differentiated, fee-based WCIS through private sector distribution.

This model allows ANACIM and private sector players to enter into PPPs and develop functioning business models to expand and sustain the value chain.

ANACIM, the Directorate for the Management and Forecasting of Water Resources (DGPRE), the Regional Agrometeorology Hydrology and Meteorology Center for West Africa and the Sahel (AGRHYMET), and the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS) have developed some potential products and capacity. ANACIM, DGPRE, and the Department of Flood Prevention and Management (DPGI) are currently conducting stakeholder mapping and analyzing demand to improve water resource management. In addition, ANACIM hosts the World Meteorological Organization Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP) in West Africa, with the goal to provide guidance on floods. With technical assistance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), ANACIM leads a stream of work on forecasting heat waves in Senegal by harnessing climate information systems. Recently, the National Council for the Development of Nutrition (CNDN), the Human Food and Nutrition Research Laboratory (LARNAH) of the Senegal Cheikh Anta Diop University at Dakar (UCAD), ANACIM, and other partners also embarked on a process for the co-production of WCIS for the Nutrition Sector.

As user-pay business models emerge in WCIS, there are trade-offs with the development and equitability goals that justify investment in WCIS. Sustaining effective services that improve rural livelihoods at scale require financial resources, which often creates tension between sustainable business models and agricultural development goals. USAID does not seek a narrow focus on near-term profitability that could lead to decisions that reduce development benefits, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable populations, including rural women and youth. Instead, USAID seeks to progressively harness market forces that could lead to sustaining the WCIS value chain while empowering end-users. At this juncture, USAID is mainly needed at the table to bring in the most creative, innovative, and flexible services from the contractor.

Relationship to Other Donor Activities In the last six years, USAID/Senegal supported ANACIM and the development of the WCIS value chain with various implementing partners (IPs) through the USAID/CINSERE, USAID/CINSERE Plus, and the Climate Change, Agriculture & Food Security Program (CCAFS). The projects aimed at increasing the access to and use of WCIS to generate better decision-making in the face of climate change and climate variability and strengthen food security governance. These and other projects, such as ACToday, CCAFS, and AICCRA, have provided or are currently providing the financial and technical support needed to build ANACIM’s capacity.

ACToday, developed and funded out of IRI (2017-2022), built systems to ensure that meteorological agencies in target countries can produce the most accurate climate information and relevant forecasts that make it into the hands of farmers and institutions. The recipients, in turn, can use them to predict both extreme weather that could damage agriculture and favorable conditions that could lead to improved harvests. The ACToday team of researchers brought expertise in climate science, nutrition, and sustainable development. The team worked in partnership with the CGIAR CCAFS Research Program, the World Food Programme (WFP) R4 Rural Resilience Program, the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank, and others. Those partners, including USAID, have supported climate insurance development and credit bundling.

The World Bank-funded AICCRA Project (2020-2022) objective was to strengthen the capacity of targeted CCAFS partners and stakeholders and to enhance access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies. Activities included:

● Support for developing additional localized climate information products tailored to agricultural sector needs, including advanced soil water balance and crop water demand tools, yielding an expanded suite of seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasts.

● Work with partners to co-develop training curricula to strengthen the capacity of public, NGO, and private agricultural extension and advisory providers to support farmers’ use of climate services to manage risk.

● Work with ANACIM to expand their gridded climate data to include humidity, wind, solar radiation, and potential evapotranspiration.

The ongoing R4 Rural Resilience Initiative is a strategic partnership between Oxfam and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) designed to enable vulnerable rural households to strengthen their food and income security in the context of increasing climate risks. It uses an innovative approach to help communities better manage risk by integrating insurance, credit, savings, and disaster risk reduction.

Initiatives have also been taken through the Global Framework of Climate Services (GFCS) and the adopted NFCS to boost the uptake of WCIS in Senegal.

Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) The new USAID Scaling Up Investment in Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS2) activity will set the tone for a move from a project-subsidized approach to accessing and using WCIS, to a dominantly market-based private sector-led service delivery. WCIS 2 activity will support USAID/Senegal’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS, 2020 - 2025) DO (Development Objective)1: “Increased inclusive economic growth” through:

● IR (Intermediate Result) 1.2: Improved natural resources management;

○ Sub IR.1.1.2: Improved agriculture productivity

● IR 1.3: Improved resilience, nutrition, food, and water security;

○ Sub IR 1.3.4: Increased ability to adapt to climate change.

The Activity will also contribute to the USAID’s Climate Strategy, with the goal of advancing equitable and ambitious actions to confront the climate crisis, and also the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative, specifically targeting Objective 2: Strengthened resilience among people and systems, especially to new and recurrent shocks and stresses. Additionally, the Activity will contribute to USAID’s Private Sector Engagement Policy, which focuses on achieving sustained impact, facilitating equal access for women and men to economic opportunities, and ensuring activities continue long after USAID’s support has ended.

V. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS

This Statement of Objectives (SOO) is provided in lieu of a USG written Statement of Work (SOW). The SOO does not state how the work is to be accomplished, but provides potential Offerors with the flexibility to develop cost effective solutions, propose resourceful approaches, and bring creativity, innovation, and expertise to the activity design and implementation. This approach also acknowledges that activity tasks need to be informed by experience, available evidence, and tailored to respective frameworks.

Offerors will determine how the following objectives and results will be met and must propose specific deliverables. The objectives and results are mutually reinforcing, and concurrent implementation is necessary to achieve the activity's purpose.

Objective 1:

Facilitate the Development of Public-Private Partnerships to Improve the Quality and Effectiveness of Weather and Climate Information Services.

Effective WCIS needs to be timely, accurate, spatially explicit, diversified, and well-tailored to meet the needs of all potential users, including women, youth, and other marginalized groups. To improve the quality and effective use of WCIS, the contractor must bolster the enabling environment for both public and private sector entities. The contractor must seek successful public-private partnerships and business models.

Illustrative Results:

● Result 1.1: Senegalese public institutions with the mandate to produce WCIS are equipped to offer effective products.

● Result 1.2: Improved collaboration between Senegalese public institutions with the mandate to produce WCIS.

● Result 1.3: Private sector actors are equipped with additional bandwidth to implement profitable business models.

● Result 1.4: Increased number of successful partnerships built between public institutions and the private sector.

● Result 1.5: A critical mass of end-users subscribe to pay-for services in the intervention areas.

● Result 1.6: Business models demonstrate profitability within two years of the development of a specific WCIS..

Objective 2:

Scale Up Public and Private Investment in the Development and Dissemination of WCIS.

The upstream research, data, information analysis, modeling, transfer, and use of WCIS requires sustainable funding pathways. The contractor must seek a strategy to shift away from the GOS sole funding of the production of climate information as a public good, to a more diverse set of financing mechanisms, including a clear grantmaking approach that leverages private sector assets.

Illustrative Results:

● Result 2.1: Business models provide various payment options beyond fees.

● Result 2.2: A diverse set of financing mechanisms is proposed along the WCIS value chain Result

2.3:The Amount of investment mobilized for the WCIS value chain expansion is increased.

● Result 2.4: Public institutions producing WCIS develop the capacity to become enablers for private sector engagement and investment in WCIS.

● Result 2.5: Increased investment in gender-based and youth-driven weather and climate services to reduce gaps within these areas.

Objective 3:

Increase Target Populations’ Knowledge of the Uses and Benefits of Weather and Climate Information and Improve Demand for Services.

In order to improve users’ ability to understand and act on the WCIS data, engaging user communities, institutions and networks that effectively span the boundary between information production and end users, in the co-design and co-production of WCIS is crucial. As such, the contractor must seek strategies for engagement, addressing communication and capacity challenges associated with weather and climate time scale information and their probabilistic nature. Investments must lead to increased use of and investment in WCIS to address risks.

Illustrative Results:

● Result 3.1: Improved understanding, particularly among women and youth, of weather and climate services and its uses.

● Result 3.2: Gender-sensitive weather and climate information products and services are designed.

● Result 3.3: Increased number of producers' associations, women's groups, and communities with access to weather and climate information services.

● Result 3.4: Increased number of people and institutions using WCIS or implementing risk reduction actions.

● Result 3.5: Improved coordination and outreach initiatives among USAID projects, other donors, NGOs, and other stakeholders.

Objective 4:

Expand WCIS for Use in the Public Health and Water Resource Management Sectors.

With a growing population and expanding urban areas, Senegal will inevitably be more exposed to natural hazards. WCIS can mitigate risks when used as an early warning system to watch and forecast droughts and floods, and to address nutrition and health-related hazards. The contractor must ensure that WCIS’s use is successfully expanded into the water resource management and public health/nutrition sectors, which will help to minimize economic losses and build livelihood resilience.

Illustrative Results:

● Result 4.1: WCIS packages are bundled with health and water data and available technologies.

● Result 4.2: Early warning flood and drought forecast systems are made available to decision making and resource allocation.

● Result 4.3: Decisions and interventions use climate information bundled with nutrition-related data.

● Result 4.4: Increased capacity for water resource management and public health institutions to incorporate WCIS.

At the outcome and impact levels, the Contractor should propose measurable performance targets in accordance with the Standard Climate Change-Adaptation Indicators in Economic Growth (GCC Summary Indicator Sheet). Indicators and measurable performance targets for these results will have to be co-developed with USAID.

VI. OPERATING CONSTRAINTS AND CONTRACT PARAMETERS

● Sustainability and Environmental Considerations (EG4ALL IEE and WCIS 2 Request for Categorical Exclusion (RCE)

● Climate Risk management (USAID Climate Risk Management and WCIS 2 Climate Change and

CRM Annex)

● Coordination: Programmatic success relies on effective coordination, collaboration, and synergy. Ongoing USAID/Senegal activities address many challenges associated with improved agriculture, pastoralism, and fisheries, including climatic and other shocks. This activity will complement the USAID Mission activities listed in Annex 1, and others deemed relevant by increasing access to sustainable and high-quality WCIS, thus strengthening long-term resilience.

This activity must also collaborate closely with national and local government ministries, agencies, and other institutions; research institutions; civil society; providers of WCIS services, products, and advisories; and with the private sector institutions and private-sector players.

The coordination of this activity with all of the relevant USAID/Senegal EGO portfolio of Activities (Projects), including, but not limited to, the Feed the Future (FTF) portfolio, is a requirement of the contractor.

The rationale for coordinating/layering the WCIS 2 Activity with relevant EGO activities is the following:

1. Climate change is a cross-cutting high priority of USAID, USG domestic, and foreign policy.

2. Long-term resilience requires layering, coordination, and synergies through co-creation, co-planning, implementation, and reporting with projects funded and implemented under Senegal’s Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) Plan.

3. Synergy with FTF projects will facilitate the engagement of user communities, institutions, and networks of stakeholders in the co-design and co-production of improved and effectively used WCIS.

4. Coordination will improve access to inputs, finance, market information, strengthen policy systems, increase resource tenure security, improve uptake of cleaner energy, improve water resource management, enhance nutrition, create equitable gender norms, etc.

● Sustainable partnerships: Interventions must build on or create sustainable partnerships to ensure lasting impact. A facilitative approach that favors working with and through local systems leads to improved sustainability. Collaboration with local and national government institutions should be coordinated with USAID/Senegal and USAID activities to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

https://www.climatelinks.org/resources/gcc-indicator-summary-sheet https://www.climatelinks.org/resources/gcc-indicator-summary-sheet https://ecd.usaid.gov/repository/pdf/47126.pdf https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p-V_bUOiq4bSKkIFRaZyavG_i4X1cKyQ/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p-V_bUOiq4bSKkIFRaZyavG_i4X1cKyQ/edit https://www.climatelinks.org/integration/climate-risk-management https://www.climatelinks.org/integration/climate-risk-management https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VRbltRsv9l3QR-yacNy63RowfQxsmCS7/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VRbltRsv9l3QR-yacNy63RowfQxsmCS7/edit

● Gender and Social Inclusion: Offerors are expected to demonstrate compliance with USAID Policy ADS 205. Even though Senegal is making steady progress towards enacting national policies endorsing gender equity in national and local governing bodies, women's economic power remains weak with fragmented initiatives operating at micro-levels with limited growth and impact (USAID/Senegal 2020 Gender Assessment). The bidder should be prepared to identify and assess existing barriers and those potentially brought by this activity to women's and girls' inclusion in co-creation and production of WCIS, their access to and use of WCIS, opportunities for women and girls to leverage any existing financial capabilities to support the value chain. The offeror will use the most appropriate methodologies to crosswalk climate hazards to gender equities, gender vulnerabilities, and women's and girls potential. The bidder will identify practical approaches to promote women's increased use of the WCIS. Moreover, the offeror will seek to elevate the agency and leadership of women and girls through intentional inclusion in decision making, and investment in and support to local women-led organizations. The successful offeror will carry out a plan toward that end, and report on the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment performance of the activity. In addition, gender-disaggregated data (and age-disaggregated, when applicable) will be gathered and reported on the desired outcomes of the activity. For additional information, a detailed WCIS 2 Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Statement is found in the Attachment_J.3 -Annex 3 to this SOO.

● Positive Youth Development (USAID PYD): Given the key role and challenges facing young people (ages 10-29) in Senegal, this activity is required to contribute to the USAID PYD Youth in Development Policy outcomes related to effective youth engagement as partners. USAID (USAID Youth and Climate Briefer) is committed to engaging youth by supporting their efforts to tackle climate change-related issues. The bidder should be prepared to identify practical approaches to promote youth’s increased use of the WCIS, carry out a plan toward that end, and report on the PYD impacts of the activity. A more detailed WCIS 2 Youth & Positive Development is found in the Attachment_J.3 -Annex 3 to this SOO.

● Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility: USAID Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and

Accessibility (DEIA) are essential principles to consider across all components of this activity. In addition, USAID welcomes applications or consortium members from organizations that have not received financial assistance from USAID, implementing and university organizations from the geographic areas of focus, and from underrepresented or minority-led partners. Applicants that are not new partners are encouraged, but not required, to include partners that have never led a USAID project and to incorporate capacity building for new and local partners into the approach.

● Collaboration, Learning, and Adapting (CLA): Offerors must apply the USAID CLA principles and articulate the Senegal Mission’s CLA Plan to their proposal.

● Private Sector Engagement (PSE): Offerors are required to apply the USAID PSE principles and articulate the Senegal Mission’s PSE Plan to their proposal.

● Localization: Offerors must apply the USAID Localization principles and articulate the Senegal Mission’s Localization Plan to their proposal.

https://www.usaid.gov/ads/policy/200/205 https://www.usaid.gov/ads/policy/200/205 https://drive.google.com/file/d/168hv7-koUotwCNhocGixItvIIZ6xYpDp/view?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OBanenu24AH1nWLiFJFL5CcgNwerYIapXYm0S-4kwos/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OBanenu24AH1nWLiFJFL5CcgNwerYIapXYm0S-4kwos/edit?usp=sharing http://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Uuob0fVXVmTEK-brjDpT10Yyq0jzcxl685LnpSqt7w/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OpiGFlf65xCU-E_8SFy5Yk1dpgJZBBDNE-QukP4zBxQ/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OpiGFlf65xCU-E_8SFy5Yk1dpgJZBBDNE-QukP4zBxQ/edit?usp=sharing https://www.usaid.gov/equity https://www.usaid.gov/equity https://www.usaid.gov/evaluation/collaborating-learning-and-adapting-cla https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/private-sector-engagement https://www.usaid.gov/localization

A more detailed description of Operating Constraints is found as Annex 2 to this SOO.

GRANTS UNDER CONTRACT (GUC)

In order to support country-led approaches for improved weather and climate information services, it is important to work with a diverse range of stakeholders. By providing small grants to various types of organizations, WCIS 2 can leverage previous and ongoing research and/or implementation, as well as obtain varied and diverse concepts, aimed at providing new and innovative ideas. Providing grants specifically to local organizations and institutions is also important to building local capacity, country commitment and buy-in. Although some of these entities may not have the capacity to implement the larger activities assigned to the Contractor, GUCs will allow USAID to work more effectively within local systems and tap into local knowledge.