SI_THP_Cross-Cutting_Program_Support_Services_SOW.pdf

CROSS-CUTTING PROGRAM SUPPORT (CCPS):

Facilitated Governance Reform, Active Program Monitoring, Communications, and Meeting and Administration Support

The Solomon Islands Threshold Program

The Scope of Work for Cross-Cutting Program Support (“CCPS”) services is discussed below in the following four sections:

• Section I – Summary of Required Services

• Section II – Program Background

• Section III – Program Implementation Partners

• Section IV – Detailed Description of Required Services to be Provided by the Cross-Cutting

Program Support (“CCPS”) Contractor

• Section V – Required Expertise

I. Summary of Required Services

The Government of the United States of America, via the Millennium Challenge Corporation

(MCC), and the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) expect to sign a Threshold Program Grant

Agreement (Grant) in 2021 totaling US $23 million to support a 4-year program with the objective of implementing policy and institutional reforms that lead to a reduction in poverty through economic growth in Solomon Islands. The 4-year timeline for this program is expected to begin in

April 2021. The Solomon Islands threshold program (“The Program”) consists of two projects: the

Accessing Land for Tourism Investment Facilitation (ALTIF) Project and the Forest Value

Enhancement Project (FoVEP).

In order to implement these two projects, MCC is seeking a Cross-Cutting Program Support

(“CCPS”) contractor to execute four cross-cutting programmatic activities. There is expected to be a degree of synergy across the four activities, meaning that none of the four activities will be fully independent or siloed from one another. The four programmatic activities are described as follows:

• Facilitated Governance Reform (FGR) Support: The required facilitated governance reform support involves creation and management of a highly participatory problem-solving process which cuts across both the ALTIF and the FoVEP projects. It will involve coordinating across both projects, addressing issues that arise, and adapting solutions to fit the local context.

Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) is one facilitated governance reform approach that may be appropriate for this activity, but MCC is receptive to similar approaches. The objective of this activity is not to provide solutions, but rather to facilitate teams of local actors to work together, identify solutions, and make progress towards addressing the complex problems that inhibit meeting the overall program objectives. MCC expects the contractor to be able to provide or procure technical expertise on an as needed basis and when local teams clearly articulate needs and demand. (See Section IV.A.)

• Active Program Monitoring Hub Support: In addition to recording outputs and monitoring reform progress as part of the FGR efforts described above, the contractor will also serve as a hub for active program monitoring of the overall objectives of the Threshold program.

Specifically, the contractor will review the M&E plans submitted by MCC’s ALTIF and

FoVEP implementing partners and integrate them into a single M&E Plan for submission to

MCC and will report quarterly on key performance indicators to be defined therein. Moreover, the contractor will establish an active, collaborative approach to monitoring the larger results of the program, most notably in relation to the reform objectives of the ALTIF and FoVEP FGR

Activities. (See Section IV.B.)

• Communications Support: The required strategic communications support aims to ensure that the Solomon Islands public is well and accurately informed about the objectives, progress, and achievements of the threshold program. (See Section IV.C.)

• Meeting and Administration Support: The required meeting support will be associated with the planning and execution of meetings for (i) the Advisory Council which will be comprised of senior Solomon Islands leadership to provide cross-governmental coordination for the Program

(meeting annually, with some additional ad hoc meetings, as needed); and (ii) the Solomon

Islands Futures Circle which will be comprised of influential non-governmental Solomon

Islanders whose participation would support the overall objectives of a successful MCC engagement in Solomon Islands (with bi-annual meetings, as well as ad hoc meetings, as needed). Aside from organizing meetings for these two groups, there will be a need to organize public outreach events or meetings in support of the Program objectives on an ad hoc basis.

The contractor will also provide limited ad hoc administrative support to support Solomon

Island participation in MCC College events. (See Section IV.D.)

A more detailed description of the services that compose the CCPS contract is provided in Section

IV. Each programmatic activity requires a distinct skillset and organizational capacity.

Organizations which lack strong proficiency in each of the four programmatic activities are encouraged to consider subcontracting and teaming arrangements to fulfill all requirements.

II. Program Background

The proposed Solomon Islands threshold program seeks to assist the SIG in addressing two major constraints to economic growth: inability to access land for investment in the tourism sector and ineffective natural resource management in the logging sector. The threshold program will address these constraints through two projects: the Accessing Land for Tourism Investment Facilitation

(ALTIF) Project and the Forest Value Enhancement Project (FoVEP). The objective of the ALTIF

Project is to address the land access and investment facilitation issues that have prevented Solomon

Islands from realizing its potential in tourism, one of the country’s main growth opportunities. The objective of FoVEP is to generate more reliable, sustainable benefits from Solomon Islands’ forest resources.

A. Accessing Land for Tourism Investment Facilitation (ALTIF) Project

A.1. Background

Tourism provides one of the main opportunities for job creation in Solomon Islands. Solomon

Islands’ tourism industry, however, remains in a fledgling state, made up mostly of small family and community run operations catering to guests seeking a backpacker or eco-adventure type experience. Growing this sector faces several challenges. Securing land for investment is a critical challenge. Investors must gain both formal license from the government to use registered land as well as agreement from neighboring communities that their use of land is legitimate (social license). A poor investment climate and lack of capability among key government institutions creates impediments for new investors seeking to enter the country. Additionally, during the

COVID-19 pandemic, tourism globally has been in decline, posing additional challenges to the tourism sector. Substantial recovery and growth of tourism in the Pacific is expected in 2022.

To address these constraints the ALTIF project will have three activities. First, a land activity will identify registered land parcels that have potential to attract tourism investment and assist investors to negotiate secure access to that land while maximizing local community benefits (through social license agreements). Second, an investment facilitation activity will engage the investor community to promote investment opportunities, vet potential projects for suitability, and facilitate interaction with the SIG through financial close.

The third and final activity within the ALTIF project is the Facilitated Governance Reform (FGR) component. The objective of this activity is to provide a governance structure for the ALTIF

Project that builds capabilities of the SIG and facilitates the implementation of reforms that are identified during implementation of the overall ALTIF project. The approach will employ facilitated governance techniques, such as those of the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation

(PDIA) approach developed at Harvard University for building government capability.1 The outcome of this activity will be to strengthen the ability of the SIG and community stakeholders to achieve the desired outcomes of the other two activities in a way that promotes country engagement, ownership, and sustainability of the project outcomes.

A.2. Implementation Arrangements

For the three activities to be conducted under the ALTIF project, MCC expects to engage three organizations to implement the project. (See Section III.) The community-facing activities are expected to be implemented by an organization with extensive experience working with communities in the Solomon Islands on issues related to land and natural resource management, community governance and decision making, and gender equality and youth initiatives. The land identification and investment transaction support work are expected to be undertaken by an entity with expertise in tourism investment promotion. A third organization, the subject of this procurement, will collaborate with the other program implementers while facilitating working teams of government officials and/or relevant stakeholders.

A.3. ALTIF Facilitated Governance Reform (FGR) Activity – Participating Organizations

1 The Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation approach to facilitated government reform is an example of an approach that contractors may use to achieve the reform objectives. MCC encourages contractors to propose other approaches to facilitated government reform if they are more appropriate to the situation and can better achieve the stated objectives.

The ALTIF project will support the government to establish a Tourism Investment Task Force composed of high-level Solomon Islands government and/or tourism officials to oversee the project. The Task Force will convene quarterly to set priorities, coordinate the work of government ministries/ agencies, and solve problems that rise to their level. For issues that are identified as a priority by the Tourism Investment Task Force, the Task Force will also nominate or assign officials to participate in working-level teams to address the problems. These working-level teams will operate under the authority of the Task Force and will meet regularly (weekly) to make progress on the identified issues and to solve complex problems. While the working-level teams are likely to evolve, initially at least two teams are expected to be formed – one focused on land and community-facing issues and another focused on the investment process and investor-facing issues. Working-level teams will be composed of government officials and additional stakeholders as appropriate.

B. Forest Value Enhancement Project (FoVEP)

B.1. Background

The Solomon Islands forest sector accounts for more than half of Solomon Islands’ total export value and provides more than 20 percent of the government’s tax revenue. However, mismanagement of the sector leads to underreporting on as much as US $100-150 million worth of logging exports and undermines the shared prosperity that should result from the sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits derived from the country’s natural resources. The current status of forest sector regulatory enforcement creates disincentives for effective reforms, constrains the generation and equitable sharing of forest sector revenue at the local and national levels, and has been insufficient to prevent environmental damage caused by unsustainable logging practices. In this context, the Forest Value Enhancement Project (FoVEP) seeks to generate more reliable, sustainable benefits from Solomon Islands’ forest resources by (i) attenuating negative environmental impacts associated with extractive forest management practices, (ii) increasing and more equitably sharing the community and national revenues from forest resources, and (iii) achieving a more balanced regulatory and enforcement regime between logging and non-logging uses of forests.

The FoVEP project consists of two activities. The first activity will facilitate community-based forest and land management supported by a market-based Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program in participating project locations (“PES Activity”). The second activity will facilitate a multi-stakeholder policy and institutional reform (PIR) process utilizing a facilitated governance reform approach such as PDIA (“FoVEP FGR Activity”). The anticipated result of the PES

Activity is the incorporation of at least 6,000 hectares of forest in validated PES programs and corresponding social, environmental and financial benefits in participating jurisdictions. These benefits provide an important foundation for the policy and institutional goals of the FoVEP FGR

Activity as PES project site representatives are expected to be active participants in the reform teams structured to address policy and institutional reform issues. The PES program locations will provide a link between alternative forest management solutions at the local scale (PES Activity) and opportunities to improve the scalability and institutionalization of those solutions at the provincial or national level through policy and institutional reform and/or mobilization of political constituencies supportive of forest sector reform (FoVEP FGR Activity).

B.2. Implementation Arrangements

MCC will implement the two FoVEP Activities through two distinct organizations or Program

Implementers. (See Section III.) For the PES Activity, MCC has initiated discussions with an international non-governmental organization to develop an implementation partnership responsible for the PES components and associated tasks. MCC expects to procure a second organization (the subject of this procurement) to facilitate the policy and institutional reform process of the FoVEP

FGR Activity. This organization will coordinate closely with the PES Activity implementation partner but will operate as a distinct entity to facilitate reform teams at each of the three proposed levels of governance engagement. (See Section B.3.) Given the anticipated need for technical assistance and support at each level of governance engagement, the CCPS contractor may act as prime contractor for any additional sub-contractors, consultants, or services necessary to fulfill the

FoVEP FGR Activity objectives.

B.3. Facilitated Governance Reform Activity – Participating Organizations

The facilitated policy and institutional reform process under the FoVEP project will operate at three levels. A FoVEP Task Force will serve as the SIG oversight entity for the FoVEP project and will be responsible for convening, authorizing and supporting the performance of each reform team in alignment with the objectives of the overall facilitated reform process. The second and third levels of the process (the reform teams) will include: a forest governance accountability reform team convened at the national level to promote civil society involvement in effective forest sector reform opportunities; and forest management reform teams convened in each sub-national jurisdiction participating in the FoVEP PES Activity to identify and address structural constraints to improved forest regulation at the sub-national level. Site selection for PES program locations will be determined during program implementation but are not expected to involve sites in more than two provinces; the FoVEP FGR process will therefore facilitate 1-2 forest management reform teams at the provincial level.

III. Threshold Program Implementation and Evaluation Structure and Partners

In order to implement the overall Threshold Program, MCC expects to engage 6 organizations as

Program Implementation and Evaluation Partners to implement and evaluate the two projects referenced above.

Implementation Partners

• One organization will support facilitated governance reform processes to improve policy development and institutional problem-solving capacity in both the land/tourism and forestry sectors, under the ALTIF and FoVEP projects. In addition, this organization will provide program monitoring, communications, as well as meeting and administration support services required by the program to ensure that stakeholders and the public at large are informed about program results and to facilitate meetings associated with program governance. (This organization is the focus of this procurement.).

• The land identification and investor-facing activities conducted under the ALTIF project are expected to be implemented by an organization with experience and expertise in tourism investment promotion. (It is currently anticipated that this entity will be a Public International

Organization (“PIO”).)

• The community-facing activities to be conducted under the ALTIF project are expected to be implemented by an organization with extensive experience working with communities in

Solomon Islands on issues related to land, stakeholder engagement, community governance and decision making, and gender equality and social inclusion.

• A fourth organization will design and implement the Payment for Ecosystem Services activity in participating communities under the FoVEP project. (It is currently anticipated that this entity will be an International Non-Governmental Organization.)

Evaluation Partners

• A fifth organization is expected to conduct a high-level Data Quality Review of any data systems which are critical to guiding program implementation. The CCPS contractor is expected to only have minor interaction with this organization.

• Finally, a research organization will be commissioned as an independent evaluator of the program, assessing the degree to which the program was able to attain the targeted outcomes.

The CCPS contractor is expected to interface with the independent evaluator in order to ensure the design of the evaluation incorporates a sound understanding of the program’s logics and objectives, particularly in relation to the FoVEP and ALTIF FGR activities.

The diagram below provides a visual crosswalk between project activities and implementation and evaluation partners. The CPSS Contractor is highlighted in red.

Program implementation will require close coordination among these six Program Implementation and Evaluation Partners. Elements and specific activities of each project, and the Threshold

Program as a whole, will overlap and implementing contractors/partners will need to cooperate and coordinate as they complete the tasks associated with their activities.

IV. Detailed Description of Required Services to be Provided by the Cross-Cutting

Program Support (“CCPS”) Contractor

A. Facilitated Governance Reform (FGR) Support

A.1. ALTIF Project

Based upon the organizational framework described in Section II.A.3. (Facilitated Governance

Reform Activity – Participating Organizations), the contractor will facilitate the work of both the

Task Force and working-level teams. These teams will enhance the ability of the SIG to have engagement, oversight, and ownership in the ALTIF project. The teams will drive policy and institutional reforms that can streamline the investment process. This will require continued problem identification and finding practical solutions to address them. The contractor will facilitate this through, for example, employing tools that help teams to break down problems. find entry points for action, brainstorm to identify practical solutions, and provide basic task management to ensure progress. As part of this, the contractor will provide:

• Coordination across other ALTIF project activities and implementing partners: Other project implementers (as described in Section III. “Threshold Program Implementation and Evaluation

Structure and Partners”) will play important roles in identifying problems and helping craft solutions. For example, the PIO partner conducting land identification and investor-facing activities will have significant expertise in outreach to investors and tourism investment as well as in-depth local knowledge of the context in Solomon Islands. However, the PIO will be focused on facilitating specific transactions, rather than on building the governance capabilities and implementing governance reforms that can improve the overall investment process into the future. Yet the PIO’s work and expertise will help to identify key bottlenecks and prioritize actions for governance reform teams to be facilitated by the contractor. Thus, it will be important for the contractor to be aligned with other implementors as well as the Tourism

Investment Task Force.

• Coaching for the Task Force: While some problem identification and solution development has already been done, additional attention to problem definition and solution brainstorming will likely be necessary as new issues arise during the life of the project. The contractor will facilitate workshops to break down problems as necessary, using tools such as Ishikawa diagrams and other approaches as appropriate to find targeted solutions.

• Coaching for working-level teams: The contractor will convene and facilitate regular (likely weekly) meetings to complete work planning, assess team progress, identify impediments, and facilitate problem solving as necessary. Regular check points are critical to ensuring that impediments are identified as soon as possible, and that rapid iteration and adaptation strategies can be deployed to overcome them. Thus, it is important that the contractor regularly records progress as identified in the next bullet.

• Record progress: The contractor will maintain well-organized documentation of working-level team meeting minutes, notes and updates of progress made between meetings. At a minimum, this documentation will include (1) key tasks identified, (2) impediments, (3) decisions made,

(4) actions taken, and (5) results of actions. The contractor will use this information to update key aspects of the problem definition and/or program logic when necessary. This information will also provide the basis for a quarterly (or more frequent) update to MCC staff (described below in Section IV.B).

• Communication between Task Force and working-level teams: Ensure that actionable information from each working-level team flows up to the Task Force as necessary, and that the priorities and decisions from the Task Force are clear to working-level teams.

• Provide technical assistance resources to teams, including additional technical expertise as needed: Working-level teams within the SIG may encounter a variety of challenges in the course of their work. Upon approval from MCC, the contractor will make resources available to working level teams in order to overcome obstacles that arise. These resources may come in the form of targeted training, specific technical expertise, data collection, studies, etc. Any additional resources must be highly focused and address a key impediment to progress. The contractor should employ techniques to minimize the use of these resources in order to foster problem solving within the working teams and avoid unnecessary reliance on technical assistance. The contractor will be expected to develop a procedure to ensure that such additional assistance does not substitute for local problem solving. For example, in the case where additional outside technical expertise becomes necessary., the contractor will facilitate the team to articulate its needs for technical expertise. It may be useful for the Tourism

Investment Task Force to also review the request, at which time MCC will make a determination for final approval and the contractor will work to make the resources available to the working-level teams. This approach ensures that additional resources are available to working level teams, while at the same time ensuring local demand and ownership of the solutions.

The exact activities and issues to be addressed by various working-level teams may further evolve.

However, some illustrative examples are facilitating the SIG to build the following capabilities:

• Create and implement a “single window” for investors; and

• Create and implement a procedure for tendering leases on publicly held lands.

A.2. FoVEP Project

Based upon the organizational framework described in Section II.B.3. (Facilitated Governance

Reform Activity – Participating Organizations), the contractor will initiate, facilitate, and support the FoVEP Task Force and each level of reform team. This support will require experience in facilitating activities such as breaking down problems into manageable forms, rapid solution iteration, and prioritization of feasible incremental steps towards achieving effective policy and institutional reforms.

The contractor will perform all tasks described above (see anticipated tasks for ALTIF project in

III.A.1, above), including coaching for the FoVEP Task Force, coaching for each reform team, recording progress, communicating between FoVEP Task Force and reform teams, and providing technical expertise (as needed). The contractor will perform these tasks for each of the three levels of the FoVEP FGR Activity structure (national FoVEP Task Force, national civil society reform team, and up to two provincial-level reform teams).

Any provision of technical expertise or assistance (See II.A.1, above) will be demand driven based on the prioritization of problems and iterative solutions proposed by each reform team. The CCPS contractor may propose a phased funding mechanism to guide or incentivize the use of technical assistance/support advisors, studies, data collection, training, or other assistance to meet the

FoVEP Activity objectives, as needed and requested by high performing reform teams, subject to

MCC approval. Technical assistance will not be provided to reform teams which reflect little or no engagement and commitment to change, as evidenced by the performance assessments of each respective reform team.

The exact activities and issues to be addressed by various working-level reform teams will be determined in consultation with the FoVEP Task Force and each respective reform team. However, such tasks will be within the following thematic areas of policy and institutional reform:

• PES Project Designation, Management and Monitoring (e.g. natural resource accounting, operationalization of PES modalities, support for protected areas trust fund)

• Logging sector reform, monitoring and enforcement (e.g. support for georeferenced cadastral databases of forest concessions and related designations, mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement, information sharing, legal assessment)

• Pathways toward broad-scale harmonized forest management (e.g. supporting analysis to identify and implement opportunities to diversify forest sector benefits and improve regulatory enforcement, including approaches to scale and balance PES or other community-based forest governance approaches with national or provincial management.)

• Research and learning activities, including participatory action research, data collection or analysis, and the dissemination of such research in support of FoVEP objectives.

B. Active Program Monitoring Hub

The CCPS contractor is expected to consolidate performance monitoring information in order to fully understand the program’s objectives and, eventually, to deploy active monitoring efforts to track how the program’s various efforts are contributing to the established reform objectives.

Note: while the contractor will play a role in ensuring certain aspects of MCC and the

Government’s broader accountability requirements, the CCPS contractor will have no responsibility for, or authority over, other implementing partners’ responsibilities. Rather, the

CCPS contractor will be expected to maintain strong collaboration as the contractor’s work will complement that of other implementers.

In effect, the CCPS contractor is expected to play an active leadership role as a “hub” for program monitoring, most notably carrying out the following tasks across both ALTIF and FoVEP:

• Theory of Change and performance mapping: Define the performance indicators to be monitored along with their baselines and targets in collaboration with project teams. Ensure that monitoring indicators are relevant to project management needs and that critical risks and assumptions are tracked, as appropriate.

• Compilation of Threshold-wide M&E Plan: Work with each Program Implementation Partner described in Section III to compile a Threshold-wide M&E Plan, in accordance with MCC

Guidelines and in coordination with MCC and relevant stakeholders. The goal of this M&E

Plan is not to prescribe rigid performance indicators but rather to understand and document the respective reform objectives of each Program Implementation Partner and help ensure that the

FGR Activity’s implementation has an all-of-program coherence across both ALTIF and

FoVEP’s FGR Activities. Related to the following two bullets, one of the critical functions of the Threshold-wide M&E Plan is for the CCPS contractor and each Partner to collaboratively specify their plans for delivery and compilation of program monitoring information, including but not limited to each Partner’s regular program implementation reports, indicator tracking tables, and other deliverables relevant to the active monitoring of Threshold program’s implementation.

• Field monitoring and observation: The CCPS contractor will establish a program of proactive field monitoring and observation through which to more actively gain an understanding of the program’s implementation and the broader constraints to building the capabilities of the

Solomon Islands Government in relation to the program’s identified problems and desired domains of reform.

• Quarterly Reporting: Produce a quarterly program monitoring report which compiles both the qualitative observations and challenges in implementation of the Threshold program as well as observed progress on key performance indicators as defined in the aforementioned M&E Plan.

As stated above, the CCPS contractor will not oversee nor have authority over the Threshold program’s other Program Implementation Partners. The goal of this exercise is not one of oversight or rigid performance management, but rather to ensure that the FGR activities are able to take advantage of a fuller understanding of broader program’s activities, which each respectively aim to empower the ALTIF and FoVEP FGR Activities’ reform objectives.

C. Communications

The required communications support aims to ensure that the Solomon Islands public is well-informed about the objectives, progress, and achievements of the threshold program. This objective will be met through the tasks described below, working in close coordination with

MCC’s Resident Threshold Director and Country Team. The following communications tasks will be required to meet this objective:

Analysis and Strategy

• As needed, complete analyses of the Solomon Islands media landscape, including print, online, radio, social media, and television sources that are popular amongst Solomon Islanders throughout the country, to ensure that any communications activities leverage media that will be received by a mass audience. Complete periodic follow-up analyses, such as once per year following the initial analysis, to ensure that the program’s understanding of the media landscape is current.

• Develop a holistic, four-year communications strategy and plan to provide public information in Solomon Islands related to the progress, objectives, and results of the Solomon Islands

Threshold program. Periodically revisit and update the strategy in response to current media conditions and program needs. As part of the strategy, develop a timeline of communications actions, deliverables, and milestones at the program level.

• Review and advise on project-level stakeholder engagement and communication strategies developed by implementation partners to maintain consistency of key messages throughout the

Solomon Islands Threshold program.

Relationship Management

• Strengthen and maintain strong ties with a range of media organizations based in Solomon

Islands; also maintain ties with regional outlets, such as those based in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, that are popular amongst Solomon Islanders and diaspora communities.

Media Monitoring

• Regularly monitor and analyze media coverage in Solomon Islands and the South Pacific region to identify all articles and discussion about MCC or Solomon Islands threshold program in a timely manner (i.e. within 24 hours of being posted). Specifically, monitor media coverage both about MCC in general and media related to the two project areas as relevant to MCC. Also monitor public statements and media by notable individuals or groups, including power players in the country, diaspora community members, academics, etc. Clearly communicate opportunities to respond, and any areas of concern, to MCC’s Resident Threshold Director and the project teams, as appropriate, in a timely manner.

• Conduct regular analyses of the Program’s social media and communications outreach, such as through an analytic platform such as Google Analytics and/or through survey tools, to track the audience, reach, and efficacy of communications materials. Leverage analyses to inform future execution of the Program’s communications strategy.

Program Messaging

• Develop cohesive program style guide to include standards for proper usage of branding, logos, colors, etc. Design appropriate program-level logos and other branding-related templates and materials. Develop branding guidance for implementing partners, including procedures for coordinating communications amongst implementation partners.

• Develop editorial content related to the Solomon Islands Threshold Program such as op-eds, published interviews with key stakeholders, and other content, such as radio or video material, to communicate program objectives and activities to key audience(s) (e.g. government, general public, specific regions). Content may be in English and/or in local vernacular, depending on needs.

• Develop and execute short-term communication campaigns, in a timely manner, that provide a rapid response to specific issues that may arise in the course of program implementation as the need arises.

Social Media Management

• Support MCC and project implementation partners with social media management. Create, monitor, manage, and routinely provide programmatic updates on social media accounts on platforms used by Solomon Islanders throughout the country potentially including, but not limited to, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter. Actively engage with followers as necessary. As needed, and within a timely manner as determined by the Resident Threshold

Director, develop social media campaigns that respond to specific issues or needs of the program.

• Conduct regular analyses of the Program’s social media and communications outreach, such as through an analytic platform such as Google Analytics and/or through survey tools, to track the audience, reach, and efficacy of communications materials. Leverage analyses to inform future execution of the Program’s communications strategy.

Outreach, Guidance and Other

• Identify and help coordinate key public speaking opportunities for the Resident Threshold

Director, implementation partners or any other key individuals associated with the program

• Plan and manage MCC outreach events as well as follow-up activities, as needed.

• Provide MCC with consistent strategic counsel and guidance as it relates to the MCC presence in the country and public’s perception in the media.

• Conduct public communications in both English and Pijin, as appropriate.

D. Meeting and Administration Support

The CCPS contractor will provide meeting support to facilitate the planning and execution of (i) one or more annual Advisory Council meetings; (ii) two or more annual Solomon Futures Circle meetings; and (iii) other public outreach events and meetings as requested (expectation is 2-3 per year). These meetings involve Solomon Islands leaders, governmental and non-governmental, who provide governance, oversight and advice related to program implementation. The contractor will provide all logistical, administrative, and financial support associated with set-up and conduct of the meetings, including but not limited to: inviting and coordinating participants, booking meeting space and travel (if needed), administering travel logistics, facilitating meetings if requested, recording notes and key takeaways from the meetings, and obtaining refreshments. The meetings may take place in Honiara or in a targeted province of Solomon Islands to be determined by MCC.

Meetings are expected to have 15-20 people; public events may include more people.

The contractor will provide logistical, administrative and financial support for additional meetings and events, as needed and described above. It is also anticipated that the contractor will provide administrative support related to international travel associated with participation in MCC college events for up to 5 people per year throughout the four-year project period.

V. Required Expertise

MCC seeks to engage a contractor to provide requisite expertise to implement this work under the

MCC Solomon Islands threshold program. Specifically, as part of this requirement, MCC will solicit expertise to support the Project in the following areas:

Facilitated Governance Reform Services

1. The lead facilitator (key personnel) is expected to have expertise and extensive knowledge of facilitated governance reform techniques including:

• Demonstrated experience in facilitated governance reform. Specific areas of expertise may include: (i) adaptive management techniques; problem definition techniques such as

Ishikawa diagram, problem trees, or similar approaches; and (iii) professional coaching and/or mentoring.

• Experience with complex authorizing environments and ability to navigate them.

• Ability to lead and train additional facilitators as necessary.

2. Local knowledge and familiarity with Solomon Islands context and project sectors (tourism and forestry) will be an important skill on the team. The lead facilitator must be expert in facilitated governance reform techniques but may or may not have expertise in Solomon Islands context or project sectors. If the lead facilitator does not have local context expertise, local context expertise will need to be provided by additional team members. Local context expertise involves the following elements:

• The ability to understand authorizing environments in Solomon Islands including both formal and informal systems of authority

• Familiarity with norms and practices within SIG

• Local language skills

• Familiarity with project sectors (tourism and forestry)

• The ability to engage task force and team members in a way that demonstrates cultural competence. Demonstrated understanding of social norms and beliefs that allows the contractor to effectively engage key stakeholders (including women) in a culturally appropriate manner that is sensitive to power dynamics within groups and teams.

3. There may be a need for multiple additional facilitators (local and/or international) to manage the workload and ensure necessary facilitation expertise is available across the multiple working teams. It may be worthwhile to integrate the program monitoring support skills into the facilitation team to ensure that program monitoring, adaptive management, and governance reform activities realize appropriate synergies.

Active Program Monitoring Hub

4. Specific expertise in active program monitoring and implementation- and adaptation-focused monitoring and evaluation

Communications

5. Communications and public relations expertise preferably in Solomon Islands, with additional expertise in the South Pacific region, possessing deep knowledge of and relationships with

Solomon Islands and South Pacific media resources and experience managing media campaigns in Solomon Islands.

6. Knowledge of Solomon Islands, South Pacific, and Asia-Pacific media markets.

7. Language and Regional Expertise – personnel with English and Pijin language fluency (oral and written) in the context of the Solomon Islands.

8. Presence in Solomon Islands is a plus.

Meeting and Administration Services

9. Administrative, organizational, and logistical expertise associated with meeting and public event planning and conduct in the Solomon Islands context.