20161213_Presolicitation_Amendment_Resilient_Cities_Asia.pdf

ATTACHMENT A – PRESOLICITATION NOTICE

SOL-486-17-000001

USAID Resilient Cities Asia

DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK

ATTACHMENT A

SECTION C – STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 TITLE OF ACTIVITY

C.2 PURPOSE

The purpose of this Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract is to support secondary cities in Asia to become more resilient to a wide range climatic impacts by increasing their access to financing, with special emphasis on leveraging private sector investment. This IDIQ will establish a mechanism for USAID Operating Units (e.g., bureaus, and regional and bilateral missions) to increase urban resilience in Asia through the provision of technical assistance and capacity development services.

Through this mechanism, USAID will support cities in the development of better resilience projects, and link those project ideas to financial resources outside the U.S. Government, thereby increasing urban resilience to climate-related shocks and stressors in Asia.

Assistance and services provided under the IDIQ will increase the capacity of secondary cities in the region to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses caused by climate-induced events and stresses, and to transform themselves in the face of anticipated risks. The services and assistance provided by this IDIQ will complement existing and planned efforts by USAID bilateral missions and other partners in Asia that help Asian secondary cities to become more resilient to the effects of natural disasters.

C.3 BACKGROUND

C.3.1 Trends in Urbanization

The urban population of Asia is growing faster than ever before. By 2030, there will be over 1.1 billion more Asian urban residents1, and by 2050, most of the urban population in the world (52%) will be concentrated in Asia2. Consistent with these trends is the number of secondary cities in Asia which is increasing dramatically —from 462 in 2010 cities to 729 cities by 2025, and even more thereafter.3 The percentage of Asia’s population living in secondary cities will also increase from 29.4% in 2010 to 35.3% by 2025.4

C.3.2 Challenges Faced by Cities in Asia

1 ADB. 2008. Managing Asian Cities 2 ADB. 2011. Competitive Cities in the 21st Century Cluster-Based Local Economic Development 3 A secondary city is a sub-national second-tier level of government, with the population typically ranges between 10-50 % of a country’s largest city (100,000-3 million inhabitants, with the exception of cities in China and India).

4 www.citiesalliance.org

Asia’s cities may not be fully equipped to finance and manage the rapid urban growth occurring throughout the region. On the one hand, such growth brings major new challenges for city authorities who may be mandated to expand and provide effective urban services (e.g. water, sanitation, energy, transport), maintain infrastructure investments, and tackle mounting environmental pollution caused by urbanization and industrial development.

Two-thirds of cities of 5 million or more inhabitants are located in low-lying coastal areas, which means they are exposed to hydro-meteorological shocks and stresses, such as rising sea levels, powerful storms, and tidal surges, which can cause catastrophic physical and economic impacts. For example, extreme rainfall could increase sewage overflows by 40% and long-term variations in temperatures would lead to a significant increase in associated health problems.5

The lower socio-economic strata of cities are particularly vulnerable. Almost 1 billion people live in informal settlements, and this number is expected to grow by nearly 500 million between 2013 and

2020.6 These dwellers live on limited basic services, have few livelihood opportunities, often lack access to water, sanitation, electricity, and solid waste management services, and many or most of them lack basic land tenure.

On the other hand, rapid growth can present great opportunities. Well-designed and well-managed urban development can result in more reliable service delivery, healthier people, fewer economic losses, secure livelihoods, and a more sustainable environment. Cities also offer opportunities for integrated solutions that yield mitigation and adaptation benefits as well as cost savings, for example, energy and water efficient buildings and environmentally sound infrastructure.

C.3.3 Urban Climate Resilience

USAID defines resilience to recurring crises as “the ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.”

The concept of urban climate resilience focuses more specifically on the impacts of climate and weather-related shocks and stressors. The concept, therefore, covers adaptation measures, mitigation actions, and disaster risk reduction, while recognizing the complexity of rapidly growing urban areas and the uncertainty associated with climate variability. The concept places greater emphasis on considering cities as dynamic systems capable of evolving and adapting to survive, and even thrive, in the face of volatile shocks or stresses.7

Urban climate resilience can be described on three levels: (1) the systems of the city can survive shocks and stresses; (2) the people and organizations in the city are able to accommodate these stresses into their day-to-day decision-making; and (3) the city’s institutional structures continue to support the

5 ICLEI. 2014. Climate Change: Implications for Cities. New Delhi: ICLEI.

6 World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 2013. Global Monitoring Report 2013. Rural–Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals. Washington, DC: World Bank.

7 ADB. 2014. Urban Climate Change Resilience - A Synopsis.

capacity of people and organizations to fulfill their aims.8 The above-mentioned conditions and factors have given rise to a growing interest in resilience in recent years. Over the last decade, a number of initiatives related to urban resilience have been launched by many donors. More interestingly, however, resources in the private sectors particularly in the field of urban resilience has come to outweigh financial resources made available in the public sector.9 Therefore, in order to achieve the greatest success in supporting urban climate resilience, leveraging private sector resources is key.

C.3.4 Risk

While climate-induced shocks and stresses may affect a large segment of the city, the greatest consequences typically fall on poorer segments of the population--people who live in informal settlements that are located in areas prone to climate hazards, and who have limited access to basic services and infrastructure. These people are often marginalized members of society, receive little attention from their government, and are constrained by their socioeconomic status and limited resources, often trapping them in an unending cycle of poverty. Even households that manage to successfully extricate themselves from poverty often slide back when they are hit by catastrophic shocks, such as record floods, storms, or heat waves.

The impacts of climate –related shocks and stressors also affect women and men differently, due largely to differing social status, gender, poverty, as well as access to and control over resources. Women in this region tend to be more disadvantaged, alongside the very poor, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups, as they are over-represented in the informal economy. More than 8 out of 10 working women are in vulnerable employment compared with more than 7 out of 10 men. Many are left without access to social and economic protection or other resources to cope with the aftermaths of weather-related crises.10 Migrant women, women from ethnic minorities, refugee and stateless women, female-headed households, and older women often face particular vulnerabilities that are largely ignored by social protection programs and policies.

C.3.5 Secondary Cities

There are two complementary reasons for placing increased emphasis on secondary cities. First, a large share of the resources that are being marshalled internationally for urban resilience are typically concentrated in primary cities. These resources come from national and city budgets, national development banks, and international financial and development institutions. Accordingly, primary cities benefit from greater financial and human resources because of their size. Secondary cities, especially those in Asia, have fewer budgetary resources and human capital to begin with--compared to primary cities--and therefore are in greater need of technical and financial assistance in the area of planning for, and investing in, resilience initiatives.

8 ibid 9 http://climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/global-landscape-of-climate-finance-2015/ 10 UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWOMEN), Resilience for All? Towards Gender-Responsive Social Protection in South-East Asia, 2013, ISBN No: 978-974-680-356-4, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/523ab5a34.html

Many secondary cities in Asia are simultaneously managing a host of challenging problems: rapid urbanization; ineffective (or in some cases a total lack of) city and land use planning; poor infrastructure; lack of budget and human resources to provide effective urban services; and an increased devolution of responsibilities from the central government without accompanying resources. City staff often face significant technical constraints that impact their ability to assess their city’s risks, exposure, and sensitivity to climate variability; understand their coping capability; devise effective plans; and issue relevant rules, regulations, and bylaws. In addition, Asia’s secondary cities often lack the human and financial resources, as well as the institutional capacity, to make strategic, climate-resilient investments, despite their urgent need to plan and source funds for a wide range of adaptation interventions.

Meanwhile, it is in these cities that new industrial development and related investment often emerge. It is, therefore, critical for officials and residents in secondary cities to be able to manage the challenges of current development, while taking into consideration future risks.

C.3.6 Cost of Adapting to Climate Variability

According to ADB, over 520 million vulnerable urban slum dwellers in Asia are vulnerable to climate-related hazards, and the overall cost of climate-related disasters (sea-level rise, powerful storms, flooding) is likely to surpass $50 billion annually (including damage to infrastructure, buildings, disruptions to public service provision and business operations).

According to the ADB, the costs associated with investing in climate adaptation projects throughout the region are estimated at $40 billion per year through 2050. The estimates are much larger at the global level--ranging from $70 to $100 billion a year for the period from 2010 to 205011.

Given the size of the problem, it is important for these relatively smaller regional cities to obtain technical assistance and funding and/or financing to make resilience investments. This will help them not only to become more resilient in the short term, but also, in the longer term, to set the stage for smarter, more resilient, and more sustainable long-term growth and development.

C.3.7 Financing City-Level Climate Resilient Initiatives

To support their adaptation and mitigation goals and initiatives, developing countries currently rely on a host of international financing instruments, such as grants from multi-donor trust funds, private foundations and international climate funds, concessional loans from multilateral development banks, and traditional assistance from bilateral donors.

While donor funding for climate related efforts is increasing, this funding accounts for a small fraction of the total cost that cities will need to make them less vulnerable and more resilient. The amount of public funding (e.g., from national budgets and national development banks) and private investment flowing into cities is much larger than the amount of available donor funding, and thus needs to be tapped to address this problem. In 2015, total public climate investment was $148 billion while total private climate investment was $243 billion.12

11 Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change Report, World Bank, 2011.

12 http://climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/global-landscape-of-climate-finance-2015/

The ability of secondary cities to access funding for climate resilience (both domestic and international sources) is challenging for a variety of reasons:

- city managers13 may have limited access to and ability to analyze climate data, making it challenging for them to understand current and future risks and accurately substantiate budget requests to national governments for resilience investments;

- city managers may also have little awareness of how to evaluate options as well as access and receive international climate funding;

- city managers may also have limited capacity to maintain budgeting systems and may lack the capacity and experience to attract and scale untapped financial resources such as from local capital markets and intergovernmental transfers.

In addition, many subnational entities have a low revenue base, are unable to issue their own debt instruments, and have insufficient or constantly changing political leadership that is needed to influence the transfer of funds from central or primary city budgets. Furthermore, there is a persistent imbalance between mitigation and adaptation funding globally--with an approximately 14-fold greater investment in the former.14 It is expected that this activity will primarily address infrastructure financing, but will also support “softer” approaches such as policies, plans, standards and guidelines, such as building codes, planning processes, and operations and maintenance procedures that enable urban resilience.

An increase in diverse, accessible, well-managed, and sustainable sources of financing for climate resilience in rapidly urbanizing secondary cities has the potential to impact many people quickly and positively influence future development trends, thereby avoiding many of the adverse impacts that have resulted from the unsustainable path dependencies associated with many of Asia’s primary cities.

C.3.8 Urban Climate Resilience Programs in Asia

Over the past decade, many development partners and organizations have shifted investment toward helping cities to become more resilient to climate impacts. Such organizations include the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Local Government for Sustainability (ICLEI), the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, 100 Resilient Cities, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), among others. Much of this work has focused on Asia. For example, in 2013, DFID committed $140 million to the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF), a multi-donor trust fund managed by the ADB, and has made the urban thematic area as one of four pillars for the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, a research advisory and knowledge management platform in support of climate compatible development.15 Similarly, the Global Environment Facility-6 (GEF-6) has

13 These refer to elected officials and city staff with responsibilities for urban planning, economic development, environmental management, finance, etc.

14 Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2015, Climate Policy Initiative. November 2015.

15 Rumbaitis del Rio, Cristina, and Sjogren, Rosie. June 3-5, 2014. Scaling up Urban Climate Change Resilience: Challenges and Opportunities for Catalytic Donor Collaboration. The Investing in Urban Climate Change Resilience: Sharing Lessons and Accelerating Action Meeting. Bellagio, Italy.

committed approximately $55 million for the Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach pilot program for its 2014-2018 grant funding period. The Rockefeller Foundation invested more than $100 million from 2007 to 2014 in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) and other related efforts in the United States and internationally.

More recently, key actors have also initiated major new programs and initiatives such as the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program, the Local Government for Sustainability (ICLEI)’s Resilient Cities - Asia Pacific Program, and the World Bank’s Resilient Cities Program, to name a few. These initiatives all share the same primary goal of helping cities to become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

C.3.9 USAID’s Strategic Niche in Urban Resilience in the Asia Region

Globally, USAID has been supporting cities under various policies. These include:

● Climate Risk Management, which is covered by the White House’s Executive Order on Climate Resilient International Development16.

● USAID Sustainable Urban Services Policy (2013), which covers assistance to governments in building safer and more sustainable cities for the nearly 1.5 billion additional people who will live in cities by 2030.

● USAID Climate Change and Development Strategy (2012-2016), which aims to enable countries to accelerate their transition to climate resilient, low emission, sustainable economic development.

USAID/RDMA has been active in adaptation and resilience in Asia since 2011 with a series of programs including Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change, Adapt Asia-Pacific, Mekong Building Climate Resilient Asian Cities, and support for ADB’s UCCRTF. This IDIQ will build on these efforts and will focus on financing resilience in Asia’s secondary cities.

In recent years, many donors working on urban resilience in Asia have been focusing on preparatory and capacity building activities, such as training, vulnerability assessments, climate resilience plans, and urban governance. Some have recently shifted their focus toward mobilizing funding and finance for climate resilience actions; however, there are only a limited number of partners who focus on supporting cities with project development activities.

This IDIQ contract will support efforts to finance urban climate resilience, by identifying, prioritizing, and seeking funding for urban resilience projects and initiatives. The objective will be to strengthen the capacity of secondary cities to become more climate-resilient as well as to make it easier for Asian cities to access diverse and sustainable flows of adaptation funding and financing. In implementing this IDIQ, USAID will build upon strong relationships in urban climate resilience that USAID/RDMA and USAID Missions in the region have established with cities and other development partners in the region.

16 Executive Order 13677, which was announced in 2014, contains requirements for climate risk management at all levels of USAID programming. At the strategy level, the provisions took effect on October 1, 2015; and at the project and activity level, the provisions will take effect on October 1, 2016.

This mechanism contributes to the Development Objective 2 (“Vulnerable Populations More Able to Address Risks that Transcend Borders”) of the Regional Development Cooperation Strategy (2015- 2020) of USAID’s Regional Development Missions for Asia (USAID/RDMA).

C.4 STATEMENT OF WORK

C.4.1 OBJECTIVES AND APPROACHES

The primary objective of this IDIQ is to design, prioritize, finance and implement climate adaptation actions in support of secondary cities’ resilience and development goals. This will be accomplished by helping Asia’s secondary cities to evaluate, select, develop, finance, and implement climate resilience initiatives that can be funded and financed by various financial sources (e.g., from public and private, domestic and international). A secondary objective is to support the primary objective by helping selected cities to develop and implement policies, strategies, and related plans for climate resilience, based upon urban climate resilience principles (see Section C.6 below).

The following approaches can be used to achieve these objectives:

1) assisting cities to mainstream climate adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction in the city’s local physical and development plans, in order to increase their resilience;

2) assisting cities that have completed climate resilience plans to evaluate and prioritize options, and include these options in their broader development plans and budgets or identify alternative funding sources. Plans should include and accommodate resilience efforts for other non-climate hazards (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions) that commonly impact many Asian cities and exacerbate urban vulnerabilities;

3) partnering with relevant government ministries and/or agencies to ensure that resilience (and climate integration) is one of the criteria in their funding of public infrastructure in secondary cities;

4) helping cities identify resources from the central and/or provincial/state governments that can support the implementation of their resilience priorities, in accordance with national development objectives and strategies;

5) improving the capacity of city officials to evaluate, select, develop, finance, and implement climate resilient projects and initiatives;

6) increasing the pipeline of quality and sustainable investments into urban climate resilience projects and initiatives;

7) fostering awareness about the importance of urban resilience projects/initiatives among public funders and private financiers;

8) improving the ability of cities to access funding and financing from public and private sector sources for their climate resilience projects/initiatives, solely or jointly implemented by cities and their neighboring jurisdictions;

9) partnering with development financing institutions by assisting them in the development of urban resilience investments and ensuring that resilience is included as a component in their technical assistance and lending for secondary cities;

10) employing financing mechanisms such as revolving funds, bonds or other instruments, and improving readiness (e.g., municipal creditworthiness) to facilitate access to additional climate finance options;

11) improving the ability of cities (and donors) to track and assess the effectiveness of their urban resilience projects and interventions; and

12) provide technical assistance, in cases where appropriate, to ensure land equity schemes are carried out in a transparent manner so that ecosystems serving the city are not privatized and developed in the process against the public interest.

C.4.2 EXPECTED SERVICES

The contractor must be able to provide a range of services in support of urban climate resilience, and to complement work by USAID bilateral missions in Asia, as well as the work of other relevant partners.

The specific geographic areas of intervention for task order implementation will be determined by the USAID operating unit placing the orders, and will respond to the particular development needs and context. Task orders will also coordinate with other bilateral and multilateral efforts, such as ADB’s Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) and similar Asian urban resilience initiatives of the World Bank.

This IDIQ mechanism includes urban resilience financing related activities in Asia, including the range of services described hereunder that may be acquired under this IDIQ contract. USAID has designed this IDIQ on the premise that individual cities have different capacities and starting points for urban resilience building -- spanning the spectrum from climate vulnerability and risk assessments; to development of resilience strategies and supporting policies, laws, and regulations; to identification and design of resilience projects and initiatives; and to financing and implementation.

C.4.2.1 Conduct Assessments, Analyses, Studies, and Surveys

At the regional and national level, the contractor may be requested to conduct a comprehensive assessment of urban resilience approaches in the region, and the findings of this assessment would form the basis for subsequent work. At the city level, the contractor may be requested to work with cities that have already initiated climate resilience plans, and support targeted analyses that build on existing analyses and plans to guide adaptation action.

The analyses may include, but would not be limited to, the following:

● mapping of the urban climate resilience landscape in the region to gain a comprehensive understanding of the main players (including donors, advisors, and implementers), what efforts have been/are being undertaken, where they are undertaken, and what approaches have been (and are being) used and the challenges/successes associated with them;

● analysis of the climate risks and related challenges--including but not limited to financial, technical, and operational challenges--of building urban climate resilience in secondary Asian cities, and the capacity to overcome these challenges. Analyses such as these could also become knowledge products for the project;

● analysis of key drivers and opportunities that will advance urban resilience principles in secondary cities;

● analysis of related gender aspects that could be challenges and opportunities in building urban resilience in secondary cities;

● analysis of political and economic factors (e.g., legal frameworks, political/administrative structures, budget/fiscal frameworks, funding opportunities) that may constrain or may be necessary to make urban resilience efforts successful in the city;

● analysis of climate adaptation/resilience plans, strategies, and/or policies at the city/municipal scale in different countries in Asia, to understand the level of detail and sophistication of proposed actions and interventions;

● analysis of the city’s financial capacity, which may include, but is not limited to, assessments of the local government financial system, financial performance, and the city’s investment budget forecast;

● analysis of potential funding sources at the country and city levels, including national budgets, municipal revenues, domestic financial instruments, (e.g., bonds, loan, trust funds, transfers), national development banks, and donors, as well as the potential for expansion of city revenues.

(This can be done, for example by reviewing relevant climate resilience strategies and plans both at the national and subnational levels); and

● development of the city profile, which may include demographic information, climate risks and vulnerability, city’s financial capacity, related urban and/or climate resilience policies/plans, among other.

C.4.2.2 Support capacity development for the preparation of investment-grade urban resilience projects and initiatives

A finance-ready urban climate resilience project or initiative starts from a well-defined problem analysis and solid project design, alignment with relevant policies or frameworks, and clearly presents the information required by the funder. The analyses described in Section C.4.2.1 will identify the capacities that are required to prepare financeable urban resilience projects.

The following are illustrative tasks the contractor may be requested to undertake to develop capacity of participating cities:

● support for the process of project prioritization, which may include developing the evaluation scoring criteria and methodology, facilitating scoring meetings, and summarizing the meeting results to inform decision making;

● support for development of high-priority urban resilience initiatives based on the results from preceding exercises;

● support for multi-stakeholder consultation meetings throughout the process, in order to obtain inputs at all stages of initial prioritization, design, and proposal preparation;

● support for the project appraisal process, as necessary, which may include active participation in the pre-feasibility study, and conducting further assessments as needed;

● support public and private institutions to build their capacity to screen urban resilience proposals and evaluate whether or not they address climate risks and vulnerabilities;

● building awareness of and capacity to understand available and appropriate financing options for urban resilience from public and private, domestic and international sources;

● improving readiness (e.g., creditworthiness) to facilitate access to additional climate finance options; and

● work in collaboration with relevant partners in the city to maximize the efforts and resilience outcomes.

C.4.2.3 Facilitate financial mobilization and investment in climate-resilient projects and initiatives by the public and private sectors financing entities, as well as donors

Projects and initiatives that increase urban resilience can be funded by a variety of funding sources, including bilateral donors, multilateral funds, development banks, national budgets, local revenues, and private sector partners. This IDIQ may be used to provide services to help connect these funders with secondary cities where promising urban climate resilience projects and initiatives have been developed.

The following are examples of illustrative tasks that the contractor may be requested to undertake:

● conduct a publicity campaign with targeted funders and financiers to increase their awareness about the importance of urban resilience in relation to their operations;

● support a regional or national event that will bring public funders and private financiers together to learn about urban resilience projects and initiatives;

● develop a communications strategy for engaging targeted private sector partners in urban resilience efforts;

● develop a practical and operational model for leveraging resources from public funders and private financiers;

● facilitate a creation of new instruments for financing urban climate resilience projects and initiatives from other financial instruments, and promote access to these instruments, as well as existing instruments;

● explore international applications of environmental revolving funds and ways that they could be adapted and used in Asia to fund investments in urban adaptation and resilience;

● work with cities to strengthen access to existing and untapped domestic revenue streams for resilience from central budgets or funds if applicable;

● design and employ financing mechanisms such as revolving funds, bonds or other instruments, and improving readiness (e.g., creditworthiness) to facilitate access to additional climate finance options.

● technical assistance and advocacy to the city government to establish a system of identifying and addressing climate risk, and carrying out screening as necessary, in the processes of planning, budgeting, and permitting.

C.4.2.4 Support development of climate resilience policies, strategies, and/or action plans for secondary cities

While the primary objective of this IDIQ is to strengthen the ability of secondary cities to develop financeable climate resilience projects and initiatives, it is also necessary to recognize and address existing policy and regulatory barriers. The contractor may be requested, as deemed appropriate, to support development and revision of urban climate resilience frameworks (e.g., policies, strategies) and action plans at the national or city levels. This work can take advantage of successful urban resilience projects implemented in the region, and supported by USAID and other donors, with the aim of integrating what has worked into policy, planning, and regulation, and achieving scale and replication.

This will improve the medium- and long-term environment for investments in urban resilience. These may include:

● support an update and/or validation of climate resilience measures in relevant existing climate strategies or plans;

● develop a follow-on plan and schedule meetings with the leaders/officials to discuss their interests in building urban climate resilience principles into their local planning and management processes;

● support formation of a multi-sectoral city resilience working group, which will comprise government representatives, inhabitants, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and development partners, to drive the resilience building efforts in the city;

● coordinate regular meetings of the working group and facilitate active participation from the stakeholders in urban resilience dialogues;

● as appropriate, facilitate the development of the urban climate resilience policies, strategies, and action plans through interactive participatory meetings, such as regulatory and fiscal incentives that encourage resilience investments (tax credits, density bonuses, grants, rebates) and/or generate revenue to support them (taxes and fees);

● support the public consultation process in order to obtain feedback for relevant policies, strategies, and/or action plan;

● as appropriate, organize and facilitate peer-to-peer learning exchanges for targeted leaders related to urban climate resilience; and

● support adoption and implementation of the policies, strategies and plans.

C.4.2.5 Facilitate knowledge sharing and cross learning among cities and between cities and development partners to advance the capacity of cities on urban resilience building

Recognizing that urban climate resilience is an evolving field, there is a growing demand for knowledge from the participating countries and development partners who support it. This IDIQ seeks to contribute to this growing urban climate resilience community of practice through a variety of knowledge products and events. Accordingly, the contractor may be requested to provide some of the following services:

● mapping of the urban climate resilience landscape in the region to gain a comprehensive understanding of who the main players are (including donors, advisors, and implementers), what efforts have been/are being undertaken, where they are undertaken, and what approaches have been/are being used;

● organize knowledge sharing events at the national level among cities, development partners, and the private sector to learn from one another their experiences in implementing urban climate resilience;

● organize similar knowledge sharing events at the regional level to help scale best practices from one country to another, and to engage potential funders/financiers in consideration of prospective concepts from cities;

● organize and facilitate twinning partnerships between mentor cities and participating cities for them to directly share their knowledge and experiences with each other in order to help the participating cities achieve their resilience building goal;

● organize interactive activities (e.g. live chats, community of practice) to expand the body of knowledge beyond country and foster stronger relationships among urban resilience practitioners across the region;

● standardize and replicate scalable financing models for urban resilience projects; synthesize climate resilience finance case studies (in Asia or other regions) that could be applied to the secondary city context in Asia; and

● develop capacity of local government associations and/or professional associations (e.g.,finance officers, engineers, urban planners) serving secondary cities to share the expertise developed and experiences of secondary cities benefiting from their participation in urban resilience projects.

C.5 EXPECTED RESULTS

The ultimate goal of this IDIQ contract is to enhance the resilience of secondary cities to the effects of climate variability through better access to finance. Task orders under this contract will include specific deliverables and indicators measuring anticipated results of services delivered. The ultimate expected outcome of this IDIQ is a functioning ecosystem for building urban resilience in Asia’s secondary cities, with particular emphasis on project preparation and access to finance. Specifically, it is anticipated that the services provided under this IDIQ will achieve the following overall results:

● Asia’s secondary city governments have stronger organizational capacity to integrate resilience principles into their systems, plans, investments, and assets;

● Asia’s secondary cities demonstrate improved capacity to successfully implement climate resilience plans in support of their development goals;

● Asia’s urban dwellers, especially urban poor and women, have reduced vulnerability to climate impacts;

● Urban resilience interventions and projects are sustainably financed and effectively implemented in a number of Asia’s secondary cities;

● Asia’s secondary cities and the international donor community have access to a shared inventory of successful models for financing urban resilience.

The contractor shall develop an overarching Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan in consultation with the COR for each task order issued under this IDIQ and may be required to work with the requesting Mission’s M&E Specialist to ensure the activity M&E Plan contributes to the Mission’s overall Performance Management Plan. Each M&E Plan may include the following: a results framework, a description of how the contractor’s intended to results, which theory of change model the contractor will apply, and which indicators the contractor proposes to use to monitor performance. At minimum, the expected results under each task order should link to a relevant Project Appraisal Document (PAD) of the ordering Mission. All standard F indicators should be applied, as applicable, in consultation with USAID. The list of standard F indicators can be found in the http://www.state.gov/f/indicators/.

The contractor will be required to report against the contract’s performance using each requesting Mission’s performance management information system (see Section H for more details). If applicable, the contractor may also be required to work with and share performance results, geospatial coordinates, success stories, and photographs with the requesting Mission’s Learning, Monitoring, and Evaluation contractor.

C.6 GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES

The contractor is required to adhere to the following guiding principles during contract implementation.

C.6.1 Urban Resilience Principles and Qualities

USAID defines resilience to recurring crises as “the ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.”

Resilience can be achieved through the implementation of a number of actions that build and reinforce each other over time. These actions can evolve as people and institutions learn from their past experiences and apply them to future situations. The contractor will be expected to understand the complex set of drivers and dynamics that allow cities to function effectively. In addition, the contractor may be tasked to assess city-level resilience capacities in order to determine the degree to which cities are able to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from climatic shocks and stresses.

Resilience Principles

Resilience principles include combining hard and soft measures, engaging diverse perspectives through multi-stakeholder processes, engaging different geographic and governance scales, addressing today’s problems while embedding a long-term vision, tapping into local expertise, building leadership and local action, and focusing on vulnerable communities.

Resilience Qualities

Resilient cities demonstrate a range of observable qualities through their stakeholders and urban systems:17

Reflective - People and institutions systematically learn from experience, with an adaptive planning mindset that accepts unpredictable outcomes. They have mechanisms to continuously modify standards based on emerging evidence, rather than seeking permanent solutions based on an assessment of today’s shocks and stresses;

17 Arup. 2014. City Resilience Framework. The Rockefeller Foundation.

Robust- Robust city systems are designed and managed to withstand the impacts of extreme conditions and to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the city from the failure of a single element.

A robust system anticipates system failures and makes provisions to maximize predictability and safety;

Redundant - Redundancy is to deliberately plan capacity to accommodate for increasing demand or extreme pressures--if one component of the system fails, other pathways or substitutable components can meet essential functional needs;

Flexible - Flexibility is a city with systems that can change, evolve and adopt alternative strategies (in either the short or longer term) in response to changing conditions. These systems tend to favor the decentralization of conventional infrastructure with new technologies;

Resourceful - People and institutions should invest in capacity to anticipate future urban conditions, set priorities, and mobilize and coordinate the resources (human, financial, and physical). Resourcefulness prepares a city to respond quickly to extreme events, modifying organizations or procedures as needed;

Inclusive - An inclusive approach is one that includes the consultation and engagement of communities, particularly those who are vulnerable. A city cannot build resilience in isolation of others. Resilience needs collective ownership and joint vision from various groups within the city;

Integrated - City systems, decision making, and investments should be mutually supportive of a common outcome. Resilient system integration has evidence of systems that exist across different scales of operation. Integration requires ongoing feedback system for collection of information and response.

C.6.2 Gender Integration and Inclusive Development

Climate variability affects a large segment of the city, however, the urban poor and other marginalized groups are particularly exposed to climate-related crises and natural hazards due to where they live within cities. They live on the most vulnerable lands within cities, typically areas that are deemed undesirable by others and are thus affordable. The marginalized are made even more vulnerable by overcrowded living conditions, the lack of adequate infrastructure and services, unsafe housing, inadequate nutrition, and poor health. These conditions can turn a natural hazard or slow-onset climate-related stressor into a disaster, and result in the loss of basic services, damage or destruction to homes, loss of livelihoods, malnutrition, disease, disability, and loss of life.

It is also necessary to understand gender roles and responsibilities as well as socio-cultural conditions in promoting urban climate resilience. Women usually have lesser economic, political and legal clout and are hence less able to cope with and are more exposed to the adverse effects of climate variability. Lack of sufficient income, time constraints, illiteracy, lack of or insufficient education, and culture can also limit women’s access to work in the national and local government or public forums that influence decision-making at various levels. Drawing on women’s experiences, knowledge and skills and supporting their empowerment will make their responses more effective and ensure greater success of resilience efforts. This will be examined and addressed in TOs, for example, tasks or interventions that will be implemented should be open to and encourage women participations, women in national or local government should be included in policy planning and decision-making.

The contractor must ensure that the assistance provided and the results achieved are beneficial to those most vulnerable to the effects of climate variability. As appropriate, impact and indicators must be disaggregated by gender. If applicable, the contractor must incorporate standard gender indicators into the M&E Plan. None of the interventions must inhibit the active participation of either men or women.

Men and women must be treated as equal partners in their role as clients, as providers of environmental services, and as partners of USAID.

The contractor must address gender integration during implementation and must integrate gender into core approaches. This includes providing local entities guidance, tools, training, resources and defining roles and responsibilities for gender integration in program planning, design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Support to develop urban resilience must make sure the capacities of females as well as males are strengthened, and the promotion of women-led organizations and initiatives are fostered. Organizational urban resilience development efforts must include training and resources on USAID requirements for gender integration, including skills in gender analyses, how to develop gender sensitive indicators, and examples of innovative opportunities to reduce gaps in gender equitable results, including use of science and technology approaches and partnerships. It is expected that any training or workshops offered under task orders give an adequate consideration for an appropriate gender balance among the participants.

C.6.3 Science and Technology

The ability to design a robust urban resilience regime is based on the availability and use of credible scientific information. The contractor must employ innovative applications of science and technology as well as new ways for linking science and technology throughout the process of building resilience, from the conduct of a vulnerability assessment, to future forecasting, climate modeling, scenario planning, and preparation of projects for funding. Science and technology should also be maximized to create active public dialogues that will further advance resilience building in the city. In addition, the contractor must seek ways to provide training on appropriate science, technology, innovation and partnership approaches towards more effective and efficient development outcomes.

C.6.4 Integration with Former or Present Urban Resilience Efforts

Prior to starting the design of an urban resilience program for a city, USAID may first task the contractor to conduct an assessment of the country’s urban resilience landscape to identify similar urban resilience building efforts that existed or are ongoing in the city, and develop the assistance program based on these efforts, taking into consideration successes and challenges in the country. In countries where USAID bilateral missions are implementing urban-related programs, the contractor is expected to support USAID in its consultation efforts with the Mission(s) to gain in-depth understanding about their programs and advance the assistance by the bilateral missions. Consultation with other donors or host governments may also be requested.

C.6.5 Leverage Funding and Investment from Public and Private Sectors

Resources leveraging from both public and private sector partners are critical for the sustainability of the urban resilience building efforts. The contractor must work closely with public funders (e.g. donors, governments, government banks) and private financiers (e.g. commercial banks, foundations, businesses) to foster their increased awareness on the importance of urban resilience building and to engage them in contributing their resources, both human and monetary, to the efforts.

C.6.6 Coordination

RDMA maintains regular coordination with USAID Bilateral Missions, as well as U.S. Embassies and Consulates in order to avoid duplication with any bilateral projects, identify opportunities to add value, and ensure smooth relations and communications with the host country governments and other stakeholders in the Region. The contractor will follow “RDMA’s Protocol for Coordination and Communication with Bilateral Missions” (to be shared with the contractor post-award).

Where applicable and appropriate, the contractor must collaborate with other organizations, agencies, and firms providing services to relevant USAID Missions in the Region. In addition, the contractor must work with relevant Missions to ensure participation by national/regional counterparts and other stakeholders, both people and institutions and also including beneficiaries, during each assignment as appropriate under guidance of relevant CORs/COs. Specific coordinating activities, in addition to the above, will be identified in the individual TOs.

The table below lists bilateral and regional programs in Asia that focus on urban adaptation and resilience.

Mission Activity Name

Funding & Timeline

Activity Functions

Philippines SURGE Aug 15 – Sep 20 $47 M

TA to support second-tier cities to promote more balanced and resilient urban growth

Indonesia APIK $19 M (2015-2020) TA to support secondary cities to integrate climate adaptation and disaster and risk reduction for resilience (DRR) into policy and coordination (both at national and sub-national levels)

Vietnam Climate Resilient and Sustainable Urban Development

$2 M TA to support integration of climate resilience into the national urban development strategy and implement the strategies at the city level and project preparation targeted at ADB loans and

UCCRTF

RDMA Adapt Asia- Pacific

Oct 11 – Sep 17 $20.13 M

TA to support project preparation and help the countries/cities access to finance

UCCRTF June 14 – Aug 16 $1.45 M

TA to support cities for investment projects and to assist in decision-making and support project development.

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