International advocacy stakeholder platform - Terms Of Reference

1. Rainforest Foundation Norway

Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) is a non-governmental organization from Norway with registration number 985 828 806, founded in 1989 that works for the protection of the rainforest with a focus on the rights of indigenous peoples. RFN has an international advocacy program aimed at influencing political and economic framework conditions for protection of rainforests and forest peoples’ rights, including climate change negotiations, human rights mechanisms and international drivers of deforestation. Most of these funds come from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

2. Objectives of the international advocacy stakeholder platform

a. Background

The most important cause of deforestation is the global demand for natural resources found in forest areas and agricultural expansion into forest land. The specific drivers of deforestation and forest degradation vary between countries and regions, but most are tied to international trade and finance through complex supply chains and finance flows. As RFN continues its evidence-based advocacy work towards the private sector there is a call for an increasingly data-driven strategy process.

A data-driven strategy process implies revisiting and defining who the stakeholders that are key to meeting the objectives of the organization and DFM team are, from target audiences to allies, partners, and initiatives; and how they all link together. In other words, it should provide an overview of the relevant landscape and enable the teams and departments in RFN to prioritize and select private sector advocacy targets and enabling partners. For this to happen the ‘Data for deforestation-free markets’ project will seek to collect and systematize a range of quantitative and qualitative data that can inform the organization’s decision-making.

Once the project is complete and the system is built, the organization should be able to answer and quantify questions such as:

• Who are the key companies driving commercially driven deforestation?

• Which companies demonstrate best-practice management of deforestation risks?

• Which financial institutions have strong links to forest-risk companies?

• Which allies and initiatives are working towards relevant commercial stakeholders?

The answers to these questions should also provide clarity across teams and departments in RFN on what the priorities for private sector engagements are; and enable partners in rainforest countries to coordinate in a more structured manner with RFN’s International Advocacy work.

b. Objective for the international stakeholder advocacy platform

To build out a data-platform that collects and systematizes pre-existing data on companies linked to deforestation, and the landscape of stakeholders surrounding these companies, to inform the strategy process for the work towards deforestation-free markets at RFN; and facilitate systematic coordination across teams and departments. The data platform should allow for manual data insertion by RFN staff so that it can be maintained and kept up to date.

3. Project overview

The data project will be executed in a stepped approach, encompassing the following key milestones and key phases:

a. Phase 1: data collection and assessment – to be conducted by the consultant in coordination with RFN staff

In this phase the data consultant will receive an initial list of relevant data sources and data sets that could be incorporated in the platform (for a preliminary list of relevant data types see box 1). Next, the data consultant should use this provided list as a starting point to assess, refine, and if possible, expand the universe of data that will be used in the project. Here the competency of the data consultant will be especially important in evaluating which types of data that are suitable to be included in the project. For instance, one key question that the consultant should help RFN answer is: “To what extent is qualitative data found across stand-alone reports (non-standardized data) suitable for inclusion in the project?”.

b. Phase 2: platform design – to be conducted by the consultant

In this phase the project lead (RFN staff) should work together with a data consultant that specializes in data platform building, to define the way in which the data should be systematized.

c. Phase 3: platform building

In this phase the external consultant/data engineer should build out the platform, resulting in an intuitive interface that can be readily used by RFN staff. Here the project lead (RFN staff) should stand by to answer questions and to support the consultant. It is likely that this phase should be carried out in two stages, with stage one resulting in a pilot platform with limited data, and stage 2 resulting in the completion of the finalized data platform.

d. Phase 4: training for RFN staff

In this phase the external consultant should provide one or several training sessions for selected RFN staff on how to make use of the data platform.

e. Data and limitations

The data project shall rely on publicly and readily available data.

4. Deliverables

The consultant should deliver the following outputs:

• An assessment of publicly available relevant data to the project, in the format of a briefing document (3-6 pages).

• A data platform design proposal (1-2 pages)

• A pilot version of the data platform. This pilot version should demonstrate the user interface but does not need to have all the relevant data integrated.

• A final version of the data platform with full data integration.

• Presentations/workshops for RFN staff on how to use the data platform. One of the presentations should be directed at all staff in the organization to build a common understanding. The second presentation should be a deep dive for those staff that are directly linked with private sector engagement and research work.
  

5. Timeline and duration

The proposed timeline below is tentative, and can be adjusted based on inputs.

6. Budget and Resources

A budget and resource allocation plan will be developed in line with the approved proposal budget to support the consultancy engagement and the overall digitalization process. Regular financial and resource reports will be provided to monitor and control expenditure. The total project cost cannot be over 750 000 NOK.

7. Requirements for eligibility

The consultancy/team engaged for this project should process should possess several years of experience in data analysis and preferrable have some knowledge of working with deforestation and or value chain, and have some knowledge of the data available in this sector.

The company/consultant needs to possess the following criteria:

• A degree in relevant field – data science or similar

• Extensive competence in data management. Specific experience in designing and building data platforms and user interfaces highly relevant.

• An understanding of commercially driven deforestation/biodiversity loss is beneficial but not required.

• Demonstrated success with examples of similar development

8. Proposal

Interested and eligible companies must submit technical and financial proposals by 05. January 2025. The proposal must include the following information:

• The eligibility of the company

• An explanation of the extent to which the consultant/team are well suited for the task, emphasizing in-depth expertise (including academic work and/or implementation) and the relevance of the specific technical expertise and experience of the team member(s)

• Proposed approach, methodology, timetable and results

• Proposed team and CV's

The financial proposal must contain all the information related to the prices for the performance of the deliverables described in these terms of reference. The economic proposal to be offered must contain all direct and indirect costs. Audit fees and travel expenses should be included. Conditional costs are not acceptable. RFN will not be responsible for the expenses incurred in the preparation and submission of the technical and economic proposals to participate in the tender.

9. RFN's right to reject proposals

RFN reserves the right to reject any of the proposals that it does not consider relevant.

Contact person for questions in relation to the terms of reference: Erlend Trebbi, erlend@rainforest.no

10. Ethical considerations

Ethical considerations will be upheld throughout the research process, ensuring informed consent, confidentiality, and respect for the rights and privacy of participants. The assignment should be conducted in accordance with the highest professional standards. As such, the work will ensure sensitive, safe, non-discriminatory participation, confidentiality, and anonymity of respondents. Specific consideration must be given to ethical issues of design, data collection, reporting and storage. According to the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the consultancy must maintain appropriate measures to protect personal data a. Info on GDPR can be found here: https://gdpr.eu