Background and Rationale:

The AF-supported community-based biodiversity conservation projects demand excellent skills among the staff of the implanting entities in certain areas such as facilitation techniques, participatory rapid appraisal, organizational development and management of community-based organizations, biodiversity assessment, and promotion of entrepreneurship and marketing skills among project participants. Experience depicts that NGO staff, particularly new recruits, are often deficient in these skills, which affect effectiveness of project implementation. As such the partner NGOs often request AF Secretariat to help them improve the skills of such staff by organizing some common training courses for the concerned staff of all the partner NGOs of AF. It is also felt that exposure/exchange visits to the community forestry projects of neighboring countries (Nepal, India) might be very helpful for both NGOs and the FD to develop an effective program of community-based participatory forest and biodiversity conservation.

To provide such capacity building support to the partner NGOs and FD, AF will engage a service provider (NGO or private organization) through a competitive bidding process for organizing the following events.

Objective: Capacity building of the project implementing entities

Outputs:

• The following short (3-5 days) training courses are organized for the staff of the implementing entities of the Arannayk Foundation sponsored projects (1 batch of 20 - 25 participants for each course):
  • Facilitation techniques
  • Organizational development and management of community-based organizations
  • Participatory Rapid Appraisal
  • Biodiversity survey: sampling, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results
  • Value chain analysis and rural enterprise promotion
• A study visit to Nepal for 20 people (AF-project related staff of FD and NGOs)
  

Activities:

Preparation of a time table for the implementation of the mentioned training courses, which should be approved by the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat

For each training course, the IE would have to do the following:

• Preparation of training module, which should be approved by the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat
• Preparation and supply of training materials (hand-outs) to the training participants
• Mobilization of competent resource person(s)
• Organizing venue and other logistics for the course, including arrangements for food and accommodation for the participants
• Organizing the training course as per approved plan (module, time frame)
• Submission of a training report to the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat
• Preparation of a time table for the implementation of the mentioned training courses, which should be approved by the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat
  

For the exposure visit, the IE has to do the following:

• Identify collaborator in Nepal
• Establish a program in consultation with the collaborator in Nepal, which should be approved by the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat
• Communicate with the participants regarding the program of the study visit
• Help the project participants in travel preparations
• Arrange tickets, and other logistics for the participants of the study visit
• Prepare and submit to the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat a report on the experience and lessons learned from the study visit
  

Institutional arrangements:

The task shall be contracted out to a competent organization or a consultant through a competitive biding process. The wining bidder (implementing entity) may hire expert services of other individuals (experts) or organizations for implementing parts of the assignment in case it does not have expertise in all aspects that are demanded by the assignment provided that it ensures timely delivery of the outputs of the assignment.

Qualification requirements for the implementing entity:

• The grant offer is open for: (a) training institutions (public, private), (b) NGOs and (c) consulting firms
• The implementing entity should have: (a) at least five years experience in performing similar tasks, (b) good reputation among project beneficiaries and government agencies concerned, and (b) track record of sound financial management system, supported by the external audit reports of the organization.
  

Project duration: 1 year

Project sites/scope: Nationwide

Budget limit: Not exceeding BDT 60,00,000 (Sixty lac)

Guidelines for submission of project proposals:

To apply for this project, the applicant should submit the following documents:

1. Organizational profile
2. Technical proposal
3. Financial proposal

The organizational profile should include legal status, relevant manpower (supported by brief CV of key staffs/experts), relevant experience, and relevant physical facilities (office space, vehicle, computer, audio-visual equipment, camera, etc.).

The technical proposal should include key contents and methodology of each course.

The financial proposal should include detail (with break-up) cost of each event.

Evaluation process/criteria:

The project proposals received by Arannayk Foundation are evaluated by an independent team of evaluators based on the following criteria:

1. Organizational strength (40 points)
2. Quality of technical proposal (40 points)
3. Quality and competency of financial proposal (20 points)