The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI): The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a transitional cooperative mechanism of ten riparian countries to realize a jointly articulated Shared Vision Objective: “To achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources”. NBI provides the only all-inclusive regional platform for multi stakeholder dialogue, information sharing as well as joint management and development of water and related resources in the Nile Basin Currently Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda are members of the initiative. Eritrea participates as observer.
NBI requested for funding support from WB/CIWA to implement a Project: ‘**Nile Cooperation for Climate Resilience’targeting different key stakeholders of NBI. The project is to be implemented in the period December 2020 – December 2025. One of the key activities of the project is development of a capacity building strategy and implementation plan for NBI.

The goal of the capacity development strategy is to contribute to the Project Development Objective through building prerequisite competences of NBI in data driven decision making. The overarching objective of the strategy is to enhance NBI’s capacity to influence data driven decision making on climate resilient cooperative water resources management and development. A strategy for optimal capacity development is envisaged to guide the project and institutional capacity development efforts. The strategy will guide in identifying the capacity development activities and mapping with the appropriate beneficiaries for optimal benefit of NBI through the project. NBI is seeking a suitable facilitator to support formulation of the strategy.

2. The proposed Capacity Development Strategy
The purpose of the Strategy is to serve as an overarching guide for systematic planning, design and delivery of capacity development by NBI. The thematic scope of the strategy will cover the national as well as the regional levels. An implementation plan with detailed activities on indicative areas of focus will be developed. Key aspects of the planned strategy are shown in Box 1.
The strategy shall document lessons from past capacity development efforts by NBI, identify approaches, thematic areas and delivery modalities (face2face, virtual; short-term; on-job, etc) that yield maximized benefits to the target audience and dividends to the cooperation process itself. A key factor in the design of the strategy is knowledge retention and long-term sustainability of capacity built through NBI. Strategies for enhancing sustainability of capacity built will be formulated.

Key operational principles for consideration in the capacity development strategy are;

• Integrated approach; bringing together into fit the different capacity building efforts under the institution as well as the project
• Quality of engagement; focused engagements that are well structured to address specific targeted issues
• Evidence based; NBI knowledge resources available form a basis for the capacity development.
• Results oriented: A focus on achieving planned results in planned capacity development will be maintained.
• Partnerships; NBI will harness capacities in other contemporary institutions to complement on its efforts for capacity development, optimizing opportunities in the region.

3. Approach
The development of the strategy content shall be the responsibility of NBI. A series of structured and facilitated meetings will be organized (physical and virtual as appropriate) to identify gaps/needs, generate ideas, identify future priorities and directions and agree on final content of the Strategy. The consultant shall facilitate these meetings. The in-house process for the development of the capacity building strategy shall be supported by a consultant whose primary role will be to design a structured stakeholder process (guide questions, facilitate meetings, document outcomes), facilitate the meetings and put together the key elements of the strategy as generated in the facilitated meetings of NBI team. The NBI shall develop the strategy document based on the contents generated during the consultation and joint brainstorming sessions of NBI centers.

4. Scope of work
The scope of work for this assignment shall be executed through a series of meetings and brainstorming sessions of NBI centers. The broad scope of work of the consultant/facilitator includes the following:

Task 1: Design of a structured consultation and idea generation sessions
The series of meetings and brainstorming sessions of NBI centers will be used as the primary avenues for generating the contents of the Strategy. The consultant shall develop the design of NBI centers consultation and idea generation sessions. The design shall, at a minimum, include the following:
Annotated outline of key topics that will be explored and elaborated in the process of developing the strategy. These areas essentially make up the agenda of the consultation and brainstorming sessions of NBI centers;
Schedule of meetings complete with description of meeting objectives, target outputs, target audience (who from NBI centers’ staff, Nile-TAC members), meeting formats for efficient utilization of staff time in generating ideas and required preparations (such as background presentations to be prepared by NBI centers);
Structured guide questions to help in brainstorming on key aspects of the capacity building strategy

Deliverables:
D1.1: Annotated outline of key topics of the strategy that need to be fleshed out
D1.2: Meetings design document including guiding questions

Task 2: Facilitate series of strategy development sessions of NBI centers
Following the finalization of the preparatory documents (Task 1), NBI shall organize a blend of face-to-face and virtual meetings to develop the contents of the Strategy. The Consultant shall employ diverse idea generation and facilitation techniques to make maximum use of the meetings.
The specific topics of the consultation and idea generation meetings shall be determined as part of the preparation for the meetings, under Task 1. However, a preliminary list of potentially relevant topics are shown in Box 2.

Deliverables:
D2.1: Consolidated meeting/discussion outputs
Task 3: Facilitate synthesis of ideas generated and final preparation of Strategy document
The ideas and detailed contents of the Strategy generated during the NBI centers’ meeting shall be further refined and developed into a full Strategy document by NBI team. Elaboration of the key contents of the Strategy shall be undertaken by NBI team as part of drafting the Strategy document and implementation plan. The Consultant shall support the process through facilitating and documenting key outputs of the series of consultation and idea generation meetings of NBI team. The meetings will include the inception, drafting, editing and finalization of the strategy formulation. The process will ensure that all key stakeholders are consulted and their views consistently incorporated in the output.

Deliverables:
D3.1: NBI strategy development sessions facilitated and key findings documented.

5. Schedule of work
2 weeks after signing contract – Inception report
3 weeks after signing contract – Start consultations with stakeholders
4 weeks after signing contract – Capacity needs assessment report
5 weeks after signing contract – Synthesis note and key elements of CDS

6. Implementation arrangements
NBI will be responsible for development of the capacity building strategy, with support of a facilitator. NBI will organize required data and information for the assignment, organize stakeholder consultations with support of facilitator, and ensure smooth execution of the assignment.

7. Delivery modality
The identification of capacity building needs, generation of main contents and implementation approaches shall be primarily the responsibility of the NBI. The services of an individual consultant (the Facilitator) shall be employed to assist NBI centers in the process of developing the capacity building Strategy. The development of the strategy shall involve a process of five face2face as well as virtual meetings of NBI center staff.

8. Qualification and experiences of the consultant
The consultant shall have a university degree (Master level preferred) in social sciences (economics, social anthropology, political science, or closely related fields) from a recognized university.

He/She shall have minimum of 10 years relevant practical experience since graduation with first degree. Specifically, the consultant shall have:
• Demonstrable and relevant facilitation experience in multi-stakeholder context.
• Experience in formulation of capacity building strategies
• Experience in project planning and management including Monitoring and evaluation
• Ability to drive critical, stakeholder – led dialogs about capacity building.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent inter-personal skills