Job Description

Call for Expression of Interest
SADC TFCA Financing Facility, Technical Advisory Group
RfP Reference: IUCN-25-06-P02979-01
Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit an Expression of Interest to be part of the SADC TFCA Financing Facility, Technical Advisory Group (TAG). Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your application.
1. REQUIREMENTS
1.1.A detailed description of the services to be provided can be found in Terms of Reference and Scope of Work in the Attachment.
2. CONTACT DETAILS
2.1.During this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this EOI to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN Employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your proposal.
IUCN Contact: tenders.sa@iucn.org
3.PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE
3.1.This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will contact you.
DATE-ACTIVITY
29 June 2025-Publication of the Call for Expression of Interest
14 July 2025-Deadline for submission of Letter of Motivation and CV to IUCN ("Submission Deadline")
31 July 2025-Expected contract start date
4.COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING YOUR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
4.1.Your application must consist of the following two documents:
Letter of Motivation
Curriculum Vitae
Expressions of Interests must be prepared in English.
4.2.Your application must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be IUCN-26-06-25- P02979 - bidder name]. Your application must be submitted in PDF format.
4.3.THE REQUIREMENT
A key component of the SADC TFCA FF grant-making mechanism will involve the review of submitted concepts and proposals during the two-stage application process. Therefore, IUCN seeks to establish a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to support the Project Management Unit (PMU) with the review of concept notes and proposals; and to provide additional technical expertise on specialised fields as and when required. The TAG will bring in additional technical expertise to help fast-track the proposal review process and to strengthen the design and quality of the projects funded by the SADC TFCA FF thus also contributing to grantee capacity-building.
The TAG consists of a small group of highly experienced technical experts drawn from relevant scientific and technical networks such as the IUCN Commissions and the SADC TFCA Network with specific experience in the SADC region and familiarity with Protected and Conserved Areas and SADC TFCAs. The individuals who will be selected to be members of the TAG are expected to have expertise and experience in the following areas:

• Species conservation (especially elephants and large carnivores), including wildlife surveys and monitoring, population management, habitat management, connectivity conservation, wildlife translocation and reintroduction etc).
• Human-wildlife conflict management and mitigation
• Management and governance of protected and conserved areas
• Law enforcement, anti-poaching and illegal wildlife trade
• Community-led conservation and Community Based Natural Resource Management
• Wildlife/Green Economy (e.g. consumptive and non-consumptive tourism, community conservancy and game ranch development/support, non-timber-forest products, fisheries, carbon financing, apiculture, processing facilities for biodiversity products value addition etc.).
• Conservation agriculture and sustainable farming practices (e.g. crop production, livestock production, veterinary science, Herding for Health (H4H), commodity-based trade, irrigation and water engineering).
• Protected area infrastructure development and maintenance

IUCN will evaluate technical proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:
Technical evaluation
The eligible candidates must be:

• available to allocate sufficient time for this assignment (an estimate of 7-10 workdays);
• independent from, and free from any conflict of interest (whether actual, potential or reasonably perceived). The selected experts will be required to sign a declaration of no conflict of interest for each call for proposals before taking part to the TAG;
• able and willing to serve in an individual expert capacity and provide the best scientific and technical advice, irrespective of views that may be held by any organization the expert may be affiliated with.

Please refer to the documents attached for a detailed evaluation criteria
11.About IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both Governments and Civil Society Organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together. Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world's largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people's well-being.
12. ATTACHMENT 1: TERMS OF REFERENCE AND SCOPE OF WORK
Technical Advisory Group
Terms of Reference
The SADC Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) Financing Facility (FF) is a regional financing mechanism established to provide funding to support conservation, development and management actions in SADC TFCAs. The TFCA FF is part of the SADC TFCA Programme (2020-2033), which aims to contribute towards sustainable financing mechanisms for transboundary natural resources management. The TFCA FF is administered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO). The TFCA FF was established with initial funding from the German Financial Corporation, and recently, additional financial commitment from EU-NaturAfrica programme.
Established in April 2020, the TFCA FF is a grant-making mechanism designed to provide funding support in response to emerging needs of TFCAs in the SADC region. IUCN ESARO established a dedicated Project Management Unit (PMU), that is responsible for administering the TFCA FF grants.
The SADC TFCA FF seeks to establish a Technical Advisory Group (TAGTAG) to support the PMU with the review of project proposals and to provide additional technical expertise on specialised fields as and when required. The TAG will bring in additional technical expertise to help fast-track the proposal review process and to strengthen the design and quality of the projects funded by the SADC TFCA FF thus also contributing to grantee capacity-building.
The TAG will consist of a small group of highly experienced technical experts drawn from the conservation and development sector including but not limited to IUCN Commissions and the SADC TFCA Network with specific expertise in the SADC region and familiarity with Protected and Conserved Areas Management, grant-making, and project management in SADC TFCAs. The TAG is expected to have expertise and experience in the following areas:

• Species conservation (especially elephants and large carnivores), including wildlife surveys and monitoring, population management, habitat management, connectivity conservation, wildlife translocation and reintroduction etc).
• Human-wildlife conflict management and mitigation
• Management and governance of protected and conserved areas
• Law enforcement, anti-poaching and illegal wildlife trade
• Community-led conservation and Community Based Natural Resource Management
• Wildlife/Green Economy (e.g. consumptive and non-consumptive tourism, community conservancy and game ranch development/support, non-timber-forest products, fisheries, carbon financing, apiculture, processing facilities for biodiversity products value addition etc.).
• Conservation agriculture and sustainable farming practices (e.g. crop production, livestock production, veterinary science, Herding for Health (H4H), commodity-based trade, irrigation and water engineering).
• Protected area infrastructure development and maintenance

The TAG will provide a peer-review of concept notes and/or proposals to assist PMU with the following:

• Review shortlisted concepts and proposals, and provide comments, and recommendations on the technical strengths and weaknesses of each application.
• Where applicable, draw attention to best practice standards, guidance and lessons from the region to help enhance the quality of the shortlisted applications.
• Provide guidance and support on specific technical questions which may arise during project implementation, including during the review of technical reports.

The TAG members will receive the short-listed concepts and/ proposals after preliminary screening by the PMU. The concepts and/or proposals will be distributed amongst the TAG members. The PMU will provide the TAG members with the appraisal form and application guidelines for each call well in advance of the assignment to help members to plan their engagement. The TAG members will be required to be impartial in their review of each concept/proposal and will be required to declare any potential conflict of interest.
On average, it is estimated that there will be approximately one call for concept notes every two (2) years. The number of concept notes/proposals to be reviewed by the TAG members will vary from call to call but is estimated to be up to 25 concept notes and up to 20 full proposals per call. Depending on the nature of the concept/proposal, not all TAG members may be required to review every concept or proposal. On average, we expect TAG members to take 2-4 hours to review a Concept Note and up to a maximum 4-8 hours to review a proposal and provide detailed comments and recommendations. Following the review of all concept notes/proposals, the TAG will be required to meet virtually to discuss the outcome of the technical review process.
Experts from the TAG reviewers are expected to provide their comments and scores in writing using a standard appraisal template - see attached template. For every review, the TAG will be required to meet virtually to discuss the outcome of the technical review process.
The Technical Advisory Group members are required to sign and adhere to the 'Conflict of Interest' Policy before any review of applications.
The members of the TAG will be paid an honorarium of EUR 1,500 per Call for Proposals.