General Description:

Established in 2000, the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) is the world’s leading organization for

cocoa sustainability.   The long-term goals of WCF are set out in our new strategy:

• Prosperous cocoa farmers become truly sustainable and profitable, with transformation of traditional smallholder farming into modern business that deliver sustainable livelihoods for farmers and their families;

• Empowered cocoa-growing communities lead their own development, human rights are protected, and safety and wellbeing of children and families are strengthened; and

• A healthy planet is conserved and enhanced, with resilient and biodiverse landscapes in cocoa geographies, and the carbon footprint of the sector is reduced.

WCF works in six areas:

1. Convene cocoa and chocolate industry in collective action – to build an aligned, motivated, and knowledgeable membership engaged in collective action;

2. Facilitate multi-stakeholder partnerships – to engage and leverage the knowledge, financing, skills, and power of different stakeholders to jointly identify and solve key sustainability challenges in the cocoa sector;

3. Facilitate industry engagement in policy dialogue with government – to identify and address key barriers in the enabling business and policy environment in cocoa producing countries;

4. Promote industry learning, knowledge sharing, and monitoring and evaluation – in order to identify industry-wide lessons learned and good practices to accelerate science, innovation and impact within companies and across the sector, and strengthen transparency and accountability of industry results and performance;

5. Help mobilize resources from development partners and financial and capital market institutions – to leverage the additional financing that industry will require to successfully implement collective action initiatives; and,

6. Communicate industry investment and impact and manage reputational risks – to showcase industry’s sustainability efforts and results while identifying and proactively managing risks, particularly related to human rights and environment.

WCF is a membership organization open to private sector companies engaged in all aspects of the cocoa supply chain.  WCF is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

Consultancy Summary:

The  consultant  will  lead  efforts  to  develop  guidance  on  the  alignment  and  application  of appropriate social and environmental safeguards in line with activities in the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI) in Ghana.  In November 2017, the government of Ghana and leading cocoa and chocolate companies signed the joint CFI Framework for Action outlining key commitments and actions to eliminate deforestation from the cocoa sector and restore degraded forests in Ghana. The commitments focus on three core areas: 1) Forest protection and restoration which covers the conservation  and  rehabilitation  of  National  Parks,  Wildlife  Sanctuaries,  Wildlife  Resource Reserves, Forest Reserves, and off-reserve forest lands; 2) Sustainable production and farmers’ livelihood which this covers sustainable intensification and diversification of production in order to  increase  farmers’  yields  and  income  and  to  reduce  pressure  on  forests;  and  3)  community engagement  and  social  inclusion  which  covers  social  safeguards  through  civil  society  and community engagement.

In  2018,  the  and  CFI  Oversight  Committee,  hosted  by  the  Ministry  of  Lands  and  Natural Resources,   adopted  the  World  Bank’s  social  and  environmental  safeguards  to  address  issues impacting farmers and communities that may arise from CFI activities.   Provisions are further outlined under the Ghana National Implementation Plan (NIP).  The World Bank safeguards are integrated  in  the  Ghana  Cocoa  Forest  REDD+  Program  and  the  National  REDD+  Secretariat (NRS)   has developed a country driven approach hosted on the public Safeguards Information System.

The objective of this consultancy is to provide guidance to CFI Signatories and other stakeholders on how the different safeguards are triggered and addressed as a result of CFI activities.

Consultancy Details:

This position is based in Accra and will work with the Ghana CFI Program Manager and report to the  Director  of  Environment  (Washington,  DC).  The  consultant  will  also  work  with  the  CFI Safeguards taskforce providing technical support to CFI Ghana. Applicants must be authorized to work in Ghana. This is a locally recruited position; no expat benefits are provided.

Duration

This consultancy is expected to last no more than two (2) months with an immediate start date.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Develop a methodology and workplan for completion of the assignment. The methodology should  identify  resources,  documents,  and  technical  experts  needed  to  complete  the assignment.
• Develop a  CFI  Social  Safeguards  Guidance  Document.  This  will  be  reviewed  by  the

Safeguards task force and revised by the consultant.

• Develop a Practical Guide that will help signatory companies implement safeguards that are triggered as part of their CFI action plans. This will be reviewed by the Safeguards task

force and revised by the consultant.

• Facilitate a  training  session  on  the  practical  guide  for  company  focal  points,  CFI Safeguards taskforce members, the NRS Working group on Safeguards, and other relevant stakeholders.    Produce  a  report  including  a  participant  list  upon  completion  of  the training.

Expected Outputs

The consultant would be required to produce the following outputs

1. CFI Social and Environmental Safeguards Guidance Document
2. Practical guide on implementation of safeguards document

3. Training report

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Proven knowledge of the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Standards (ESS).
• Demonstrated training on and application of the World Bank Environmental and Social

Standards, the Cancun Safeguards, and related national laws.

• Knowledge of  the  Ghana  REDD+  Safeguards  processes  including  the  country-driven approach and the Safeguards Information System (SIS).
• A minimum of ten (10) years of experience with at least five (5) years in the assessment, implementation, and monitoring of safeguards.

How to Apply:

Candidates are requested to upload 1) a letter of interest (no more than 3 pages) describing their approach, suitability, number of days, daily rate; and 2) résumé to: https://worldcocoa.egnyte.com/ul/0pw9hrIGK7

Include your name and the position in the title of the file.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until position is filled. No phone calls please.  Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.